Information Fluency: A Guide for Faculty

Although information fluency concepts and skills can be taught in a general context, students will most likely see more value in information fluency if it is taught within the context of their chosen major or another discipline.

The Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) has created a guide to information literacy in the disciplines, including links and citations to standards and curricula for a range of subject areas in Arts & Humanities, Cultural Studies, Professional Studies, Science & Engineering, and Social Sciences:

ACRL also offers tailored information literacy standards and competency guidelines for a number of disciplines:

There are also a number of books available in the Reeves Memorial Library collection that can help faculty integrate information fluency into their teaching:

Ebooks:

Print Books:

Effective research assignments offer students an opportunity to learn and practice information fluency skills, such as basic search strategies, evaluation methods, and the knowledge of discipline-specific sources.  Over time these projects enable students to develop effective research strategies that often result in a commitment to lifelong learning.

The librarians have developed the following guide to assist you in creating effective research assignments that help your students to develop within your discipline while also honing their information and critical-thinking skills:

There are a range of information fluency concepts and skill areas that can be integrated into a course or a single assignment.  While the following list is not intended to be exhaustive, the topics included here are essential in helping students become information fluent:

• Source evaluation
  • Seton Hill librarians introduce students to this concept using the C.R.A.P. method and lateral reading strategies
• Locating and using primary sources
• Developing a focused research question/topic
• Understanding how authority and currency vary across disciplines
• Understanding how new information sources are created
• Disinformation and misinformation
• Statistical literacy
• Copyright and fair use