Editors: Ann P. Dougherty, Mountainside Publishing; Richard M. Dougherty, University of Michigan, Emeritus Contributing Editors: Steven J. Bell, Temple University; William Miller, Florida Atlantic University; Barbara Fister, Gustavus Adolphus College; Irene Herold Keene State University; Susan Stroyan Anderson, Illinois Wesleyan University. Vol. 33, No. 4 March 2013 The Library’s Role in Learning: Information Literacy Revisited by Barbara Fister o one disputes the idea that a major pur- the boundaries we put around the concept. It’s not pose of a college education is to develop about libraries, though being able to use a library is Nthe skills and disposition to continue certainly helpful. It’s not about books, as is implied learning after graduation. We know that most in the word “bibliography” – though books are likely of the content covered in class will be out date to be relevant to many kinds of inquiry. in short order, if it’s retained at all. But students Nor is it just about “information” and “literacy.” who practice gathering, analyzing, critiquing, The active work of framing questions and creat- and building on existing information will be ing new understanding is poorly represented by able to continue adding to their knowledge base the first word, and the second suggests a focus on in the future. remedial education or a very basic level of ability. We’re not just educating students, we’re establish- Call it what you will, it’s a complex set of skills and ing the conditions for lifelong learning, or at least dispositions that are important on every campus, that’s the plan. To a large extent, that’s what academic and not just to librarians. libraries are for: to give students a chance to learn In 1996, Jeremy J. Shapiro and Shelley K. Hughes how to learn and how to contribute their own ideas made a claim that information literacy is “a new lib- to what we know about the world. eral art.” At the same time, they pointed out that it’s Librarians today have lived through one of the really not that new. In fact, its value was articulated greatest transformations of scholarly and cultural during the enlightenment, when the argument was communication in history, changes that will continue made that informed citizens could contribute to for the foreseeable future. Ten years from now, the progress as free human beings. technological framework for communicating and What is new is the importance of decisions being sharing information is likely to be vastly different made today about information – who has access, than today’s knowledge infrastructure, but the abil- who controls it, how we can participate in creating ity to ask good questions, find things out, evaluate it, and whether information is a public good or evidence, create new ideas and communicate them private property. To participate in these decisions, will be enduringly valuable skills. students need to know more than how to use library This is the kind of learning that we’re talking about resources to complete college projects. They need when we talk about information literacy. to know how information works at a fundamental level - and how to create it themselves. What’s in a Name? Librarians have long been involved in helping students learn how to inquire. We’ve called this Coming Soon — effort different things over the years: library orienta- tion, library user education, bibliographic instruc- MOOCs: Library Implications tion, and now information literacy. The language for Institutions changes because the meaning keeps spilling out of Shapiro and Hughes included in mary documents). It may be the very The role of librarians as teachers the concept of “information literacy” a ubiquity of information literacy that and partners with the faculty is not wide range of skills that are sometimes makes it hard to nail down. After all, universally accepted, either by faculty examined with a narrower focus: what scholarly activity doesn’t involve or by students. One study by a sociolo- • digital literacy (which concentrates information literacy? gist concluded that the desire to work on the ability to participate in digital in partnership to include systematic communication), Whose Job is It? information literacy in the curriculum • media literacy (which encourages Like so many critical outcomes of is asymmetric: librarians care about informed and critical reading of media higher learning, information literacy faculty perceptions, but faculty have messages), and is everyone’s business – but nobody’s significantly less interest in forming • visual literacy (which deals with responsibility. Because it is diffused partnerships. Power relationships also the ability to make meaning through throughout the curriculum, it can be dif- infuse decisions: faculty hold higher images). ficult to identify where it is learned, who status than librarians hold, and this may Each of these literacies emphasizes will teach it, how it will be sequenced make librarians diffident about mak- a different aspect of information, but for greater complexity, and how learn- ing suggestions, or may make faculty all are relevant to information literacy ing will be assessed. Here, the role of protective of their classroom turf. The (if not always equally stressed). Alter- librarians is both essential and fraught. power to reward student attention is native phrases - Information fluency, held by those who give grades, a dy- transliteracy, and metaliteracy - have It may be the very ubiquity namic that students routinely take into been proposed to overcome the limits account when deciding how to respond of the phrase “information literacy” and of information literacy that when a librarian teaches a class. to emphasize that this form of learn- makes it hard to nail down. And there is the simple fact that many ing is far more comprehensive than its After all, what scholarly people have no idea what librarians do library-focused antecedents. activity doesn’t involve for a living. The word is commonly ap- Not just a “library issue.” Though information literacy? plied to anyone who works in a library librarians have been the most vocal and is presumed to be entirely defined proponents of information literacy, by traditional library tasks – shelving it is inaccurate to characterize it as a It would be hard to find an academic books, for example, or cataloging. Quite library issue. The American Association library organization that doesn’t believe often, it doesn’t occur to students to for Higher Education and the Council promoting information literacy is a speak with a librarian when they run of Independent Colleges endorsed a critical part of their mission, but it’s into trouble with their research because set of information literacy standards a responsibility shared with faculty they believe the trouble stems from proposed by the Association of College in the classroom in every major and the content they are working with: and Research Libraries, a signal that across the entire curriculum. Librarians why aren’t there more books on my these competencies are relevant for all must develop one-on-one relationships subject? Am I using the right words of higher education. with a wide variety of faculty teaching when I search? How can I tell if this In 2007, the Association of American different subjects at different levels. article is any good? Boy, I could really Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) These negotiations most frequently go use some statistics to support my argu- published a set of “essential learning on between a librarian and a willing ment. None of those issues are, in their outcomes” which included informa- faculty member who feels librarians can minds, library questions. tion literacy among intellectual and be co-teachers of at least some of these A study that surveyed over 2,000 un- practical skills that are components of critical skills. Sometimes they occur at dergraduates across the country found liberal learning. However, other skills a programmatic level, most commonly that 8 out of 10 never or rarely asked a in the list seem to be integral parts of in first-year composition courses that librarian for help. Ensuring that both information literacy: inquiry and analy- include some sort of researched writing students and faculty know how librar- sis, critical and creative thinking, and instruction. ians can play a role in education is a written and oral communication seem More rarely, they are integrated challenge. The more actively involved inseparable from what librarians mean into a particular major or program in the intellectual life of the institution by information literacy. and may be supplemented by credit- librarians are, the more likely they will These abilities are developed and bearing courses taught by librarians. be recognized as educators. rehearsed while formulating a ques- Developing and sustaining strong inter-departmental relationships and How do we Know tion, seeking, comprehending, and if it’s Working? evaluating information related to that negotiating how exactly information Critics of information literacy in- question, and building on it to construct literacy will be built into the curriculum struction complain that it tries to make new meaning (often in conjunction are enormous challenges for librarians libraries relevant by inflicting intellec- with fieldwork, empirical research, or who feel it is nevertheless an essential tually arid training sessions on bored the interpretation and analysis of pri- college learning outcome. students. Some argue that if librarians put their efforts into designing better Old Wine in New Bottles user interfaces, there would be no need for instruction. Others say the kind of learning students need is already ad- Librarians have always taken their role in education seriously. dressed by disciplinary faculty in their • “A librarian should be more than a keeper of books, he should be an courses; librarians are only confusing educator,” Otis Robinson wrote in 1876.