The Commission on Learning Resources and Instructional Technology (CLRIT) was
charged with developing and recommending policy guidelines to the Chancellor
which facilitate the effective uses of learning resources and instructional
technology throughout the CSU. In January of 1993, under the umbrella of
CLRIT, the Council of Library Directors (COLD), in desiring to create a plan
which would take the CSU libraries well into the twenty-first century, began a
strategic planning process. This resulted in Transforming CSU Libraries for
the 21st Century: A Strategic Plan of the CSU Council of Library
One of the areas identified for needed action was information competency, which
is considered by librarians to be a critical skill for all students. The plan
states that the CSU needs to "establish basic competence levels in the use of
recorded knowledge and information and processes for assessment of student
competence." CLRIT approved the strategic plan of the CSU libraries and
identified the area of information competency as a high priority. Accordingly,
CLRIT requested the Office of Academic Affairs to form a work group which would
address the issue of information competence. The charge to the group is:
This work group is to recommend basic competence levels on the use of recorded
knowledge and information and processes for assessment of student competence.
The work should at least consider:
* The level of information competence undergraduate students should have when
they enter the university.
* The level of competence undergraduate students should achieve early in their
university careers in order to pursue successfully their baccalaureate
* The level of competence these students should achieve by graduation in order
to be prepared for employment in their profession or for graduate study.
* The means by which competence should be assessed at these levels.
* In order to assist students in acquiring this knowledge and these skills,
the level of competence that should be expected of instructional faculty.
The membership of the Work Group includes:
Ms. Betty Blackman, Dean, University Library, Dominguez Hills
Dr. Susan C. Curzon, Chair of the Work Group, Vice Provost, Information &
Technology Resources, and Dean, University Library, Northridge
Dr. Donald J. Farish, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs,
Dr. Patricia Hart, Faculty Director, Institute for Teaching and Learning,
Office of the Chancellor
Dr. Glenn W. Irvin, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of
Instruction, San Luis Obispo
Dr. Kathleen Kaiser, Representative from the Academic Senate CSU
Dr. Roberta Madison, Representative from the Academic Senate CSU
Dr. Lorie Roth, Director of Academic Services & Professional Development,
Office of the Chancellor
Dr. Gordon Smith, Associate Director, Library Policy and Planning, Office of
Methods Used to Carry Out the Charge
To fulfill its charge, the Work Group on Information Competence pursued four
avenues of research:
* canvassing the print literature on the topic;
* contacting individuals and organizations that are prominent in the field;
* reviewing informal and formal surveys that had been conducted; and
* seeking the advice of discipline faculty and library faculty from the CSU
A bibliography of the most significant books and journal articles dealing with
the topic of information competence has been distributed to campus
representatives attending a systemwide workshop, as have copies of the most
important journal articles and copies of an anthology of essays entitled
Information Literacy: Developing Students as Independent Learners.
A list of the print literature is included in Appendix A.
Contacts with Individuals and Organizations
The Work Group has benefited from the experience and advice of several
individuals and organizations who have been active in the area of information
literacy and media literacy. Several of the people contacted agreed to visit
with representatives from the CSU at a systemwide conference held in Long Beach
in November 1995. They include:
* Patricia Senn Breivik, Dean of University Libraries, Wayne State
* Howard L. Simmons, Executive Director, Commission on Higher Education,
Middle States Accrediting Association
* Stuart A. Sutton, Director at the School of Library and Information Science,
San Jose State University
* Kathleen Tyner, Senior Research Associate, Far West Laboratories
* Ralph Wolff, Executive Director, Commission on Higher Education, Western
Association of Schools and Colleges
Organizations which provided assistance to the Work Group include AAHE,
Association of College and Research Libraries, the Center for Media Literacy,
and the Middle States Association Commission on Higher Education.
Review of Surveys
Three surveys have enhanced the efforts of the Work Group. The first was a
relatively informal look at what CSU campuses are currently doing in the area
of information competence. Vice presidents for Academic Affairs at all of the
campuses were contacted and asked to report on activities pertaining to
information literacy. This survey reported little activity.
