Information Literacy- Week 3 Post

To begin my information literacy quest, I selected Edward K. Owusu-Ansah’s article “Debating definitions of information literacy: enough is enough!” The article was published in Library Review Vol. 54, No. 6 in 2005, and I selected it because I figured it would give me an idea of the multiple definitions of information literacy (and, perhaps, a solid definition, since he claimed that there had been enough debate over the issue).

Owusu-Ansah argued that there is no real conflict between the various definitions of information literacy: rather, they all provide different steps or processes in order for people to achieve information literacy. (At this point, though, he has yet to forward a definition of his own—the simplest he provides was from Stephen Foster, who “equate[s] information literacy with knowing how to use libraries.") In order to illustrate his point that all of the definitions say basically the same thing, Owusu-Ansah spends much of the article presenting a timeline of proposed definitions. Here is a compressed version—feel free to skim; it’s still pretty long:

1974: Paul Zurkowski says that individuals who are information literate are “people trained in the application of information resources to their work.”
1989: ALA defines information literacy as a set of abilities. (Quoting Owusu-Ansah) “[these abilities are] recognizing an information need and locating, evaluating, and using the needed information effectively.”
1990: Michael Eisenberg and Robert Berkowitz introduce big six skills approach. The skills (quoting Owusu-Ansah) are “task definition, information-seeking strategies, location and access, use of information, synthesis, and evaluation.”
1992: Christina S. Doyle expands upon ALA’s definition, giving ten steps on can follow in ALA’s set of three abilities. (I’m not going to list all steps, but you can find them in full in the article).
1993: Carol Kuhlthau interprets information literacy as (quoting Owusu-Ansah) “a way of learning, not a discrete set of skills.” Like her colleagues in the field, Kuhlthau also felt the need to separate her definition into steps, in this case, the six stages of the learning process. (Again, look to the article for the list)
1997: Christine Bruce looks at information literacy as the thinking process that occurs when encountering information. She contributed a list of “seven experiences” representing this process. (See the article)
2000: The ACRL takes numbered lists to a new level, combining all of the previously mentioned steps to a list of five standards, 22 performance indicators, and 87 outcomes.
Thus ends the timeline (Phew!)

Owusu-Ansah basically argues that none of the various other definitions and lists put forth go beyond what the ALA proposed in 1989. He says that all argue that there’s a “deficiency among information seekers and users” that the library has the opportunity to reduce. Not to be left out of the list game, Owusu-Ansah puts forth 15 traits of the information literate, which deal with abilities to identify and determine information needs, strategies for finding information, and understanding issues that go along with gathering information (such as intellectual property). Though Owusu-Ansah says the library is not the only institution responsible and able to teach these traits, it can help the increase of information literacy.

* * *

Armed with the definitions and steps I learned from Owusu-Ansah’s article, I moved onto “Information Literacy and the Public Library,” an article by Jane Harding published in 2008 in Vol 21, No. 4 of Australasian Public Libraries and Information Services. Out of the three articles I read, I found this one to be the most useful and interesting. After quoting the definition of information literacy she was using, “…to be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information” (from the 1989 ALA Presidential Committee on Information Literacy: final report), she went on to give reasons public libraries were well suited for increasing information literacy and challenges that the libraries would have to overcome.

Here’s a list of some of the strengths: Public libraries are recognized as a place of learning, librarians are information literacy experts, public libraries reach a broad client base, public libraries are an access point (for information and technology resources), reference interviews provide teaching moments.

Here are three of the challenges public libraries face: some librarians resist taking on the new role of teacher, public libraries are limited to helping those who use them, public libraries have limited resources.

Harding concludes by saying that public libraries generally do a good job overcoming (or succeeding despite) the challenges and are playing an important role in the development of information literacy. The lists of strengths and challenges will be useful to keep in mind in my future career when I attempt to increase information literacy.

* * *

The final article I surveyed, entitled “Information literacy: The changing library,” was written by Cushla Kapitzke and published in 2001 in Volume 44, Number 5 of Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. Out of all of the articles, I found this to be the least useful, perhaps due to that fact that it is a decade old.

In it, Kapitzke argues that many libraries are being used as “cybraries” (meaning that patrons use their electronic resources without entering the library). Because of this “cybrary” (I don’t know about you all, but that word just makes my skin crawl) trend, users are not having face-to-face interaction with a librarian and are expected to have technical competence, which not all have. Kapitzke says that information literacy—which according to her “consists of a hierarchy of information problem-solving skills"—needs to be developed so that users can find success not only in these “cybraries” (shudder), but in their social practices as well. Though I don’t completely understand how she invisions these skills helping social practices, I suppose the same skills needed to use and understand information could be used to pick up and understand social cues.

