2010 International Coriference on Educational and Information Technology (ICElT 2010)

Utility of Library in Information Literacy Education in University

lixia CaD, Runliang Tian, Qinzhen Li, lunwei Zhai and linsong Wang
Commanding dept.
Military Transportation University
Tianjin, China
caojixia@sina.com

Abstract:Information Literacy becomes one of the essential cap discipline-based accreditation associations as a key outcome
acities in the 21st century. This paper begins with introduction for college students.
of definition, models and standards of information literacy,
and then analysis the structure of information literacy D. Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher
education in a university, making conclusion that library is the Education
main body in Information Literacy Education in university. The Association of College and Research Libraries and A
Finally, how to be good librarians in information literacy division of the American Library Association establish the
education process is also discussed in this paper.
Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher
Education. Standards are as followed:
Keywords-information literacy; information literacy education;
librarian; university; Table I: Information Literacy Competency Standards

Information Literacy Competency Standards

1. INTRODUCTION
The information literate student determines
Standard I
the nature and extent of the information
A. Information Literacy Defined needed.
Information literacy is a set of abilities requIrIng The information literate student accesses
individuals to "recognize when information is needed and Standard
needed information effectively and
have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the efficiently
II
needed information."
The information literate student evaluates
B. Information Literacy and Information Technology Standard
information and its sources critically and
Information literacy is related to information technology incorporates selected information into his or
III
skills, but has broader implications for the individual, the her knowledge base and value system
educational system, and for society. Information technology The information literate student, individually
skills enable an individual to use computers, software Standard
or as a member of a group, uses information
applications, databases, and other technologies to achieve a effectively to accomplish a specific purpose
IV
wide variety of academic, work-related, and personal goals.
Information literate individuals necessarily develop some The information literate student understands
Standard
technology skills. many of the economic, legal, and social
issues surrounding the use of information
V
C. Information Literacy and Higher Education and accesses and uses information ethically
Developing lifelong learners is central to the mission of and legally
higher education institutions. By ensuring that individuals
have the intellectual abilities of reasoning and critical II. INFORMAnON LITERACY MODELS

thinking, and by helping them construct a framework for

learning how to learn, colleges and universities provide the
A. Hierarchy Model
foundation for continued growth throughout their careers, as In Hierarchy Model, the basic information competence
well as in their roles as informed citizens and members of includes operational skill of information system, for example
communities. Information literacy is a key component of, skills of word processing etc, but higher level competence
and contributor to, lifelong learning. Information literacy includes information extracting, communication,
competency extends learning beyond formal classroom organization and expression, processing, analysis and
settings and provides practice with self-directed correction of information system, assessment on information
investigations as individuals move into internships, first and information system etc. Sum up, these competences can
professional positions, and increasing responsibilities in all be divided into five aspects: information requirement,
arenas of life. Because information literacy augments information explore, information assessment, information
students' competency with evaluating, managing, and using synthesize and information communication, etc. As these
information, it is now considered by several regional and

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 2010 International Coriference on Educational and Information Technology (ICEIT 2010)

five aspects are not in the same level, result in different From the definition of information, ACRL standards,
structure, so Hierarchy Model (Figure 1) is formed. Hierarchy Models and seven pillars Model, we can find that
students can get lifelong education if he can reach these

A
requirements. Information literacy education is more
important than ever in universities nowadays, but which is
the main body in information literacy education?

III. STRUCTURE OF INFORMATION LITERACY EDUCAnON

Information

A. General Introduction
Synthesize Information literacy in higher education is a complex and
huge project, lots of factors are involved, and efforts from all
sides are needed. Figure 3 followed lists the relationship
Information
among the university in the education process.
The system of information literacy education is exposed
Information Explore
to culture, legislation, technology and moral of all the society.
The methods to carry out information literacy are library,
Recognize Information Need class, internet or laboratory, and implementers are librarians,
teachers and administrators. Object of information literacy is
pupils, teachers and librarians, administrators are also
Word Processing Skill and Computer
included, who also need to improve information literacy
competence.
Figure 1. Hierarchy Model
But who is the main body in the education process?

B. Seven Pillars Model

Seven Pillars Model was put forward by Society of C ultu re
Legislation
college, National and University Libraries. In the model,
Library
information competence includes seven aspects (Figure 2),
and each pillar was named by each aspect. Seven pillars were
Class
divided into 2 groups, which are basic library skills and IT Internet
skills. The Society believes that customers can improve Lab
information literacy competence by the training and practice
of these seven "pillars". These seven competences are as Others r--. '------'
Moral
followed: CD Recognize Information Need ® Distinguish
Technolog
ways of addressing Gap ® Construct strategies for locating
® Locate and access @Compare and evaluate different Figure 3. Structure of information literacy education in university

information from different sources ® Organize, apply and

communicate with right methods CD Synthesis and create B. Main body in Information literacy education
information. From the graph, we can get the fact that library owns the
prominent strength in the whole literacy information
Information Literacy
education, with the adequate IT equipment resource and
:: talents resource. Firstly, numbers of basic skills which
E needed in Information literacy education are related with
8-
" E library, as can be seen in Seven Pillars Model; Secondly,
<l.l o
<l.l U information literacy is not simply referring to computer
Z
C application skills, which just plays a role of tools. The key
o
.� �::l point in literacy information education lies in how to

