Regardless of why libraries have gained more active roles in student learning, information literacy is gaining prominence and acceptance in higher education. And yet...Writing in 1995, Larry Hardesty concluded that "Despite attributes of faculty culture that support the development of large libraries, the wide-scale acceptance by faculty of bibliographic instruction has not occurred." Hardesty correctly notes that "discussions of bibliographic instruction remain conspicu

     even though there is disagreement about how information literacy should be taught, by whom and when.

     Library instruction (or bibliographic instruction or library skills programs) has a long history in American higher education. Thomas Kirk reminds interested parties that "Information literacy depends on cooperation among classroom faculty, academic administrators, librarians and other information professionals. In order to effectively implement a program all parties must be involved." Kotter likewise argues that the goal of academic librarians actively contributing to scholarly communication and teaching "is unattainable without good relations between librarians and classroom faculty."

Different Agendas, But Shared Goals

The [Ernest L.] Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research University. Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A Blueprint for America's Research Universities. Report written by Robert W. Kenny. Stony Brook, NY; State University of New York-Stony Brook for the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 1998. 44 pp.

     This report emphasizes the need for allowing undergraduates to inquire, investigate, and discover, and states that “The skills of analysis, evaluation, and synthesis will become the hallmarks of a good education, just as absorption of a body of knowledge once was.”(11)

     Warmkessel and McCade stress that "information literacy is not Internet-dependent." As Winner comments, "there still remains no widespread acceptance of the librarian's role in curriculum planning and course-integrated instruction."

Building Consensus Through Collaboration

     Information literacy librarians need to remember that "No pgroam can be successful when faculty are commanded to teach something new and unfamiliar to them without support."(Snavely) Getting faculty buy-in requires a mutual understanding of goals and the establishment of trust over time.

     Evan Farber, College Librarian Emeritus, Earlham College, has long advocated the importance of faculty/librarian collaboration. In discussing his 1974 opinions regarding some of the perceived shortcomings of historical approaches to bibliographic instruction, Farber stressed that "While the two groups - teaching faculty and librarians - can and should work together, neither can do the other's job." Librarians and faculty need to form a consensus on common goals (student learning outcomes). Librarians must be proactive and be able to effectively communicate their abilities and commitment to faculty. Kotter reminds us to not ignore the importance of old-fashioned "interpersonal contact," arguing that it "has a significant positive correlation with faculty attitudes regarding library services."

     Successful student learning requires cooperation and planning amongst faculty, academic professional (librarians, instructional designers, programmers, etc.), and administrators. An evolutionary process to gain buy-in... Quoting Patricia Knapp's The Monteith College Library Experiment, Farber reminds us that the notion of effective library instruction being tied to a good working relationship with librarians and faculty is not new: "...instruction in the use of the library will be really effective only if it presented by the regular teaching faculty as an integral part of content courses in all subject fields."(Knapp) Regardless of what this process is called, librarians must avoid the appearance of forcing their agenda...

     In discussing the development of the University of Lethbridge's Library Science 2000 course, Chiste's group makes use of militaristic terminology to ... They make clear the importance of basic interpersonal skills - "kindness, politeness, and solid self-confidence" - in the development of positive working relationships with faculty.

     As Amstutz and Whitson, point out, "Research conducted by library and information science professionals tends to focus on the librarian's role in working with faculty" - not on how faculty use information literacy concepts in their teaching, or how university administration supports both faculty and librarians to integrate this approach/philosophy/skill into the university curriculum.

     The question of who is "responsible" for teaching information literacy skills to students is an interesting one. While many faculty support the idea of producing information literate students, research and anecdotal evidence suggests that a good percentage of this group appears to be unsure of their own potential role in this process. Andrea Glover cautions librarians to "Beware of non-librarians wanting to crib information literacy courses with little or not involvement of professional librarians...Beware of handling over the keys of your information literacy vehicle to someone outside librarianship." Smith, on the other hand,

     Do faculty believe that working with librarians in the design of assignments and projects believe as librarians Werrell and Wesley do, that such a relationship "can actually increase the amount of subject matter covered, enrich in-class discussions, and strengthen students' understanding of the subject matter"?

     In his discussion of faculty acceptance of library bibliographic instruction programs, Hardesty

     Educational mission...sharing control According to Snavely and Cooper, "an ideal information literacy program would be a sustained cooperative effort between faculty and librarians. It would not only depend heavily on librarians in all aspects of the program, but it would also depend directly on committed, supportive faculty to incorporate information literacy goals into their subject courses."

Bibliography of Research on Information Literacy Partnerships in Higher Education

Amstutz, D and D. Whitson. University Faculty and Information Literacy: Who Teaches the Students. Research Strategies. 15:1 (1997), 18-25.

Chiste, Katherine Beaty; Glover, Andrea; and Glenna Westwood. Infiltration and Entrenchment: Capturing and Securing Information Literacy Territory in Academe. The Journal of Academic Librarianship. 26:3 (May 2000), pp. 202-8.

Farber, Evan. Faculty-Librarian Cooperation: A Personal Retrospective. Reference Services Review. 27:2 (1999), 229-34.

Hardesty, Larry. Faculty Culture and Bibliographic Instruction: An Exploratory Analysis. Library Trends. 44 (Fall 1995), 348-49.

Isbell, Dennis; Carol Burroughs Hammond. Information Literacy Competencies. College and Research Libraries News. No. 6(June 1993), 325-7.

Kirk, Thomas J. Academicians' Guide to Information Literacy (Information Literacy in a Nutshell: Basic Information for Academic Administrators and Faculty). http://www.ala.org/acrl/nili/whatis.html.

Kotter, Wade R. Bridging the Great Divide: Improving Relations Between Librarians and Classroom Faculty. The Journal of Academic Librarianship. 25:4 (July 1999), 294-303.