An Information Literacy Initiative Gets Creative: Navigating Campus Pitfalls

• In Event: Preparing Students for New Challenges

Abstract

Educators are acknowledging the need for information literacy as digital natives begin to make up a higher percentage of students. Information literacy is vital for constructing the infrastructure critical for strong democracies. Digital natives may be comfortable adopting new technologies and applications but do not regularly develop information literacy and related skills while consuming content or using social media (Kirschner and Bruyckere 2017, Katz 2023). Instead, information literacy, defined as the “set of skills needed to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information (Association for College and Research Libraries 2022),” requires conscious and consistent training, particularly understanding how information is created, for whom, and to what ends.

The research in this area falls into two major categories. First, the library sciences have taken up the question of information literacy and its constituent components of digital literacy, media literacy, news literacy, and similar concepts. Particularly these studies ask 1) which components of information literacy should be highlighted and why and 2) discuss plans to spread awareness of information literacy issues across campuses (e.g., Brindley 2009, Holliday et al. 2015, Riehle and Weiner 2013). Second, case studies and “retrospectives” from instructors both inside and outside libraries explore the difficulties of the implementation of information literacy curricula (e.g., Li, Leung, and Tam 2007, Robinson 2008, Torrell 2020).

Researchers published most of these studies in the mid to late aughts. Interest in dealing with misinformation has picked up in the aftermath of populism and COVID-19 as the social media environment has grown more complex and elites have coopted the internet to become master manipulators of information.

This ongoing project began as an initiative to institute Information Literacy Across the Curriculum program at a rural state university in the West South-Central United States, modeled on Writing Across the Curriculum/Writing in the Discipline (WAC/WID). WAC operates under the theory that “writing instruction should happen across the academic community and throughout a student's undergraduate education” and sees “writing as a method of learning (Purdue 2022).” WID insists that higher education disciplines have specific norms regarding “style, organization, and format (Purdue 2022).”

This initiative applies the same principles to information literacy. Particularly, it is not merely the realm of librarians to teach how to find reliable sources of information, nor should students be exposed to the underlying principles only a few times in their undergraduate careers. Additionally, each discipline may define the essential parts of information literacy differently. For example, while political science may underline looking for bias in news reporting, biology or health fields may emphasize familiarity with statistical reporting, while history emphasizes the distinction between first and secondary sources and how to interpret them appropriately.

The results of efforts thus far have been mixed. Like with WAC/WID initiatives, buy-in is a cornerstone of any new initiative that asks faculty to reconsider their pedagogical priorities and may increase their workload. It appears that fighting against that tide of doubt will result in wasted efforts.

As a result, alternative approaches to bringing the importance of information literacy to bear on campus are necessary. This has meant expanding the search for support to additional faculty and administrators who have expressed interest in information literacy and appreciate that a new approach may be warranted. Currently of interest is micro-credentialing, and the process of creating such a credential may be a way to increase buy-in due to increased enrollments and support of administrators focused on demonstrable outcomes for future employers.

The project uses a mixed qualitative methodology combining the results of structured interviews and auto-ethnographic observation of faculty, administration, and student reactions to the initiative.

Faculty must cover certain content and develop numerous student skills. Yet, it is impossible for one part of a general education class or even one discipline alone to be sufficient to develop the numerous skills that feed into information literacy. Higher education needs a new approach to teaching information literacy to meet the needs of 21st-century political discourse.

APSA’s theme this year fits within the scope of this project. As democracy regresses in certain parts of academic life, critical thinking skills relevant to the 21st century will act as a stalwart against election manipulation, hyperpartisanship, and misinformation spread about government policies.

Author

• Heather L. Katz, Southwestern Oklahoma State University