The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
School of Information Sciences
Major Project 2:
Integrated Library Programs:
Information Literacy and Its
Integration into the Curriculum
By
Amy McCurdy
Presented to
Dr. Dania Bilal
Information Sciences 551
November 30, 1999
Document sections:
Introduction
Statement of the Problem
Methodology
Findings
Information literacy is necessary to function in today's world where information is delivered at such a fast rate and in such a high amount. In fact, "information literacy is one of five essential competencies for solid job performance according to the U.S. Department of Labor Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS). The SCANS report makes the case for developing high-performance skills to support an economy characterized by high skills, high wages, and full employment. A high-skill work force is also called for in President Clinton's National Technology Policy for America" (Wisconsin Educational Media Association n.d.). Information literacy, defined as the ability to "recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information . . ." (Rabinowitz n.d.) must be achieved by students if they are to be productive learners and successful workers as adults, as outlined by the SCANS report. Students should be proficient in a program consisting of a combination of library skills, study skills, cognitive skills needed to handle information and additional skills needed for independent study (Teaching Information Skills 1994, 66) to achieve information literacy.
The necessity of students having skills to achieve information literacy is a major trend in school library media centers in the United States. At the same time, a trend in K-12 classroom teaching is on the forefront of American teaching/learning strategies. Whole Language, the recent movement in K-12 education, can be defined as an "attempt to get back to basics in the real sense of that word to set aside basals, workbooks, and tests, and to return to inviting kids to learn to read and write by reading and writing real stuff" (Goodman 1986, 38). Whole language "integrates oral and written language, and it integrates development in both with learning across the curriculum" (Goodman 1986, 43).
A parallel can be seen among the trends of information literacy in the school library media center and whole language instruction in the school classroom. Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning, points out the corresponding qualities of these two movements dominating education today in its Mission and Goals of School Library Media Programs. The mission of school media programs "focuses on offering programs and services that are centered on information literacy and that are designed around active, authentic student learning as described in the information literacy standards for student learning" (INFORMATION POWER: Mission and Goals of the School Library Media Program 1999). This paper will discuss the congruency of the information literacy and whole language movements and the implications for classroom and library learning through integration of information literacy skills into the classroom curriculum.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The necessity for students to be information literate and competent users of information obviously exists and is recognized by educational policymakers. The whole language movement in the K-12 classroom provides a logical framework by which to teach information skills to students in authentic and meaningful ways. The problem with a program of teaching information literacy across all areas of the curriculum as described by Carol Kuhlthau in her "Study Identifying Indicators of Success in Library Media Programs" is due to the difficulty in writing a curriculum. She claims that information literacy skills are characterized as being a "perspective on learning rather than a formula for teaching [with] no formal plan or packaged program that can be applied in all situations or schools or for all students" (Kuhlthau 1993), making many schools and districts apprehensive about adopting integrated library curricula. Whole language theory and ideas of curriculum integration have changed the way we view students' acquisition of information literacy skills. Information literacy is not a new concept "we have not been ignoring library and technology instruction . . . We have always had certified media specialists in our schools and have had budgets adequate to keep print materials current, to automate the library catalogs and circulation systems, and to provide a variety of online reference materials" (Johnson 1999). These skills have always been taught, only in a way that is detached from the classroom experience. Information literacy is no longer "circumscribed by the forms of information available, primarily requiring use of card catalogs, indexes, guide words, and alphabetical and numerical sequence to about the third character (Carey 1998). Information is everywhere. Students should be taught to make the best of information at the time of need and at the time of access. Connecting information use and media center skills to other areas of the curriculum creates an authentic experience and allows students to "seek that knowledge and guide them as they develop and practice the skills and strategies they will need to evaluate the information and use it in their daily lives" (Doiron and Davies 1998, 129).
Curriculum integration of information literacy skills is a relatively new phenomenon. For this reason, many resources on the topic are available on the World Wide Web. Recent journal articles and books published in the second half of the decade prove to be informative and current sources of information concerning the integration of information literacy skills into the classroom curriculum. Web and magazine articles and books published in 1995 and beyond provide accurate information and demonstrate several trends that will be discussed in the "Findings" portion of this paper. Movements toward curriculum integration, the emergence of whole language theories, the changing role of the school library media specialist, and criticisms of integrated library programs characterize the available literature.
