Program Learning Outcome 5: Demonstrate information literacy and technological agility.
It seems that there is, as of late, a particularly crucial need for information professionals to have a high level of skill in information literacy, and also be able to teach those skills to others. Discerning among reputable sources of information, analysis of those sources, and communicating information responsibly is the underlying foundation of my iSchool experience.
5.1 Exercise expert information literacy skills including the ability to identify information needs, search, evaluate, produce, and use information ethically.
This learning outcome, I believe, is the answer to the question that is often asked: “why do we need information professionals if I can just Google something?” Having expert information literacy skills is necessary even when using a search engine, and the ability to dynamically engage with information and help others do so is crucial to being an information professional.
The reference scenario project I completed in IST 605: Reference and Information Literacy Services was an excellent example of identifying the information needs of a hypothetical patron and searching for information based on those particular needs. I provided the patron with fifteen sources, explaining in great detail the method I used to find each, and included two discarded sources for each source. This assignment demonstrated my ability to identify and analyze information needs, but also gave me the confidence needed to teach future patrons to ethically use and search for information.
5.2 Apply knowledge of user information behavior in various contexts.
Users will not necessarily know what they don’t know, and they may not necessarily have their reference question formulated properly to obtain the information they are looking for. As an information professional, it is my job to understand the user and their varying information behaviors. In other words, I have to be able to explain their information need to them.
In IST 605, I also completed a project called the Reference Scenario Transcript Analysis, in which I took transcripts of interactions between librarians and patrons who had questions, and “fixed” them based on best practices of user information behavior. Each interaction was tailored to the information needed by each patron.
Reference Scenario Transcript Analysis
5.3 Employ research methods to investigate important questions; collect, analyze, evaluate, and communicate data; and interpret results from studies in library and information science and cognate fields.
To me, PLO 5.3 represents the crux of my graduate school experience. Each assignment required me to communicate and analyze data using research skills that I have learned in the past, as well as the new skills I have picked up in this program.
This was most clear to me in IST 564: Accessible Library and Information Services–the class that solidified my interest in accessibility librarianship as a career. Each assignment required not only an abundance of research, but also critical thinking and analysis of data based on the research found. One paper (Assistive Technology Report and Recommendations) communicates my ability to critically analyze and interpret collected data—after researching Universal Design, I used this information to make recommendations about ways in which a particular library could improve and update its accessibility tech.
Assistive Technology Report and Recommendations
5.4 Engage, evaluate, and deploy various technologies ethically and critically.
Keeping up with technology as it evolves is a necessity for a successful information professional. Knowing how to use tech, and deciding which digital products to use at all, requires analysis of each product with an ethical eye.
IST 611: Information Technology in Educational Organizations required me to perform a deep analysis of a technology tool (I chose Boomwriter), conduct a webinar on the ways to use the product most responsibly, and present the information in an aggregate site for evaluation (in this instance, Symbaloo). This assignment meant that not only did I have to responsibly analyze the technology tool of my choice, but that I had to present it using other technology that also had to be analyzed.
Boomwriter Tutorial (please click “download a copy”)
Ongoing information literacy and technical agility is only going to become more and more important in the field of information studies. Because it is becoming harder for people to intuit where information comes from, I do not take the responsibility of PLO 5 lightly. Not only do we, as information professionals, have a duty to guide patrons and users to ethically responsible information, we also must teach the community how to do so themselves.
