OLJ Assignment: "Take-Home" Messages for Information Professionals

Shirley Garcia

Student ID #: 11468539

Info 506: Social Networking for Information Professionals

Lyn Hay—Fall 2010

The Three Articles Read for this OLJ Assignment: 

Lorenzo, G. (2007). Catalysts for change: Information fluency, Web 2.0, Library 2.0, and the new education culture. (March). Retrieved from http://www.edpath.com/images/IFReport2.pdf


Wittenberg, K. (2007). Credibility of content and the future of research, learning, and publishing in the digital environment. The Journal of Electronic Publishing, 10(1). Available http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=jep;cc=jep;rgn=main;view=text;idno=3336451.0010.101 


Sessions, L.F. (2009). “You looked better on MySpace”: Deception and authenticity on Web 2.0, First Monday, 14(7), 6 July. Available  http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2539/2242

The “Take-Home” Messages for Information Professionals:

1.    How relevant libraries and library professionals are to students depends, in part, on what Lorenzo (2007) calls “information fluency”.

2.    Training students on how and where to gain accurate information must be done in ways that students can relate to. The tools they utilize must be incorporated or students will be less likely to accept the information given.

Part One-Library/Librarian Relevancy:

The internet provides a vast amount of information that younger generations are not only accustomed to but are completely comfortable with. How adept students are with using the internet for scholarly purposes depends greatly on both their own development and how they are taught to use these tools. Regardless of critical thinking skills, these students use the internet because they are comfortable searching and finding their own information. This can provide a great sense of empowerment. So, how can students become “information fluent” (Lorenzo, 2007)? By this, I mean how can they analyze what sources of information are accurate, and when they should ask for assistance in retrieving and validating information.

I believe that first, students need to feel comfortable asking for assistance when they need it, without feeling as if they are feeling judged for their methods or lack of knowledge. Second, students should be taught from early on why certain information is not reliable or valid. In this way, students can learn not only how to search for information and use the large amount of tools the internet provides, but they can feel comfortable turning to information professionals to help show them how to get this information while maintaining a sense of empowerment and control.

Part Two-Teaching and Assisting Students with Information Retrieval:

So, students need to be information savvy, and information professionals need to stay relevant, right? Well, meeting these goals requires that both students and information professionals learn about information, their sources, and how to convey the message behind information retrieval. Students need to learn about the role of the information professional and how to be “information fluent”, in a way that they will easily accept and understand. If students are most comfortable utilizing the internet, then attempts to teach either without the use of this technology, or by downplaying it’s role/importance in information retrieval won’t work. Information professionals need to learn about these tools, their benefits and pitfalls, and convey these messages in a language and method that is congruent with students interests and learning styles (e.g., visually, via internet tools). The information professional then expands his or her knowledge, and students expand theirs, not only of how to evaluate information that is retrieved, but on the role and necessity of a little guidance.