Call for Proposals for Edited Collection

Information Literacy—Not Just for Librarians: Issues in Assessment, Teaching, and Application

Editors: Barbara D’Angelo, Sandra Jamieson, Barry Maid, and Janice R. Walker

Information Literacy—Not Just for Librarians: Issues in Assessment, Teaching and Application is an edited collection that will address research in and issues surrounding theoretical, pedagogical, and practical approaches to information literacy (IL).  According to the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) an "information literate individual" is able to “determine the extent of information needed, access the needed information effectively and efficiently, evaluate information and its sources critically, incorporate selected information into one's knowledge base, use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose, and understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information, and access and use information ethically and legally.” As this definition reveals, IL goes far beyond the traditional image of locating and assessing sources to include understanding and using them. In other words, today IL exists beyond the realm of academic librarians.  One example is the fact the WPA Outcomes Statement and the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education mirror one another and were created in the same timeframe.  Both WPA and ACRL were replying to the same exigence.

Information literacy as a core competency has been endorsed by the Council of Independent Colleges and forms the basis of the Quality Enrichment Plans of many SACS-accredited institutions   Yet in spite of the broad currency of the term, there is still no agreed-upon definition or understanding of what IL instruction entails. Calls for more broadly-shared ownership of and responsibility for IL (see for example Fister 1992, Gavin 1995, Norgaard 2003, & Lupton 2004), have been largely unheeded in practice. Research by Project Information Literacy, The Citation Project, and the LILAC Project reveal that the majority of American college students remain far from “information literate individuals” and suggest that focused attention to information literacy is essential across disciplines and specializations, and for this it remains imperative to establish a significant literature that draws on the expertise and vision of scholars in multiple disciplines.

This collection seeks to bring together the work of faculty across the curriculum, including those from academic and professional disciplines, general education programs, writing studies, technical communication, and library sciences.  Proposals should address one or more of the following issues or related issues:

·         Status of IL initiatives
·         Partnerships across disciplines and/or between faculty and librarians
·         Impact of new media/technologies on IL instruction
·         Impact of assessment and accreditation standards on IL initiatives
·         Theoretical considerations
·         Pedagogical approaches
·         IL as part of a vertical curriculum
·         Research in the transfer of IL skills across the curriculum
·         IL in theory and in practice
·         IL beyond the classroom
·         Research on students’ and/or faculty IL practices

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Submit abstracts (approximately 200 words) via email by January 31, 2013 to jwalker@georgiasouthern.edu.