The Changing role of the Academic Library in Learning and Teaching

This chapter explores the emerging role of academic librarians in the learning and teachingprocess through their involvement with teaching staff in the development of studentinformation literacy skills. Information literacy– that is, the ability to find, evaluate and useinformation effectively – is a key component ofuniversity students’ learning experience. Italso equips students with skills for the workplace and lifelong learning:It could be argued that the skill of the twenty first century graduate will be toarticulate the right questions and to understand where and how they can searchfor knowledge, not remember the answers (Donnelly and Fitzmaurice, 2005, p.96).The chapter provides a brief overview of theinstitutional and learning background againstwhich contemporary information literacy development takes place. This background ischaracterised by a changing context for the operation of academic libraries; a changinghigher education environment; a changing information environment; and a changing user.The chapter goes on to provide some formal definitions of information literacy, developed bylibrary-related bodies. These are followed by some working understandings of the term,derived from responses given by several academic developers and lecturers to the question,“What does information literacy mean to you?” Finally, the chapter discusses the role ofinformation literacy in higher education andthe key role librarians play in informationliteracy development.