Summary

The English department used a two-tiered approach to information literacy: faculty development, and student learning and outcome. The department structured the grant to help them explore what might be common among various literary studies and to allow faculty to develop their own particular approaches to information literacy. Their definition of information literacy came from exploring its meaning within the context of classes in the English department curriculum.

Outcomes:

• Faculty discussions of possible definitions for information literacy, the current state of faculty and student knowledge, and goals for the future.
• Three members of the faculty attended a Dreamweaver course to learn website creation.
  • One professor used Dreamweaver to create web pages for a winter 2002 course.
• Exploration of ways to use the library more fully.
  • Two members of the faculty worked with librarian, Kristi Wermager, to examine Special Collections, catalog the books and use on-line databases to study publication history.
  • Liaison librarian, Mollie Freier, created an EndNote library of the Special Collections catalog.
• Faculty were introduced to EndNote as a tool for research and teaching.
• Consulted with Jackie Lauer-Glebov, assistant director for institutional research, to create assessment documents.
• Worked with Mollie Freier to introduce students to library, reference and web resources.
• Explored use of the Collab network system
  • Network was used for sharing student work, assignments and course materials
  • Creation of discussion sites, including one for Information Literacy that is available to the entire department.
• Creation of a document defining information literacy in the English curriculum.
• Creation of class assignments to develop students' information literacy and planning course models for the future.

Successes:

• Grant allowed for faculty development and reflection
• Development of classroom application and assessment.
• Broadened awareness of available resources such as EndNote and Special Collections.
• Definition of Information Literacy that allows for fuller integration into the curriculum in the future.

Definition of Information Literacy

Literacy is, of course, central to our work in English. We study primary texts that are, in themselves, aesthetic and historical objects; we teach close reading and effective writing through examining literary texts that are read and reread over time. These books are the foundation of scholarly discussion because they demonstrate aspects of human life embodied in the humanities, publication history, the role of the book as aesthetic and economic object, cultural context, and other ever-changing studies. Information literacy in English is grounded, therefore, in literary texts; ideally it should combine knowledge or varied methods needed to access and evaluate primary texts (and, when possible, rare or special editions of the books themselves) with knowledge of the newest technologies involved in accessing on-line resources and evaluating those resources. Students will develop knowledge and skills in literary techniques, literary history, and scholarship and research.