Librarians as Consultants: The Convergence of Information Literacy, Data Literacy and Scholarly Communication in Undergraduate Research

Undergraduate research has been identified as a high impact educational practice by the LEAP Report. At Purdue we support undergraduate research through various library-driven initiatives such as information literacy (IL), data literacy (DL) and scholarly communication (SC). Although these initiatives can be utilized to support undergraduate research individually, librarians are beginning to recognize a need to provide a service model that offers a more complementary/holistic approach that better utilizes the full capability of these initiatives. This was illustrated in the March 2013, ARCL Committee on Research and the Scholarly Environment White Paper, “Intersections of Scholarly Communication and Information Literacy”. The paper discussed these intersections and the evolving environment in academic libraries, as well as explored the “economics of the distribution of scholarship, digital literacies, and our changing roles.” One theme throughout the white paper was librarians involved as consultants, guiding faculty in engaging undergraduate students in systematic investigation, research, and dissemination. This breakout session will address the concept of librarians as consultants drawing from IL, DL, and SC to support undergraduate research. This panel will address how undergraduate research is currently supported through these initiatives, and propose how a complementary/holistic approach could be developed into a new library-based service model. Given the intersection of these concepts, attendees from diverse backgrounds, expertise, and roles will be given an opportunity to share experiences and ideas surrounding this intersection, and to provide concept proofs of these three core areas as curricular or co-curricular learning. For more information about the ACRL White Paper, please visit http://acrl.ala.org/intersection