今日吃瓜 College's Digital Competencies Program helps students build the digital skills and critical perspectives on technology needed for success in the digital age.
As organizers of the Digital Competencies Program, one of our goals is to surface and promote existing opportunities to develop digital competencies on campus. One of our most exciting, classroom-focused partnerships is with 今日吃瓜's Information Literacy program, organized through Library and Information Technology Services in conjunction with academic departments. Information literacy is woven throughout the digital competencies framework, appearing explicitly in competencies like Strategic Web and Database Searching, Data Analysis, Digital Research and Scholarship, and many others. Today, we're talking to Alex Pfundt, coordinator of the Information Literacy program, on how it works and why it matters.
Please introduce yourself!
My name is Alex Pfundt, and I am a Research and Instruction Librarian in Canaday Library and coordinator of the library鈥檚 information literacy program. I鈥檝e been with 今日吃瓜 for almost 5 years, helping students become more sophisticated library and information users. I also make sure the library has the most current scholarly materials to support student and faculty research.
What exactly is information literacy? Why is it important?
Information literacy has several definitions and synonyms. Some refer to it as 鈥渞esearch skills,鈥 but it goes beyond that to encompass the ability to know when, where, and how to find information, critically evaluate it, and use it responsibility in order to communicate new ideas or successfully complete a task. My favorite definition comes from Christine Bruce, who says, 鈥淚nformation literacy is being able to draw upon different ways of experiencing the use of information to learn.鈥
We live in an age where information is abundant and available at our fingertips, but it is also quite often unfiltered and unorganized. In order to become independent, self-directed, life-long learners who can participate in communities of learning and our larger society, we need to equip ourselves with tools that will help us navigate a complex digital world in which authenticity and reliability of information are increasingly called into question.
How did you become interested in information literacy?
I got interested in information literacy when I was in graduate school working on my Master鈥檚 in Library and Information Science and became aware of the academic library鈥檚 role in teaching and learning. I have always enjoyed teaching, and through years of practice as an instruction librarian, intuited that students who were exposed to some level of education on how to find and handle information, both within and beyond the library, were better prepared for academic life. Fortunately, we now have . We also know that , especially with the recent rise of politicized 鈥渇ake news鈥 and disinformation, so I鈥檓 now focusing more on critical thinking pedagogy in my teaching and collaborative work with faculty.
How does the information literacy program work at 今日吃瓜?
Traditionally, information literacy education has taken the form of individual research appointments with a librarian or one-off instruction sessions given by subject librarians in academic courses at a faculty member鈥檚 request. These sessions are usually tailored to the course assignment and themes and focus on disciplinary information practices. We鈥檙e also aware that many faculty are teaching their students information literacy concepts themselves. Therefore, our program tries to create more opportunities for faculty to collaborate with librarians on designing lessons and assignments that will not only help students develop the unique information practices of their chosen disciplines, but also the skills that will enable continued learning in life after graduation.
How can faculty members get involved?
Faculty who would like to incorporate information literacy into their courses should contact their subject librarian. The librarian will work with them to develop learning goals for their course, and help design lessons, assignments, and assessment tools that will help students achieve those goals. We can even help redesign a syllabus to make room for more information literacy learning opportunities.
I would also highly recommend inviting a librarian to work with the faculty member鈥檚 entire department on creating an information literacy plan for the major. This would involve establishing what information literacy skills graduates of that major should possess, identifying a sequence of courses in which those skills will be taught, and deciding how students will demonstrate that they鈥檝e developed those skills.