Two Current Initiatives

1. Information Literacy Outreach in Saskatchewan: Two Current Initiatives Saskatchewan Libraries Conference, 4 May 2007 Angie Gerrard and Virginia Wilson

2. Introduction • Underpinnings of Information Literacy • Shapiro and Hughes Liberal Arts Theory • Case Studies: OCLS and SHIRP • Concluding Thoughts / Questions

3. Underpinnings of Information Literacy • ACRL definition: “Information Literacy is the set of skills needed to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information” • Why is information literacy important? • Terminology debate • Beyond technical skills

4. Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education • Standard #1:Know The information literate student determines the nature and extent of the information needed. • Standard #2: Access / Find The information literate student accesses needed information effectively and efficiently.

5. Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education • Standard #3: Evaluate The information literate student evaluates information and its sources critically and incorporates selected information into his or her knowledge base and value system. • Standard #4:Use The information literate student, individually or as a member of a group, uses information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose.

6. Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education • Standard #5: Understand The information literate student understands many of the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information and accesses and uses information ethically and legally.

7. The Theory • Shapiro, J. J., & Hughes, S. K. (1996). Information literacy as a liberal art. Educom Review, 31. Retrieved January 19, 2007, from http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/review/reviewarticles/31231.html. • An information literacy curriculum consisting of seven interconnected literacies • Information literacy as a liberal art: “knowledge that is part of what it means to be a free person in the present historical context of the dawn of the information age” (Shapiro and Hughes). • Not only using information and information technology effectively, but also thinking critically about the entire information enterprise

8. Theory Background • 18th century Enlightenment thinker, Condorcet • Sketch for a Historical Picture for the Progress of the Human Mind • Improving and democratizing education = political freedom and human happiness

9. Questions About Information • Who owns information? • What’s the difference between a piece of info and a copy of it? • Who should have access to it? • Is the Internet a public good or a private one? • Should anyone regulate Internet content, and if so, who? • What are the bounds of privacy in information? • Is the vision of a wired, networked cyberspace nothing more than a cryptoreligious ideal of our society?

10. Information Literacy as a Liberal Art • This is crucial if people are to be “intelligent shapers of the information society rather than its pawns.” A representation of the seven liberal arts: the trivium of grammar, rhetoric, and logic; and the quadrivium of arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy.

11. Seven Dimensions of Information Literacy as a Liberal Art • Tool Literacy • Resource Literacy • Social-Structural Literacy • Research Literacy • Publishing Literacy • Emerging Technology Literacy • Critical Literacy

12. Comparison • Prototype curriculum compared with ACRL standards • Similarities

13. Leveling the Playing Field • Suggesting a move away from short courses • Free and liberated citizens by democratizing education and promoting equality • Broadening of coverage necessary in the information age

14. Case Study I: Off-Campus Library Services (OCLS) • Introduction to OCLS • Relationship with CCDE • Off campus face-to-face courses • Independent studies courses • Televised courses • Multi-mode courses • Online programs • Certificate programs • Business Administration Certificate (BAC) • Certificate in Adult & Continuing Education (CACE) • Certificates in Agriculture Program (CAP) • Certificate Program in Teaching English as a Second Language (CERTESL) • Prairie Horticulture Certificate Program (PHC) • Post Degree Certificate in Education: Special Education (SPEC)

15. Off-Campus Library Services • Three main components of OCLS: - mail service - reference assistance - library instruction

16. Off-Campus Library Services • Instructional Program: • Mainly first year Arts and Sciences courses • Goals and objectives of library instruction • Balance between satisfying immediate and future information needs • Challenges involved with distance courses

17. Applying Shapiro & Hughes’ Theory to OCLS “The College of Arts and Science is our University’s largest college. It is the home of what for centuries has been known as liberal education. It refines and nurtures vital skills and talents. We need creative thinkers. We need people who are comfortable with decisions in a wide context. We need people who can communicate—reason, create, write and speak. In short, we need leaders and liberal education nurtures leadership …. Literacy—mature literacy—the art of reflective inquiry communicated to ones fellow citizens. That is the single most important attribute of your education … We need informed thinkers, citizens and policy makers; and we need to nourish and celebrate the kind of education that contributes to their formation.” UofS President Peter MacKinnon’s 2006 convocation address

18. Applying Shapiro & Hughes’ Theory to OCLS • “… information literacy should in fact be conceived more broadly as a new liberal art that extends from knowing how to use computers and access information to critical reflection on the nature of information itself, its technical infrastructure, and its social, cultural and even philosophical context and impact.” Shapiro & Hughes (1996)

19. Applying Shapiro & Hughes’ Theory to OCLS Anderson (1996): “reading and writing skills (i.e. literacy) … are not considered trivial or uncomplicated. Rather such skills are considered to be a fundamental part of one’s ability to act socially in a literate world … these skills are not something one just masters out of the blue, but something we acquire or not with varying degrees of success.” 19

