Who Teaches Information Literacy Competencies? Report of a Study of Faculty

摘要

Information literacy is recognized as an essential competency for educational success. It relates to all disciplines but is not a separate discipline, so it is not clear who takes responsibility for teaching this competency to undergraduates. This is a report of a survey conducted to better understand the extent to which teaching information literacy concepts by faculty occurred in a research university. The results indicated that faculty in the disciplines generally teach information literacy competencies to undergraduate students without collaborating with others on their campus. Many faculty also had the expectation that students know how to avoid plagiarism, find articles and books, and define topics for their projects before students take their courses. There were disciplinary differences in providing instruction in critical evaluation and avoiding plagiarism. Tenured faculty tended to provide instruction in defining a topic; finding articles and books; and synthesizing information. Non-tenured faculty tended to teach students to avoid plagiarism.