Beyond Search: Information Literacy, Special Collections, and the First Year

Recent research in information literacy (IL) suggests librarians should shift the emphasis of IL instruction toward higher-level concepts rather than search mechanics. This session describes how the Augustana library drew upon the results of local assessments and national research to re-imagine its first-year learning outcomes so as to focus on higher-level skills and recognize the importance of special collections in teaching IL in the college’s required first-year sequence. We address transforming IL pedagogy throughout the library as well as designing special collections as a hands-on learning laboratory