Are we there yet? the difficult road to re-create information literacy

Portal

Volumn 9, Issue 4, 2009, Pages 453-473

  Rollins, Debra Cox ^a   Hutchings, Jessica ^b   Goldsmith, Melissa Ursula Dawn ^c   Fonseca, Anthony J ^c  

^a Louisiana State University at Alexandria   (United States)

^b MCNEESE STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^c NICHOLLS STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 73149118447     PISSN: 15312542     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (37)

1. The American Association of School Librarians and the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, Information Literacy Standards for Student Learning: Standards and Indicators (1998), http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/ divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/informationpower/InformationLiteracyStandards- final.pdf (accessed June 23,2009).
2. Scott Bennett makes a cogent and convincing argument that no information literacy program can succeed unless it becomes an institutional initiative. See Bennett, "Campus Cultures Fostering Information Literacy," portal: Libraries and the Academy 7, 2 (April 2007): 147-167
3. Mary Ellen Davis, "Bring the ACRL Information Literacy Immersion Program to Your Campus," College and Research Libraries 62, 3 (March 2001): 270-273
4. See Rebecca Albrecht and Sara Baron, "The Politics of Pedagogy: Expectations and Reality for Information Literacy in Librarianship," Journal of Library Administration 36, 1/2 (2002): 71-96.
5. Gerald Burke, Carol Anne Germain, and Lijuan Xu, "Information Literacy: Bringing a Renaissance to Reference," portal: Libraries and the Academy 5, 3 (July 2005): 353-369
6. Alexius Smith Macklin and Michael Fosmire, "A Blueprint for Progress: Collaborating with Faculty to Integrate Information Literacy into the Curriculum at Purdue University," in Libraries within Their Institutions: Creative Collaborations, ed. William Miller and Rita M. Pellen (New York: Haworth Information Press, 2005), 44-5.
7. In discussing assessment measures, ACRL's "Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education" uses the phrases "higher order" and "lower order" thinking skills, based on Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. ACRL gives as example the following: lower order thinking can be measured by outcomes such as the ability to identify keywords, synonyms, and related terms when seeking information, whereas higher order thinking can be measured by the ability to extend the "initial synthesis, when possible, to a higher level of abstraction to construct new hypotheses that may require additional information." See ACRL, "Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education," Standards and Guidelines (November 5, 2008), http://www.ala.org/ ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/standards/informationliteracycompetency.cfm (accessed June 23, 2009). Michelle Holschuh Simmons takes this concept one step further, calling for "critical information literacy," which goes beyond ACRL standards and examines the "assumptions about information." (p. 300-1)
8. See Simmons, "Librarians as Disciplinary Discourse Mediators: Using Genre Theory to Move toward Critical Information Literacy," portal: Libraries and the Academy 5, 3 (July 2005): 297-311.
9. Her distinction between information literacy and critical information literacy resonates with ideas expounded by The Critical Thinking Community.
10. See Foundation for Critical Thinking, The Critical Thinking Community (2008), http://www.criticalthinking.org (accessed June 23, 2009).
11. In a paper commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement of the National Center for Education Statistics, critical thinking scholars Richard Paul and Gerald Nosich provided a model for the assessment of higher order thinking. They argue that higher order thinking can be measured by "students' skills and abilities in analyzing, synthesizing, applying, and evaluating information." (p. 1-2) Their argument can serve as a clarification of the implications of the ACRL standard, as they propose the following: a concentration "on thinking skills that can be employed with maximum flexibility, in a wide variety of subjects, situations, contexts, and educational levels [that] should account for both the important differences among subjects and the skills, processes, and affective dispositions that are crucial to all the subjects." (p. 1-2) Like the ACRL standard, Paul and Nosich's delineation stresses the need for flexible learning that leads to lifelong skills, what the two refer to as "fundamental, enduring forms of intellectual ability that are both fitted to the accelerating pace of change and deeply embedded in the history of the advancement of the disciplines." (p. 2)
12. See Paul and Nosich, "A Model for the National Assessment of Higher Order Thinking," abstract, in Foundation for Critical Thinking, The Critical Thinking Community (2008), http://www. criticalthinking.org/assessment/ a-model-nal-assessmenthot.cfm (accessed June 23, 2009).
13. According to their Quality Enhancement Plan, recently Thomas University (Thomasville, Georgia) added its IP2 Program, which is also representative of an integrated information literacy program. The first component of IP2 integrates information literacy and active learning into the general education curriculum (core curriculum) and into each of the major programs. This process is formally measured through four required courses in what is called the Transformer Program. See Thomas University, Quality Enhancement Plan: Enhancing the Climate for Student Engagement in Learning (n.d.), http://www.thomasu. edu/sacs/qepportal.htm (accessed June 23, 2009).
