Student Learning Outcome 3

Information Literacy

Before starting the MLIS program at UNCG in 2014, I was not familiar with the term “information literacy,” even though I used information literacy skills every day, as do most people. Every time I search for something online, use information to make a decision or prove a point, or share information with others, I am using skills that fall under information literacy.

​

The first component of information literacy is the ability to locate information, a task that seems easy at first, but can be much more difficult than most people expect. By now, almost everyone knows how to type something into Google, but that does not always mean that they will find the information they are actually looking for. In order to meet an information need, one must know how and where to search for information.

More than ever, our students need to possess the ability to evaluate information, something that does not come naturally to many of them. Teachers and librarians have stressed the necessity of evaluating information sources for years, but the general public finally caught on during the “fake news” crisis that became a major talking point during the 2016 election season. Many people began to realize the importance of being able to locate credible information and dismiss propaganda and other biased sources.

There are a number of standards for librarians, particularly school librarians, that address information literacy. There are three sets of standards that I have been particularly influenced by during my time in the program and as an educator: the AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner, the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, and the ISTE Standards for Students and Educators. These standards all emphasize teaching students to locate, evaluate, and use information in an inquiry-based learning process. The AASL and Information Literacy Competency standards both begin with students posing a question (AASL, 2009) and identifying an information need (ALA, 2007). From there, they progress through finding the appropriate information to meet their need, evaluating it for accuracy, bias, and relevance, applying new knowledge, and sharing knowledge with others. The ISTE standards place a higher emphasis on using technology throughout the inquiry process, but still utilize the same information literacy skills (ISTE, 2016).

Though we first discussed information literacy in LIS 600: Fundamentals of Library and Information Studies, it wasn’t until later in the program that I began to truly understand the importance of teaching our patrons how to use information literacy skills on their own. In LIS 620: Information Sources and Services, one of our major assignments was to conduct 2 mock reference interviews, one with our professor and another student, and one with a person of our choice. The actual interview process reminded me of just how little the average person understands about the information-seeking process, and highlighted how information literacy skills can greatly reduce the amount of stress, confusion, and misinformation involved in the process.

In LIS 654, I wrote a unit plan with a social studies teacher that began with a lesson on evaluating online sources of information, specifically news sites relating to government and legal issues. The goal of this lesson was to get the students to think critically about where the information they find online comes from, and not just rely on the first thing they see when they google a topic. Following a class discussion of different ways to evaluate websites, students were required to locate 2 website relating to the topics that would be on their class discussion boards later, and then use a rating scale to evaluate those websites.Students examined a wide variety of websites, and most were able to articulate why the websites they chose were or were not suitable for locating evidence for their discussion posts. I would expect to be teaching similar lessons every year, in order to improve students’ information literacy skills.

Throughout the MLIS program, I have learned about the meaning and importance of information literacy, enhanced my own skills, and learned about ways that I can help others become more information literate. I will continue to share this knowledge throughout my career as a librarian, and do my part to create a better-informed and civically active society.

REFERENCES

ALA. (2007, July 20). Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&template=%2FContentManagement%2FContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=33553

ARTIFACTS

COLLABORATIVE UNIT PLAN

REFERENCE INTERVIEW