Options for Information Fluency Instruction

Information expertise is developed cumulatively over the course of a student's academic career. Many options exist for integrating information fluency into individual assignments, courses, and even departmental curricula. The more frequently students are challenged to find, use, evaluate, and create information, the more these skills will become naturally infused into all their coursework.

The Library supports student learning in a variety of ways. The following examples illustrate the range of support that librarians are providing for courses and assignments. We hope that this list sparks your interest. Your ideas and suggestions are very welcome - please contact us to discuss information fluency within the context of your course or discipline.

• Departments work with librarians to identify appropriate information fluency skills within their discipline and incorporate the teaching of those skills into courses taken by majors/minors.
• In collaboration with faculty, librarians develop customized, course-integrated instructional session(s) for a specific course. Class can meet in the Library's electronic classroom (room 20) or in other labs or enhanced classrooms on campus.
• Librarians meet with classes to lead discussions on ethical and social topics related to information, such as copyright, freedom of information, and evaluating information sources.
• Librarians assist a faculty member in planning to integrate information fluency skills and knowledge into a course. The faculty member is responsible for conveying the information. The librarian does not meet with the class, but serves as a consultant for the professor and individual students as needed.
• Librarians collaborate with faculty to develop new or modify old research papers and projects that will encourage the development of information fluency skills.
• A Librarian develops a print and/or web-based research guide tailored to a specific course or research project.
• Librarians aid individual students who are having difficulty with research. Professors may encourage students to sign up for individual appointments (Research Project Consultations) with a librarian to develop research strategies for a particular research paper or project. This service is intended for individual students, not for entire classes.