Information literacy (IL) is more than a set of skills. IL has evolved from library based programmes of library or information skills instruction centred on the library as place, print as the main source of information and the teacher librarian (TL) as expert to IL which is holistic, Involving all information formats from print to digital, learner-centred and involving all aspects of students’ lives (Lupton, 2002, p. 78).
The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) attributes this evolution of IL to greater complexity in resources, technologies and the emergence of multiple literacies. AASL expands its definition of IL beyond skills to include “the disposition to use those skills, along with an understanding of their own responsibilities and self-assessment strategies,” (Standards for the 21st Century Learner, 2007). Dispositions are the emotions and attitudes that surround the actions of students. An example of this is students must not only have the skills to evaluate a website but also develop the disposition to use that critical lens every time they use a website to gain information (Stripling, 2008, p. 17).
Unlike skills, dispositions cannot be explicitly taught, however, students can be given guidance and opportunities to develop them while they are learning. Confidence and self-direction cannot be directly taught but if students have a number of opportunities to determine their next step and the TL scaffolds these as students are working on an inquiry unit so they experience success they can develop attitudes of self-confidence and self-direction (Stripling, 2008, p.17).
Working in an International school which uses the International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes we are charged with assisting our students to learn content through inquiry. In all four IB programmes the Learner Profile Attributes specify ten desirable dispositions students are expected to develop. While exploring IL processes and pedagogy I have come to the conviction that Guided Inquiry offers our school the best way to teach IL so that students develop skills and dispositions.
Guided Inquiry is a planned, targeted, supervised intervention through the information search process (ISP) (Kuhlthau, 2010, p.20). ISP shows the relationship between the search process and the students’ thinking, action and emotions throughout that process. It shows clearly that IL is much more than a set of skills. Guided Inquiry builds on the ISP by clearly showing that students need the assistance of the TL and their teachers to successfully navigate the process. Carol Kuhlthau has developed a taxonomy of five levels of intervention which outline possible roles a TL can fulfil in order to assist students. That assistance may take the form of direct teaching of skills, ‘Identifier/Instructor Level’ to providing behavioural and emotional support, ‘Counselor Level’ (Thomas, Crow and Franklin, 2011, p. 51). The scaffolding of our students as they work through ISP will involve collaboration between TL and teachers. Together we will have to use observation and feedback to know when and how to provide timely interventions to assist students to progress from their present level to their potential level of IL (Thomas, Crow and Franklin, 2011, p.50).
It is no surprise that when trying to define IL writers tend to describe the attributes of an information literate person rather than list the skills they employ (Bruce, 1997, p. 26). IL is more than a set of skills.
References
Bruce, C. (1997). Descriptions of information literacy. In The seven faces of information literacy (pp. 20-41). Adelaide, Australia: Auslib Press.
IB learner profile. (2013). International Baccalaureate Organization. Retrieved from http://www.ibo.org/myib/digitaltoolkit/files/pdfs/learner-profile-en.pdf
Kuhlthau, C. C. (2010). Guided Inquiry: School libraries in the 21st century. School Libraries Worldwide, 16(1), 17-28. Retrieved from http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/~kuhlthau/docs/GI-School-Librarians-in-the-21-Century.pdf
Lupton, M. (2002). The getting of wisdom: reflections of a teaching librarian. Australian Academic & Research Libraries, 33(2), 75-85. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00048623.2002.10755184
Standards for the 21st-Century Learner. (2007). American Association of School Librarians Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/aasl/standards-guidelines/learning-standards
Stripling, B. (2008). Dispositions: Getting beyond “Whatever”. In K. Fontichiaro (Ed.), 21st-Century Learning in School Libraries (pp. 16-19). Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.
Thomas, N. P., Crow, S. R., & Franklin, L. L. (2011). The Information Search Process: Kuhlthau’s legacy. In Information Literacy and Information Skills Instruction: Applying Research to Practice in the 21st Century School Library. (3rd ed., pp. 33-58). Retrieved from http://CSUAU.eblib.com/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=715256