Excerpt from Capping Paper Part 2

THE ESSENTIAL TEACHER-LIBRARIAN:

CLARIFYING THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF TEACHER-LIBRARIANS TO THE

DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION LITERACY SKILLS IN 21^ST CENTURY LEARNERS

The following is the second excerpt from my final capping paper for my MEd at the University of Alberta Teacher-Librarianship by Distance Learning Program. This excerpt consists of a summary of my literature review and a short excerpt from my reflection section.

Summary of Literature Review

How is information literacy defined in the 21^st century?  Through my review of selected literature, I found that information in the knowledge age of the 21^st century is no longer static, nor is it something that someone can own or necessarily trust.  Information is ever changing and highly contextual.  Furthermore, seeking information has become a process by which the seeker experiences greater transformation from that process than from the attainment of knowledge.  Similarly, literacy in the knowledge age has moved well beyond reading and writing.  To be literate in the 21^st century one must be able to access, comprehend and communicate with digital media as well as print media.  “Although information literacy figures prominently in descriptions of 21st century education, other ‘new’ literacies are integral to new school library programs as well, thus creating a ‘literacy of fusion’ ” (Asselin & Doiron, 2008, p. 10).  Information literacy is consequently transformed in the 21^st century to a fusion of multiple literacies needed to function and succeed in the 21^st century.

What is unique about 21^st century learners?  Many authors agree that students in the 21^st century appear to be technologically savvy.  However, a number of articles and studies I examined suggest that these things do not contribute to 21^st century learners’ information literacy.  Students are often ill prepared for the information demands of college or university, often unwittingly put themselves at risk online and are often unable to effectively evaluate the information they find and use. 

What skills are essential for success in the 21^st century?  According to the literature that has been examined and highlighted, the following interrelated and interdependent categories will be imperative for 21^st century learners to master: basic literacy; information skills; critical thinking skills; creativity and innovation skills; collaboration and teamwork skills; multimedia skills; technology skills; ethical thinking skills; and skills for lifelong learning.  These categories cross all boundaries in the fusion of literacies that has come to be defined as information literacy. To become successful in the 21^st century “students will not only need to master reading and writing, but also learn how to communicate – to compose, to problem solve, and understand” (McPherson, 2008, p. 37). 

What is the role of inquiry-based learning in information literacy programming?  A number of authors reviewed in the literature review have indicated that the inquiry process and inquiry-based learning are excellent ways to teach both information literacy and essential 21^st century skills such as those listed in the above noted categories. 

What is the role of the 21^st century teacher-librarian? A teacher-librarian who is qualified can most effectively become an instructional leader by utilizing and demonstrating best practices and current instructional strategies.  This instructional leadership that many qualified teacher-librarians exhibit extends to an expertise with inquiry-based learning and teaching 21^st century skills to 21^st century learners.  Additionally, I found that qualified teacher-librarians are often professional leaders who share their expertise in the areas of inquiry and 21^st century skills with colleagues, allowing all members of the school to benefit from said expertise through collaboration on inquiry projects or through professional development provided by the teacher-librarian. 

REFLECTIONS

Initial Thoughts

            One of the most significant things I learned from my review of the literature is the fact that the multiple literacies that now define information literacy mirror almost exactly the categories of skills identified as essential for success in the 21^st century (see Appendix E: Information Literacy and Essential Skills).  This leads me to determine that information literacy not only encompasses all of these essential skills, but that it is a necessary component of 21^st century education.  If, as the literature I reviewed suggests, inquiry-based learning is an effective way to teach information literacy, and if, as the literature suggests, qualified teacher-librarians are more likely to be experts in teaching information literacy and inquiry-based learning, then it follows that teacher-librarians will be an essential component of the education system in the 21^st century. 

Knowing that our role is so important is reassuring.  In fact, the literature review has provided me with ammunition for dealing with the wrongly held belief that the Internet will cause teacher-librarians to become obsolete.  However, now the question becomes how can Manitoba teacher-librarians do the job we clearly are supposed to be doing if we have no framework in this province that governs information literacy?  Also, how can we justify our necessity if no scholarly study on the impacts of teacher-librarians in schools has been conducted here in Manitoba?   It is difficult to convince school boards and administrators of the importance of having a qualified teacher-librarian on staff and teachers of the importance of working with a qualified teacher-librarian if there is no explicitly mandated curriculum document or any specific provincial evidence that supports our role.  All that we can do is work within the existing curriculum structure while at the same time advocate for either a revision of current curriculum or the creation of a new document for inquiry and information literacy.

In my original paper, the sections that follow this summary include my own reflections on the implications of the literature review for our particular situation in Manitoba.  I examined the Manitoba curriculum and the Literacy with ICT Continuum (MECY, 2006b) for specific references to inquiry and information literacy as they have been defined above. I then list the implications of my literature review for the various stakeholders here in Manitoba.

To read these reflections and implications please see the full paper posted on the MSLA website.