Information Power defines curriculum integration as the provision of "intellectual access to information through learning activities that are integrated into the curriculum and that help all students achieve information literacy by developing effective cognitive strategies for selecting, retrieving, analyzing, evaluating, synthesizing, creating, and communicating information in all formats and in all content areas of the curriculum" (INFORMATION POWER: Mission and Goals of the School Library Media Program 1999). Lisa Denton (1999) of Virginia Libraries stresses that library skills should not be taught in isolation. Library skills and information literacy skills should not be taught in a setting separate from the everyday classroom learning. Advocates of curriculum integration maintain that bibliographic or research skills instruction taught in a thirty minute "library class" are not effective unless they are taught within the context of students' learning in other subject areas. A successful program of curriculum integration of library skills, according to the 1994 publication, Teaching Information Skills: Review of the Research and Its Impact on Education, would appear as follows:
|
"We recommend a whole-school policy, firmly rooted in the underlying curriculum plans of the school, absorbed into departmental syllabuses and thence into classroom assignments. The policy might include statements of aims and objectives and an inventory of the skills which are to be part of the pupils' repertoire. It would specify which teams of teachers were responsible for specific skill areas in each year, offer guidelines on the types of assignments to be given and the resources available, and suggest methods of monitoring the range of assignments set. A whole-school policy on information skills would not only improve pupils' ability to search for and use information, but would also greatly facilitate their learning in other areas. Learning to learn is a powerful aid to improving effectiveness across the curriculum." (4) |
Programs of curriculum integration such as the one described here lead to "reflexive learning that crosses curriculum areas. Students utilizing the media center are learning as much about the center itself as they are the topics they are studying and researching" (Denton 1999) for learning in the classroom.
Curriculum integration is an effective method of increasing students' learning in the classroom and in areas of physical and intellectual access of information. Integrating regular classroom learning with programs of teaching information literacy serves to reinforce learning in both areas in the library media center and in the classroom. Information literacy composes the foundation of every subject. Learning to access information in the media center at the time of need allows students to satisfy and reinforce their need for information on a topic while exercising their information retrieval skills and reinforcing the Big6 skills necessary for information literacy.
The whole language aspects of information literacy is described by Kuhlthau (1993) as being achieved by students engaging in "extensive problem-driven research incorporating their thoughts, actions and feelings in a holistic learning process." Students engage in holistic learning, requiring them to investigate a number of different sources to satisfy their information needs. Kuhlthau further maintains that whole language learning consists of "open-ended issues aris[ing] directly from the curriculum to initiate problem-directed research, rather than artificially" (Kuhlthau 1993).
The whole language philosophy has as a basic tenet the need for a wide range of good quality resources to lead students' research and learning. This encourages the school library media center to be "more responsive to the immediate needs of whole language classrooms by offering flexible, open book exchanges that allow students to come individually, in small groups, or with the teacher and the whole class to choose books. They come when there is a real need for materials, not just because it is their turn in the timetable to visit the school library" (Doiron and Davies 1998, 62). School library programs must be "based around learning, not around libraries" ( Stripling n.d.). This is the fundamental assumption of whole language theory.
Whole language theory in education is based on and closely connected to the ideas of multiple intelligences, resource-based learning, and constructivism. Multiple intelligences, an educational theory formulated by Howard Gardner, insists that not all children learn in the same way. Students must be given opportunities to express their mastery and learning of material in ways that support their talents, or intelligences. For example, not all students function well in a classroom where they face the front, remain quiet, and work on a worksheet or questions from a textbook chapter. Howard Gardner developed his theory of seven or more "multiple intelligences" that are of equal importance in human beings. These separate intelligences develop at different times and in different ways in different individuals. Teachers find these different types of intelligence are synergistic: when one changes, others might be affected. Gardner notes that our educational system is slanted heavily in favor of logical-mathematical and linguistic learners. Stating that all of the intelligences work in concert, not in isolation, he advocates changes in curriculum design and delivery so that all of the intelligences are addressed (Edwards n.d.).
The goals of media centers presented in Information Power support the idea of multiple intelligences:
Resource-based learning, another outgrowth of the Whole Language momentum guiding K-12 education in America today, concentrates on giving students opportunities to achieve knowledge by using a wide variety of "print, non-print and human resources" (Doiron and Davies 1998, 16). Resource-based learning supports "locating, interpreting, analyzing, synthesizing, evaluating, and communicating" (Wisconsin Educational Media Association n.d.) information to fill information needs. Resource-based learning "calls for all members of the educational community to become partners in a shared goal, providing successful learning experiences for all students. Learning environments should be structured to allow students unlimited access to multiple resources in the classroom, the library media center, and beyond the school walls (Wisconsin Educational Media Association n.d.)