§ <il improve student' s all-sided information competences to

>
<8 <l.l reach the ACRL standards. While this job is the strength of
c "
<l.l a librarian' s, such as recognize information resource, structure
N '0 access strategy, extract and download information, etc.
'& 2 �Q..
1;; �(j Thirdly, library is a service institution in university, which
8 c E
o o o undertakes the task of store, process, transmit information in
� U ....l U
colleges. And of course, library is still the most important
resource of all kinds of information; The last but not the least,

/Figure 2.
Basic Library Skills and IT Skills
\
SCONUL Seven Pillars for Information Literacy© Society of
numbers of librarians, who are
information processing knowledge, and have decades years
both with abundance

College, National and University Libraries

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 2010 International Coriference on Educational and Information Technology (ICEIT 2010)

of working experience, can shoulder the information literacy 2) Consciousness of transmit. Librarians should transmit
education mission, having superiority to others. useful information to all the people needed actively,
amplifYing the utility of information which gathered.
C. Process of Information Literacy Education 3) Consciousness of sharing. Librarians should have
Process of information Literacy Education is as followed. open mind to realize information sharing in a larger scope.
We can see librarians play an important role in the whole Information can be sharing between in different colleges,
process. cities, or countries.
1) Pre-Baccalaureate Program. English Language Centre
(LEC) with librarian input and support-skills-introduced
B. Qualified information competence
through the library, Academic Bridge, and library 1) Definition Information Re quirement. Librarians should
orientation have the ability to determine the nature and extent of the
2) Foundational Information Literacy Integration. information needed, identifY a variety of types and formats
Librarians work with faculty- exposure to basic of potential sources for information, consider the costs and
benefits of acquiring the needed information, and define a
information literacy concepts and skills for every student
realistic overall plan and timeline to acquire the needed
during their baccalaureate year.
information.
3) Subject Specific Integration. Discipline faculty and
2) Accesses Information. Qualified Librarians should
librarian-continued development & reinforcement of
know how to select the most appropriate investigative
foundational skills & concepts
methods or information retrieval systems for accessing the
4) Continued Reinforcement in Majors. Discipline faculty
needed information, how to construct and implement
and librarian- reinforcement of both generic and discipline
effectively-designed search strategies, and how to retrieves
specific skills information online or in person using a variety of methods.
5) Capstone and Graduate Programs. Librarians 3) Evaluate Information. Librarians should summarize the
collaborate with faculty in providing support and main ideas to be extracted from the information gathered,
;ofo,mat;oo o"d, at ao 1m1

7\
articulate and apply initial criteria for evaluating both the
information and its sources, synthesize main ideas to
construct new concepts.
4) Use Information. Eligible Librarians can use
information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose,
Capstone and
Graduate such as applying new and prior information to the research
Programs project, Organizing the content in a manner that supports
teaching staff, integrating the new and prior information,
Continued including quotations and paraphrasing to supports new
Reinforcement
performance, manipulating digital text, images, and data,
in Majors
transferring them from their original locations and formats
to a new context.
Subject Specific Integration
C. Gracious Information Moral
Librarians should possess gracious information moral.
Foundational Information Literacy
Integcration During the course of extracting and use the information,
consciousness of copyright is needed. Librarians should learn
Pre-Baccalaureate (Academic Bridge) Program many of the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding
the use of information and accesses and uses information
ethically and legally, such as participating in electronic
Figure4: Information Literacy Education Process
discussions following accepted practices, using approved
passwords and other forms of ID for accessing to
IV. QUALITY NEEDED AS A LIBRARIAN information resources, complying with institutional policies
on access to information resources; legally obtaining data,
In information literacy education, more requirements,
images, or sounds etc.
and more qualities are essential as a librarian.
D. Training Skill
A. information consciousness
A qualified librarian should be provided with the
Three aspects are included in information consciousness:
competence of training or teaching. So basic knowledge of
1) Consciousness of master. Librarians should act as
education is essential, such as education psychology, moral
organizer, participator, full of strong desire to get more
education, etc, excellent communication is also essential,
useful information, and have the mission to exploit more
which can communicates clearly, supporting the purposes of
information, building up information system, serving more
the intended audience
teachers and pupils.

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E. Collaboration Skill V. CONCLUSION

During the course of information literacy education, Library plays an important role in the information
librarians are not isolated. Actually, they must get supports literacy education. Only librarians improve their
all around, such as administrators of colleges, teaching staff comprehensive qualities and skills, information literacy
and other participators involved. Collaboration between education can carry out smoothly in universities.
librarian and teachers are most important. Librarian need to
be involved in the research project and teaching process
actively, supplying all-sided information profoundly. This REFERENCE
form is also the basic collaboration method, which can [1] Wang Lina, "Develop Educational Potential of Infonnation Literacy
benefit all staff directly through information literacy Through Live Reference", the Journal of the library, 2005,35(2)

education. Besides this form, collaboration between pubic [2] Alexandrina,Alexandria, High-level Colloquium on Infonnation
Literacy and lifelong Learning, Bibliotheca Egypt, Novennber 6-9,
library and other college' s library is also important.
2005
F. language skill [3] Mani, Nandita ,From Infonnation Literacy to Information Fluency,
American Libraries, VoI. 35,pp,35-38, Febrary 2004,
Besides the quality mentioned above, librarian should
[4] The Association of College and Research Libraries, A division of the
grasp one foreign language at least, meeting with the
American Library Association,Information Literacy Competency
requirement of globalization communication and document
Standards for Higher Education,January, 2004
translation between different languages. With proficient
language skill, librarians can speed up the efficiency of
locate and address information worldly, whether in actual
world, or on internet.

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