Guide to Information Literacy Competencies
What is Information Literacy?
The Association of College & Research Libraries provides the following information:
Information Literacy is the set of skills needed to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information.
The beginning of the 21st century has been called the Information Age because of the explosion of information output and information sources. It has become increasingly clear that students cannot learn everything they need to know in their field of study in a few years of college. Information literacy equips them with the critical skills necessary to become independent lifelong learners.
Too often we assume that as students write research papers and read textbooks they are gaining sufficient IL skills. This is not so. IL skills may be introduced but what is needed is a parallel curriculum in IL forming a strong foundation of a college education.
(Association of College & Research Libraries. Introduction to IL.)
Introduction to This Guide
Steely Library's Research and Instructional Services faculty teach information literacy competencies in a series of core courses taken by most NKU students during their first two years of study: University 101, English 101, Public Speaking 101, and English 291.
We recommend a sequential library curriculum that ensures that all students receive instruction in all areas of library research, from the most fundamental familiarity with university library organization to more advanced strategies for locating, evaluating, and using sources in projects, papers, and speeches. This curriculum takes a building blocks approach, so students gradually become more sophisticated information users as they progress through their courses. This approach also ensures that instruction and assignments in one course are not duplicated in another.
updated: Friday, 13-Jun-2008 15:33:49 EDT