Integrating Information Literacy into the Curriculum
Oberlin College Library's Faculty Workshop
This page presents text as displayed on the poster
session backboard
Abstract
In the fall of 1996, Oberlin College's
Faculty Committee on the Library worked with the Director of
Libraries to write a document outlining problems students face in the
library, and recommending goals for information literacy throughout
the curriculum. As an outgrowth of those discussions, an ad hoc
committee of faculty and librarians collaborated to design a series
of information literacy workshops for faculty. Nine instruction
sessions were developed and taught by reference librarians from the
main, art, science, and conservatory libraries; the Director of
Libraries; the Head of Monographs; and the chair of the Faculty
Library Committee. Practice sessions in computing center labs
followed several of the instruction periods. This presentation covers
the choice of material covered in workshops, some of the problems
encountered in presenting "BI" sessions tailored for faculty, and how
the faculty ultimately responded.
The
Problem
- Information literacy is not sufficiently
addressed by the Oberlin curriculum
- Awareness among faculty of students'
information illiteracy is low
- Current library instruction programs, although
active, have limitations:
- Cannot reach all students
- Do not provide a comprehensive approach to
information literacy
Goals
- Raise faculty awareness of students'
information literacy needs
- Collaborate with faculty in incorporating
information literacy into the Oberlin curriculum
- Teach Oberlin students basic components of
information literacy:
- Understand how information is produced,
disseminated, and organized
- Know how to formulate questions
- Know how to access information
- Know how to evaluate
information
- Understand how to make use of
information
Workshop
Objectives
- Introduce information literacy issues and
provide an overview of key concepts and types of
resources
- Stress the development of research strategies
based on concepts rather than tools
- Update the faculty's knowledge of information
technology and resources
- Provide hands-on opportunities to translate
concepts into practical skills
- Foster discussion among faculty about how to
teach information literacy to students
Tools and
Techniques
- Lectures with projected outlines
(PowerPoint/Web presentations)
- Online demonstration of sources during
class
- Handouts distributed at each
session
- Web site for all course materials
- Hands-on lab sessions with structured
exercises
- Sample reference questions to stimulate
thinking
- Breakout sessions for small-group
discussion
- Videotapes of each session for those unable to
attend
Outcome and
Response
- Raised information literacy awareness on
campus
- Reinforced faculty/librarian
collaboration
- Information literacy incorporated into
college's long-range planning
- Some faculty integrated new ideas into
courses
- Increased demand for course-related
instruction by librarians
- Librarians improved teaching methods and
instruction session content
- New initiatives in the Conservatory of
Music
Future
Directions
- Collaborate with newly-established Oberlin
Center for Technologically Enhanced Teaching (OCTET)
- Develop additional workshops for
faculty
- Work with individual academic
departments
- Encourage increased participation,
particularly among junior faculty
- Apply for grant to support information
literacy initiative
To the Poster
Session Introduction
To the Faculty
Workshop Homepage
To the Information
Literacy Initiatives page
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