14. Jordana M. Y. Shane, "Formal and Informal Structures for Collaboration on a Campus-Wide Information Literacy Program," in Libraries within Their Institutions: Creative Collaborations, ed. William Miller and Rita M. Pellen (New York: Haworth Information Press, 2005), 85-110.
15. U.S. Congress, Senate, Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Higher Education Accreditation: How Can the System Better Ensure Quality and Accountability? Hearing before the Committee on Health Education, Labor, and Pensions, 108th Cong., 2d sess., (February 26, 2004), 3.
16. See U.S. Department of Education, A Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of U.S. Higher Education (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, 2006), x.
17. Council for Higher Education Accreditation, Accreditation Serving the Public Interest (Washington, D.C.: Council for Higher Education Accreditation, 2006), 1, http://www.chea.org/pdf/chea-glance-2006.pdf (accessed June 23, 2009).
18. Higher Learning Commission (North Central Association), Handbook of Accreditation, 3rd ed. (Chicago: Higher Learning Commission, 2003), 3.2.11.
19. Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, Revised NWCCU Standards for Accreditation, http://www.nwccu.org/Standards%20Review/Pages/ Revised%20Standards%20%Draft%204.0.pdf (accessed July 23, 2009).
20. New England Association of Schools and Colleges: Commission on Institutions of Higher Education, Standards for Accreditation (Bedford, MA: Commission on Institutions of Higher Education, 2005), 7. 15.
21. Standards for Accreditation Ibid., 9.
22. Middle States Commission on Higher Education, Eligibility Requirements and Standards for Accreditation (Philadelphia, PA: Middle States Commission on Higher Education, 2006), 42. 17.
23. Eligibility Requirements and Standards for Accreditation Ibid., 47.
24. See Middle States Commission on Higher Education, Developing Research and Communication Skills: Guidelines for Information Literacy in the Curriculum (Philadelphia: Middle States Commission on Higher Education, 2003)
25. currently available at Middle States Commission on Higher Education, Publications (2009), http://www.msche.org/publications/Developing- Skills080111151714.pdf (accessed July 23, 2009).
26. Laura Saunders also discusses the extent to which regional accreditation agencies address information literacy and/or critical thinking and makes suggestions for academic librarians on revising their library's missions so that they support these standards. See Saunders, "Regional Accreditation Organizations' Treatment of Information Literacy: Definitions, Collaboration, and Assessment," The Journal of Academic Librarianship 33, 3 (May 2007): 317-326
27. Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, The Principles of Accreditation: Foundations for Quality Enhancement (Decatur, GA: Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, 2008), 29. 20.
28. The Principles of Accreditation: Foundations for Quality Enhancement Ibid., 18, 29.
29. See Louisiana Board of Regents, "Attachment 4: Louisiana Board of Regents Statewide General Education Requirements" (Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana Board of Regents, 2004), also available at http://www.regents.state. la.us/Academic/PP/Attachments/IV.html(accessed June 23, 2009).
30. Rebecca S. Albitz, "The What and Who of Information Literacy and Critical Thinking in Higher Education," portal: Libraries and the Academy 7, 1 (January 2007): 97-109.
31. Mary K. Sellen, "Information Literacy in the General Education: A New Requirement for the 21st Century," The Journal of General Education 51, 2 (2002): 115-126
32. Association of American Colleges and Universities, Resources, "General Education," AACU, http://www.aacu.org/resources/ generaleducation/index.cfm (accessed June 23, 2009).
33. Board of Regents, State of Louisiana, Master Plan for Public Post Secondary Education: 2001, 4, http://www.regents.state.la.us/pdfs/Planning/ masterplan2001.pdf (accessed June 23, 2009).
34. LOUIS: The Louisiana Library Network, LALINC Information Literacy Committee, LOUIS: The Louisiana Library Network, http://appl003.lsu.edu/ocsweb/ louishome.nsf/$Content/Information+ Literacy+Committee?OpenDocument (accessed June 23, 2009).
35. There was, nevertheless, an ACRL Web site that focused on information literacy professional activities like the one found at ACRL Institute for Information Literacy, "Immersion Program," http://www.ala.org/ala/ mgrps/divs/acrl/issues/infolit/professactivity/iil/immersion/programs.cfm (accessed July 6, 2009).
36. Association of Research Libraries, "Standards Toolkit," ACRL, http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/issues/infolit/infolitstandards/ standardstoolkit.cfmhttp://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/ informationliteracycompetency.cfm (accessed July 6, 2009).
37. See Association of College and Research Libraries, Characteristics of Programs of Information Literacy that Illustrate Best Practices: A Guideline, ACRL (2003), http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/standards/ characteristics.cfm (accessed June 23, 2009).