Information Literacy Instruction in the Library
What is Information Literacy?
Information literacy is knowing when and why you need information, where to find it, and how to evaluate, use and communicate it in an ethical manner. (1)
Information literacy occurs at the intersection of teaching, thinking, and learning, within the broader environment of technology. (2)
The Library has adopted Information Literacy Standards to guide and inform our information literacy programs. These standards state that the information literate person:
- recognises the need for information and determines the nature and extent of the information needed.
- finds needed information effectively and efficiently.
- critically evaluates information and the information seeking process.
- manages information collected or generated.
- applies prior and new information to construct new concepts or create new understandings.
- uses information with understanding and acknowledges cultural, ethical, economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information. (3)
1. Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. (2006). Information literacy: definition. Retrieved January 29, 2008.
2. Iannuzzi, P. (1998). Faculty development and information literacy: Establishing campus partnerships. Reference Services Review, 26, 101.
3. From the Australian and New Zealand Information Literacy Framework: Principles, Standards and Practice, 2nd edition. Ed. Alan Bundy. Adelaide: Australian and New Zealand Institute for Information Literacy, 2004.
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Information Literacy Classes
The Library offers classes and workshops upon request to ALL students, instructors and staff of Red Deer College, including participants in the University of Calgary, University of Alberta and Athabasca University collaborative degree programs. No matter what the subject is, our goal is to teach users how to think critically in terms of identifying, retrieving, evaluating, analyzing and collating information.
Designed to meet student needs
Librarians can work with you and your classes in a variety of instructional models, depending on the needs of your students and the learning outcomes you would like them to achieve. Download our Information Literacy Instruction Continuum to view the available options and associated timelines.
| Information Literacy Instruction Continuum |
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In all cases, we will work with you to design sessions that are tailored to your curriculum and research assignments and reinforce the information literacy skills you're teaching. Your students will be given the opportunity to tap into their critical thinking skills, discover the valuable research tools available to them, and achieve the information literacy skills necessary to succeed in College and beyond. Possible topics for classes include, but are not limited to:
- Information retrieval using tools such as the Library catalogue and article databases
- Effective Web searching techniques
- Evaluating resources
- Copyright, plagiarism, and citing sources
A learning environment conducive to exploration
We teach primarily in the Library Instruction Lab (LIL) but are willing to visit you in your classroom if circumstances do not permit a trip to the Library, or if the LIL is booked. Database demonstrations are possible if your classroom has a network connection; however, we do strongly recommend that classes or workshops take place in the Library in order for students to get hands-on experience and become familiar with the location of the Library's main service points.
To discuss how best to fit information literacy learning outcomes into your classes, contact your liaison librarian or Michelle Edwards Thomson, the Information Literacy Coordinator, at (403) 342-3346, or email her at michelle.edwards.thomson@rdc.ab.ca.
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Information Literacy Assignments
Librarians can help you design research assignments that meet the specific information literacy learning outcomes you would like your students to achieve. While the traditional research paper is still a commonly-used assignment, there are a variety of alternatives that might better meet your needs.
An alternative research assignment is anything other than the traditional research paper. Instructors choose to create and use alternative research assignments for a variety of reasons, from a desire to include a research component into a course that doesn't lend itself well to papers, to a frustration with the rising incidence of plagiarism.
If you are interested in designing or using an alternative assignment for your course, check out the links below for ideas and examples, and contact your liaison librarian to find out how librarians can help you design an assignment that works for your students and your course.
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