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Information Literacy and the Music Library Author(s): Deborah Pierce Source: Notes, Second Series, Vol. 60, No. 3 (Mar., 2004), pp. 613-615 Published by: Music Library Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4487195 . Accessed: 16/06/2014 08:52 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Music Library Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Notes. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 185.2.32.106 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 08:52:24 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Information Literacy and the Music Library

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Information Literacy and the Music LibraryAuthor(s): Deborah PierceSource: Notes, Second Series, Vol. 60, No. 3 (Mar., 2004), pp. 613-615Published by: Music Library AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4487195 .

Accessed: 16/06/2014 08:52

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Music Library Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Notes.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.106 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 08:52:24 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

INFORMATION LITERACY AND THE MUSIC LIBRARY

By DEBORAH PIERCE

Over the past two decades we have experienced an information explo- sion coupled with leaping advances in technology which have provided broader access to various information resources. The challenge posed by broader access and proliferation of information is to find and utilize that information wisely and efficiently. Librarians have been at the forefront of identifying the importance of information access and usage, research- ing and advocating for processes by which the associated skills can be taught and learned. This vested interest has taken on new importance in the information age. The area which used to be termed bibliographic in- struction, library education, or user education has broadened into a more comprehensive discipline distinguished by the term "information literacy."

Information literacy experts use the term to describe the comprehen- siveness of what we do in libraries, including library tours, reference, var- ious forms of in-library and course-related instruction, credit courses, classroom presentations (both general and discipline specific), library signage, and online instructional materials such as information on li- brary use, research skills, and tutorials. It often involves or aspires to new levels of collaboration among faculty, librarians, and program staff as well as institution-wide sequential integration throughout the education of the student. Another important characteristic is the inclusion of defin- able and assessable learning outcomes.

The American Library Association's (ALA) Presidential Committee on Information Literacy defined the information literate person in its final report in 1989: "Ultimately, information literate people are those who have learned how to learn. They know how to learn because they know how knowledge is organized, how to find information and how to use information in such a way that others can learn from them. They are

Deborah Pierce is music librarian at the University of Washington, Seattle. She currently chairs the Music Library Association's Education Committee which cosponsored the Continuing Education Workshop: Information Literacy at the Music Library Association annual meeting in Austin, Texas, 12 February 2003 on which the following articles are based.

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614 NOTES, March 2004

people prepared for lifelong learning, because they can always find the information needed for any decision or task at hand."'

The Association for College and Research Libraries (ACRL) adopted its "Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education" in January 2000. The standards define information literacy as "a set of abilities requiring individuals to 'recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed in- formation'."2

ALA3 and ACRL have developed programs to assist librarians with in- formation literacy program implementation. ACRL developed the Institute for Information Literacy,4 which sponsors program initiatives including the "Annual Immersion Program" (an intensive training pro- gram for librarians) and the program entitled "Institutional Strategies: Best Practices," which looks at how the competencies are best being practiced in the field. In June 2003, the institute published its "Char- acteristics of Programs of Information Literacy that Illustrate Best Practices: A Guideline."5 The best practices guidelines do not describe any specific program, but are a combination of the elements of success- ful programs. A quick summary of these includes mission statements that are conceptually within the institution's strategic direction; goals and ob- jectives that are consistent with the mission and goals of the overall pro- gram and reflect sound pedagogical practices; student-centered learn-

ing; strategically planned programs with administrative and institutional

support; programs articulated within the curriculum which are formal- ized and widely disseminated; collaboration; appropriate staffing and staffing levels; proactive marketing of programs; and ongoing assessment and evaluation components.

Interest in information literacy concepts is also growing outside of the

library community. In addition to an ever-growing body of literature

1. American Library Association Presidential Committee on Information Literacy, "Final Report," 10 January 1989, http://www.ala.org/Content/NavigationMenu/ACRL/Publications/ White_Papersand_Reports/Presidential_CommitteeonInformationLiteracy.htm#importance (ac- cessed 25 November 2003).

2. Association of College and Research Libraries, "Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education," 18 January 2000, http://www.ala.org/Content/NavigationMenu/ACRL/ Standards_andGuidelines/standards.pdf (accessed 25 November 2003).

3. ALA has developed a useful advocacy tool for building information literature communities that can be accessed at http://www.ala.org/Content/ContentGroups/Advocacy/informationliteracy.pdf (accessed 25 November 2003).

4. The Web site for the ACRL Institute for Information Literacy can be found at http://www.ala.org/ Content/NavigationMenu/ACRL/Issues_and_Advocacyl /Information_Literacyl/Professional_Activity/ IIL/Welcome.htm (accessed 25 November 2003).

5. Institute for Information Literacy, "Characteristics of Programs of Information Literacy that Illustrate Best Practices: A Guideline," June 2003, http://www.ala.org/Content/NavigationMenu/ ACRL/Standards_and_Guidelines/Characteristicsof Programsof Information_Literacythat_Illustrate _BestPractices.htm (accessed 25 November 2003).

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Information Literacy and the Music Library 615

about information literacy, the emergence of the best practices models, and helpful aids, those interested in starting programs have new oppor- tunities for grant funding. The following two articles are examples of grant-funded projects. For a list of additional projects that have received grant funding, see ACRL's Web site.6

In practice, librarians have found that having a well-defined area on which to focus, such as a specific subject area, is often an appropriate place to begin an information literacy program. Music librarians are for- tunate to work in such an area and can benefit from looking to the mod- els of excellence that are appearing in music libraries.

At the national meeting in Austin, Texas, in February 2003, the Music Library Association offered a continuing education workshop on infor- mation literacy. The workshop covered highlights including what it is, what is currently happening in the field, how to approach the evaluation of programs, the need for knowledge and training in adult learning and teaching methods, and overviews from successful programs in music libraries throughout the country.

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6. A(CRL has listed other information literacy projects that received grant ftmding at http://www.ala .org/(Con tent/Navigation Menu/A(CRI,/Issues_and_Advocacy 1 / Information_Literacy / Professional _Activity/Grants 1 /Grants.hntm (accessed 25 November 2003).

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