The findings of this informal survey were somewhat confirmed by two more formal
surveys, one conducted by the California Community Colleges through a Joint
Faculty Projects Grant and the other by the Association of College and
In 1994-95, The Joint Faculty Projects of the CCC sent a survey to
bibliographic instructors at all campuses of the community college, California
State University, and University of California systems. The survey had an 82
percent response rate overall, with a 90 percent response rate from the CSU.
As part of the survey, 22 percent of the bibliographic instructors from the CSU
reported that their institution had an information literacy requirement.
The other formal survey, conducted by the Association of College and Research
Libraries explored the status of initiatives to promote information literacy
through a survey of 830 institutions of higher education nationwide.
Eighty-five postsecondary institutions in the region accredited by the Western
Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) responded, and 19 (22 percent)
indicated that their campus had a functional information literacy program.
These surveys confirmed the perception that there are pockets of interest in
information competence but few widespread or sustained efforts in the CSU.
Consultation with CSU Campuses
Of all the research done by the Work Group on Information Competence, the most
interesting and helpful information was obtained through consultation with
campus representatives--conversations which revealed that, in fact, some
substantial work on information literacy was being done in the CSU, albeit on
an individual, ad hoc basis and not as part of a formal, systematic program.
With support from the Council of Library Directors, Commission on Learning
Resources and Instructional Technology, and the Division of Academic Affairs,
the Work Group on Information Competence held a systemwide workshop on November
16-17, 1995, at the Renaissance Long Beach Hotel. Each campus was invited to
send two representatives to the workshop, one librarian and one disciplinary
faculty member. In addition, invitations were extended to representatives of
the Academic Senate CSU.
The workshop was attended by 65 people, who spent a day and a half discussing
issues relevant to information competence. A copy of the agenda for the
workshop is included in Appendix B.
What Is Information Competence
Definition and Scope of the Term
One of the most difficult tasks faced by the Work Group, by the participants at
the systemwide conference, or by anyone who wants to ensure that students are
able to function well in the Information Age, is to provide a universally
agreed-upon definition of "information competence." It is a term that means
different things to different people. On one hand, it is used to denote
"library literacy" or "bibliographic instruction." Another definition equates
"information competence" with "computer literacy." At the other extreme, it is
almost synonymous with "critical thinking." At the systemwide workshop on
information competence, however, there was general consensus on the broad
outlines of a definition. If one needs a concise, one-sentence definition of
information competence, it is generally agreed that information competence, at
heart, is the ability to find, evaluate, use, and communicate information in
all of its various formats.
A definition that emerged from the systemwide workshop, and which is
recommended by the Work Group, is that information competence is the fusing
or the integration of library literacy, computer literacy, media literacy,
technological literacy, ethics, critical thinking, and communication
Also emerging from the systemwide workshop were three aspects of information
competence that are not always included in definitions of the term, but which
seemed to be important to workshop participants. First, there was significant
interest in the ethical and legal dimensions of information competence. Many
participants emphasized the need for student awareness of issues like access
and privacy, intellectual property, copyright and fair use, and the power and
influence of information. Second was an emphasis on the "media literacy"
component of information competence; that is, as information is increasingly
conveyed through nonprint media, universities (which have been very successful
at inculcating skills at reading, analyzing, understanding, and writing print
materials) must ensure that students are equally successful at evaluating,
interpreting, and generating other media as well. Third was an emphasis on the
production and application as well as the consumption of information; in other
words, in addition to finding, analyzing, and synthesizing information,
students must be able to create information and communicate it effectively
using various media.
Specific Goals and Objectives to be Achieved in Order for Students to be
If a CSU campus chooses to pursue a program to ensure that its students are
information competent, the institution will have to determine competencies that
students must achieve at three levels:
* when they arrive at the university;
* early enough in their university careers so that they can
successfully pursue their baccalaureate studies;
* when they graduate, so that they can be prepared for graduate
study or employment in their chosen profession.
Specific Competencies Proposed by Work Group
As a result of the workshop and a study of the literature of information
competence, we have identified the overall competencies necessary for student
success. The following competencies, outlined in Table 1, provide the core
competencies. It must be emphasized, however, that this is not a definitive
list. More in-depth work with the competencies must be done than has occurred
in the first phase of our project.
