O. Carteaux

Student Learning Outcome No. 3: Information Literacy

 

I know many people who are interested in the teaching aspects of being a librarian, and have found their passion in working with information literacy instruction. The internet has opened up all sorts of possibilities for libraries, as well as made several things a little bit difficult. Because information is so readily available on the internet, some would argue that the need for librarians and libraries has diminished a bit over the last 20 years, but I do not believe this is the case. It only means that the roles of libraries have changed - although libraries still house vast amounts of materials and information, the new role of libraries is that of teaching - and making sure that patrons can find the information that they need. This is why information literacy is so important - the internet has made it possible to find almost anything. Whether it be for entertainment, education, or anything else - and as we all know, the internet is filled with tiers of information - the first tier of that information being that which the patron has to muck through before they can actually find what they are looking for. Showing patrons how to search effectively, as well as use other tools in which to fulfill their information needs, are becoming more and more important. Even if we ignore the first tier of what is available on the internet, and just look at the fact that vast amounts of knowledge exist, in every subject, in that vast digital space, the thought of searching for anything specific to our needs can be very daunting. One of the roles of a librarian has always been to lead patrons in the right direction regarding materials, and now that role has expanded in the sense that teaching patrons how to do that is more important than ever before. Knowing where to look, which questions to ask, how to pare down information into a more specific category - these are skills that are fundamentally important for everyone to have in an age when we have so much access to information at our fingertips. 

 

Regardless of the fact that I am not a teacher, I am very glad that I decided to take Information Literacy Instruction my second to last semester in the program. It made me really think about the reasons that it is important, as well as expose me to ideas regarding education that I had not before considered. Just thinking about the needs of the patron in that kind of way was really interesting - considering anything from how people learn to various kinds of exercises and activities to engage people in - was not something that I had really thought about before in any real capacity. Regardless of the fact that I may never have the opportunity to teach patrons about information literacy, I am glad that I still have that experience of taking the course, and what I have taken from it will no doubt make me better at any job in a library that I do. 

 

In LIS 688 Information Literacy Instruction, everyone in the class had essentially one assignment in the course, and it was one of the most difficult I had to do - mainly because I was at such a loss about how to apply information literacy to what I was interested in doing. I realize that it is applicable anywhere - but for someone who has more experience being a student than anything else having to do with education, it was a bit difficult. I had never had to think before outside of myself in quite that way, and it was terrifying as well as exciting to do so. I ended up coming up with an idea for a lib guide for masters film students - creating that as well as a Google+ community in which students in the course could acquaint themselves with the lib guide would have a space to ask questions and bounce ideas off of each other. I understand that it is full of holes, and would need to be worked on extensively if it were ever to get off the ground, but it was one of the most intense and difficult projects I have ever done, and really made the importance of information literacy very real to me in a way that it wasn't before. 

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