A new curriculum for information literacy: curriculum and supporting documents

Information literacy can be defined as a set of skills, attributes and behaviour that underpins student learning in the digital age. It has been linked to graduate employability and increasingly UK universities are developing information literacy strategies to inform how they ensure students acquire these competencies during their undergraduate studies. Information literacy programmes or sessions are often run by academic libraries; however, in order to be most effective, experts recognise that information literacy should be embedded within a subject curriculum and ideally taught in partnership with academic and academic support colleagues, rather than in one-off sessions run by librarians. SCONUL's Seven Pillars of Information Literacy model, widely accepted in higher education, sets out the skills and attributes that an information literate person should have. In practical terms, however, how information literacy is taught varies widely across higher education. In addition, recent research suggests that the information-seeking behaviour and needs of students are changing (CIBER, 2008), largely driven by the changing experiences and expectations of 'the Google Generation' who have grown up with access to the internet being the norm. While the Google Generation and 'Digital Native' terms have been debated and widely criticised (Jones, et al, 2010), it is clear that information literacy programmes over the next five years will need to adapt and respond to the needs of current students. This short project developed a practical curriculum for information literacy that meets the needs of the undergraduate student entering higher education over the next five years. It consulted widely with experts in the information literacy field, and also those working in curriculum design and educational technologies. CIBER (2008) Information behaviour of the researcher of the future. A CIBER Briefing paper. Available at: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/infostudies/research/ciber/downloads/ggexecutive.pdf Jones, C, Ramanau, R, Cross, S and Healing, G (2010) ‘Net generation or Digital Natives: Is there a distinct new generation entering university?’, Computers & Education, 54, (3), 722-732