ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


296 / C&RL News

a simple but explicit form detailing strengths, weak­
nesses, and areas of need they have encountered 
during the semester.

Pre- and post-course testing, senior project test­
ing, observations, and questionnaires should 
quickly alert instructors to what changes, additions, 
deletions, and adaptations are needed. An aware­
ness of technological changes, before they occur, is 
built into the program. It is expected that any

needed alteration can be addressed within a given 
semester or, at latest, by the following semester.

1 Alvin Toffler, Pow ershifl: Knowledge, Wealth, 
a n d  Violence at the E dge o f  th e 21st Century (New 
York: Bantam Books, 1990), 20.

2C.R. Finch and J.R . Crunkilton, Curriculum 
D evelopm ent in Vocational a n d Technical E du ca­
tion, 3rd ed. (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1989), 3-22.

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Update: Information literacy

B y  B a r b a r a  J .  F o rd

ACRL’s 52nd President

K nowledge is of two kinds: we know a sub­je c t ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.”Dr. Samuel J
(1709-1784), Boswell's L ife o f  Dr. Johnson.

Johnson’s words from over 200 years ago are still 
pertinent today. The Commission on Higher Edu­
cation recendy concluded that information literacy 
is essential to assuring quality in the undergraduate 
library experience. I strongly support this conclu­
sion and am pleased that ACRL has taken a leader­
ship role in promoting information literacy. 
Throughout the year we have:

• published articles on information literacy in 
C &R L N ew s;

• developed posters, pamphlets, folders, and 
even a frisbee that can be used to spread the word 
about information literacy in a variety of campus 
environments;

• presented programs on information literacy 
at ACRL chapter meetings;

• identified individuals who can serve as advis­
ers to academic librarians working on information 
literacy;

• joined approximately 50 educational organi­
zations affiliated with the N ational F  orum on Infor­
mation Literacy;

• planned a program including poster sessions 
for the ALA Annual Conference in Atlanta.

I want to thank all of you who responded to my 
request for assistance in defining information liter­
acy. I enjoyed hearing about all of your innovative 
ideas and have found them useful.

I encourage each of you to review your library’s 
programs to ensure that your patrons are getting 
the help they need to become information literate

o

and to work with your faculty and administrators to 
promote the importance of information literacy. A 

hnsbron ief list o f resources immediately follows.
Note: A special note of thanks to my program 

planning committee who took a leadership role in 
many o f the activities described here. Mary 
Reichel, chair; Patricia Senn Breivik; Lorene 
Brown; John Collins; Gemma Devinney; Joan 
Gotwals; Randy Hensley; Marilyn Lutzker; Ellen 
Meltzer; Barbara Moran; Sara Penhale; Billy Pen­
nington; Brenda Purvis; Trish Ridgeway; and 
Ralph Russell.

In fo rm atio n  lite ra c y  re s o u rc e s :
Rao Aluri and Mary Reichel, Inform ation L iter­

acy: Critical Skills f o r  a C hangingW orld. Chicago, 
ALA, 1990.

Lori Arp, “Information Literacy or Biblio­
graphic Instruction: Semantics or Philosophy?” 
RQ 30 (Fall 1990): 46-49.

Patricia Senn Breivik, “Literacy in an Informa­
tion Society.” in The W hite House C onference on 
L ib rary  an d Inform ation Services, Ju ly 9-13,1991, 
Discussion Papers. Washington, D.C.: The White 
House Conference on Library and Information 
Services, 1991.

Anita Kay Lowry, “Beyond B I: Information Lit­
eracy in the Electronic Age,” R esearch Strategies 8 
(Winter 19991): 22-27.

Hannelore Rader, Billie Reinhart, and Gary 
Thompson, E valu atin g In fo rm a tio n : A B asic 
Checklist. Chicago: ALA, 1990.

Trish Ridgeway, “Information Literacy: An In­
troductory Reading List,” College & R esearch L i­
b raries News 51 (July/August 1990): 645-648. ■  ■