Information Literacy: Revolution in the Library

The full intent of this title is not evident until one reads several chapters and gets a picture of the challenging vision both authors have for academic libraries. Their aim, as stated on the dust cover, is to "take a close, critical look at the potential of academic libraries as key campus resources in the Information Age." As Gee writes in the preface, this is a book of "advocacy for the quality learning, research, and service that can occur on campuses where more imaginative use is made of academic libraries." The authors' intent is to challenge academic administrators to create new partnerships with librarians, and this is, indeed, a major theme. The book might have been more descriptively titled Information Literacy: Crucial Roles for Academic Libraries. It attempts, and succeeds, to go beyond reports calling for reform in higher education. The authors use these as a base, with sufficient citations, to establish where higher education is and what the major concerns are. The authors make the point that strategies for educational reform give little, if any, attention to the potential role of the academic library. They use these reports to set the stage for discussion of possible solutions involving the academic library. The book, beyond the first twenty-nine pages, is about these solutions. This is an applied and descriptive approach to information literacy, as opposed to an historical treatment.