A Set of Core Competencies
In order to be able to find, evaluate, use, and communicate information,
students must be able to demonstrate these skills in an integrated
1. State a research question, problem, or issue
2. Determine the information requirements for the research question, problem,
3. Locate and retrieve relevant information
4. Organize information
5. Analyze and evaluate information
6. Synthesize information
7. Communicate using a variety of information technologies
8. Use the technological tools for accessing information
9. Understand the ethical, legal, and socio-political issues surrounding
information and information technology
10. Use, evaluate, and treat critically information received from the mass
11. Appreciate that the skills gained in information competence enable
In order for a full list of competencies to be developed, we recommend that a
subcommittee of discipline faculty and library faculty be formed. The charge
to this subcommittee will be to create a model list of information
competencies which identify the knowledge and skills needed for entering the
university and for graduating from the university.
Competencies for Entering the University
At least two organizations have defined the levels of information literacy that
students must have at the point of exiting from high school and beginning
In 1992, the State University of New York (SUNY) defined the information skills
expected of incoming freshmen, and they are listed in Appendix C.
In addition, the American Association of School Librarians recently promulgated
a statement of what information literacies should be covered by a student
graduating from high school. This statement has been endorsed by the National
Forum for Information Literacy, an umbrella group of over 65 organizations, and
it is included in Appendix D.
Competencies for Graduating from the University
To help campuses trying to implement a program in information competence, the
Work Group has assembled a collection of competency statements from other
universities across the nation. They include
* Cornell University's Mann Library (see Appendix E)
* Cleveland State University (see Appendix F)
* Arizona State University West (see Appendix G)
* CSU Monterey Bay (see Appendix H)
The Work Group hopes that these sample statements, as well as the competencies
outlined above, will form a basis from which the subcommittee of discipline and
library faculty can shape the model competencies for the CSU.
Why Is Information Competence Important
The latter half of the twentieth century has been designated rightly as the
Information Age. Never has so much information been available in the history
of humankind. Consider these facts:
* The average person of today sees as much information in one day as the
average person saw in an entire year in the eighteenth century.
* Offices generate nearly 2.7 billion documents per year.
* Nearly 1 million items are published world wide each year.
* The average white collar worker reads documents 24 hours a week. The
average blue collar worker reads 97 minutes a day.
* Futurist magazine has predicted that by the year 2000 about half of all the
service workers will be involved in collecting, analyzing, synthesizing,
structuring, storing, or retrieving information as a basis of knowledge.
Moreover, there appears to be no end in sight. The production of information
keeps multiplying exponentially, as knowledge is created, developed, and
reshaped at dramatic rates. Of course, the rate of production of information
has been greatly encouraged by the emergence of information technologies. The
power of automation to store, retrieve, and disseminate information is one of
the main forces behind the Information Age. While the issue of information
competence has existed for decades within the library community, technology has
brought the issue to national attention in the larger community of educators.
Today everyone interested in information and knowledge is aware of the
explosion of information generated and stored, the unregulated sprawl of the
internet, the emergence of on-line databases, the mystique of the personal
computer, and the power of words and graphics.
However, in the midst of so much abundance, our faculty face another question:
how much information are students' minds storing and retrieving? The answer
is, by some accounts, not very much.
As reported in the Bulletin of the American Association for Higher Education
(AAHE), "The curve for forgetting course content is fairly steep: a generous
estimate is that students forget 50% of the content within a few months . . . .
A more devastating finding comes from a study that concluded that even under
the most favorable conditions, students carry away in their heads and in their
notebooks not more than 42% of the lecture content. Those were the results
when students were told that they would be tested immediately following the
lecture. These results were bad enough, but when students were tested a week
later, without the use of their notes, they could recall only 17% of the
The convergence of the production of the information age and the growing
awareness of the student memory loss of course content leads us to conclude
that a vital part of education must be in the students' ability to locate
information for themselves. If students graduate from a CSU campus unable to
locate, synthesize, and evaluate information, they will not have the skills
necessary for survival in any field. Moreover, even if student retention of
course content was almost perfect, the rate of change of knowledge is so high
that what students learn today, especially in certain fields, may not be
accurate or relevant a few years from now.
This is the world in which our students now live and will live for the rest of
their lives. Are we preparing them to navigate successfully through this
profusion or print and non-print media? Our challenge is to equip students
with the skills and knowledge that will enable them to live satisfying,
productive lives in a world awash in information, and this commitment to ensure
the information competence of our students forms the basis of the efforts of
the Work Group on Information Competence.