Constructivism is another trend in education used to refer to the holistic approach to teaching/learning. The term constructivism, which refers to giving students "access to a wide range of materials for learning and advocates developing information skills for learning from a variety of sources" (Kuhlthau 1993), is often used interchangeably with the term whole language. Constructivism involves a "mental process by the learner to put new information into a context, framework, or mental model" (Stripling 1995). Constructivism, like multiple intelligences and resource-based learning and whole language in general, refers to the movement in education in which students are the center of the lessons. Worksheets and book chapters do not mandate the curriculum, but authentic learning from a variety of sources in a variety of ways predominates. This movement in K-12 education very much parallels and offers good strategies for employing programs of integration of library media skills. "The message is very clear. Whole language programs are here to stay" (Senator 1995, 7).
Integration of information literacy skills into the regular K-12 curriculum requires a transformation of the duties of the library media specialist. Instead of being a person who checks books in and out, shelves books, holds storytimes, and presents each class a thirty to forty-five minute bibliographic lesson each week, the library media specialist takes on many new roles. Information Power (AASL and AECT 1998, 38-39) states three separate but overlapping roles for the school media specialist:
Instead of being responsible for a program of ‘library skills' that may coincidentally be relevant with material taught in the classroom, media specialists look for opportunities to integrate the use of resources and the skills needed to use the resources (Doiron and Davies 1998, 8). This should occur at the time students are learning about the subjects being researched, on an as-needed basis. This requires the school media center to move from a program of fixed schedules to "flexible schedules where teachers can sign up classes for library and librarian time on an at-need basis. Such a schedule also allows individual students to meet their own needs as independent learners" (Denton 1999). Media specialists and media center resources should be available to meet the needs of all students. Media specialists should work closely with teachers to plan curriculum-enhancing activities that are available at the time of students' information needs.
Critics of curriculum-integrated library media programs find fault in all aspects of instituting policies of curriculum integration and whole-language instruction of information literacy skills. Gail Bush, in her article "Creating an Information Literate School: Here and Now, points out many of the misconceptions and barriers that lead to criticism of and resistance to instituting programs of curriculum integration in K-12 school media centers. She points out that a serious error in ideology would be to "consider the information literacy curriculum as a ‘library curriculum,' which should be taught in isolation through the library media center. Unless the information literacy curriculum is fully integrated into the board-approved curriculum, it will not produce a successful program for students" (Bush 1999, 56). Media specialists already have a special curriculum they teach to classes in that block of time spent in the library each week. This separate curriculum is not what is meant by an integrated curriculum.
Another barrier to the efforts to institute a program of curriculum integration of information literacy skills is the fear of technology held by many educators. This trepidation "sometimes casts a shadow on information literacy, Bush main"tains. The use of computers and technology to find resources to support learning in all areas of the curriculum would allow students to fulfill the Information Power goal of "selecting, retrieving, analyzing, evaluating, synthesizing, creating, and communicating information in all formats and in all content areas of the curriculum" (INFORMATION POWER: Mission and Goals of the School Library Media Program 1999). Technology allows knowledge from outside the confines of the library to be accessed. Computers and other technologies will continue to be available and manifest themselves as sources of information for students in K-12 media centers. As educators and other officials opposing an integrated curriculum of library skills "become more technologically skilled and feel more comfortable as facilitators and guides in engaged learning activities, they are reassured and relieved to concentrate on the content and not on the technicalities; they can then focus on higher order thinking skills" (Bush 1999, 60).
Perhaps the most substantial barriers to instituting programs of integrated library curricula are the same as the barriers faced by K-12 education in instituting programs of whole language learning: rigors of scheduling and accountability standards. James O. Carey, in his 1998 School Library Media Quarterly article, "Library Skills, Information Skills, and Information Literacy: Implications for Teaching and Learning" summarizes these barriers unique to both integration of curriculum in library media theory and whole language in education:
With the constraints imposed on media specialists through staffing patterns, scheduling, and problems in breaking out of old perceptions of roles and responsibilities, it is difficult to bring together the cooperative arrangement among teachers, students, and media specialists that is required to implement a good information skills program. To that, add constraints imposed by state and district curriculum requirements, testing, and accountability standards, and for the media specialist to move toward a full-blown, constructivist, information literacy program becomes a task of enormous proportion.
Rigors of scheduling and time constraints are a major barrier to the implementation of integrated library and information skills curricula, just as these constraints impede the institution of whole language programs in education. "Rarely is there enough time for students to work through the process under the guidance of librarians and teachers" (Kuhlthau 1989, 23), and there is also a "lack of planning time for team teaching between librarians and teachers" (Ibid). So far, the barriers, misconceptions, and criticisms of programs of integrated library media instruction have prevented the programs from being implemented on a large scale.
