LIB.705.Assignment2.+Article.Getting+Information+Literacy+Standards+Noticed.Paula+Yohe

by [|Georgia DeMesa] - Friday, 10 September 2010, 11:58 PM ||  [] Paula Yohe’s (a Director of Technology in Dillion,S.C.) article, “Getting Information Literacy Standards Noticed: How Promoting These Standards Just Might Save Your Job” talks about strategies she came up with after interviewing leading parallel library associations, (ASCD, NASSP, AASA, and NAEP). “Most representatives have no idea what information literacy is, let alone that there are standards to help teach it.” (paraphrase). This article provides specific ways to promote information literacy standards, improve the site perception of one’s library and the certificated’ s expertise. The various areas to be discussed will be: l. increasing awareness of information literacy standards; 2. creating a clearer definition; 3. promoting information standards are important; 4. establishing oneself as an expert in information technology; and,  5. improving the national information literacy standards. First and foremost there needs to be **an increasing awareness of Information Literacy Standards** by working with the parallel organization structures that are unaware. a. Minimumize communication gaps. b. Parallel organizations need to have universally accepted definitions regarding information literacy, so everyone is talking the same talk. c. More publicity, must evolve between parallel organizations whether it is via webinars, email, conference calls, attendance and presentation of one another’s organizational gatherings regionally or nationally, so the chain of communicating the same information regarding literacy standards are transparent among parallel organizations. Second, creating **a clearer definition** within the professional is imperative. Collaboration is a process librarians are evolving as site academic leaders. It needs to be exercised at the professional organization level with partner parallel organizations. “There are many types of literacy standards and technology standards, including BIG6, Information Literacy Standards, the ten National Educational Technology Standards,” and so on. Schools need to see the need for informational literacy as well and understand it. Thus the library association needs to provide “specific examples of how good information literacy directly impacts the success (or failure) of education in other curriculum areas. The information has to be related to the interests and needs of the other organizations. How would such implementation look? Cost? Impaction on other organization structures of the education delivery system (infrastructure)? One needs to constantly be **promoting Information Standards**. One positive way would be to become part of the curriculum committee, or volunteer to work with teachers, and piggyback the information literacy standards with the specific subject area standards, sharing how addressing content standards in conjunction with the supportive information literacy standard can support achievement gains. If we do not communicate and promote the information literacy standards, other staff interest groups will, and along with it will be a red line on the next year budget, namely our roles, jobs, positions. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">To **establish oneself as an expert in information technology**, the following suggestions were made: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">l. Talk a clear definition of “Information Literacy”. (Contact with organization leadership at regional and national levels for clarification.) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">2. Share information literacy standards and provide specific examples of how these standards dovetail with content standards. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">3. Show other educators how information literacy can support gains on academic indicators i.e. exams, etc. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">4. GET OUT FROM BEHIND THE DESK AND WORK WITH STUDENTS. PRETTY SHELVES, WEB PAGES, AND OUTSTANDING CATALOGING IS NOT GOING TO KEEP A LIBRARY OPEN. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">5. Strive to be viewed as a help, not a hinderance or road block at work. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">6. Quit whining. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">7. Exemplify with students and have teachers observe how information literacy skills are everyday survival skills. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">8. Listen to the student and teacher population and share how access the Internet to address inquiries and needs, academically and realworld. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">9. Provide information for parents, showing how the school library can serve as a resource for them as parents. Brochures and fliers about the library services are an excellent communication tool. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">10. Have a teacher share their acquired information literacy skills with your support learning a process to fellow staff members. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">11. Involvement with other parallel professional organizations for support and exposure to your expertise. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">12. Contribute writings to professional publications. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Fifth, the **improvement of information literacy standards as accepted integrated standards will require an ongoing demonstration on a librarian’s part to demonstrate a direct connection to improving education.** By showing peers how one’s work with students can directly improve one’s information gathering process, steps towards inclusion of information literacy standards will be more readily accepted. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">I found this article to be repetitively regarding the following points. <span style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> 1. Clarify and promote a specific information literacy standard(s), so eventually all levels of one’s profession will be the same talk. <span style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">2.Exemplify the standards by your professionalism with students and peers. <span style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">3. Collaborate with teachers to promote integration of the information literacy standards with their content standards. <span style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">4. Support student acquisition of information literacy skills (standards) by working with the students locating print and digital research materials, not sitting behind a desk explaining them. <span style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">5. Have peers experience the “ah-ha” when students are evolving as evaluating researchers, thus gain support of the information literacy standards by “first-hand” observations. One visual experience far outweighs thousands of written words. <span style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">6. Promote these standards with their concrete examples with peers in parallel professional organizations, keeping the interaction “alive, current and on-going” rather than haphazard and non-qualitative. <span style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> []  ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Lib.705.Module1.Article.Getting Information Literacy Standards Noticed. Paula Yohe
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