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 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 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 • (which encourages Like so many critical outcomes of is asymmetric: librarians care about informed and critical 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 • (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 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- , 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 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. “All that is taught in college amounts the issue by trying to turn students into to very little, but if we can send students out self-reliant in their investigations, mini-librarians. While many faculty are we have accomplished very much.” enthusiastic partners with librarians, • In the 1930s, Louis Shores urged faculty and librarians to teach classes it’s hard to point to evidence that these in the library, calling it the “library-college concept.” partnerships made a difference. • In 1956, Patricia Knapp carried out that concept in a documented General education outcomes are experiment at Monteith College, Wayne State University, making the library notoriously difficult to assess, and a hub of curriculum development and faculty-student collaboration. Though information literacy is no exception. widely praised, this model was difficult to replicate or scale up. Though there are a number of assess- • In the 1960s and 70s the “Earlham model” of bibliographic instruction ment tools available, they are relatively developed at Earlham College in Indiana was adopted by many colleges blunt instruments. A student who scores and universities. It stressed integrating bibliographic skills into courses, with well on an information literacy test may librarians partnering with faculty to involve students in library-based research. fail to integrate that knowledge into practice; a student who does brilliant • “Information literacy” was first used in 1976 by Paul Zurkowsky, president research may test badly on the minutia of the U.S. Information Industry Association in a proposal to the National of research tasks. Commission on Library and Information Science. Authentic assessment needs to be a combination of measures, including riculum, sometimes as a function of a ventions to draw from and document direct and indirect measures, regu- department liaison program, and on a sources, they provide natural occasions larly applied, analyzed, and used to course-by-course basis work to integrate for an introduction to using the library inform practice. Because assessment specific research tools and approaches and Internet sources in college-level is often perceived to be a measure of a into the course, generally meeting once assignments. A disadvantage is that department’s performance, and no one or twice in the library. An advantage to navigating information resources in program or department is responsible this approach is that students can apply the first year does not prepare students for making our students information what they are learning immediately for more advanced research, but many literate, nobody can take credit or blame and see how it is relevant to a task that faculty assume students have already for assessment results. they must complete. A disadvantage is been taught everything they need to Assessments of learning, however, that, with little time in the classroom, know. Developmentally and experi- can be useful in cross-campus discus- librarians often find themselves focus- entially, students in their first year are sions about what role inquiry plays in ing on the use of specific tools and their prone to take a pragmatic approach to higher education and how inquiry skills idiosyncrasies rather than involving learning, and may learn shortcuts and can be better integrated into courses and students in a deeper exploration of how adopt habits that do not serve them well programs. A library that takes a lead in information actually works. Because in more advanced courses. this kind of assessment would be well these learning opportunities are ad Sequenced instruction embedded positioned to lead the conversation. hoc and unsystematic, some students in programs. A robust approach to Approaches to Information will complain of repetition while oth- making information literacy integral Literacy Instruction ers might never be shown how to use to education is to work within a major library tools. And carefully-nurtured Finding ways to include information to build a sequence of skills practiced, relationships fall apart whenever a literacy in the curriculum takes many developed, and deepened over the faculty member moves on. forms, depending on resources avail- course of an education. Though it has able, strategic alliances on campus, Focus on the first year. Many been shown to be a particularly effective and institutional priorities. The best libraries invest effort into showing form of learning, it’s one of the most programs are likely to employ a mix new students the ropes, often through difficult strategies to carry out. of these methods. a formalized tie-in with a first-year All faculty involved in the program writing course or sequence of courses. will have to agree on which skills are Course-related instruction. This is Since these courses typically include essential and which core courses will the most common approach libraries some instruction in the nuts and bolts promote those skills. Beyond that, the take, and the easiest to implement. of writing from sources, including program has to actually have a sequence. In this model, librarians build rela- evaluating evidence, organizing an In some fields, particularly in the sci- tionships with faculty across the cur- argument, and using scholarly con- ences, courses are taken in a standard order, but in many of the humanities ogy services. Librarians may find ful learning experience, and a faculty and social sciences, students don’t this kind of proximity a fertile space development program may provide take courses in a prescribed order. for making connections with other the best platform for doing so. This, In these cases, a required methods professionals whose work supports of course, depends on the campus course may be the logical place for learning and it may strengthen having a well-respected, effective, systematic and in-depth inquiry the use of reference services as a and adequately financed faculty skills to be developed, but even there site for learning. This kind of sup- development program in place. much depends on how a department port, however, may end up being defines “methods.” In some, students reactive, helping students complete Making Connections learn how to conduct research. In assigned work successfully rather The library offers a uniquely fruit- others, the methods course is devoted than helping faculty think though ful site for learning how to inquire. to studying a canon of theory. what kinds of assignments can re- It is common ground for all disci- Developing trusting relationships sult in the learning outcomes they plines and a place where meaning between a librarian and faculty in a actually seek. isn’t transmitted but rather made program and holding departmental through the interaction with primary conversations about how to embed The library offers a uniquely material and with other people’s interpretations. a sequence of experiences into the fruitful site for learning how program can be both time consum- Librarians as generalists can ing and intense, with no guarantee to inquire. It is common help students pull together cross- of success. ground for all disciplines disciplinary discourse. The trick is not teaching students how to use Credit-bearing courses. Some and a place where the library and other information librarians have argued eloquently meaning isn’t transmitted sources; those will change pro- that course-related instruction is but rather made.... foundly in the next few years. Rather, inadequate, that courses focused on we need to focus on how the use of disciplinary content skirt the intrica- these things today can contribute to cies of information literacy, and that Faculty development. A promis- critical thinking, analysis, and mak- only by teaching entire courses will ing, but often neglected, approach to ing meaningful decisions – processes librarians be able to address all of the infusing information literacy across that will continue to be valuable skills involved in learning how to use the curriculum is through programs tomorrow. —[email protected] information in the service of inquiry. that involve faculty in learning This approach has been successful on together. This approach recognizes Resources some campuses, but runs the risk of that the deepest learning happens in Association of American Colleges and requiring a course that students feel courses and programs, and that it’s Universities. College Learning for the is insufficiently connected to their far too complex to be mastered in a New Global Century. Washington, D.C.: majors to be worthwhile or, if an scattering of class periods. Librar- AAC&U, 2007. http://www.aacu.org/leap/ elective, being perennially under- ians can help, but they are not the documents/GlobalCentury_final.pdf enrolled. It also can be difficult to chief drivers in student learning. The Citation Project. gain institutional support, both to Integrating information literacy into http://site.citationproject.net/ list such a course in the catalog and conversations about teaching and Project Information Literacy. to staff it with instructors. learning is likely to have the great- http://projectinfolit.org/ est effect on students who could Learning Commons. A growing Shapiro, Jeremy J., and Shelley K. benefit from redesigned courses or trend in academic libraries is to co- Hughes. “Information literacy as a lib- more thoughtful discussions within locate a variety of student services eral art?.” Educom review 31 (1996):31-35. departments. Involving the faculty at in the library. These might include http://net.educause.edu/apps/er/review/ large in defining the place of infor- academic advising, services for stu- reviewarticles/31231.html mation literacy among the college’s dents with disabilities, programs to Teaching Inquiry Zotero Group curricular priorities is essential to support multilingual learners, writ- http://www.zotero.org/groups/ making student inquiry a meaning- ing support, tutoring, and technol- teaching_inquiry

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