How Passion and Perseverance Steered the Course Towards a University\u27s Information Literacy Framework

This paper will outline how an Information Literacy Framework evolved out of research which was undertaken at a British university. This research facilitated the raising of awareness about the topic. From that basis, an Information Literacy Framework was designed which went through the due process of the university’s committees’ approval in order to become established as a document to inform curriculum development. The research was first undertaken to obtain academic staff perceptions of information literacy and to ascertain how skills relating to information and research were being incorporated into student learning. The main findings were that, whilst the skills were highly valued by staff, there were lower levels of activity in terms of incorporating them into teaching, learning and assessment. Having raised academic staff awareness about information literacy, it was decided to develop an Information Literacy Framework. The framework was discussed within the university library and the opinions of ‘critical friends’ from amongst the academic staff also influenced the development. The final version of the framework was designed to match the style of a course or module template as this was a format which was well known to academic staff. The Information Literacy Framework was then taken to each of the Faculty Learning and Teaching Committees for approval. Finally, the framework was approved by the University Learning and Teaching Committee in May 2006. The framework was promoted in a variety of ways but the greatest push was given through its inclusion in the university’s new Program Developer’s Handbook