By Jack Jeffery
Staff writer
Dean of University Libraries Julia Zimmerman recently announced the recipients of the 2002-2003 Faculty-Librarian Information Competency grants, which support the integration of information competency skills into University courses.
The grants are awarded to teams consisting of one faculty member and one librarian. The grant requires that the team incorporate information competency skills into an existing class, or design a new class that emphasizes these skills.
Reference Librarian Jeff Ferrier and School of Telecommunications Professor Don Flournoy will collaborate on the class "TCOM 367: World Media Systems," and Health Science Reference Librarian Laura Windsor and Biological Sciences Instructor Molly Gurien will team-teach the research portion of "BIOS 220: Conservation and Biodiversity."
The grants were initiated in Spring 2001 to encourage collaboration between librarians and faculty by incorporating the eight information competency skills which are:
- Define and articulate an information need.
- Identify and select appropriate information sources.
- Develop and use search strategies.
- Locate and retrieve relevant information.
- Evaluate the information retrieved.
- Organize and synthesize information effectively.
- Recognize the economic, legal, social and ethical issues of access to and use of information.
- Recognize the unique characteristics of the body of knowledge within a specific discipline.
With the explosion of information on the Internet and other sources, the ability to discern and manage information is increasingly important. Therefore, the program was created to help students become savvy information consumers.
Both team members will receive $1,000 awards and are required to implement the changes they proposed within one year. At the end, they will submit a report detailing the effects the changes had on their class.