Methods for Implementing a Program for Information Competence
Programs to develop the information competence of students have long been
undertaken by academic libraries. These programs have introduced the critical
thinking skills and awareness of resources that allow students effectively to
navigate the wealth of information accessible through libraries, and many
library faculty have been zealous and committed in their outreach to the
It is not as certain, however, that skills promoted by library faculty have
been reinforced and further developed in the academic curriculum. As made
evident in the CSU workshop, many discipline faculty members do indeed foster
students' ability to use information resources and encourage students to
develop the skills necessary to be independent, self-directed learners. In
general, however, the skills of information competence have not yet been firmly
embedded in the academic curriculum. Nor is the collaboration of discipline
faculty and library faculty in developing students' information skills
The research undertaken by the Work Group suggests that isolated, hit-or-miss,
ad hoc attempts cannot ensure that students are well equipped for the
Information Age. It also indicates that the best programs are integrated into
the curriculum and are built on strong alliances between discipline faculty and
library faculty. Our report, therefore, assumes that the information
competence of students is a responsibility to be shared by discipline faculty
and library faculty and should be an integral element of the curriculum.
Recommendation of the Work Group on Information Competence
Participants at the CSU workshop considered the strengths and weaknesses of the
various models for implementing a program in information competence. It was
generally agreed that there are many difficulties associated with implementing
ANY program at all; however, there was also strong consensus that if a program
were to be implemented, it must be integrated horizontally and vertically
across the curriculum. In other words, almost no one is in favor of a "quick
fix," in which a stand-alone course, taken once in the student's career, is
expected to meet a student's need to be an informed and ethical consumer and
producer of knowledge.
There was a great deal of interest in achieving this goal through a three-stage
process, in which the fundamentals of information competence are introduced in
a freshman-orientation/transitions course, are further developed by being
embedded in general education courses, and are reinforced and amplified in the
major area. Several participants noted the possibility of emphasizing
information competence in a "cornerstone" class (introduction to the major
area) as well as in a "capstone" class (the culminating experience of the
There was also near unanimity in conceiving that the ideal program would
integrate information competence through all courses at all levels of the
Implement Information Competence in a Freshman Orientation/Transitions
Making sure that students are aware of the information resources available to
them on a campus is a module often found in the Freshman Seminar/Transitions
courses which have become widespread in the past decade. In many ways, this is
a likely place to begin a sustained emphasis on the students' acquiring
information skills, but the "orientation" nature of the course and the
necessity to cover all student support services and study skills usually
dictates that the component devoted to information competence be brief.
Implement Information Competence in General Education
Since the ability to use information effectively and wisely is crucial to a
student's success in higher education, it seems natural to incorporate
information competence into the general education curriculum required of all
students. It could be added as a stand-alone course dealing with the topic, or
it could be added as a component in several or all of the courses included in
the General Education curriculum.
Implement Information Competence in the Major Area
It is possible to identify competencies that all students should have, but
sometimes additional competencies are needed by students majoring in particular
disciplines. In other words, there are some things about information that
nursing students should know that are not applicable to a person studying fine
arts. Some aspects of information competence are peculiar to a specific
discipline and must, therefore, be integrated into the major area.
Some models for programs in information competence in the major area choose to
integrate this subject into an "introductory" or "gatekeeper" or "funnel"
course, the one that students take first in their disciplinary sequence. The
introductory course in a discipline typically familiarizes students with the
methodologies, terminologies, and resources of a discipline, and the nature of
this course makes it a clear complement to the topic of information
Other models choose to emphasize information competence in part or all of
several courses required in the major. This is perhaps the most common way
that information competence is now implemented in the CSU. Many of the
workshop participants indicated that students' mastery of information skills
was dependent on the individual professors with whom they had studied. In
other words, it appears that many CSU professors have fostered the information
competence of their students by integrating information resources in their
Implement Information Competence as an Add-On to Another Course
Discipline faculty and library faculty at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo are
currently piloting a program that treats information competence as an
enhancement to an already established course in the disciplines. In this case,
students enrolled in an architecture course gain one extra unit of credit for
completing the information component, developed by the faculty teaching the
course in consultation with librarians.
