I just posted this at the Blended Librarian:
I recently read Everything is Miscellaneous by David Weinberger. It’s a fascinating book, with a fascinating corresponding blog. The dedication reads “for the librarians” which leaves this librarian wondering what the rest of the dedication would read (“: who made the best of a bad situation?” “: who are about to become extinct?” “: who need to get on the cluetrain?”) I highly recommend this book to any librarian, particularly those interested in issues of classification, the internet, and/or the shifting nature of our information environment.
That book, paired with recent requests to teach sessions on web 2.0 research, has lead me to reconsider what we think of when we talk about information literacy. Is it still about library research, is it about library and web research, is it just about critical thinking when considering which media to use as a reference in a paper?
I’m beginning to adapt my credit based information literacy course to talk about ways to use web 2.0 information sources in addition to library resources. For example, if someone is writing a paper on the slow food movement, they should certainly use any scholarly material that might exist in the library, but local slow food blogs would provide another type of contextual information that could help flesh out a paper. Is anyone else changing their library instruction classes in this way?
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First off, you get to teach a credit course on information literacy? I’m so jealous. I agree with you about the need to address Web 2.0 sources in information literacy classes. It’s my gut feeling that students and most faculty don’t really grasp that these technologies can be sources of scholarship or that they can be used as avenues for scholarly communication. One thing I try to stress to my students about research is that there is some information that is only available in electronic form. Likewise, there is some information that is only available in print. A comprehensive understanding of their subject will likely lead them to information in multiple formats.
I’m getting ready to read Weinberger’s book and am looking forward to see how he addresses the issue of order. As for extinction, don’t fret. AI has some significant leaps to make before being able to replace librarians.
This is very interesting. I have given a number of presentations around this topic recently in the UK : Information Literacy and Web 2.0. I have taken the line that Web 2.0 affects us first of all as information professionals and that we have to investigate these new tools, acquire them as we can, and that Web 2.0 ( as you say) affects the content of our teaching (eg Wikipedia as a valid startup source, blogs for up to date infgormation) and the means that we can teach eg using blogs, YouTube, wikis, podcasts etc.
I must admit that I get very bored with endless debates about what IL is, and suspect that many of these debates arew sterile! Taking the SCONUL Seven Pillars model as a starting point what I can detect is that the emphasis which we give to each “pillar” is changing. We have to spend more time on what constitutes information, teaching a sense of context, critical thinking about which media to use and its validity and above all the ability to evaluate and choose from the material we find. I guess its less about the vagaries of the databases that we subscribe to, because these are only one plank, albeit an important one, in the information scenario that our users can choose from.
So thank you for this post : perhaps I am on the right track and the book that I am currently co-editing on IL meets Library 2.0 will be useful…
Jason–
Thanks, it is really exciting to teach a credit course. We’re lucky, at MPOW. There is real support for the course among faculty and advisors. I know other schools have tried to start a course but have had an uphill battle. Good point to stress: that just as some information is only online, so is some only in print. I hope you enjoy Weinberger’s book. It really blew me away.
Peter–
Thanks, your presentations sound very interesting! I appreciate your take on IL and the “big” questions: “what constitutes information, teaching a sense of context, critical thinking about which media to use and its validity and above all the ability to evaluate and choose from the material we find.” I look forward to your book once it’s out. It sounds like it will make some interesting points!
I don’t think the concept of information literacy is as ethereal as many think. To put information literacy in a context that my students can understand, I liken it to investigative journalism. You need to know what you don’t know, uncover what you don’t know, and decide how you’re going to use what you find. Of course, those are loaded statements. Where do discussions of authority fit in? Media literacy? Communication theory?
Now you see why I’m jealous of Lauren’s credit course. It would take some time to teach a comprehensive course on info lit.
Thanks Jason, I agree, info lit really is more like journalism or detective work than some theoretical concept that is hard to pin down. I’ve recently been thinking about the importance of critical thinking and media literacy skills that are cornerstones to what I consider information literacy. Since I’m spending time thinking about this, I include it in my course. However, I wonder if this is an area were we are stepping on the toes of other disciplines. Should it be housed in communication? If so, would as many students take the class since it would appear tied to a major? For now, though, I’m going to continue including anything along these lines that I can. It just seems too important not to.