20. Applying Shapiro & Hughes’ Theory to OCLS • Importance of collaboration • Barone and Weathers (2004) discuss the need to “dismantle independent academic silos and meet on the common ground of liberal learning.” • Concept of ‘knowledge fragmentation’

21. Applying Shapiro & Hughes’ Theory to OCLS Fouad (1997): Information literacy must be expanded beyond ‘tool demonstration’ Focus on facilitating critical thinking 21

22. Applying Shapiro & Hughes’ Theory to OCLS • Library instruction Information literacy Lifelong learners? • Important to recognize: • It is a process; a complex journey • We can’t do it alone; requires collaboration • Ultimate goals of a liberal arts education is shared between librarians and faculty

23. Case Study II: SHIRP • SHIRP = Saskatchewan Health Information Resources Partnership • A digital library of electronic health information resources • The ultimate goal: to provide access to all provincial healthcare providers, health students and faculty, all regional health authorities, and various health-related Saskatchewan government departments

24. SHIRP Outreach Services Coverage • SHIRP Outreach Services provides training for the 10 health regions not covered by more traditional library service. • Some regions have been harder to make inroads with than others.

26. SHIRP Training • SHIRP’s mandate: to teach patrons how to access electronic resources, thus empowering and enabling them with the skills to incorporate the resources into daily practice. • Training has been underway for 20 months • Over 115 training sessions have been conducted • “how to” bibliographic instruction

27. The Basic SHIRP Training Session • A review of the available resources • Often use sample questions based on real situations • Instruction on the benefits of online materials • Conceptual challenges

28. The Need for Training • Explicit motivation: inform and enable • Implicit results: exposure to information technology perhaps not utilized before • Contextualizing the paraphernalia around electronic resources

29. Liberal Art Curriculum • Can Shapiro and Hughes’ theory work? • Can envisioning information literacy as a liberal art, complete with curriculum, work in our current system of the one-(maybe two) shot training system?

30. Workplace Information Literacy • In the workplace, “information literacy is viewed holistically as a constituent part of learning to work collectively and of developing a socially constructed understanding of the workplace” (A. Lloyd). • An interconnection between “institutional, social, and physical information through a range of knowledge sites” (A. Lloyd).

31. Info Literacy Beyond the Institution • The creation of well-rounded citizen • Applications in everyday life • The need for critical thinking skills • We don’t want to be pawns of the information society—the goal is to be aware consumers of the information

32. Mapping the 7 Literacies

33. Does it work? • Difficult to map an “info literacy as liberal art” curriculum on a one-shot training session • Awareness of the literacies is helpful in constructing this type of session

34. Info Lit Shaping Society • An information literate or information fluent society can think critically and proceed accordingly. • A population more in tune with information and information sources cannot help but be a more functional population.

35. Concluding Thoughts • Information literacy as a liberal art must be done as a partnership between library and educational institute. • Information literacy as a liberal art has wider implications for society as a whole. • Library instruction Information literacy Lifelong learning

36. References Andersen, J. (2006). The public sphere and discursive activities: Information literacy as sociopolitical skills. Journal of Documentation, 62, 213-228. Retrieved April 23, 2007, from the ProQuest ABI/INFORM Global database. American Library Association. (2003) Introduction to information literacy. Retrieved April 23, 2007, from http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlissues/acrlinfolit/infolitoverview/introtoinfolit/introinfolit.htm. American Library Association. (2005). Information literacy competency standards for higher education. Retrieved April 23, 207, from http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/informationliteracycompetency.htm. Barone, K., & Weathers, G. (2004). Launching a learning community in a small liberal arts university. College & Undergraduate Libraries, 11, 1-9. Fouad, R. (1997). Interactive teaching methods in relation to electronic information access. European Research Libraries Cooperation: The LIBER Quarterly, 7, 474-489.

37. References Harley, B., Dreger, M., & Knobloch P. (2001). The postmodern condition: Students, the Web, and academic library services. Reference Services Review, 29, 23-32. Retrieved April 23, 2007, from the Emerald database. Hutchins, R. M. (1953). The conflict in education. New York: Harper & Brothers. Lloyd, A. (2005). Information literacy: Different contexts, different concepts, different truths? Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 37, 82-88. Marquis de Condorcet. (2007, April 30). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved May 1, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marquis_de_Condorcet&oldid=127153488 Office of the President. (2006). President’s report to convocation. Retrieved April 23, 2007 from http://www.usask.ca/president/presentations/reporttoconvocation2006.php.

38. References Shapiro, J.J. Complexity in the interface age (Interview). Ubiquity, 2001. Retrieved May 1, 2007, from http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/interviews/j_shapiro_2.html. Shapiro, J. J., & Hughes, S. K. (1996). Information literacy as a liberal art. Educom Review, 31. Retrieved January 19, 2007, from http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/review/reviewarticles/31231.html. Snavely, L., & Cooper, N. (1997). The information literacy debate. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 23, 9-14. Retrieved April 23, 2007, from the Academic Search Premier database.

39. Questions? Comments? Thank-you for attending Angie.Gerrard@usask.ca Virginia.Wilson@usask.ca