Implement Information Competence through Competency-Based Mastery
One of the most influential trends of recent years has been the universities'
willingness to award academic credit on the basis of students demonstrating
mastery of skills as opposed to their simply taking courses. For example, many
nurses who return to college to pursue a baccalaureate degree can demonstrate
the skills they have attained during their years of employment, are allowed to
receive credit for the mastery of the skills they can demonstrate, and are then
placed in the appropriate course in the baccalaureate sequence. Similarly,
CSU's newest campus, at Monterey Bay, is an experimental program through which
students, in order to graduate, must demonstrate mastery of host of skills and
knowledge--regardless of whether that knowledge was gained through life
experience, independent study, regular university courses, or community
In a like vein, many have proposed that an excellent way for a campus to
institute a program of information competence is to do so by requiring students
to demonstrate mastery. Students can be given ample opportunity to acquire the
necessary skills (through workshops, workbooks, computer tutorials, classroom
instruction, etc.), and when they believe they have mastered the competencies
identified, they can apply for an assessment and evaluation. Once the students
have passed the assessment, their transcript reflects that they have completed
this requirement for graduation.
A common theme among the participants at the systemwide workshop was the
possibility of using computer-based instruction to teach some of the skills
associated with information competence. Computer-based instruction that could
teach these skills might also be a vehicle for assessing them, and if the CSU
faculty could develop this kind of software as a teaching aid, it could be
shared with colleagues in K-12 and the community colleges.
Methods of Assessing
the Information Competence of Students
Methods of assessing students' achievements are as various as the campuses and
the ways of implementing an information competence program. Student mastery of
the skills of information competence could be assessed through a standardized
test or through a performance or demonstration of the skills; the assessment
could be course-based or competency-based. (In course-based assessment, if a
student successfully completes assignments made in a course, that student is
assumed to have mastered the requisite skills. In competency-based assessment,
sometimes skills are judged or evaluated apart from student performance in a
class, such as is the case with the Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement
on many campuses.)
Most participants at the systemwide Workshop on Information Competence agreed
that assessment of students' ability to find, evaluate, use and communicate
information should be tested through performance, demonstration, or application
of the skills. Some suggested that students be required to create a Web page
that displayed a portfolio of the work they produced during their career in the
CSU. Others suggested that a hypermedia project or an interactive resume might
be a good culmination project to demonstrate the student's information
Another area of general agreement centered on the notion that just as
information competence skills should be distributed horizontally and vertically
throughout the curriculum, so, too, should the assessments. It was felt that
students' information competence skills needed continual assessment at every
level throughout their progress in the university.
Finally, several participants noted that since computer-based instruction could
teach certain elements of information competence, so, too, could the software
developed for this instruction help to assess students' achievement of the
Aspects of the CSU Culture that Inhibit or Encourage
a Program in Information Competence
Although almost everyone agrees that our students need to be information
competent, we cannot show that the necessary skills are embedded in our
curriculum or clearly and coherently taught in our classrooms. The Workshop on
Information Competence made apparent that there were small pockets within the
CSU where great attention was being paid in a variety of creative ways to the
information literacy of students. Information competence in the CSU is being
pursued by an individual professor here, a librarian there, a specialized
course here, a localized program there. Workshop participants also indicated,
however, that there is no comprehensive, systematic effort underway at any of
the campuses, no ability to say for certain that each student who graduates
from a particular campus has the information skills to allow him or her to
pursue independent lifelong learning or to maximize success on the job or in
It is not surprising that information competence is receiving increasing
attention but that it has not yet taken firm root in the CSU. For one thing,
the notion of information competence is a fairly recent one. Only with the
information explosion of the past decade has the need to be information
literate been seen as crucial to an individual's chances for success. When one
considers how long it took English composition or computer literacy or critical
thinking to become part of the curriculum, it comes as no surprise that
information competence is still in its infancy as a discipline. Aside from its
novelty, however, there are several reasons (identified by workshop
participants) why the CSU has not yet fully embraced this nascent field.
