TILI

I. What is Information Literacy (IL)?

The Middle States Commission on Higher Education has defined information literacy as “an intellectual framework for identifying, finding, understanding, evaluating and using information. It includes determining the nature and extent of needed information; accessing information effectively and efficiently; evaluating critically information and its sources; incorporating selected information in the learner’s knowledge base and value system; using information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose; understanding the economic, legal and social issues surrounding the use of information and information technology; and observing laws, regulations, and institutional policies related to the access and use of information”.

II. Why is Information Literacy important?

Managing the vast amount of information has become necessary in every field and every profession. Information literacy is meant to train students become life-long learners, independent researchers and wise citizens both at work and in their daily lives. Being information literate ultimately improves our quality of life as we make informed decisions when buying a house, choosing a school, hiring staff, making an investment, voting for our representatives, etc.

Many of our students are tech-savvy and seem confident in navigating the Internet to find information online. It has been noticed, however, that they lack the critical judgment of an information literate person. That is, students have difficulty in selecting appropriate sources, approaching a problem from multiple views, or using a variety of reliable sources.

Information literate students will benefit more fully from their class assignments, if they know how to use the library resources, both in print and electronic format. Positive correlations have been found between the student’s academic performance and the usage of library tools. In other words, student retention rates are higher when they feel comfortable in using the library resources for their research assignments (Mezick, 2007).

Information Literacy has become so important that it is strongly supported by accrediting agencies. The Middle States Commission on Higher Education stresses that, "information literacy is an essential component of any educational program at the graduate or undergraduate levels" (Characteristics of Excellence in Higher Education, 2009, p. 42). Recently, information literacy has also been added as a key goal to the General Education Mission of Touro College, which states, “Students will develop information literacy necessary to identify, locate, evaluate, communicate, and apply information”.

III. Touro Information Literacy Initiative (TILI)

Besides fostering intellectual discovery by providing resources and services that support and promote the College's academic programs, the Touro Libraries’ mission is to advance information literacy, the basis of lifelong learning, by helping the College community acquire and refine information seeking and evaluation skills. Since the information environment is too complex and changes too rapidly to expect anyone to acquire information seeking and evaluation skills without a planed instructional program, the Touro Libraries has created the Touro Information Literacy Initiative (TILI) since 2005.

The main charge of this initiative is to integrate information competencies into departmental teaching and learning plans throughout the college and to encourage the growth of an information literate college community in the following ways:

• Year round faculty workshops and webinars (web-based seminars) on library resources and services
• Faculty orientations on Faculty Development Days and Human Resources orientations
• Offering general as well as tailored and subject specific library classes
• Consultations with teaching faculty to ingetrate information literacy skills into the curriculum
• Develop assessment plan to evaluate student information literacy skills
• Offering library resources on Blackboard
• Collaborating with faculty in creating effective research assignments
• Online tutorials
• Introducing subject specific databases for different courses
• Promoting the use of library resources through social networks (Facebook and Twitter)

IV. How do we know students are learning?

• Assessment of Information Literacy Skills