WAAL Information Literacy Committee

In a complex and rapidly changing environment, higher education must help students to become information literate. Information literacy enables students to recognize the value of information and use it to make informed choices in their personal, professional and academic lives. An information literate student effectively accesses, evaluates, organizes, synthesizes and applies information from a variety of sources and formats in a variety of contexts. Information literacy requires an ongoing involvement in learning and in evaluating information so that life long learning is possible.  

Information Literacy Competencies and Criteria for Academic Libraries in Wisconsin

Committee Charge Committee Members

Best Practice Examples Call for More Best Practices! Information Literacy Award Winners

Information Literacy Award 2010/2011     The WAAL Information Literacy Committee is very pleased to announce the team of Rita Mitchell and Beth Bretl of Cardinal Stritch University as the 2011 winners of the WAAL Information Literacy Award.  Rita is the Information Literacy Librarian and Beth is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of English.  Their program "Librarian and Faculty Partnerships: Embedding Librarians in English Courses to Improve Information Literacy Skills and Writing Skills" was chosen as the eighth annual award winner due to its strong levels of collaboration, well-defined outcomes, and high adaptability to other institutions and contexts. Their pilot program paired a librarian with a faculty member to assist students in English 102, a core writing and research course.  Rita and Beth collaborated in a fully online English 102 course.  Rita was embedded in the course via the learning management system. Library instruction was delivered using video conferencing software, live chat, handouts and discussion forums. The intended outcome of the partnership was to develop student-librarian relationships outside of the library and improve students' writing and information literacy skills. Assessment of the partnership was conducted through both student and faculty surveys.  Please look for their presentation at the 2011 WAAL Conference in Stevens Point.   Congratulations to Rita and Beth!   Information Literacy Committee Steven Baumgart, UW-Madison (chair) Erika Behling, UW-Parkside Renee Ettinger, UW – Green Bay Lisa Killips, UW – Richland Rebecca Payne, UW-Madison Cynthia Bachhuber, Globe University   Click HERE to view past winners