Factors that Inhibit
Need for Faculty Development
First of all, if CSU faculty are to foster information competence skills in
their courses, many of them need to have their own skills enhanced. Before a
professor can teach students to do a hypermedia project or understand the
provisions of the copyright act or discuss the ethics of email, he or she must
have considerable faculty development opportunities. With the rapid pace of
technological change, skills need continual updating and renewing. Many
faculty would likely profit from development in the technological aspects of
information competence, although many faculty have indeed mastered, as well as
masterfully taught, the critical-thinking components of information
Clearly, the need for faculty development is paramount. Yet funds for faculty
development are limited; the ability to get released time is even more limited;
and faculty interest in information competence, although genuine and deep, must
also compete with a variety of other faculty development needs in assessment,
collaborative learning, multiculturalism, internationalization, recent
developments in the discipline, and so on.
In short, before we can ensure the information competence of our students, we
must ensure the information competence of our faculty, and we must provide the
time and money needed to do this.
Need for Collaboration between Discipline Faculty and Library Faculty
Second, an information competence program depends upon a close collaboration
between discipline faculty and library faculty. As was shown in the systemwide
workshop, there is real evidence of productive synergy when cooperation of
discipline and library faculty occurs. However, in the CSU, most of the time
discipline and library faculty exist in separate and distinct spheres, and
there are no incentives or rewards to encourage collaboration.
Need for a Strong Information/Knowledge Infrastructure
In order for students to obtain a good education, they must have access to a
wide variety of knowledge that challenges their minds, encourages them to read
and research broadly, and makes them aware of the range and breadth of the
knowledge developed by many people and many cultures. This means that the
library's collections, including the material within its walls and the access
to materials beyond its walls, must be strong and vital. The significant
decline in the CSU budget has greatly affected libraries and has reduced access
to knowledge for students, whose education has been diminished as a result.
The information infrastructure of the CSU must be restored in order for
students to be exposed to the broad range of information and knowledge
necessary for a university education and necessary for the full development of
skill in information competence.
Need for Strong Technology Infrastructure
Fourth, a strong program in information competence is dependent upon a strong
technology infrastructure, and the CSU campuses vary widely in this area. Some
campuses offer a computer on every faculty member's desk, well equipped and
well staffed labs for students, and a large professional support staff in
information resources. Other campuses have considerably less. If, as some
workshop participants suggested, all students might be asked to produce a Web
page before graduation, we must have the technology to support this ambitious
A significant portion -- but by no means all -- of information competence is
tied to technological literacy (the ability to use a computer to conduct a
Boolean search, to create hypermedia, to write email). Obviously, then,
students who have ready access to computers tend to be more successful at using
information. Thus, requiring information competence of all students could
possibly widen the gap between the information haves and have-nots.
Inherent Difficulty in Changing Degree Requirements
Fifth, curriculum has always been a field on which fierce territorial battles
have been waged. Current requirements in general education or in the major
area--seemingly a reification of the natural order of things--are actually
temporary constructs. Historically, they are the result of uneasy truces,
compromises, and negotiations among colleges, schools, departments, and
individual faculty. Veterans of past discussions over General Education
requirements are understandably not anxious to take on the question of who or
what department might teach information competence. The politics of General
Education make this a challenge.
No Specific Departmental Affiliation for Information Competence
Sixth, information competence has many natural departmental affiliations and
simultaneously no specific departmental affiliation. Therefore, it has no
obvious champion to forward its cause among discipline faculty.
Factors that Encourage
Despite all these factors that militate against the development of a program in
information competence within the CSU, there are, however, equally strong
counter-balancing factors. In several ways, in fact, the CSU culture is
particularly well suited to and conductive to ensuring that all graduates of
the CSU are information competent.
CSU as a Teaching Institution
Of over-riding importance is the fact that the CSU is a teaching institution.
Whereas other universities privilege research and construct a reward system
built on numbers of books published and grants obtained, the CSU has always
placed a premium on teaching and has dedicated itself to the enrichment of the
lives of students. Having a mission and a tradition so clearly focused and
defined, the CSU, moreso than other institutions, is in tune with student needs
and more adaptable to changes in curriculum that will prepare students for
greater opportunities in the future.
CSU as a Student-Centered Institution
Second, California State University prepares a workforce for the largest state
in the union. The CSU makes this contribution to California by preparing
well-rounded, well-educated students who have learned how to learn, and
professionals who can enrich the economic, social, and cultural life of the
state. The CSU prepares two-thirds of California's teachers, more computer
scientists than all the other California universities combined, and a
significant number of engineers and other professionals. Because it is one of
the engines that drives the state's economy, the CSU has always been responsive
to the needs of students who will enter the world of work upon graduation and
must also be prepared to change careers several times in their lifespan. Just
as information has changed the workplace, the need to be information competent
will affect students entering the world of work.
