The role of the academic library in promoting information literacy : a critical evaluation of changing trends

Abstract

Information literacy is being touted by governments and various constituted bodies as the key to success for future generations living and working in an information society. Defined very generally as the ability to recognise the need for information, locate it, evaluate it, use it and integrate it with existing knowledge, information literacy and its teaching are widely seen as being the responsibility of the educational sector. This essay focuses on academic libraries, in particular looking at the way that the increasing importance of information literacy is changing their role within their institution. Most definitions of information literacy take their cue from the American Library Association's Presidential Committee on Information Literacy, listing the desirable attributes of information literate individuals. A minority view this approach as reductive, notably Christine Bruce who has instead taken a relational approach, involving an examination of people's perceptions and experiences of information literacy. This approach seems to be less easily applicable in a practical context, however, with the result that it is the skills approach which forms the basis of official information literacy competency standards in the USA and Australia. To varying degrees in different countries, academic libraries are responding by trying to transform their traditional bibliographic instruction sessions into a more formal and complete program aimed at fostering lifelong learning attitudes in students. Different strategies are being developed which are being incorporated into the curriculum to a greater or lesser degree; however, the ideal of campus-wide curriculum revision to accommodate information literacy as an integral part is, in all but isolated cases, still very far from the reality. Information literacy instruction is also being incorporated in accreditation criteria. This means that assessment of information literacy programs, by means of a variety of strategies, is becoming more important, leading to greater accountability on the part of instruction librarians as well as giving rise to improved program design. Because of these rapid changes academic libraries are facing numerous challenges, such as a lack of adequate resources, the need to form collaborative partnerships with faculty and administration, and the need for new pedagogical and technical skills - all of which are complicated further by innate resistance from faculty and librarians' lack of status on campus. Diverse strategies can be brought into play to counteract these problems, and on an individual basis librarians can do a great deal to promote information literacy in their own institution. Ultimately however, a widespread move to integrate information literacy across campuses via curriculum reform and collaboration is only likely to take place once information literacy is adopted and supported on a national level by governments, accreditation institutions, national library and education associations and other constituted bodies representing a variety of professions.