Faculty-Librarian Collaboration to Achieve Integration of Information Literacy

As more institutions of higher education recognize the importance of information literacy, the collaborative role for librarians is growing. Integration of information-literacy instruction is the key to successful student learning, and librarians are using various collaborative models on teams and as co-instructors in courses, communities, and campus-wide information-literacy initiatives. This article looks at some of the successful programs on college and university campuses.--Eds. As the importance of information literacy grows within the academy, so does the importance of the role of librarians as integral members of the teaching and mission of the college and university. There is now a growing emphasis on teaching and as a component of the mission of twenty-first century libraries. At the same time, there is a growth in collaborative endeavors involving librarians and teaching faculty in efforts to reach larger numbers of students. Instead of relying on reference encounters in the library and formal library instruction, librarians are working to promote collaboration with faculty and campus units in an effort to integrate information literacy into the curriculum. Although the concept of librarian and faculty collaboration is not new, the commitment to an integrated approach has not become a trend. A review of recent literature and searching the Web showed that new forms of collaboration are making broad inroads into academic programs. This article highlights new developments in collaborative interactions in which the role for librarians is as a partner in the classroom and part of an integrated process. THE IMPORTANCE OF AND DEFINITIONS OF INTEGRATION The need for librarians to collaborate with faculty in order to enhance the teaching and process has been acknowledged as both significant and as a challenge for the field since the inception of library instruction. The recent literature continues to articulate this need, identifying successes and failures in collaboration, as well as further defining what it means to collaborate. The importance, and yet, difficulty, of engaging in successful collaboration has been well documented. In a preface to a 1995 article by Farber, Shirato noted that Farber stayed with the subject of faculty and librarian cooperation for such a long time because he rightly recognizes it as one of the most essential ingredients in effective library instruction.... Success in this area has been hard-won ... and in many ways the battle is not yet won. (1) Winner agrees that collaboration is essential and also notes its difficulties, identifying the areas where collaboration often fails. She comments that there is still no widespread acceptance of the librarian's role in curriculum planning and course-integrated instruction. Teaching faculties are appreciative of the support given by librarians; however, librarians are not universally recognized as playing an integral role in course planning and teaching. (2) Winner suggests that simply working with faculty is not enough; collaboration is only successful when the interaction between librarians and faculty results in an integration of the library into all elements of curriculum planning. Many agree with this assessment. In 1995, Rader outlined three factors on which successful integration of library and research skills (information literacy) into the academic curriculum depended: * library administrators had a long-term commitment to integrate library instruction into the curriculum; * librarians and faculty worked together in curriculum development; and * the institution had a strong commitment to excellent educational outcomes for students in the areas of critical thinking, problem solving, and information skills. (3) Simons, Young, and Gibson expanded on the concept of integration as a critical component to programming in their development of the learning library. …