Information Literacy and Information Skills

Instruction

Applying Research to Practice in the 21st Century School Library

Chapters 1, 2, 3

WheelerFall 2014

MEDT 6466

Reference Traditions

A librarian should be more than a keeper of books; he should be an educator…No such librarian is fit for his place unless he holds himself responsible for the library education of he students.

-Otis Robinson

Chapter1

Reference Traditions – Justin Winsor’s Legacy

• 1831-1897

• Founder and First President of the American Library Association

• “Professor of Books”

• Actively encouraged both library staff and users to provide research assistance

• Advocated the preparation of book lists “in anticipation of students’ essays”

• Proposed opening the university collections to individual students and faculty and providing instruction in the “use of books and libraries”

Chapter1

cont‘d

Reference Traditions – Columbia College’s Melvil Dewey

• 1851-1931

• Regularized reference and established “organized personal assistance”

• Librarians were to furnish advice and instruction so that students would gain knowledge of the best library resources and be competent “to use them intelligently”

• Librarians must set an example, counsel students, and train library users

Chapter1

cont‘d

Reference Traditions – Princeton’s William Warner Bishop

• 1871-1955

• Classical scholar who served as a librarian at Princeton, University of Michigan, and Library of Congress

• Recommended that students be educated in acquiring a scholar’s “attitude toward the printed page”

• Instruction should begin in elementary school and continue until the completion of college

Chapter1

cont‘d

Reference Traditions – Vassar’s Lucy Maynard Salmon

• 1853-2927

• History professor at Vassar

• Argued for the incorporation of instruction in books and libraries as part of regular college courses

• Believed Professors were the best to provide library instruction relevant to ongoing course assignments and requirements.

• Created a course for new students that included a library tour and designed work to be completed through the progression of courses

• Roles of the librarian: friend, counselor, guide, teacher

Chapter1

cont‘d

Reference Traditions – Stephens College’s B. Lamar Johnson

• 1904-1995

• Launched a library skills program with clear objectives that emphasized instruction in the use of the library resources and the development of good study skills as prerequisites for learning

• Sought to place library use at the vortex of the instructional process

• Stephens College: Librarian and Dean In Charge of Instruction

Chapter1

cont‘d

Reference Traditions – Peabody College’s Louis Shores

• 1904-1981

• Launched an ambitious program based on the idea that library is the college

• Envisioned a library college, in which all teachers would be library trained and in charge of supervising and tutoring individual students in independently conducted reading and research projects

Chapter1

cont‘d

Reference Traditions – Patricia Bryan Knapp (Knapp Experiment)

• 1914-1972

• Believed that “competence in library use” constituted “one of the liberal arts” (Knapp 1986, 156)

• Recognized the key role that college faculty played in student use of library resources

• Launched an initiative to “instruct the instructors” in the use of the library, its resources, and its educational value

• Devised a plan to implement these skills through a series of instructional experiences carried out over time

• Assignments based on problem-solving activities rather than paper-and-pencil tests

Chapter1

cont‘d

The School Library Idea – Information Power (1988)

Role for school library media specialists that Information Power described were information specialist, teacher, and instructional consultant, conceived as a type of powerful, interacting, and evolving triad.

Chapter2

The School Library Idea – Information Power (1988)

Role for school library media specialists that Information Power described were information specialist, teacher, and instructional consultant, conceived as a type of powerful, interacting, and evolving triad.

Chapter2

cont‘d

The School Library Idea – Shared Library Collections

• Took place first at high school level

• Many administrative models were tried

• Models1. Provided for central library management of selection and

acquisition activities for all the schools in the district2. Public libraries used high school libraries as branch sites 3. Independent libraries were created in district high school

supervised and maintained by teachers or librarians

Chapter2

cont‘d

The School Library Idea – The Knapp School Libraries Project

• 1963 – 1968

• Created demonstration libraries at 10 selected elementary and high schools

• Major contribution to the development of instructional theories related to library skills instruction for school-aged children

• Knapp Initiative: Provided funding to reimburse the traveling expenses of school teams so that they could attend demonstration sessions

Chapter2

cont‘d

The School Library Idea – Teaching Library Lessons

• Purpose was to make students self-sufficient users of libraries and information sources

• Informal instruction provided to individual students visiting the library

• Independent use of school library was strictly monitored

• Activities limited to research for school reports and book selection for leisure reading

• Lessons involve the care of books, library materials, parts of books: author, illustrator; library organization

Chapter2

cont‘d

The School Library Idea – Flexible Scheduling

• Invited students to come into the library, connect with the librarian and receive instruction individually or in small groups

• Teachers could bring their own classes to the media center to work on research tasks either in partnership with the librarian or with the librarian “on call”

• Allowed teachers to capitalize on student interests and “teachable moments” and librarians to deliver “just-in-time” instruction

• Promoted both the integration of information skills instruction within classroom activity and the process of shared planning by teachers and librarians

Chapter2

cont‘d

The School Library Idea – AASL’s Standards for the 21st Century Learner

• 2007, offered a new set of standards and introduced new resources to guide the development of information age programs and instructional interventions

• Built on a foundation of common beliefs, learning standards, and strands of learning

Chapter2

cont‘d

The School Library Idea – AASL’s Standards for the 21st Century Learner

Common Beliefs

1. Reading is a window to the world.

2. Inquiry provides a framework for learning.

3. Ethical behavior in the use of information must be taught.

4. Technology skills are crucial for future employment needs.

5. Equitable access is a key component for education.

6. The definition of information literacy has become more complex as resources and technologies have changed.

7. The continuing expansion of information demands that tall individuals acquire the thinking skills that will enable them to work on their own.

8. Learning has a social context.

9. School libraries are essential to the development of learning skills.

Chapter2

cont‘d

The Information Search Process – Modes of Instruction

• The Source Approach Features lessons related to the organization of library materials in a

particular setting and the location and use of specific reference books, indexes, and other resources that are available there

• The Pathfinder Approach Search strategy that requires students to move from an overview or

background source, such as an encyclopedia, through a sequence of progressively more specific sources, leading finally to an examination of the most – and presumably the most pertinent - resources

• The Process Models Approach Consider information skills as pieces of the information-seeking “puzzle”

and can be both better understood and more fully applied if they are practiced within a larger framework

Chapter3

The Information Search Process – Inquiry Models

• Sheingold’s Inquiry Model 1986 Based on educational principles derived from cognitive psychology Places the learner at the center of instructional interest and makes thinking the

central outcome Requires learners to do something with what has been learned in order to keep

the knowledge “alive”

• Callison’s Free Inquiry Model 1986 Features a library skills instruction plan that is fully integrated into the

curriculum, with the teacher and librarian acting as an instructional team Lessons based on this model require advanced planning and coordination Attempts to move beyond instructional tasks that require the use of library

resources to the process of engaging students scientifically

Chapter3

cont’d

The Information Search Process – Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process Model

• Only theoretical model that has been empirically tested

• Represents a watershed in the development of new strategies for the delivery of library skills instruction

• Track the creation and testing of a model for inquiry-based information seeking

• Find effective ways to assist students in the information search process

• Found applications in a variety of informational contexts within and beyond the school library

Chapter3

cont’d

The Information Search Process – Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process Model

Chapter3

cont’d

The Information Search Process – Kuhlthau’s (1993b) Assistance Levels Available to Students during an ISP

Chapter3

cont’d

Reference

Thomas, N., & Crow, S. (2011). Information literacy and information skills instruction applying research to practice in the 21st century school library (3rd ed.). Santa Barbara, Calif.: Libraries Unlimited.