Fluency in the Digital World

This showed up in my bloglines account today. Jenny Levine linked an interesting chart on Info Lit by Karin Dalziel. Here's Jenny's post:

Fluency in the Digital World
By jenny on project next generation

I'm intrigued by Karin Dalziel's Chart of 4 Types of Information Literacy, although I would add "evaluating" to the first "information literacy" box.

Sadly, most libraries don't teach her third and fourth types - media literacy and digital literacy. For several years, I've highlighted Illinois' Project Next Generation in my presentations and how it creates collaborative work spaces where kids can learn the skills necessary for media and digital literacies. I'd still like to see more libraries provide these types of opportunities because after all, where else are these they (and adults) going to learn them? Are libraries really just about books and information, or is there more we can and should be educating users about? Or at least providing the spaces in which they can do that?

Good news on student research behavior plus what we can do more of...

From Roy Tennant's Current Cites:

Head, Alison. "[16]Beyond Google: How do Students Conduct Academic Research?" [17]First Monday 12(8)(August 2007)(http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue12_8/head/). - This article, based on research conducted by noted professor and usability specialist Dr. Alison Head, challenges assumptions about student research behavior. Far from turning to Google and confidently flipping out a paper, students rely more on authoritative sources vetted and provided by instructors and librarians, and are more hesitant, diffident, and confused by the research process than is often assumed. The paper concludes by recommending we pay more attention to research instruction and information literacy, but implicit in its suggestions is a ringing endorsement of classic librarian tasks in higher education.