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Information Literacy in the 
Seminary
Patsy Yang, Gateway Seminary
Jonathan McCormick, Gateway Seminary

ABSTR AC T The purpose of this conversation group was to develop 
a list of resources, ideas, and concerns related to information liter-
acy in seminaries. The session started with some quick polls on how 
schools are doing information literacy (IL) right now. We learned 
that with COVID-19, almost everyone’s teaching interfaces changed 
to online and most reference and IL interactions have been via 
Zoom, online classrooms, chat and email. After the polls, we formed 
four groups to discuss the following topics: Starting an IL Program, 
Administrative Buy-In to the Need for IL Training of Students, Tiered 
Approaches to IL, and Ways to Involve Faculty in IL. Each group 
provided their conversation results in a Google Doc. At the end of 
the session, we had a few minutes to hear back from some of the 
groups. Before and following the session, attendees continued to 
add to the ideas under each area and developed a non-comprehen-
sive bibliography.

Below are the bibliography and notes from each of the small groups. 
One takeaway from our time together is that we need to continue 
this conversation. Some suggestions were to develop a LibGuide 
and have a followup webinar conversation group. An Information 
Literacy for Religion and Theology Google group (groups.google.com/
forum/#!forum/information-literacy-religion-and-theology) was 
created after the session, which you are welcome to join. Members 
of that group may continue to add to the Google docs we started 
during the session.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Association of Christian Librarians. n.d. “Information Liter-
acy Interest Group.” LibGuide. acl.libguides.com/c.
php?g=350505&p=6874777. [Includes bibliographies, syllabi, 

http://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/information-literacy-religion-and-theology
http://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/information-literacy-religion-and-theology
http://acl.libguides.com/c.php?g=350505&p=6874777
http://acl.libguides.com/c.php?g=350505&p=6874777


Conversation Groups  145

ACRL IL standards and frameworks and much more. Continu-
ously updated.]

Badke, William B. 2012. Teaching Research Processes: The Faculty 
Role in the Development of Skilled Student Researchers. Witney, 
UK: Chandos Publishing.

Bash, Cassaundra. 2015. “One-on-One versus One-Shot: A Compari-
son of a General Psychology Class — Fall 2013 and Spring 2014.” 
Catholic Library World 85, no. 3 (March): 167–71.

Bradley, James E. and Richard A. Muller. 2016. Church History: An 
Introduction to Research Methods and Resources. Second edition. 
Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing 
Company.

Burkhardt, Joanna M. 2016. Teaching Information Literacy Reframed: 
50 Framework-Based Exercises for Creating Information-Literate 
Learners. Chicago: Neal-Schuman.

Eyre, Jodi Reeves, John C. Maclachlan, and Christa Williford, 
eds. 2017. A Splendid Torch: Learning and Teaching in Today’s 
Academic Libraries. Council on Library and Information 
Resources, ERIC Clearinghouse. eric.ed.gov/?id=ED577048.

Farmer, Lesley S. J. 2016. “Teaching Ethics to Teens via School 
Library Reference Services.” Catholic Library World 86, no. 4 
(June): 242–50.

Farrell, R. and W. Badke. 2015. “Situating Information Literacy in the 
Disciplines: A Practical and Systematic Approach for Academic 
Librarians.” Reference Services Review 43, no. 2: 319–40.

Gibson, Craig and Sharon Mader, eds. 2019. Building Teaching and 
Learning Communities: Creating Shared Meaning and Purpose. 
Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries.

Harmeyer, D. and J. J. Baskin. 2018. Implementing the Information 
Literacy Framework: A Practical Guide for Librarians. Lanham: 
Rowman and Littlefield.

Hollister, Christopher Vance. 2010. Best Practices for Credit-Bearing 
Information Literacy Courses. Chicago: Association of College and 
Research Libraries.

http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED577048


146  AT L A 2020 PROCEEDINGS

Jacobson, Trudi E. and Thomas P. Mackey. 2007. Information Liter-
acy Collaborations that Work. Information Literacy Sourcebooks, 
vol. 4. New York: Neal-Schuman.

Kahneman, Daniel. 2012. Thinking, Fast and Slow. London: Penguin 
Press. [The insights this book offers are real gamechangers 
in getting students to look critically at their study/learning/
research habits.]

