ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 9 4 8 1 C& RL News Information literacy: Models for the curriculum By Barbara Mac Adam Head, Undergraduate Library University o f Michigan Creating a fundam ental understanding o f the nature and principles o f library-based research. I nform ation literacy has b een defined as the ability to find, evaluate and use inform ation effectively in personal and professional lives.1 ACRL/BIS Section’s “M odel S tatem ent o f Biblio­ graphic O bjectives” advocates th e role o f biblio­ graphic instruction “not only to provide students with the specific skills n eed ed to com plete assign­ m ents, b u t to p rep are individuals to make effective life-long use o f inform ation, inform ation sources, and inform ation systems.”2 T he challenge for academ ic librarians is to d e ­ velop program s and services that foster in students the in d ep en d en t analytical thinking and inform a­ tion skills d em an d ed by an increasingly technologi­ cal and inform ation-dependent environm ent. If librarians are to provide user instruction th a t suc­ cessfully helps students becom e inform ation liter­ ate, they n eed a broad understanding o f how to design instruction and teach effectively with this objective in m ind. O u tlin ed below are re c e n t courses developed at th e University o f Michigan which may suggest curriculum models incorporat­ ing inform ation literacy as an instructional objec­ 1 Proposed statem ent revision to ALA Policy 52.6 approved by th e ALA U ser Instruction for In fo r­ mation Literacy C om m ittee, January 8, 1990. 2ACRL/BIS Task Force on M odel Statem ent o f Objectives, “M odel statem ent o f objectives for a c a d e m ic b ib lio g r a p h ic in s tr u c tio n : D r a f t revision,” C & R L News 48 (May 1987): 256-60. T tive. O ne is an undergraduate course on inform a­ tion gathering for students majoring in com m uni­ hcea tion, and th e other a graduate course on biblio­ graphic instruction in th e School o f Inform ation and Library Studies (SILS). Teaching undergraduates: Communication 250 D eveloped in 1985 based on a course begun at th e University of M innesota,3 Com m unication 250, “Inform ation G athering for Mass M edia,” teaches th e strategies used in finding inform ation, evaluat­ ing its validity and reporting th e results in a n u m b er o f mass m edia applications, including journalism , public relations, m arketing and advertising.4 P re ­ lim inary consultation with C om m unication faculty and m edia professionals indicated th at it was criti­ cal for students entering an inform ation-depend­ e n t profession to be able to identify, retrieve and analyze inform ation effectively in an increasingly electronic environm ent. Established as a p re re q u i­ site for all writing classes in com m unication, th e 3Kathy H ansen and Jean W ard, Search Strate­ gies in Mass C om m unication (N.Y.: Longm an, 1987). 4T h e course at M ichigan was envisioned and designed by Marion Marzolf, Professor o f C om m u­ nication at th e University o f Michigan, in collabora­ tion w ith staff o f the U ndergraduate Library’. November 1990 / 949 course content also was designed on th e assum p­ tion th at effective w riting in mass m edia proceeds from th e ability to analyze and synthesize inform a­ tion effectively. O ne o f th e course goals was to make students capable o f using a wide variety o f inform ation resources both w ithin and outside of libraries and able to think critically about th e infor­ m ation retrieved. O ne o f th e interesting challenges in teaching inform ation gathering to com m unication concen­ trators is th at m uch o f th e inform ation they will ultim ately identify and use comes from sources not necessarily found in libraries: personal source n e t­ works, interviews, observation, surveys, public record “p ap er trails.” At th e same tim e, th e course was not intended to provide m ere pre-professional training b u t a broad understanding o f how hum an knowledge aggregates both w ithin and outside scholarly disciplines. This very challenge, however, is w hat makes such a course so helpful as a general curriculum m odel for inform ation literacy, since people throughout th e ir lives will also find that while libraries provide a cornerstone for inform a­ tion resources, inform ation is hardly th e territory solely o f libraries. Bibliographic instruction with inform ation literacy in mind, even in academic libraries w here th e resources are very extensive, m ust help students extend th e ir research strategy to sources outside the library environm ent and help th em recognize w here libraries can provide a key or link to an ultim ate source. C om bining th e research m ethods used by jo u r­ nalists and by librarians and using th e problem ­ solving m odel applied to th e inform ation industry, th e course em phasizes inform ation gathering in a technological era along with critical thinking in the “rich to excess” environm ent o f th e inform ation age. A series o f weekly building-block assignments provides students with the opportunity to apply learned principles to inform ation-gathering situ­ ations, and help th e instructors gauge students’ m astery o f th e concepts presented. W ith question analysis5 selected as th e underlying conceptual framework, one technique used was to introduce specific models which would help students u n d e r­ 5A nne B eau b ien , S haron H ogan, an d M ary George, Learning the Library: Concepts and M eth­ ods fo r Effective Bibliographic Instruction (N.Y.: Bowker, 1982), 74. Search Strategy and Sources for Biographical Information In addition to th e eight steps in question analysis for any research topic, w hen beginning a biographic search, consider th e following two questions: 1. How “well known” is th e individual? 