Posted 8:38 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024
Murphy Library empowers students, instructors with information literacy skills
By Kendall Morgan, information literacy course integration librarian
Many times, many ways, on any given day, we find ourselves scrolling. On screens — tabletop or handheld — we pass creators’ videos, friends’ pictures, emails, and news alike. Information appears before us and never quite seems to run out.
The disconnect between the online and the tangible can be fatiguing. Let your guard slip, and one might find oneself towing the whole family to a Willy Wonka themed event only to learn it was brought to you by artificial intelligence.
People seek connection, and technology powerfully delivers. However, there is an additional step in any of these interactions — trust. You need to know that the map will deliver you to the right place or the bill will be paid without interference. Of course, some things are out of a person’s control, but separating what can be trusted from what causes harm is a skill that can be honed.
On Oct. 1, 2009, President Obama issued a proclamation designating October as National Information Literacy Awareness Month.
“In October, we pause. We slow down and stop to think about what crosses the screen, what we send out, and how we can better equip ourselves to navigate the proliferating information in this ever-more-digital world,” says Murphy Library Director John Jax.
In the proclamation, the former president highlights the value added by the internet in increasing access to information and offering a greater diversity of sources. Yet, he also acknowledges the troubling reality of widespread misinformation in the Information Age. The skills and attitudes that constitute responsible behavior while communicating are what make up information literacy; Obama outlines its importance:
“An informed and educated citizenry is essential to the functioning of our modern democratic society, and I encourage educational and community institutions across the country to help Americans find and evaluate the information they seek, in all its forms.”
How Murphy Library promotes information literacy
In October and throughout the year, Murphy Library facilitates and supports information literacy across the campus community in many ways.
Access to credible, reliable information
One of the major ways Murphy Library contributes to information literacy is by providing access to information through library collections — both with physical items and digital access to online materials. This is one of the core tenets of the library profession; ensuring Americans can freely find and consume the information they need, both in a monetary sense and in the sense of intellectual freedom.
Therefore, Collection Development and Acquisitions are key units within Murphy Library, adding new items to our collection every day. Working in tandem are units like Cataloging, Discovery, and e-Resources, which build the systems that intentionally organize information so people can access what they need.
Education on how to find and evaluate information
Supporting literacy does not only mean connecting people to information, but also teaching and working with people as they interpret and evaluate what they find, whether that is a source from the library, the broader internet, or elsewhere.
The Reference unit at the library provides services like online chat and in-person desk hours where librarians work with individuals to answer questions. Reference interactions can range from finding a known source to developing a search strategy together and evaluating the results. Library staff help format citations, troubleshoot technology, fact-check, and more.
Worried about asking for help? Actually, librarians enjoy the variation and surprise in the work, as well as the opportunity to get to know the UW-La Crosse community and their needs this way, says Information Literacy Instruction Librarian Sarah Bakken.
Information literacy unit brings education to campus
In addition to offering opportunities for library users to approach library staff, Murphy Library has recently adopted the Information Literacy unit. This unit reaches out to course instructors across campus to provide guest lectures or training and tools for improved information literacy, ensuring this important area is integrated in all UWL education.
Topics typical to instruction sessions include research question and keyword development, search strategies, understanding the research process and elements of scholarly communication (such as peer review), source evaluation, and citation and acknowledgement practices.
The unit is implementing a core curriculum, using the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education and the American Association of Colleges and Universities’ VALUE Rubric for Information Literacy.
This work takes many forms and can reflect a discipline’s need to achieve academic programmatic requirements. The library offers consultations on assignment design, coproducing with instructors to build in supports and structure to prepare their students for research. Also, the library coproduces activities and lesson plans that allow students to practice skills and reinforce philosophical principles like critical thinking.
“At UWL, we have taken to heart Obama’s notion that information literacy is essential to democracy. Through the many ways Murphy Library helps our community find and evaluate the information they seek, we ground ourselves in the goal of supporting lifelong learning,” says Library Department Chair Teri Holford.
Information literacy is not a finite thing that we do or do not possess. It is a practice, something we do every day that can look different depending on the context or on the information being used and created. In the rapidly changing technological landscape of today, the library embraces the information offered by the internet and by AI alike — but not without empowering the community with the knowledge and tools they need to have agency over their actions.