Teaching information literacy to college students

For Immediate Release
Fri, 08/06/2010

Contact:

Rob Christopher

CHICAGO—ALA Editions, the publishing imprint of the American Library Association, announces the release of the second edition of “Teaching Information Literacy: 50 Standards-Based Exercises for College Students,” by Joanna M. Burkhardt and Mary C. MacDonald with Andrée J. Rathemacher. Designed for use as either a full semester course or a single focused seminar or workshop, these 50 lessons show students how to engage with electronic and print information resources alike. Covering the basics of planning, collecting and evaluating, the standards-based exercises in this book:

  • address one or more of the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education;
  • promote conceptual and applied skills via active learning, problem-based learning and resource-based learning;
  • are ready for use by reference and instruction librarians at colleges and community colleges, as well as others responsible for teaching students how to conduct research.

Burkhardt is professor and head librarian at the University of Rhode Island (URI) branch libraries in Providence and Narragansett. She coordinates the branches’ information literacy program and teaches sections of URI’s course in information literacy. She is an active member of ACRL and the Rhode Island Library Association.

MacDonald is an associate professor and head of instructional services in the library at the University of Rhode Island, Kingston. She teaches sections of URI's course in information literacy. She is active in the Rhode Island Library Association and a faculty member of the ACRL Institute for Information Literacy's Immersion Program.

Rathemacher is an associate professor in the technical services department of the library at the University of Rhode Island, Kingston, where she is head of acquisitions. She is the library liaison and subject selector for business, economics and labor relations and has taught in the library’s information literacy program. She is a co-author with Burkhardt and MacDonald of “Creating a Comprehensive Information Literacy Plan: A How-to-Do-It Manual and CD-ROM for Librarians” and a contributor to “Library Data: Empowering Practice and Persuasion,” edited by Darby Orcutt.

ALA Store purchases fund advocacy, awareness, and accreditation programs for library professionals worldwide. ALA Editions publishes resources used worldwide by tens of thousands of library and information professionals to improve programs, build on best practices, develop leadership, and for personal professional development. ALA authors and developers are leaders in their fields, and their content is published in a growing range of print and electronic formats. Contact ALA Editions at (800) 545-2433, ext. 5418, or editionsmarketing@ala.org.