2. Is the person o f cu rren t or retrospective interest? “G iants” “M ickey M an tles” “W ho?” M artin L uther King George Bush H ashim Khan G reta Garbo Alice W alker Elvis Grbac John F. Kennedy Steffi G raf Lana Pollack Babe R uth Stephen W. Hawking Clara Hale Shakespeare E ddie M urphy “W arhols” B ernard G oetz M arla Maples Jessica M cClure Like characters in a novel, we get inform ation about people by: • what they say • what they do • what others say about them (Note: T he above is included as a handout, with th e reverse side containing a “Probability C h art” listing sources ranging from th e online/card catalog, general encyclopedias, etc., through various tools, to public records and personal interviews with a check m ark indicating appropriateness for each category o f individual.) Fig. 1. Biographical Inform ation Search Model 950 / C& RL News stand th e p articu lar elem ents in h e re n t in a specific inform ation gathering problem , particularly those problem s outside th e construct o f academ ic disci­ plines. O ne such m odel is d escrib ed here. A model for biographical information A com m on research p ro b lem involves gathering and analyzing inform ation about people. In th e following m odel, stu d en ts are en co u rag ed to see th at bo th th e am ount and form at o f available m a te ­ rial d ep en d s to a large extent on th e d eg ree and n atu re o f th e individual’s fam e (see F igure 1). • Giants: individuals (often deceased) in w hom a culture has h ad sustained in terest over tim e so th at th e re is a length and b re a d th to th e m aterial available on them . • M ickey Mantles: individuals o f exceptional fame (eith er at one tim e in th e past o r currently) based on th e ir accom plishm ents o r place in a cu l­ tu re or history. • WhosP: individuals th e “average” p erso n may never have h e a rd o f b u t who may have “fam e” within certain lim ited dom ains (e.g., local politics, squash, contem porary poetry). • Warhols: “ordinary p e o p le ” w ho vault to n o to ­ riety for som e circ u m stan ces (e.g., victim s o f crimes, p erp etra to rs o f crim es, p eo p le com m itting acts o f heroism , p eople involved in som e kind o f scandal). T he m odel is p re se n te d in class w ith guided discussion designed to get stu d en ts to p re d ic t logi­ cally through question analysis w h ere inform ation on each “category” o f p erso n m ight be found. (O ne o f the m odel’s advantages is its flexibility. It allows th e instructor to alter th e list o f nam es u n d e r each heading to suit any circum stance: class level or interest, nam es in th e news, etc., and actually b e ­ gan as a m odel for finding literary criticism .) Ideally, students com e to u nderstand: • fame (i.e., sustained in terest and recognition over tim e w ithin a culture) is d ifferen t from tra n ­ sient notoriety (i.e., a quick th ru st into th e news spotlight); • the limits im posed by each o f o u r cultural experiences, learn ed value systems, o u r age, in te r­ ests, etc., may bias o u r search for inform ation; • conversely, cultural bias in scholarly study as well as mass com m unication influences society’s “inform ation reco rd ”; • for each category th e re are correlating infor­ mation sources and strategies; • th e m odel is only m eant as a way to help m ap out a logical search strategy, not serve as a form ula. T he m odel conform s to several basic principles of user instruction in th a t it: • builds upon th e com m on sense and/or “every­ day” u nderstanding o f students; • p resen ts a unifying conceptual fram ew ork th a t helps th e m categorize an inform ation g a th e r­ ing p ro b lem o r situation; • provokes th e m ental inventory and em ulates th e actual search strategy ap p ro p riate to th e sp e­ cific problem ; • e n c o u ra g e s c reativ e a n d critical th in k in g about how “inform ation” is g en erated , tran sm itted and re ta in e d in o u r civilization. A series o f such m odels are u sed th ro u g h o u t th e course to illustrate specific problem -solving p a ra ­ digm s w ithin th e basic fram ew ork o f q uestion analysis. T h e goal in this class was to establish conceptual fram ew orks students could extend to inform ation gathering in th e ir academ ic, p ro fes­ sional and personal lives, by building on th e ir exist­ ing rep e rto ry o f com m on u nderstanding. It is this b le n d o f th e ability to apply a general m odel o f inform ation gathering to each specific new situ­ ation w ith th e skill to go about it th a t is th e tru e hallm ark o f inform ation literacy. Teaching librarians to teach SILS 755, “In stru ctio n in th e Use o f In fo rm a­ tio n ,” is designed to teach librarians how