Information Literacy Reviews for 2008

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• Information Literacy Instruction Handbook, edited by Christopher N. Cox and Elizabeth Blakesley Lindsay (ACRL, 2008, 236 p., $_____, ISBN: 9780838909638)

  What are the expectations and role of academic librarians in teaching information literacy? For the past several years, some efforts have been made to work with secondary teacher librarians to prepare high school students to transition to the academic library. Academic folks have never been impressed with the product they get from secondary education. And, as information literacy becomes more important at the university level, the academic folks are encouraging much more assistance from teacher librarians than they have had in the past. One way to catch up on the expectations of the academic community is to read this edited book. In a series of twelve essays, excellent academic librarians write about their latest thinking. The essays trace the history of information literacy in academia, discuss the psychology of learning, discuss the art snnd science of teaching, cover collaboration, outline info lit. curriculums, discuss program management, talk about leadership, explore student academic integrity, talk about assessment, worry about diversity, probe the role of instructional technologies, and look at the future. This volume is a must read for the high school teacher librarian who is preparing teens for college.

   

• Building Info Smarts by Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan (Pembroke/Stnhouse, 2008, flip book, $_____, ISBN: 1551382261) Koeschlin and Zwann have created a handy blip book chuck full of great tips for student researcher in middle and high schools that covers the research process. Each page includes both suggestions and how-to illustrations that talk about ways of learning, exploring to learn, reading to research, from information to learning, learning together, and learning for life. As l looke at such a brief tool, it seems that such a guide in 10-15 copies available for a quick and short introduction by the teacher librarian and then use of even one page as a guide would be very helpful during a research period. We are also encouraged by the idea to have students make their own research guides and research helps that they publish for the rest of the class as a research assignment proceeds. That way, research becomes a collaborative effort as opposed to a one-way directive. Student-produced research video clips like YouTube videos are one way Joyce Valenza involves the students in thinking about research and helping everyone else rather than just completing an assignment. It just makes sense that the learners would be involved in creating their own guides to doing research rather than just telling them what to do. Highly recommended.

• Assessing critical skills by Jon Mueller (Linworth, 2008, 132 p., $_____, ISBN: 9781586832827)

  The new AASL Learning Standards require student assessment techniques to be constructed on beyond mere fact acquisition and into work habits, attitudes, and self-assessment. Many teacher librarians are very uncertain if such skills can be assessed and openly question the push into non-traditional areas. However, AASL is pushing ideas that look much more broadly at teaching and learning. Mueller takes on this topic. A college professor in education, he experiences many freshmen in college who are woefully unprepared to do the work they are assigned - thus his interest in improving the raw material he has to work with. Mueller provides guidance in the building of rubrics to judge information literacy and related personal skills for use in both formative and summative assessments. For example, he will set up a scenario of a student  or a group doing some research and asks the respondent to judge the course of action that is taking place. Another technique is to provide a real-life problem for solution that will be judged. Mueller provides a number of other strategies that are worth considering as the profession begins to move beyond a simple – follow the steps of this information literacy model approach – to a more complex strategy of equipping students to operate in a global economy. This thin book is a good first start of many techniques that teacher librarians need to consider as they collaborate with teachers to produce the critical thinkers and introspective learners we so desperately need. Highly recommended.

• English language arts units for grades 9-12 by Christopher Shamburg (ISTE, 2008, 253p. $37.95, ISBN: 9781564842404)One opens this book with a high expectation that it will represent the very best thinking today on student research in the high school. Materials for the book were actually prepared by four authors and brought together by Shamburg. So, I begin to read the various units and recommendations and start wondering, where is the high school library media center and the teacher librarian in all of this? Absent. Absent? And, it discusses information literacy in places. No mention of AASL. What goes? No Information Power. The ETS information literacy model is recommended along with Wikipedia and other sources that while interesting, need the help of a teacher librarian. So then I look at the biographies of the four contributors. All university folks. Not that there aren’t some interesting ideas here, but these authors need to do their homework about the  setting in which they are addressing. And, the publisher needs a sound scolding. Don’t bother looking at this one or sharing it with your faculty. And, if you encounter the author, volunteer some hearty advice. Not recommended.

• Information literacy : search strategies, tools & resources for high school students and college freshmen, 2nd ed.  by Zorana Ercegovac (Linworth, 2008, 186 p. $39.95. ISBN: 1586833324)

  The author has taught hundreds of college students in her career and has been concerned for a number of years that information literacy instruction needs to be taught  intensively in the senior year of high school and at the freshmen level in college. In this, her second edition, she has taken into account some of the items in the new AASL learning standards and provides lessons with handouts that can be given to the students themselves but also as professional development lessons to faculty. A list of the chapter topics give an overview of the emphasis here: basic research skills, finding search words, search strategies, fact finding, searching and evaluating Internet resources, finding magazine and newspaper articles, citing sources. The emphasis here is obviously tradition in the finding and locating of information and while influenced by the new standards, do not seem to embrace their full concept. We find that the lessons here would be good to consult for ideas as we teach just in time research techniques. However, other helpful guides to the new standards are hopefully on the horizon. We are looking for guides that worry about how information literacy enhances the learning of content knowledge; the dispositions of the new standards, and better ways for leaner’s to take more responsibilities for their own learning. These topics are briefly mentioned but don’t seem to be the focus of an entire push beyond information location. Although this guide is recommended as a textbook, major negotiations would need to be made to get this guide as one of several sources that learners would need. Not recommended.

