INFORMATION LITERACY INITIATIVES IN HIGHER EDUCATION: ORIGINS, OPTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS

Abstract

It should come as little surprise that the technological advances in information storage and retrieval have led many in the information professions to renewed concerns for educating student users in college libraries. The introduction of electronic information retrieval methods and an explosion in the amount of information available online and across media have created a sort of instructional imperative, to which many in the academic community have responded. This move, which characterizes so many programs in public, school, and academic libraries, is consistent with contemporary models of librarianship that emphasize information access over information acquisition and storage. This agenda has important implications for 21st century library administrators, reference professionals, and LIS educators, even though the practice of “teaching the use of books and libraries” (Rothstein, 1955, p. 14) has 19th century roots. Indeed, from an early date academic librarians viewed “bibliographical information” provided by “the librarian of their college or university” (Adams, 1887, quoted in Rothstein) as key in enabling students “in all their after lives to do their individual work more readily and successfully (Barnard, 1838, quoted in Rothstein).

Citation

Thomas, N.P. (2004), "INFORMATION LITERACY INITIATIVES IN HIGHER EDUCATION: ORIGINS, OPTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS", Advances in Library Administration and Organization (Advances in Library Administration and Organization, Vol. 21), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 257-266. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0732-0671(04)21016-1