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Information Literacy

What is information literacy at King's College?

To clarify what information literacy entails, here is a definition, which Faculty Council has approved as part of its ongoing work on the issue.  

"to be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate critically, and use effectively and ethically the needed information.  The information literacy program at King's College develops transferable information literacy skills that are common to all students and also develops competence in accessing, evaluating and using information for discipline-specific applications."  

The Information Literacy team was formed in 2001 by the Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs, Ed Napieralski to help faculty better understand and improve their assessment of information literacy issues.  The original members were Gene Berger, Janet DuMond, Joseph Kraus, Robert LaDuca, Jean O'Brien and Brian Pavlac, chair.  In 2004 the team merged with the CELT Advisory Board.  

The website provides the following information:  

Plagiarism:  Part of the ongoing faculty discussions concerning plagiarism.  Includes links to sites defining plagiarism, detecting dishonesty, and commenting on professional disputes.  

Help Stop Plagiarism!:  A brief pamphlet for students on the issues behind plagiarism.  Please use. Web version.  Word version.  

The Corgan Library librarians will be glad to help faculty design pages as supplements for specific courses and projects.  The site provides connections to catalogues, databases, internet resources, and the following information:  

Study guides

"Suggestions for Faculty when Requesting an Information Skills Session."  

What are the competencies of information literacy?

Information literate students should be able to 

  1. determine the kind and quantity of the information needed.  Outcomes could include listing relevant databases or differentiating between primary and secondary sources.
  2. access the necessary information effectively and efficiently.  Outcomes could include constructing a research strategy or conducting a survey.
  3. evaluate information and its sources critically, incorporating some into their knowledge base and value system.  Outcomes could include recognizing bias or determining accuracy.
  4. use information successfully to accomplish a specific purpose.  Outcomes could include drafting an outline or citing references.
  5. understand economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information, ethically and legally.  Outcomes could include describing censorship or identifying plagiarism.  

You can check out the complete standards of the Association of College and Research Libraries at <http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlissues/acrlinfolit/informationliteracy.htm>.  

See also the "Information Literacy Guide" of Pollack Library, California State University, Fullerton <http://guides.library.fullerton.edu/infocomp/>.

URL: http://departments.kings.edu/celt/infoliteracy/plagiarism.html
Last Revision: 16 April 2007
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Copyright � MMVII by Brian A. Pavlac
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Mail to: bapavlac@kings.edu
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