Strong Teaching/Learning Infrastructure
A third reason why CSU is appropriate for a program in information competence
emerges from the previous two reasons. Since the CSU has a faculty committed
to teaching and students earnest about learning so that they can enrich their
lives, the CSU has developed a fairly substantial teaching/learning
infrastructure. Support for teaching and learning is evident at the system
level in the CSU Institute for Teaching and Learning, a unit that sponsors
conferences and workshops for the enhancement of faculty systemwide. Nearly
all the campuses, likewise, feature some kind of center for teaching and
learning, although some are embryonic and others full-grown. These centers can
serve as an origination point for the faculty development that must accompany
any serious program for information competence.
History of Building Consensus
Finally, the history of curriculum and consensus in the CSU provides models
that might well be emulated by a program for information competence. For
example, when the faculty of the CSU agreed that all students must have
mastered skills in English and mathematics, it persuaded the Trustees to adopt
a policy requiring that students be proficient in these areas, and it developed
courses to fulfill these goals. Likewise, after concerns arose about the
writing skills of college graduates, the CSU adopted a policy mandating a
graduation writing assessment requirement. These past actions indicate that
the CSU, as an institution, can recognize a need, define competencies to be
mastered, devise assessment instruments, and create a variety of models for
implementing a policy. This tradition augurs well for a program in information
Issues to be Considered in Implementing a Program
in Information Competence
The information-gathering conducted by the Work Group on Information Competence
suggests that there are several other important topics to be considered if the
CSU campuses choose to integrate information competence into their curricula.
* Forging connections among the CSU, CCC, and K-12
* Conducting a needs assessment
* Connecting to employers and alumni
* Considering transfer students
* Promoting a sustained emphasis on information competence
Forging Connections Among the CSU, CCC, and K-12
K-16 in California is an interdependent, interconnected system. The CSU relies
on the K-12 and community college sectors to prepare students ready for
university study, and K-12 and the community colleges depend on the CSU to
prepare qualified teachers for their classrooms.
This same interdependence is crucial in information competence. Due to the
severe budget cutbacks of recent years, California is now last among all the
states in the nation in the resources devoted to libraries and media in
elementary and secondary schools. Fifty percent of the school libraries in the
state have closed, and the American Library Association has labeled California
among the worst in the nation in terms of the state of the libraries.
CSU must work in concert with colleagues in the schools and the community
colleges to make sure that information competence skills are emphasized (and
funded) from elementary school through graduation from the university. In
addition, CSU must make sure that its programs to prepare future teachers are
educating these prospective instructors to be information literate themselves
as well as able to teach the skills of information competence to others.
Finally, a major initiative in information competence has been funded in part
through an Intersegmental Joint Faculty Project sponsored by the Chancellor's
Office, California Community Colleges. Bibliographic instruction librarians
from all three postsecondary systems in the state have been involved in
numerous phases of this study, the most recent report of which was released in
September 1995, and is entitled "Basic Library and Information Competencies: A
Unified State-Wide Approach." Whereas an earlier phase of this project
attempted to increase awareness among the segments of higher education in
California, the current report tries to identify skills which should be part of
a comprehensive program of bibliographic instruction in the first two years of
college. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop a strategy for
presenting a unified library/information literacy program to all levels of
state-supported higher education.
The CSU must continue as an integral part of this effort, and individual
campuses should be encouraged to expand their relations with local schools and
colleges to include the topic of information competence.
Conducting a Needs Assessment
Concern about the information competence of students is so widespread and
strong that one assumes that the concern is legitimate and is based on an
accurate perception of the needs and abilities of students. However, little
empirical research has been done to evaluate the information skills of
students. Although there is a relatively large body of research about the
information literacy of elementary and secondary students, very little
assessment has been done with postsecondary students.
An important first step in a program in information competence is an assessment
of the current state of students' information skills. We cannot measure
progress until we have a baseline from which to work.
