Definition:

Information Literacy is defined briefly as the ability to locate, evaluate and use information. While this sounds extraordinarily simple and self-evident, there is more here than just a set of superficial skills.

In order for our students to be successful in college, as well as in life, we need to equip them to be able to identify what information they need, what types of sources would be most likely to contain that information, and what tools they would need to access those sources. In addition, they need to understand the ethics of information use, including plagiarism, copyright and intellectual property. Finally, they need to be able to put all this knowledge together to create an effective end product. This requires them to put together the whole package of basic research skills, technology skills, critical thinking and evaluation.

Middle States:

The Middle States Commission on Higher Education has made information literacy a part of its accreditation standards in the Characteristics of Excellence in Higher Education (2002). Information literacy is explicitly addressed in “Standard 11: Educational Offerings,” and in “Standard 12: General Education.” Middle States calls information literacy “an intellectual framework for identifying, finding, understanding, evaluating and using information” in the “Context” section of Standard 11 (p.32).

Information Literacy Standards:

The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association, has published the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (2000). These standards have been adopted by Middle States.

ACRL has defined five information literacy standards, each of which has been broken down into numerous performance indicators and outcomes. The complete document may be viewed in either HTML or PDF format.

Information Literacy Goals and Objectives at SU:

The SU librarians have taken the ACRL standards and created a DRAFT set of information literacy goals and objectives for our own students. These goals and objectives have been broken down into levels: first year students (generally 100 level courses), intermediate level students (generally 200 and 300 level courses), and upper level students (generally 400 level courses).

These objectives, either from the SU list or from the complete ACRL document, can be used in course syllabi.

In the Classroom:

Information literacy skills can be taught or reinforced through class assignments such as papers, speeches, group presentations, annotated bibliographies, portfolios, etc. When appropriate, an instructor may request the assistance of a librarian to present relevant skills, tools or sources. Effective information literacy building assignments are often a result of collaboration between a librarian and a course instructor.

Information literacy goals and assessable objectives within a course syllabus make explicit that which is implicit in skill building assignments.

Information Literacy and Instruction