Information literacy and its integration into the curriculum is a movement in library instruction which is embraced by some and criticized by others. Like the whole language movement in education, a full-scale implementation of such programs has not taken place because of the differences in opinion concerning the programs. Examples of implementation of integrated curriculum programs seem to occur on a per-school basis and involve the combined initiative of principals, media specialists, and teachers to execute the program. Those who are eager to combine students' classroom and library learning realize that "information literacy cannot be effectively implemented as an add-on to a course or to a curriculum. It needs to be thoroughly integrated into the design of courses and reflected in objectives for both individual courses and the entire curriculum" (Johnson 1999). I realize this and plan to work closely with teachers and the principal when I become a media specialist. Authentic, whole-language-based instruction will be used in my media center. Students will be able to learn important library and research skills in the context of their regular learning, and all learning will be meaningful.
American Library Association. (1998, November 16). Information power: learning and teaching principles of school library media programs. Retrieved September 13, 1999 from the World Wide Web.
American Library Association. (1998, November 16). Information power: mission and goals of the school library media program. Retrieved September 13, 1999 from the World Wide Web.
Bush, G. (1999, March). Creating an information literate school: here and now. National Association of Secondary School Principals Bulletin 83: 53-61.
Carey, J. O. (1998). Library skills, information skills, and information literacy: implications for teaching and learning. School Library Media Quarterly. Retrieved September 13, 1999 from the World Wide Web.
Denton, L. (1999, August). Library instruction in K-12 schools. Virginia Libraries 45, no. 1. Retrieved September 13, 1999 from the World Wide Web.
Doiron, R. and Davies, J. (1998). Partners in Learning: Students, Teachers, and the School Library. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, Inc.
Edwards, J. (1995, December). Multiple intelligences and technology. About FACE, the Florida Association for Computers in Education, Inc. Newsletter vol. 10 no. 3. Pembroke Pines, Florida: Florida Association for Computers in Education. Retrieved September 13, 1999 from the World Wide Web.
Fort Bend Independent School District. (n.d.) The Big6 Skills Model of information problem-solving. Retrieved September 22, 1999 from the World Wide Web.
Goodman, K. S. (1986). What's Whole in Whole Language? Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
INFORMATION POWER: Learning and Teaching Principles of School Library Media Programs. (1999). Excerpted from Chapter 4, "Learning and Teaching," of Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning. Copyright © 1998 American Library Association and Association for Educational Communications and Technology. Retrieved September 15, 1999 from the World Wide Web.
INFORMATION POWER: Mission and Goals of the School Library Media Program. (1999). Excerpted from Chapter 1, "The Vision," of Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning. Copyright 1998 American Library Association and Association for Educational Communications and Technology. Retrieved September 15, 1999 from the World Wide Web.
Johnson, D. (1999, March). Implementing an information literacy curriculum: one district's story. National Association of Secondary School Principals Bulletin 83, no. 605 53-61. Retrieved September 15, 1999 from the World Wide Web.
Kuhlthau, C. C. (1993, Fall). Implementing a process approach to information skills: a study identifying indicators of success in library media programs. School Library Media Quarterly 22 no. 1 Retrieved September 13, 1999 from the World Wide Web.
Kuhlthau, C. C. (1989, Fall). Information search process: a summary of research and implications for school library media programs. School Library Media Quarterly: 19-25.
Rabinowitz, C. E., Reference Librarian. (n.d.). Integrating information literacy into the curriculum. St. Mary's City, MD: St. Mary's College of Maryland. Retrieved September 15, 1999 from the World Wide Web.
Senator, R. B. (1995). Collaborations for Literacy: Creating an Integrated Language Arts Program for Middle Schools. Westport, CT: Greenwood.
Stripling, B. K. (1995, Spring). Learning-centered libraries: implications from research. School Library Media Quarterly 23 no. 3 Retrieved March 11, 1999 from the World Wide Web.
Teaching Information Skills: Review of the Research and its Impact on Education. (1994). Rick Rogers, ed. London: Bowker Saur Ltd.
Wisconsin Educational Media Association. (n.d.). Information Literacy: A Position Paper on Information Problem Solving. Retrieved September 15, 1999 from the World Wide Web.
Citation Style taken from: Electronic Reference Formats Recommended by the American Psychological Association. (1999, November 19). American Psychological Association. Retrieved October 25, 1999 from the World Wide Web.