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College and Research Libraries
January 2005, Vol. 66, No. 1

Book Review

Integrating Information Literacy into the Higher Education Curriculum: Practical Models for Transformation. Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series. Ed. Ilene F. Rockman. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004. 260p. alk. paper, $36 (ISBN 0787965278). LC 2003-27930.

Integrating Information Literacy into the Higher Education Curriculum consists of chapters written by nine different authors. Brief biographies of the authors are presented before the introduction. All have extensive backgrounds in conducting information literacy programs. Ilene Rockman, a well-known authority on information literacy, authored the preface, introduction, one of the seven chapters, and the conclusion. All but two of the authors are from academic institutions in California, so the examples are drawn largely from that state.

In her excellent forward, Patricia Breivik, who has among other titles, chair of the National Forum on Information Literacy, sets the stage on why this work is so timely. She also provides a concise set of characteristics of successful information literacy programs.

The preface gives a useful outline of the book and describes the intended audience. This audience includes administrators and other members of the academic community. Although there is much that would be of interest to academic administrators in the chapters, I would be hesitant to simply hand this book to a dean or provost. There is simply too much detail in many of the chapters. To reach the administrative audience, executive summaries at the beginning of each chapter would have been a useful addition. The introduction would be an appropriate piece to pass along to upper-level administrators.

The chapters vary in their approach, but all are written well. Some of the chapters are broad in scope, some are overviews of general practices, and a few are very specific descriptions of particular projects. Although this mix will be useful to people responsible for information literacy programs, the book may have limited appeal to a broader audience. The topics covered include: understanding the importance of information literacy, development of faculty–librarian partnerships, integration of information literacy into the curriculum, creation of freshman-level tutorials, integration of information literacy into interdisciplinary majors, determination of information literacy needs in a research setting, production of assessment tools, and assessment of information literacy initiatives. One of the strengths of this work is that outcomes-based assessment is a common theme.

The articles included contain references that are up-to-date and many include URLs for Web sites of various information literacy initiatives. They also include appropriate tables, appendices, and so on.

Rockman states in her preface that "The purpose of this book is to showcase practical examples of how information literacy programs and partnerships can transform the higher education teaching and learning environments." This is a very ambitious goal that is largely achieved, the book showcasing very useful examples of information literacy efforts. It also places information literacy within the context of curricula and rightfully defines it as being much more than simply a series of traditional bibliographic instruction sessions.

This book is a useful resource for anyone involved in information literacy. Although it might not be the book that an academic administrator should read, it will certainly help information literacy advocates prepare their case to solicit administrative support for information literacy. I recommend it for all academic libraries planning or actively engaged in information literacy initiatives.—Bil Stahl, Western Carolina University.