Information literacy and the music library.

Over the past two decades we have experienced an information explosion coupled with leaping advances in technology which have provided broader access to various information resources. The challenge posed by broader access and proliferation of information is to find and utilize that information wisely and efficiently. Librarians have been at the forefront of identifying the importance of information access and usage, researching and advocating for processes by which the associated skills can be taught and learned. This vested interest has taken on new importance in the information age. The area which used to be termed bibliographic instruction, library education, or user education has broadened into a more comprehensive discipline distinguished by the term "information literacy."

Information literacy experts use the term to describe the comprehensiveness of what we do in libraries, including library tours, reference, various forms of in-library and course-related instruction, credit courses, classroom presentations (both general and discipline specific), library signage, and online instructional materials such as information on library use, research skills, and tutorials. It often involves or aspires to new levels of collaboration among faculty, librarians, and program staff as well as institution-wide sequential integration throughout the education of the student. Another important characteristic is the inclusion of definable and assessable learning outcomes.

The American Library Association's (ALA) Presidential Committee on Information Literacy defined the information literate person in its final report in 1989: "Ultimately, information literate people are those who have learned how to learn. They know how to learn because they know how knowledge is organized, how to find information and how to use information in such a way that others can learn from them. They are people prepared for lifelong learning, because they can always find the information needed for any decision or task at hand." (1)

The Association for College and Research Libraries (ACRL) adopted its "Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education" in January 2000. The standards define information literacy as "a set of abilities requiring individuals to 'recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information'." (2)

ALAs and ACRL have developed programs to assist librarians with information literacy program implementation. ACRL developed the Institute for Information Literacy, (4) which sponsors program initiatives including the "Annual Immersion Program" (an intensive training program for librarians) and the program entitled "Institutional Strategies: Best Practices," which looks at how the competencies are best being practiced in the field. In June 2003, the institute published its "Characteristics of Programs of Information Literacy that Illustrate Best Practices: A Guideline." (5) The best practices guidelines do not describe any specific program, but are a combination of the elements of successful programs. A quick summary of these includes mission statements that are conceptually within the institution's strategic direction; goals and objectives that are consistent with the mission and goals of the overall program and reflect sound pedagogical practices; student-centered learning; strategically planned programs with administrative and institutional support; programs ...