At 10:04 AM 1/7/2005 -0500, you wrote:
>Very interesting article in this week's Chronicle of Higher Education
>/ Chronicle Review:
>
>http://tinyurl.com/5hvxs
>Information Literacy Makes All the Wrong Assumptions
Mr. Wilder makes some very good points, worth some careful thought. I must
strongly disagree with one of his statements however, to wit:
"Information literacy assumes that she accepts unquestioningly the
information she finds on the Internet, when we know from research that she
is a skeptic who filters her results to the best of her ability. "
Mr. Wilder IS speaking of college freshmen here, and my experience is
largely with high school students; but I seriously doubt that something
magical happens over the summer between high school graduation in June and
entering college in the fall. More and more high school students DO accept
unquestioningly what they find on the net. VERY few students, even the
best college-bound ones, apply the kind of rigorous 'filtering' we would
like to see them use. Numerous college professors complain in words that
are all too familiar to us of student papers simply cut and pasted together
from Internet sources.
Mr. Wilder implies that information literacy is wrong in attempting to
teach searching and evaluation skills, when all students want is to 'find
information'. If what we, and many college professors, see in student work
is "the best of her ability", then surely such students ARE in need of
instruction to enhance their ability. Isn't that what education is
supposed to be about?
Mr. Wilder also states, "...for all its strengths, the Internet cannot give
students the high-quality scholarly information that is available only
through subscription, license, or purchase." Very true. He also states
that, "Information literacy is also harmful because it encourages
librarians to teach ways to deal with the complexity of information
retrieval, rather than to try to reduce that complexity. That effect is
probably not intentional or even conscious, but it is insidious. It is not
uncommon for librarians to speak, for example, of the complexity of
searching for journal articles as if that were a fact of nature. The only
solution, from the information-literacy point of view, is to teach students
the names of databases, the subjects and titles they include, and their
unique search protocols -- although all of those facts change constantly,
ensuring that the information soon becomes obsolete, if it is not forgotten
first. Almost any student could suggest a better alternative: that the
library create systems that eliminate the need for instruction." I believe
this misses the point. It isn't the library or information literacy that
is at fault here, its the purveyors of the databases.
One of my pet peeves has always been the lack of consistency in search
protocols and user interfaces. And DON'T get me started on the semi-annual
'updates' that keep tinkering with and changing the way information is
displayed or search terms entered. But the blame there rests with the
companies that provide the databases, not the librarians and libraries that
try to teach students how to use these resources. How, exactly, is a
library supposed to "create systems that eliminate the need for
instruction" utilizing proprietary, copyright protected academic
databases? I seriously doubt that librarians really enjoy teaching a
multiplicity of search protocols; but how else are we supposed to serve
student and faculty needs with the very things that Mr. Wilder states are
our strong points, "the high-quality scholarly information that is
available only through subscription, license, or purchase" vis a vis the
Internet?
Finally, I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Wilder when he says that, "Every
obstacle we can remove makes it more likely that reference and
bibliographic instruction will get to the heart of the matter: connecting
students with information. " Searching electronic and print databases CAN
be needlessly cumbersome. What worries me is that in tossing out the
concept of information literacy (which Mr. Wilder seems to equate with
instruction in searching) we lose something that is an essential component
of it: the vital skill of evaluation (which Mr. Wilder mentions only once).
It almost seems that Mr. Wilder is subtly advocating an acceptance of the
view that information should simply be made available on demand with no
effort, that the librarian should simply hand the answer to a question to
the student instead of teaching the student how to find the answers.
I admit that sometimes I myself have fallen into the trap of finding the
hunt for the answer so interesting that the process becomes an end unto
itself. (Not often, but it HAS been known to happen!) But isn't it far
more useful to the student to teach them how to find the answers to their
questions, both today's AND tomorrow's? Of course, answer those urgent
one-time questions; but also teach how to search on their own, and how to
evaluate what they find. Or are we really willing to accept the concept of
the passive student, standing there, hand out, waiting to have information
served to them without effort or skill on their part; trusting that, when
they plug the unquestioned bits into their papers, the information they
have been handed is in fact accurate, or even what they need? If they get
into this habit in college, it will carry over into their professional
lives, and there will not always be a librarian to ensure that the instant
information is accurate.
Just my $1.50's worth. ..... comments? observations?
Mark Williams
Consulting Librarian
Professional Services for Conferences, Districts, Workshops
markwilliams@makaw.net
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