Information Literacy and the Oberlin Education

A short-term approach
A report by the GF Library Committee
September 20, 1996

Abstract.

Access to knowledge is one of the hallmarks of a liberal arts education. As we move towards an increasingly information-based society, the ability to locate information efficiently and use it effectively has become an essential factor in the ability of our graduates to compete professionally and to pursue lifelong learning. In this document we present evidence that some Oberlin students are not able to make adequate use of either print or electronic sources of information, and we call for some modest curricular changes that would remedy this situation.

1. Information literacy is important to a liberal education.

For students to be academically successful at Oberlin and also to be effective afterwards in their lives and careers, it is essential that they develop sound skills in using the information resources that are available to the public through a variety of means and media. Being able to identify, select, critically evaluate, and utilize relevant information on a topic is an essential skill for anyone who is liberally educated.

A number of factors are making the development of such skills among Oberlin students increasingly difficult. While academic libraries such as Oberlin's are by nature complex, the extraordinary growth of knowledge and in particular the rapid development of electronic information technologies have increased the complexity of the library environment. Electronic databases that as recently as a decade ago were searched only by librarians are now routinely used directly by students and faculty. This process of "disintermediation" has made it necessary for users to understand electronic information organization and retrieval techniques. In addition, the Internet and the World Wide Web now make available many resources that previously were available only in print form. While the Internet contains a great deal of information that is useful for academic purposes, it also provides a frightening array of information that is of marginal utility.

Here is a brief list of the skills we see as necessary at this time:

• Understand how information is produced, disseminated, and organized.
  To be effective in locating information, students need to know how it is produced and disseminated. They must be aware of the differences among primary, secondary, and tertiary literature as well as the difference between popular and peer-reviewed literature. To be able to get information once they know where it is located, they must be familiar with the various print and electronic formats used to store information.
  
• Know how to formulate questions.
  A fundamental research skill is knowing how questions are formulated and refined. Before embarking on research, our students should be able to assess the nature of the information they need in order to frame their questions in a way that will facilitate the successful discovery of that information. Furthermore, they need to know how to adapt their queries as their research progresses.
  
• Know how to access information.
  Students must know how (and when) to use a variety of information resources such as catalogs, indexes, and bibliographies, in both electronic and print formats. They must be able to use the Internet and the World Wide Web efficiently and effectively.
  
• Know how to evaluate information.
  With the rapid increase of information that is available, particularly through electronic means, it is more important than ever that students be able to evaluate the quality of the information they find and its appropriateness to the task at hand. Students need to learn how to ask probing questions about the information they encounter -- questions concerning, for example, the place, context, and time in which the information was produced, the reliability and potential biases of the original source of the information, and whether the information has been reviewed by trustworthy referees.
  
• Understand how to make use of information.
  Students must also be proficient in the final step of the research process, making effective and appropriate use of information. The issues surrounding intellectual property and copyright are becoming increasingly complex. Students need to know how to synthesize and reconcile differences in information obtained from varying and sometimes conflicting sources, as well as how to properly cite sources and avoid plagiarism.

2. Information literacy is not adequately covered in the Oberlin curriculum.

These issues are not at present satisfactorily addressed at Oberlin. The reference staff in our libraries observe on a daily basis an inability on the part of a significant number of our students to make effective use the information environment we provide. Consider the following examples cited by the reference librarians:

• A senior English major working on a final paper expressed her frustration at not being able to find the article she wanted in OBIS. After more than three years at Oberlin this student did not realize that OBIS catalogs books and journal titles, but not journal articles. This example is repeated over and over by students in all levels of classes in almost all majors. A common question at the reference desk is "Why can't I find in OBIS any of these articles from my course's reading list?"
  
• A student working on a Sociology paper was asked to find a review article on his topic. The student thought this meant a book review of a book on the topic. Other students have trouble distinguishing between popular magazines and peer-refereed journals. The structures under which information is produced, reviewed, and stored are not transparent to many students.
  
• Many Conservatory performance majors are unaware of the existence of repertoire lists for their fields. These are annotated lists of compositions for a given instrument, period, or genre, such as "Chamber music by American composers." They might be considered the music analogue to annotated bibliographies, and are a basic resource tool for musicians.
  
• Many students do no know how to interact with automated systems, attributing more intelligence to the systems than they could possibly have. For example, one student typed the following into the subject field for a search in OBIS: "electronic properties of solids."
  
• There is a tendency among students to discount information that is not in electronic form, and to accept uncritically information that is based on newer technologies. For example, an Economics student working on a paper on China trade complained to the reference desk that he could not find enough information for his topic. When asked where he had searched for information he replied "The Web."
  
• A student researching a contemporary filmmaker found 900 articles in the Lexis/Nexis system. Most of these only mentioned the filmmaker in passing. Because she did not know how to use "proximity operators" to narrow the search, the student had to look through all 900 articles to find the few substantive ones she was seeking. It is not uncommon for naive searches on Lexis/Nexis to generate 2,000 or more hits.
  
• Most students do not know how to make efficient use of the search capabilities of OBIS and other electronic databases. Many do not realize that they need to use Library of Congress subject headings for subject searches. For example, a subject search on "Skinheads" will yield nothing; the LC heading for this subject is "Fascism." Many more students do not know how to use Boolean operators to limit or refine searches.
  
