Library sets standards

 

By Gerry Mirielo, On-line Forty-Niner

April 22,1998

CSU degree to require information-literacy skills

 

This just in: College students don't know everything.

 

The University Library is trying to remedy this problem by adopting a set standard of information competence for Cal State Long Beach students.

 

A council of Library faculty approved eight basic skills earlier this semester as the basis for an "information-literacy minimum standards" resolution.

 

This action is in accordance with a decision made by the deans and directors of the 23 California State University campus libraries in February.

 

They determined programs that expose information in all its formats should be required in the attainment of a CSU degree.

 

"We've been discussing this initiative for 14 months now," said Joy Thomas, chairwoman of the Library faculty curriculum team. "I've been chair since September, and this whole time we've been trying to convince the rest of the Library faculty to agree on this."

 

Thomas said one of the skills she and other librarians think students have problems with is the evaluation of research information and how well it meets the specific requirements of an assignment or task.

 

"It's basically a problem in [students'] critical thinking," Thomas said. "Some want as much info as possible without looking to see if that's what they really need."

 

She surmised that teaching faculty would point to another of the eight skills as an area of critical concern: the use of a variety of resources in identifying data.

 

"One thing we want students to learn is that the Internet is not the be-all and end-all of information searches," Thomas said. "There are reference materials out there that can be faster at times than the Internet."

 

Some of the other skills outlined by the Library council are the ability to physically locate Library resources, the recognition of the need for information, and the formulation of a research topic and subsequent questions.

 

Thomas said she hopes to set up a required general education course, one that would last only three or four weeks, based on the initiative.

 

She added that the Library does not have enough librarians to teach such a class.

 

"Librarians are faculty, but we rarely teach," Thomas said. "It's a long process ahead of us. We set the standards, but now we have to figure out what to do with them."