to ed u cate users in th e effective use o f libraries and inform a­ tion for professional and personal needs. W hile th e basic elem ents o f th e course syllabus have changed little since th e first tim e th e c u rre n t course was tau g h t in 1988, this spring th e te rm “inform ation literacy” surfaced as a th e m e for th e first tim e p e r se. In th e context o f this course, th e m odel d e ­ scribed operates equally effectively, b u t differently in th a t it helps SILS graduate students • conceptualize an inform ation gathering situ­ ation for them selves; • explore a m odel th ey can em ploy to instruct stu d en ts dealing w ith sim ilar research problem s; • u n d e rsta n d th e c o n c e p t o f “m o d els” as a teaching device and as a way o f m aking a particular conceptual fram ew ork “real” to students. W ithin th e larger course context, th e graduate stu d en ts b e tte r u n d e rsta n d bo th th e why’s and how ’s o f creating inform ation literacy in students, in p articu lar th a t it is not som ething done in 50 m inutes, b u t th ro u g h a host o f strategies from handouts to signs, from classroom instruction to collaboration w ith o th e r faculty on incorporating in f o r m a t i o n l i t e r a c y o b je c tiv e s w ith i n t h e curriculum . SILS 755 students are p re se n te d w ith th e M ickey M antle m odel for biographical infor­ m ation and th e n given an assignm ent to develop a teaching m odel for o ne o f th e following situations: • finding speeches and quotes; • finding inform ation on th e quality o f life in a com m unity; • finding inform ation on c u rre n t events. T h e quality o f th e m odels d ep en d s on how well each one helps p o tential students form th e appro- November 1990 / 951 You need reliable quantitative data to justify collection management decisions. You need a flexible analysis system designed with your library’s goals in mind. COLLECTION r Introducing........................OCLC/AMIGOS ANALYSIS Collection Analysis Systems. Collection Analysis CD compares your holdings against those of similar institutions, using a subset of the OCLC database on compact disc. Tape Analysis gives you a custom-designed MARC tape analysis for your library or group. A Tape Match against Books for College How does Libraries is also offered. your collection OCLC/AMIGOSCollection Analysis Systems measure up? Available exclusively in the U.S. from AMIGOS Bibliographic Council, Inc. 11300 N orth Central Expressway, Suite 321 Dallas, Texas 75243 (800) 843-8482 (214) 750-6130 ◄ priate search strategy to find inform ation in each area. T he future teachers u n derstand th a t a good m odel should be as general as possible (i.e., th e m odel is applicable in th e widest possible n u m b er o f related situations), a good m odel should facili­ tate understanding and not confuse th e situation, a good m odel is simple and straightforward. Success­ ful creation o f a good m odel in each o f th e th ree situations requires recognition o f th e essential ele­ m en t or key to understanding p e rtin e n t to each one: Speeches a n d quotes. E stablish access point (subject, speaker, tim e period). Quality o f life. Judged differently by different people; first establish th e quality o f life m easures and th e n th e appropriate strategy for each. C urrent events. R ecorded inform ation is d e ­ p e n d en t upon th e distance from th e tim e o f the event and th e im portance o f th e event. The future Are th e re any general principles for academ ic librarians in creating users who are inform ation literate? T he bibliographic instruction literature o f two decades is rich with suggestions to help librari­ ans engaged in instruction move beyond source explication to creating fundam ental understanding o f th e n atu re and principles o f library-based re ­ search. O u r experience enforces m uch o f this lit­ eratu re in looking at w hat is req u ired to articulate these principles in such a way th a t they move students to overall inform ation literacy, i.e., th e ability to find, evaluate and use inform ation effec­ tively in th e ir personal and professional lives. T he challenge to academ ic librarians faced w ith th e im m ediate task o f teaching all levels o f users to deal with th e w ealth o f library resources at h an d is to: • p resen t instruction w ithin th e fram ew ork o f technology, including conceptual frameworks th a t foster both th e intellectual understanding and th e practical m ethods requisite for inform ation g ath er­ ing in an increasingly electronic environm ent; • develop facilitating models th a t build upon stu d en ts’ general understanding o f th e way things work in life, and help them to fit new inform ation gathering problem s within known frameworks; • reco g n ize an d h elp stu d e n ts u n d e rs ta n d w here th e library serves as an en d resource and w here it can serve as a bridge to th e w ider universe o f inform ation; • continue and expand th e ir collaboration with non-librarian faculty in building instruction within curriculum ; • identify and p u rsu e opportunities for collabo­ ration and sharing w ith high-school librarians, public librarians and cam pus adm inistrators to establish m odel inform ation literacy program s.