Introduction to Information Literacy in the K12 Classroom/Chapter 7.1

Librarians and Education

Librarians are just as much a part of our classrooms as our students are. So, having the librarians be information literate is critical. Librarians can use wikis to have students involved in book reviews or they can create podcast on how to use the library. And teacher-librarians can develop students' information literacy skills by having the students evaluate existing blogs. For example, groups of students can be asked to record a list of communication and design criteria representative of effective, save and credible blogs. Later, these criteria can be refined across group discussions and then applied by the teacher-librarian or students when developing their own class, school library, or school blog (McPherson, 2006 p. 68).

21st Century Skills

Development of information literacy skills around units of inquiry for research and reflections on a particular event, critical question, novel study, author, family history, or science experiment (McPherson, 2006 p. 68), is quite helpful because it creates authentic and motivating text-based reading and writing contexts for students (McPherson, 2006 p. 68).

Here are some websites with ideas for librarians on how to incorporate the “Web tools” into their classroom the library (Washington State Library 2001; Loertscher and Woolls 1997; Dalhousie University 2008). Librarians along with technology resource teachers can also be asked to step into the classroom to demonstrate using a blog space or a wiki. Through demonstration, the students will all be brought up to at least the same level of information. This way all can understand what to do when they are asked to use the webspace. Consult your librarian about putting together a powerpoint or screencast to enhance the learning process about the desired web tool.

Libraries in Information Society

Contributions of libraries to our society are more important than ever before in the information age. Libraries and museums are dedicated to creating and sustaining a nation of learners even after schools (Martin, 2004).

In 1998, AASL published Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning, a guide for school library media specialists in helping students flourish in a learning community. The guidelines of Information Power also explain the importance of collaboration -- joining teachers and others to identify links in student information needs, curricular content, learning outcomes, and a variety of print and non-print recourses.

Resources:

Loertscher, D.V. and Blanche Woolls. (June 1997). The Information Literacy Movement of the School Library Media Field: a preliminary summary of the research. Retrieved June 22, 2008 from http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/courses/250.loertscher/modelloer.html

Martin, R. S. (2004, Winter). A Nation of Learners. Threshold, p. 32.

McPherson, K. (2006). School Library Blogging. Retrieved October 6, 2009 from Teacher Librarian 33:5, University of Mary Washington Library web server.

Washington State Library (2001) Online Guide to Smart Information. Retrieved June 22, 2008 from http://www.librarysmart.com/working/home.asp