Kaplowitz, Joan R. 2014. Designing Information Literacy Instruction: 
The Teaching Tripod Approach. Rowman & Littlefield.

Kidd, Terry T. and Jared Keengwe, eds. 2010. Adult Learning in the 
Digital Age: Perspectives on Online Technologies and Outcomes. 
Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.

Lowe, M. Sara, Abby Currier, and Steven Graunke. 2020. “Docu-
menting the Value of Librarians in the Classroom: Results from 
a Mixed-Methods Research Collaboration with Campus Part-
ners.” College & Research Libraries 81, no. 3 (April): 492–508. doi.
org/10.5860/crl.81.3.492.

McClure, Randall and James P. Purdy, eds. 2016. The Future Scholar: 
Researching and Teaching the Frameworks for Writing and Infor-
mation Literacy. Medford, NJ: Information Today, Inc.

McClure, Randall and M. Kramer. 2016. Rewired: Research-Writing 
Partnerships in a Frameworks State of Mind. Chicago, Illinois: 
Association of College and Research Libraries.

Neely, Teresa Y. 2006. Information Literacy Assessment: Standards-
Based Tools and Assignments. Chicago: American Library Asso-
ciation.

Presnell, Jenny L. 2019. The Information-Literate Historian: A 
Guide to Research for History Students. Third edition. New York: 
Oxford University Press.

Ragains, Patrick and M. Sandra Wood, eds. 2016. The New Informa-
tion Literacy Instruction: Best Practices. Best Practices. Lanham: 
Rowman & Littlefield.

Reeves, Jodi, ed. 2017. A Splendid Torch: Learning and Teaching in 
Today’s Academic Libraries. Washington DC: Council on Library 
and Information Resources.

http://doi.org/10.5860/crl.81.3.492
http://doi.org/10.5860/crl.81.3.492


Conversation Groups  147

Stefaniak, Jill E., ed. 2020. Cases on Learning Design and Human 
Performance Technology. Advances in Human Resources 
Management and Organizational Development Book Series. 
Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference, IGI Global. doi.
org/10.4018/978-1-7998-0054-5.

Smiley, Bobby, ed. Information Literacy and Theological Librarian-
ship: Theory and Praxis. Chicago: Atla, 2019.

Solomon, Amy, Gwenn Wilson, and Terry Taylor, eds. 2012. 100% 
Information Literacy Success. Second edition. Boston: Wadsworth, 
Cengage Learning.

Ullah, Midrar and Kanwal Ameen. 2019. “Teaching Informa-
tion Literacy Skills to Medical Students: Perceptions of Health 
Sciences Librarians.” Health Information and Libraries Journal 36, 
no. 4 (December): 357–66. doi.org/10.1111/hir.12279.

Varnum, Kenneth J., ed. 2019. Beyond Reality: Augmented, Virtual, 
and Mixed Reality in the Library. Chicago: ALA Editions.

Wray, Christina C. and Renee C. Montgomery. 2019. Bridging the 
Skill Gap: Helping Non-Traditional Students Develop Research 
Skills When They Need It Most. Minneola, FL: Adult Higher 
Education Alliance. eric.ed.gov/contentdelivery/servlet/
ERICServlet?accno=ED577048.

SMALL GROUPS

Starting an IL Program
docs.google.com/document/d/1DlvZlPrCyjcLBQ3mSaRfYCF4BtlO2f
H7VYva_wi37TA/edit
Unfortunately, no one was in this group or they were not able to take 
notes. We hope to address this area soon.

Administrative Buy-In to the Need for IL Training of Students
docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vStRO2TBKL3v1WbvHOHS-
vqs2LbGHM-v66GzPTdphr-uqntgVGpsgAYblFv4_lcBpOJBtF8wOeC_
x3hw/pub

• Use the ATS standards for IL to help administration see the need.

http://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-0054-5
http://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-0054-5
http://doi.org/10.1111/hir.12279
http://eric.ed.gov/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=ED577048
http://eric.ed.gov/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=ED577048
http://docs.google.com/document/d/1DlvZlPrCyjcLBQ3mSaRfYCF4BtlO2fH7VYva_wi37TA/edit
http://docs.google.com/document/d/1DlvZlPrCyjcLBQ3mSaRfYCF4BtlO2fH7VYva_wi37TA/edit
http://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vStRO2TBKL3v1WbvHOHSvqs2LbGHM-v66GzPTdphr-uqntgVGpsgAYblFv4_lcBp
http://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vStRO2TBKL3v1WbvHOHSvqs2LbGHM-v66GzPTdphr-uqntgVGpsgAYblFv4_lcBp
http://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vStRO2TBKL3v1WbvHOHSvqs2LbGHM-v66GzPTdphr-uqntgVGpsgAYblFv4_lcBp


148  AT L A 2020 PROCEEDINGS

• Approach the need for IL as a student formation issue (forming 
students in understanding news media in addition to the more 
traditional/academic side of IL through research).

