Information Literacy

Information literacy is a very important part of the mission of the library. It is hoped that by making the effort to instruct students in the proper use of library tools and resources, students will become empowered as life-long learners. The benefit to students is obvious — the next paper or assignment becomes that much easier. However, teaching faculty also benefit; hopefully, they see an improvement in the quality of the assignments from their students.

Below are a number of resources that are geared towards helping both teaching faculty and librarians in improving the level of information literacy at Elmhurst College. Information on information literacy as a nation-wide movement is available, as is information on information literacy here at Elmhurst. There are also a number of sites addressing plagiarism. Need ideas for assignments? Some helpful links are below. To arrange to bring in a class for an instruction session, contact the appropriate departmental liaison.

• Behind the Scenes: Information Literacy and Nursing at Elmhurst College - Anne Jordan-Baker, Assistant Librarian A.C. Buehler Library, Elmhurst College, Immersion and Beyond Preconference, Association of College and Research Libraries, 11th National Conference, Charlotte, NC, April 9-10, 2003. Best viewed in Internet Explorer.
• Bibliography of Information Literacy in the Disciplinary Literature – Information literacy from the disciplines’ perspective.
• Departmental Liaisons at Elmhurst College – List of librarians and the academic departments for which they serve as liaisons.
• Ideas for Library/Information Assignments - From the Memorial University of Newfoundland Libraries.
• Information Literacy Across the Curriculum – A 2001 presentation from an Elmhurst College workshop for faculty. From the same workshop, look at Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education and Elmhurst College Educational Goals.
• Information Literacy and Nursing at Elmhurst College: Teaching Students to Practice Evidence-Based Nursing – Presented March 9, 2003, by Anne Jordan-Baker, Assistant Librarian, and Linda Niedringhaus, Director, Deicke Center for Nursing Education.
• Information Literacy Best Practices
• Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education – From the Association of College and Research Libraries.
• Information Literacy Sites – Annotated links to web sites dealing with information literacy, published in the February 1999 College and Research Libraries News.

Plagiarism: Resources for Faculty

• Guide to Plagiarism and Cyberplagiarism – From the University of Alberta Libraries, a comprehensive collection of resources for faculty and students.
• The New Plagiarism: Seven Antidotes to Prevent Highway Robbery in an Electronic Age – Good suggestions for teachers on reducing the likelihood of plagiarism. Article by Jamie McKenzie, From Now On: The Educational Technology Journal 7 (8), May, 1998.
• Plagiarism: Faculty Resources – From Dalhousie University
• Thinking and Talking About Plagiarism: Addresses “assignment design, how to talk about plagiarism in the classroom, how to talk to students you suspect might have plagiarized (and your reading of your students’ writing is the best detection there is), how to search the WWW and databases for possibly plagiarized e-text, how to tell if the plagiarism is intentional cheating or poor source handling, and how to proceed with plagiarism cases even when you can’t find an originating text.”

Advice for Assigning Research Projects

• Some Do’s and Don’ts for Assigning Research Projects – A handout for Elmhurst College faculty