Creating a Comprehensive Information Literacy Program: One U.S. Library's Experience

Designing and implementing an Information Literacy program can be a daunting task. Drawing on the experience of libraries that have implemented such programs can provide valuable suggestions as well as cautionary tales.

The University of Maryland Libraries have had more than twenty years’ experience in delivering information literacy instruction to undergraduate and postgraduate students. Over that time period we have learned many lessons about designing and administering a program that seeks to reach as many students as possible. The program attempts to be comprehensive and is based on the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education developed by the Association of College and Research Libraries. The cornerstone of the program is extensive collaboration with campus partners to assure that students receive effective instruction. The successes, challenges and lessons learned may be of interest to UK librarians as they develop and refine their IL programs.

A publicly funded university with 25,000 undergraduate and 9,000 postgraduate students, the University Libraries teach over 20,000 students in 1000 Information Literacy instruction sessions each year. We reach a large proportion of first year students through instructional classes for writing and orientation to college courses. Upper level and postgraduate students receive instruction tailored to the research needs of their specialized coursework. Information Literacy instruction is provided by librarians in the User Education Services department, subject-specialist librarians across the disciplines, and non-professional library staff.

Among the lessons learned from the University of Maryland’s experience, the most important are: look closely at the university curriculum and strategically target programs and courses that could benefit from IL instruction; try to develop a comprehensive program that ties to a set of IL standards; seek out collaborative opportunities with programs such as first-year writing or specialized learning communities; and raise librarians’ visibility on campus in order to raise awareness of the importance of IL.

For more information, contact Diane Harvey, Undergraduate Studies Librarian, at:
dkharvey@umd.edu

PowerPoint Presentation: Creating a Comprehensive Information Literacy Program

Documents and Web sites featured in this presentation:

• University of Maryland Libraries User Education Services
  
  
• University of Maryland course-related web pages (tutorials for IL sessions)
  
  
• TILT Information Literacy Tutorial
  NOTE: TILT is no longer available as of January 2007. Contact User Education Services for more information.
  
  
• Best Practices in Library Instruction



• Stratagies for Partnering with Faculty to Teach Information Literacy, University of Maryland Libraries presentation at LOEX 2004
  
  
• University of Maryland Libraries Strategic Plan, 2005-7
  
  
• University of Maryland Libraries Ubiquitous Library report
  
  
• ENGL 101 Freshman Writing Program
  
  
• HONR 100: Freshman Honors Colloquium
  
  
• GEMS 100: Freshman Honors Colloquium
  
  
• BSCI 125: Laboratory in Plant Biology
  
  
• Professional Writing Program
  
  
• Association of College and Research Libraries Information Literacy page
  
  
• Middle States Commission on Higher Education, Developing Research and Communication Skills: Guidelines for Information Literacy in the Curriculum
  
  

Proceedings: Coming soon.

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