   

• Web literacy for educators by Alan November (Corwin Press, 2008, 109p. $_____, ISBN: 9781412958424)

  November is a popular speaker about educational technology has lectured across the continent and beyond. In his latest book, November gives teachers a system to help both them and their learners ascertain the quality of information being encountered on the Internet. These are skills that teacher librarians constantly stress whenever they are  teaching research, but November is trying to reach a wider audience. He teaches the obvious technique of watching the extensions .org, .edu, etc. What we have discovered is that for many of the extensions, anyone can purchase almost any extension they wish. November provides many other criteria such as investigating who is behind the content of the website. He provides teachers with forms and extensive recommendations for teaching these ideas. We are not certain that every user would take the time to thoroughly evaluate every source of information taken from the web, although this would be wonderful. Do we require learners to go through the same extensive evaluation process of the books they use, the articles from databases, the interviewees? Certainly for every research project, some of this needs to go on so that it becomes a routine in the learner’s head of asking who is saying what to me for what reason and when was it said. If your teachers are struggling with the idea of quality information, perhaps they would listen to Alan. We always hate to say, “I told you so,” but any help you can get to further the quality information agenda, the better. Recommended.

• The back of the napkin : solving problems and selling ideas with pictures by Dan Roam (Portfolio (Penguin Group), 2008, 278p. $_____, ISBN: 9781591841999)

  I like graphic organizers – that invention to represent ideas in picture form. Most teacher librarians know and use Inspriation or Kidspiration and teach young people how to organize their thought and ideas from what they read. But if you don’t know about those packages or cannot afford them, then Roam’s system is interesting. Essentially, Roam shows how the created a system of pictures that represented ideas – a picture shorthand of sorts.  For example, a rectangle represents a what  problem to solve. Two arrows pointing the same way with a question mark means a when problem. So, his scribbles help him attack who, how, when, where, and how problems. And, the more he uses them, the more complex they become as thinks through the symbols. So, what does this have to do with teacher librarians? I think the discovery here, is that we give a gift to learners who embrace graphic organizers. It is a gift of thinking, analysis, synthesis, and seeing the big picture. While a computer program may be quite helpful to a novice learner, we can encourage leaner’s to go beyond what a computer is doing for them to invent systems that stimulate their own thinking. It is the push a piano teacher gives the student at the point where it is time to take flight. “You don’t need me as your teacher any more.” You are a performer (an information literate). Perhaps that is why this book appeals to me – it represents a challenge every teacher librarian faces. How many of our students become independent learners because of us? Read a bit in this book. It may stimulate your own thinking about problem solving through graphic organizers. I’m talking about personal and professional ones as well as what we can do for our students.

• Stop the copying with wild and wacky research projects by Nancy Polette (Teacher Ideas Press, 2008, 167 pp. $_____ ISBN: 9781591586968)

  Nancy, the clever, provides a plethora of quickie projects kids can do in the library during their library time that are just a half-step up from the typical cut/paste worksheet. However, we would recommend that for the short time periods kids have in the library if scheduled there, better to engage them in reading and build those avid and capable readers than to do low-level information activities disconnected from the curriculum. In other words, try to compensate for the boredom of the reading skill/drill/kill program to build interest and life-long fascination with books. So, this is a book to pass by. Check out Polette’s other books connected to reading to discover the fun stuff she does so well.

• Information literacy assessment in K-12 settings by Lesley S. J. Farmer and James Henri (Scarcrow, 2008, 201p. $_____, ISBN: 9780810856950)

  As the school children in North America become more and more diverse and the global connections become more and more central to our society, it is valuable to try to get an international perspective on  problems faced far beyond our own schools. Farmer and Henri represent perspectives of the United States, Asia, and Australia. Putting their ideas together, they look at a more global view of assessment than has been done in the recent past. A theoretical work, the authors look at the culture, education across borders, various types of assessments used globally, and a variety of other factors that would lead the reader to consider as policies for information literacy are being considered for regional or national documents.  We found many helpful checklists throughout the volume that check our own personal knowledge as we formulate local policies. So, for advanced readers looking beyond boundaries, this is and essential tool. For the browser, look for the bulleted lists to compare your own perspective with those of the authors. The bibliography at the end is also an excellent source of articles about information literacy from around the world. Recommended.

   

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  Intellectual property : everything the digital-age librarian needs to know by Timothy Lee Wherry (ALA, 2008, 141p.  ISBN: 9780838909485) This book covers copyright, patents, and trademarks and is valuable to the librarian who deals with patrons interested in the topic. In particular, every librarian deals with copyright laws. There are a wide variety of books dealing with copyright and fair use. While this one does give good background, for school librarians, I recommend Carol Simpson's work.