That’s the end of my SI 643 novel (sorry it was so long). Here’s hoping the world becomes information literate and Owusu-Ansah, Harding, and Kapitzke live happily ever after.

The Evaluation step of the ADDIE (Week 2 post)

In elementary school, I couldn't decide if I wanted to be a librarian or a teacher when I grew up (and, to be honest, I also considered careers as an astronaut, detective, and famous actress). What's so exciting is that now I see that my choice to become a public librarian means also taking on the role of teacher. One of the many tasks I'm excited to perform in my future career is creating, developing, and teaching classes to library patrons. So this week's readings, which all dealt with the teaching process and resources that can be used to teach, were ones I downloaded and filed in the folder "Will be useful in real life."

The selections from One-Shot Workshop that presented the Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation (ADDIE) model were the most useful, as they presented loose steps to follow when creating library classes. It's nice to have a basic outline for the steps that need to be taken in the process of planning a class, but also allows for flexible implementation with a variety of classes. I also appreciated that the book acknowledged potential issues with the steps they laid out (A paraphrased example: designing in teams is great because you get a variety of people with differing skills and backgrounds, but teams can face challenges because of competing ideas).

The step that intrigued me the most in the ADDIE model was that of evaluation. Is it proposing that before a class is offered, it should be given to a test audience? How does one recruit test students? I know that one of our readings suggested paying participants $10-15 an hour, but that seems like a misuse of the library's limited resources. I know there are no ADDIE police patrolling to make sure the model is used as designed, so I suppose the step could be overlooked, but evaluating a class does seem important.

In your opinion, yet-to-be-named cohort (or, I suppose, anyone who happens to read this), would it be adequate to perform an evaluation after the first time the class is taught? This way, you could see how the class works for its audience, and, though the class members of this session would not benefit from it, their feedback would allow you to improve the class for future sessions. What are other people's ideas for no-cost ways to evaluate library classes? I know the time will come in our lives (probably soon) where we'll actually be creating library classes, and it'd be great to have a variety of methods of evaluation.

Core Competencies for Youth and Teen Librarians

In addition to reading the ALA Core Competencies (my opinions on which I’ll discuss in class), I also looked over the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) Competencies and the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Competencies. I know that I want to work in a public library, and though I can’t decide whether I would rather work in adult, teen, or youth services (to tell the truth, initially, it will probably depend on job opportunities), I am interested in learning as much as I can about each area of librarianship. I’ll save my thoughts on the ALA competences for class, but in this entry, I want to discuss a few of the ALSC and YALSA points that I find particularly important.

Two of the ALSC points that interested me the most were Section III Point 2, “[The librarian] listens and interacts actively when speaking individually with children, families, other patrons, and staff, paying genuine attention to what is being communicated, and confirming understanding,” and Section V Point 3 “[The librarian] respects the patron’s right to browse regardless of age, and provides nonjudgmental answers to their questions.” Though the language doesn’t specifically say this, I interpret both of these points saying (among other things) librarians should not talk down to their patrons, including children. I remember, as a child, becoming frustrated with adults who dumbed everything down and babied me. Conversely, I remember loving it when adults spoke to me in the same voice they used when they spoke to my parents. It may be easy for librarians to break point III-2, and not take all requests from children seriously—they’re kids, what are they going to do? Do they really know what they want?—but if all librarians treat children as patrons with rights to be in the library, the library will become (or remain) a place the kids want to visit.

Which naturally transitions into the subject of the points that interested me most in the YALSA Competencies: namely, keeping teens interested in the library. Section II point 2, “Keep up-to-date with popular culture and technological advances that interest young adults,” strikes me a way that Teen Services Librarians can become, if not peers, relatable to teens, thus making the library somewhat relatable. Another point in the YALSA Competencies that caught my attention was section I point 4, “Encourage young adults to become lifelong library users by helping them to discover what libraries offer, how to use library resources, and how libraries can assist them in actualizing their overall growth and development.” Though this point is quite broad, it reminded me of some specifics that my local library is hoping to put forth within the next few years. These specifics are a part of the hefty strategic plan for the library (for those interested in reading, this issue is related to Service Initiative Three), and some of the ones I found particularly intriguing involved giving teens leadership roles in library (and community) volunteer efforts, promoting teens through volunteer ranks, and creating a mentoring program where teens mentor tweens. By creating programs that allow teens to grow within the library and get them involved in positions of responsibility, it keeps teens interested in the library (while helping them—bonus!)