• Ask faculty who do IL in their classes (or ask library staff who 
do it) to inform administration of improvements they see 
in research methods and writing style and why they started 
including IL in the first place.

• Ask Bill Badke and his academic dean(?) to do a webinar for 
ATS on IL and why they require this for all students.

Tiered Approaches to IL: What Different Schools Are Doing
docs.google.com/document/d/1J83N44cqLODcEsbzqnXjMby-
4meXMspS0hxnGfDYcOM/edit?usp=sharing

• New student orientation. 1-2 hour seminar. –B. Mayer
• New student orientation. Faculty are excited about Zotero. One-

on-one engagement with students. –Tonya Fawcett
• Mandatory info session for MDiv. 3-hour session covering the 

library catalog, accessing e-books and more. –Daniel Baek. 
• Required session. Website with YouTube videos for instruc-

tion and commentary access. –Katie Kinney Writing Center at 
Covenant

• Online orientation. Run through student services. DMin session 
for first semester students. No organized faculty connection. 
Biblical studies faculty refer students to the library. –Kenneth 
Cochrane

• A lot of faculty conferences with HathiTrust access. –Megan 
Welsh (public university with bachelor’s and master’s degrees)

Ways to Involve Faculty in IL
docs.google.com/document/d/1LTTiA8HwcDjVJ-M35QYSZAzn-
pf3i98Lqp6W39elTQHw/pub
Summary of ideas: It is an iterative, long-time process to help faculty 
be aware of the opportunities. Demonstrate to the faculty that 
student work will improve if students participate in information 
literacy activities. We can do that demonstration in class. –Bill Badke

http://docs.google.com/document/d/1J83N44cqLODcEsbzqnXjMby-4meXMspS0hxnGfDYcOM/edit?usp=sharing 
http://docs.google.com/document/d/1J83N44cqLODcEsbzqnXjMby-4meXMspS0hxnGfDYcOM/edit?usp=sharing 
http://docs.google.com/document/d/1LTTiA8HwcDjVJ-M35QYSZAznpf3i98Lqp6W39elTQHw/pub
http://docs.google.com/document/d/1LTTiA8HwcDjVJ-M35QYSZAznpf3i98Lqp6W39elTQHw/pub


Conversation Groups  149

• Help faculty to realize this is about their courses, students, and 
their students’ learning. It’s not about librarians pushing into 
their classes, but their vested interests we’re trying to tap into.

• Get a required IL course into the curriculum—faculty see the 
difference in students who take the course. Some may require 
that course as a prerequisite or corequisite of their courses.

• Never take for granted that faculty understand what IL is or 
how it affects their students, etc. It takes constant effort to keep 
faculty engaged and new faculty learning about it. Have your 
academic dean and faculty work together on this.

• Stay in contact with faculty. Initiate by talking with the profes-
sors directly in person. They need the education as well on how 
to use resources and how to construct instructions without 
dated methods, requirements, or prohibitions such as no online 
resources allowed. If the faculty use it too, the students will 
learn alongside. Remember that not everyone will cooperate.

• Try to show faculty the difference in quality of student papers 
in the outcome. We asked faculty in a faculty meeting whether 
they liked the research papers their students were turning in. 
When they said no, I suggested having their students meet with 
me one-on-one each semester. The result has been four or five 
faculty members now requiring this each semester in all of their 
classes involving research papers.

• What if online only? How to initiate with faculty? Make a video 
in Canvas or through Screencasting. Put it where they can incor-
porate it into the course. If online only, provide good research 
support. Philllps Seminary is small and is online now. We mail 
books, scan and send articles, whatever is needed. We do the 
legwork since students can’t be here in person.


