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Uniting information literacy & teacher education.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

This article describes an education professor and a librarian's collaborative teacher action research study of developing information literacy skills in a graduate teacher certification program in Literacy Education. We discuss the problem that initiated our instructional and research partnership, the methods used in information literacy instruction and assessment, the data sources and results and interpret the results in a discussion of how we plan to further develop the students' information literacy skills.

Introduction

Today, teacher candidates must not only be able to negotiate the Dewey Decimal System and the Library of Congress Classification Systems, understand the tasks needed for locating library materials, and be familiar with elementary research concepts, but must also keep current in the ever-changing technological environment which today's libraries embrace. No more are the days where students are satisfied with obtaining information from print sources. Today's students want to sit down at a computer and effortlessly and immediately locate the information they desire. Warnken, (2004) discusses how students who are, "comfortable with technology but do not necessarily have the skills to function effectively and manage the ever-increasing quantities of information resources available in the electronic environment." Little is known by students about the review process that librarians follow to choose materials in their subject area. Most students don't know that academic librarians are subject selectors in specific fields, usually possessing additional degrees in these areas. Extra steps, which usually include professional reviews from several sources, trade publication notices, materials discussed at conferences, and catalog subscriptions, result in a carefully constructed, well-researched collection in each subject area. Manuel's article, (as cited by Warnken, 2004) identified the problem of technologically competent students who overestimate their ability to effectively search for and access information. Kaufman, (as cited in Murry, McKee & Hammons, 1997) suggests that although we live in an "information age," most of society suffers from "information incompetence." Students often aren't self-aware of the problems they face using electronic sources as their primary method of obtaining information. Only when they find themselves unable to manage, evaluate and select appropriate sources, they become frustrated by what they perceive as too-demanding assignments of more positively, reach out to find support from librarians and instructors. Using library resources is critical to students' abilities to understand concepts and access literature about topics of importance to teachers. Research skills must be taught to teacher candidates so that they can conduct their own scholarly inquiry, and teach their students how to manage and evaluate the abundance of information available. Therefore, the need for collaboration between education faculty and librarians is greater than ever.

Context

As authors of this account, we recognize that it isn't unusual to create partnerships between librarians and teaching faculty...

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