Express Links

Introduction to Information Literacy

Dear Colleague,

As you are well aware, the explosion of information in what seems to be an endless variety of formats is changing the way we teach and conduct research. It is also changing the way that students locate, evaluate, and use information as they prepare assignments for you. This presents new challenges to educators who are interested in the academic success of their students. This Guide to Information Literacy is designed to help you better understand and meet these challenges.

Librarians who daily help students navigate the increasingly complex flow of information understand the changes, challenges, and opportunities associated with information technology better than most. In fact, research conducted by librarians offers a wealth of information that helps us understand how well students are, and are not, managing information in academic settings. For example, Librarian Patricia Davitt Maughan, who assessed the information literacy of undergraduates at Berkeley, articulates a recurring finding in this research, "The most fundamental … conclusion is that students think they know more about assessing information and conducting library research than they are able to demonstrate when put to the test." Deborah J. Grimes and Carl H. Boening discovered in their research that "Students used the Web for research basically unchecked, largely because they had prior experience in using the Internet for electronic mail or chat rooms and felt that they did not need assistance with research." Librarians generally believe that the inability of students to locate, evaluate, and use information effectively undermines academic excellence and the goals of educators. In Milne, we believe it also compromises SUNY Geneseo's mission to develop citizens "with skills and values important to the pursuit of an enriched life and success in the world."

This Guide to Information Literacy presents you with an overview of information literacy as well as practical information on how to work with librarians on this campus to ensure that every SUNY Geneseo student is information literate upon graduation. It provides information on students' attitudes and skills regarding libraries and information, and introduces you to two documents that provide important definitions and conceptual frameworks for Milne Library's information literacy instructional program: Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, created by the Association of College and Research Libraries and endorsed by the American Association for Higher Education, and Information Literacy as a Liberal Art, by Jeremy Shapiro and Shelley Hughes.

The faculty and administration of Milne Library are dedicated to collaborating with faculty and administration across campus to build a quality information literacy program that will reach every student on campus. We believe that we have the information, people, and resources in the library necessary to achieve this goal. Also, we are fortunate to have a strong foundation of relationships with faculty and administrators across the campus upon which we can build. Given the importance of collaboration, however, we hope to build even more relationships.

Whether you have worked with us before or not, we trust that this guide will inform you, interest you, spark your creativity and imagination as a teacher, and provide you with information that you need to meet the challenges and opportunities presented by rapidly changing information technology.

Sincerely,

Milne Library Instruction Faculty and Rich Dreifuss, Interim Library Instruction Coordinator