This is a topic in which many librarians have a fierce interest but, unfortunately, many other professionals do not. Librarians are aware that information literate pupils perform better, hand in better work and get better grades.
In spite of this, it can be difficult to promote information literacy within schools. Trying to set up a ‘whole school’ approach is difficult, if not impractical.
It is often more effective to ‘target’ a department, or even a teacher. Work with them to create very specific, tailored materials for a particular task.
Keep records of your work and the procedures you follow. Gather and record feedback from pupils and staff.
If at all possible, try and show that your work has actually improved quality of work and curricular results. On this last point, you need to be wary; teachers will not often be keen to ‘share the glory’, so suit your report to reflect the personality of the teacher.
Within the library itself, the options for creating information literacy materials are wide. Some suggestions below:
- Google. If they must Google, show them how to use it properly (see #6 Google, which links to a short Google Guide).
- Website evaluation (see Basic Website Evaluation ).
- Finding information in non-fiction books.
- Finding information in the library.
- Web information: where’s the good stuff?
- Presenting materials: make it look good in your word processor.
- How to collate and extract information for an essay.
- Bibliographies (see Simple Bibliographies Using Neil’s Toolbox )
informationliteracy.org has loads of useful resources.
Filed under: information literacy, traditional | Tagged: information literacy, traditional