Connecting with Employers and Alumni
The universities which have developed systematic programs to ensure the
information competence of students often have done so as a result of contact
with employers who hire their graduates. A program in the Colleges of Business
and Engineering at North Dakota State and a program in the College of Natural
and Mathematical Sciences at Towson State, for example, were instituted after
interviews with employers highlighted the need for greater skills at managing
The CSU could profit if campuses which regularly communicate with alumni and
employers would include information competence as a topic to be covered.
Considering Transfer Students
Trying to ensure that all CSU graduates are information competent is
particularly difficult because two-thirds of all graduates are transfers from
community colleges. Thus, if information competence is added as a component of
a freshman orientation/transition course or as a component of a general
education course, two-thirds of the CSU graduates (the transfer students) will
not have experienced this part of the curriculum.
Furthermore, given that almost half of these students' education is obtained at
another institution, the CSU has a short period of time to influence what
students know and can do. It would appear, therefore, that if the CSU is
serious about ensuring the information competence of all its graduates, it must
look towards implementing such a program in the major area, in upper-division
general education, or through a competency-based mastery. In addition, CSU
must work with the community colleges to develop an integrated program of
Promoting a Sustained Emphasis on Information Competence
To a certain degree, all curricular changes are transient and temporary--some,
perhaps, more faddish than others. Two movements to which the emphasis on
information competence are most frequently compared are Writing Across the
Curriculum (WAC) and Internationalizing the Curriculum. In both of those past
efforts, the focus was on adding a component to all courses instead of creating
stand-alone, self-contained courses. Both were successful, but Writing Across
the Curriculum has had a much greater impact and has persisted longer.
Undoubtedly, there are many reasons for why WAC has succeeded to a greater
degree, but certainly one of the reasons is that the WAC movement was
spearheaded, championed, and sustained by a group of ardent supporters. The
movement to ensure information competence could profit by this example.
Based on the information derived from a review of the literature on information
competence, interviews with experts in the field, results of informal and
formal surveys, and consultation with the discipline faculty and library
faculty in the CSU, the Work Group on Information Competence has drawn
conclusions about (1) the nature of a successful program in information
competence, and (2) the environment that will allow such a program to take root
An Effective Program in Information Competence
* Is diffused throughout the curriculum.
* Uses a wide range of information resources in problem-solving strategies.
* Makes effective use of instructional technologies to teach information
* Encompasses finding, evaluating, and using information, and it emphasizes
the ethical and legal issues connected to information, media literacy, and
students as producers as well as consumers of information.
* Is built on a needs assessment, which evaluates the current state of
students' competence in information skills, as well as on-going assessment of
students' achievement of the skills that make them information competent.
An Environment that Will Encourage the Growth and Development of Programs in
* Respects the individuality of different CSU campuses.
* Is built on a collegial partnership of library faculty, discipline faculty,
and media and instructional technology professionals.
* Is founded on collaboration and articulation with the community colleges and
the K-12 sector.
* Promotes the professional development of library faculty and discipline
* Provides necessary human and fiscal resources.
* Provides the necessary information and technology resources.
* Emphasizes initiatives at both the system level and the campus level.
Recommendations for Future Action
The Work Group on Information Competence recommends the following actions to
ensure that students who graduate from the CSU are information competent:
1. Undertake a systematic assessment of student information competence to
develop a benchmark.
2. Develop a model list of information competence skills for students entering
the university and graduating from the university. Establish agreements with
K-14 on these skills.
3. Develop pilot information competence programs or courses on several
4. Develop a "teaching the teachers" program so that faculty development in
information competence can occur.
5. Develop computer software that enables the teaching of information
6. Develop faculty workbooks and checklists for K-16 to assist faculty with
the teaching of information competence.
7. Work with the California Superintendent of Schools to ensure that
information competence is on the agenda for K-12.
8. Work with the community colleges and support their on-going information
9. Collaborate with SUNY-CUNY to see what initiatives in information competence
can be developed together.
10. Collaborate with textbook publishers to help with the integration of the
concepts of information competence into textbooks.
11. Pilot a distance-learning effort with information competence.
Selected List of Print Resources on Information Competence
Agenda for November 1995 CSU Workshop on Information Competence
SUNY College Entry-Level Knowledge and Skills
American Association of School Librarians: Position Statement
Cornell University's Mann Library: Information Literacy
Cleveland State University: Information Literacy
Arizona State University West: Information Competencies
CSU Monterey Bay: Information Competence