Information Literacy: What is it? Are you Information Literate? How do you know?

No other change in our nation has offered greater challenges than the emergence of the Infommation Age. In an information society, all people should have the right to information that can enhance their lives. To reap the benefits of our global society, individuals must be information literate on a global basis. This article discusses several aspects of infonnation literacy, from characteristics of an information literate person to information literacy education, including the role of the library media specialist, to educational criteria for evaluating electronic information literacy. It is our job as educators to teach students to become critical thinkers and lifelong leamersinformation literate citizens.

Assessing Pre-service Teachers' Beliefs About the Role of the Library Media Specialist

The revision of Information Power (1998) focuses on building partnerships for greater student learning. While not a radical departure from the previous edition (1988), the recent document emphasizes both greater collaboration and leadership and increased involvement with the technologies of information and learning. This study set out to determine whether teacher education programs were preparing tomorrow's teachers to expect and accept the redefined role of the school library media specialist. It involved the development and the administration of a scale to assess pre-service teachers' beliefs about the role of the school library media specialist. The results of the pilot study reported here are preliminary but suggest that while pre-service teachers distinguish three distinct sets of functions they place more emphasis on those functions associated with information access and delivery than on those related to learning and teaching. Further, pre-service teachers do not appear to understand the role areas of learning/teaching and program administration.

The United States National Library Power Program: Research, Evaluation and Implications for Professional Development and Library Education

The Library Power Program is a school improvement initiative of the DeWitt-Wallace Reader's Digest Fund that began in 1988. With a total investment exceeding US$45 million, Library Power is the largest nongovernmental funding for school library media programs in over 30 years. It operated in approximately 700 schools and served more than one million students. Library Power sought to create a national vision of public elementary and middle school library media programs through the instructional leadership of the library media specialist, and through partnerships within the district and with the community. An evaluation of the Library Power Program found that the Library Power initiative advanced the notion of a student-centered library media program in a learning community. It showed that given the right conditions, school library media programs can promote positive opportunities for excellence in teaching and learning.

Through the lens of new school librarians

We examined the issues related to delivering service excellence through the lens of 39 graduating school librarians in written assignments for the final course of their certification program, as they focus on what is needed to apply standards to become an effective school library media specialist in the 21st century. Of the 16 issues identified, the concern over technology and their role as a technology specialist dominated the ranking. The results reinforce the ongoing need for education program coursework that continues to emphasize the role of technology in the 21st century school learning environment.

Diverse Roles and Challenges for Teacher Librarians

Central to creating lifelong learners, supporting curriculum, and implementing reliable information access, the library media centre is the umbrella for the school’s core subjects and the library media specialist is the connection between information and diffusion of that information to students. This paper examines school library media specialist roles in the United States and international schools, using the Quality Schools International (QSI) K-12 international school in Tirana, Albania, as a case study. Particular emphasis is placed on technology challenges, education requirements, and the impact of these elements on students, in particular the third culture students found in many international schools.

Dig into Information Literacy with Tools of Collaboration

One achieves more success at one’s job when using proper tools. The more the tools are applied to tasks, the more they become second nature to the user. There are tools of collaboration that will help the school library media specialist and the teacher produce an environment of learning conducive to student achievement. By using these tools for the teaching of information literacy skills, the teacher and the school library media specialist can guide students through dynamic, rewarding, and successful inquiry-based, researchbased units of study. Four essential ingredients in the collaboration are partnership, planning, process, and product.

Perception Is (as) Reality

It is the goal of this chapter is to explore the challenges inherent to a “post-fact” society through the lens of the school public information specialist and the library media specialist. The role of the school public information officer (PIO) has changed with the proliferation of opinion as “fact” on the internet and social media. Educating the public on all school-related matters, PIOs must be media-literate, effective content consumers and content generators, with the skills to gauge and predict the opinions of their voting public. Similarly, library media specialists tasked with educating students as consumers of information in the fast-paced, “on demand” digital age requires an understanding of their evolving role as content generators. Effective media literacy instruction encompasses more than simply using technology and electronic media in the educational setting. Rather, it begins with the understanding that students are ill equipped to critically evaluate the electronic mediums they so closely identify with.

Library Media Specialists' Roles in the Implementation of Digital Tools, Applications, and Standards

This chapter addresses the benefits and synergies that the classroom teacher and the school library media specialist (LMS) experience when collaborating in the planning, differentiation, and assessment of content-area standards such as the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), with an emphasis on the role of technology and information literacy via Digital Literacy and Computer Science Standards (DLCSS). General reasons for teacher/LMS collaboration, specific reasons for collaboration on the CCSS/DLCSS, technology integration, and physical space and instructional flexibility form the key concepts of discussion. Tables present specific CCSS, related to technology tools and digital literacy concepts, that the LMS is uniquely qualified to teach to students. The chapter concludes with practical recommendations for district personnel, school-based administrators, LMSs, classroom teachers, and preservice teachers.

Library Media Specialists' Roles in the Implementation of Digital Tools, Applications, and Standards

This chapter addresses the benefits and synergies that the classroom teacher and the school library media specialist (LMS) experience when collaborating in the planning, differentiation, and assessment of content-area standards such as the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), with an emphasis on the role of technology and information literacy via Digital Literacy and Computer Science Standards (DLCSS). General reasons for teacher/LMS collaboration, specific reasons for collaboration on the CCSS/DLCSS, technology integration, and physical space and instructional flexibility form the key concepts of discussion. Tables present specific CCSS, related to technology tools and digital literacy concepts, that the LMS is uniquely qualified to teach to students. The chapter concludes with practical recommendations for district personnel, school-based administrators, LMSs, classroom teachers, and preservice teachers.

Perception Is (as) Reality

It is the goal of this chapter is to explore the challenges inherent to a “post-fact” society through the lens of the school public information specialist and the library media specialist. The role of the school public information officer (PIO) has changed with the proliferation of opinion as “fact” on the internet and social media. Educating the public on all school-related matters, PIOs must be media-literate, effective content consumers and content generators, with the skills to gauge and predict the opinions of their voting public. Similarly, library media specialists tasked with educating students as consumers of information in the fast-paced, “on demand” digital age requires an understanding of their evolving role as content generators. Effective media literacy instruction encompasses more than simply using technology and electronic media in the educational setting. Rather, it begins with the understanding that students are ill equipped to critically evaluate the electronic mediums they so closely identify with.