Information Literacy has been defined by the Association of College & Research Libraries as "a set of abilities requiring individuals to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information." 

As the availability of information has greatly expanded in recent years, it is crucial to enable our students to develop information literacy skills to help them locate, evaluate and integrate new information into their knowledge base and give them tools to equip them for life-long learning.  

It has been observed (both in library literature and from personal experience) that general library instruction has not proved to be as effective in providing information literacy skills for students as library instruction tied to a specific assignment.  In light of this observation, the design for our Information Literacy Program is to develop information literacy modules related to a required core course and research assignment each year.  Each module will have a particular emphasis suited to the course, assignment and discipline:

Freshman: College Writing I

Emphasis: Provide overview of resources available at the Library;

demonstrate general searching skills. 

2^nd Semester Freshman/Sophomore: College Writing II

Emphasis: Obtain outside resources from area libraries and through Interlibrary Loan; use of citation databases such as MLA and WorldCat.

Sophomore/Junior: Bible Doctrines I

Emphasis: Develop advanced searching skills using the RTA citation database; use critical thinking to compare various viewpoints, and assimilate new information into their own knowledge base.

Junior: Multicultural America

Note: Education Majors: EDU 248 (in place of Multicultural America)

Emphasis: Utilize reference resources, distinguish between primary and secondary sources, and implement evaluation criteria for websites (accuracy, authority, objectivity, currency and coverage).

<back to Information Literacy