• Fifteen years ago a biology student who needed to research the ecology and evolution of a living organism might have relied on a single source: Biological Abstracts. A similar search today might also include FirstSearch, Uncover, OhioLINK, the CD-ROM network, or the World-Wide Web. The coverage of these sources differ, they require different search strategies, and they have different approaches to quality control of the information they contain. More information is available today, but our students face problems of locating and evaluating information that never occured to students in the 1980’s.

These are just a few examples cited by the reference librarians as typical of a large number of Oberlin students. Their daily experience has led the reference staff to conclude that many of our students do not have an adequate understanding of information resources and research materials. The fact of "disintermediation" referred to earlier means that students must accept increasing responsibility in this area. Therefore it is vital that acquiring these skills be made part of the undergraduate experience. It may once have been acceptable in some fields to defer the acquisition of bibliographic skills until the early stages of graduate study; it is acceptable no longer.

3. Curricular proposals.

The principles of information literacy are a natural part of the education in any discipline. Since the evidence shows that a significant number of undergraduates are not learning these principles, we suggest that Oberlin take a more coordinated approach to these issues.

In past years the faculty and library staff have worked together to address curricular needs for information literacy. These efforts have resulted in the addition of library-related assignments and bibliographic instruction sessions to individual courses. While these efforts have helped, all too many of our students still lack adequate library skills. It seems apparent that our students must learn these skills more systematically.

At the institutional level Oberlin should make effective use of libraries and information resources a priority. As both A&S and the Conservatory approach their next accreditations, this is an appropriate time to emphasize the need for information literacy among our students. At the department level faculty should consider how information literacy skills might be incorporated into their departmental course sequence in a logical and coherent way. Instruction is needed at two levels:

• First and second year courses should expressly discuss the principles of information literacy. This can be done within the context of existing course content; it does not require major modifications of these courses. Such courses may easily include sections on library resources, the nature of reference materials, formation of research questions, and copyright, plagiarism, and related issues. The reference staff of the library can provide classroom instruction on library resources and research techniques directed at the specific classroom assignments.
  
• Introductory courses can teach the basic principles, but integrating these ideas into the Oberlin experience requires reinforcing them in advanced courses. This can be done in a variety of ways. Some departments have advanced courses on research methods; these are natural platforms for advanced work in information literacy. Some departments may choose to partition this material over several advanced courses that are taken by most of their majors. What is essential here is for departments to plan their curricula so that students receive an integrated sequence of units on information literacy in a range of courses from elementary to advanced. The reference staff can help with classroom sessions on advanced topics and with individual meetings with students planning search strategies.

Of course, departments at Oberlin have structured their courses and their majors in diverse ways. The bimodal introductory/advanced approach may be more applicable in some departments than others. Our intention here is primarily to call attention to the problem, and to leave its solution up to individual departments. We urge departments to discuss with the library staff the integration of information literacy into their curricula.

4. Existing models.

We discuss here some ways that are currently being used to teach information literacy at Oberlin. Many courses already make use of the library staff for bibliographic instruction. In 1995-96 the library reference staff gave 81 in-class lectures on reference materials and had 139 individual meetings with students to discuss research projects.

Here are descriptions of some courses that make particular efforts to instruct students in information literacy:

• Music History 101: Introduction to the History and Literature of Music. This is a 4-hour course required of all Conservatory students and taken by most in their first year. It contains a library skills component in which the students attend a lecture by the Conservatory Public Services Librarian on the use of OBIS and reference tools in music. An assignment on this material counts as 10% of the grade in the course.
• Music History 301: Introduction to Music Research and Writing. This is a 3-hour course required of all Music History students. The course discusses essential bibliographic and research tools for music. It contains a unit on library resources including several lectures by a librarian and a major assignment requiring detailed knowledge of music reference materials.
• Biology 120: Genetics, Evolution, and Ecology. This is a 4-hour course required of all majors and is generally taken in the spring semester of the first year. It includes a literature research project that counts as 12% of the grade for the course. The Science Librarian and the lab instructors explain the use of various electronic and print resources. The students work in teams of four on this project and produce oral reports rather than papers.
• Chemistry 396: Chemical Information. This is a 1-hour course on finding chemical information using both printed and electronic media. It discusses both search strategies and critical evaluation of the information found. It also discusses the use of software of particular interest to chemists, such as equation-editing, chemical structure-editing and molecular modeling software. This course is not required of majors, but majors are strongly encouraged to take it in their junior years and it counts towards a requirement of 9 hours of advanced courses. The course is co-taught by a member of the Chemistry Department and the Science Librarian.
• Art 301: Library Research Methods and Resources in the Visual Arts. This is a 3-hour course on the research process and bibliographic materials, both printed and electronic, in the visual arts. This is not required but it is strongly suggested for Art History majors and it counts towards this major. The course is taught by the Art Librarian.

Departments might choose any of these courses as models, or work with the library staff to devise some other solution for their majors. As the Chemistry course shows, this need not take many resources away from other parts of the curriculum.

This is one instance where the needs of the College and those of individual departments and majors coincide. Information literacy embodies the skills needed for students to undertake research or further study in any area. Students need these skills while they are at Oberlin, and they certainly need them when they leave Oberlin. It is in the interests of all of the faculty to see that these skills are incorporated into the Oberlin education.

The 1996 General Faculty Library Committee consists of John Bucher, Terry Carlton, Ray English, Michael Fisher, Bob Geitz, Steve Huff, Gary Kornblith, Gil Miranda, and Lynne Rogers.