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Considers the evolution of information architectures as a field of professional education. Topics include the need for an interdisciplinary approach; balancing practical skills with theoretical concepts; and key content areas, including information organization, graphic design, computer science, user and usability studies, and communication. (Author/LRW)

Recent semi-structured interviews with 28 librarians and branch managers on the placement of social workers in public libraries revealed a need for library and information science (LIS) programs to better prepare students for their role as social service information providers and to provide models for working with and supervising social workers in the library. It is clear that libraries are experiencing increasing demands to respond to the social-service information needs that users bring to the library, and the importance of libraries to communities in times of uncertainty and crisis is clear. In response, some libraries are including social workers on staff, but this trend does not completely relieve librarians of the need to serve the public's social-service information needs. LIS students need to understand the professional boundaries of librarianship and social work and to develop the ability to feel confident in their interactions with users who have been traumatized, are in crisis, or are struggling with challenges such as the need for credible health information; home and food insecurity information; legal aid; access to the Internet for individuals and families from low-income situations; accessible adult education programs; and more. Interview participants offered a number of suggestions for how to incorporate social work concepts into LIS education and asked for several specific skills such as training in mental-health first aid, de-escalation techniques, and greater knowledge of social-service resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Findings from in-depth interviews with academic librarians reveal initial perceptions of the value of the new Association of College and Research Libraries ' Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education and information about individual experiences in implementing the framework into information literacy skills instruction. Fifteen academic librarians, recruited through the ILI-L listserv, participated in Skype interviews that averaged 50 min in length. Participants shared that the Framework has had an impact on their teaching, helps them to better articulate the role of the librarian and the concept of information literacy, supports collaboration with faculty, and presents new empirical research opportunities for academic librarians. At the same time, acceptance of the Framework by librarians has not been universal, implementing the Framework into one-shot information literacy instruction is difficult, and full implementation of the Framework may require a restructuring of how information literacy education is approached. Highlights • Respondents to a survey feel that using the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy has improved their teaching. • Respondents feel that the framework has improved their ability to articulate their role as information professionals. • Respondents feel that the framework opens a door for new research in the area of information literacy. • In working with colleagues, respondents have encountered resistance to the framework. • Faculty attitudes about information literacy can be an impediment to implementing the framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Over the course of three years, an educational intervention was developed to teach information literacy (IL) skills, change perceptions of IL, and to recalibrate self views of the abilities of first year college students who demonstrate below proficient information literacy skills. The intervention is a modular workshop designed around the three-step analyze, search, evaluate (ASE) model of information literacy, which is easy to remember, easy to adapt to multiple instructional situations, and can provide a foundation for building information literacy skills. Summative evaluation of the intervention demonstrates that students who attend the workshop see an increase in skills and awareness of information literacy as a skill set. Increases in skills, however, were not sufficient to move participants into the proficient range. While workshop participants were able to reassess preworkshop skills, skills gained in the workshop did not result in recalibrated self-views of ability. Like the development of skills, the recalibration of self-assessments may require multiple exposures to information literacy instruction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

An intervention was developed for first-year community college students with below-proficient information literacy skills for the purpose of helping them gain an understanding of information literacy as a discrete skill set, develop a more accurate view of their own skill levels, and learn at least one skill they could apply in imposed and self-generated information-seeking tasks. Using an experimental design, the researchers conducted a summative evaluation of the intervention through pre- and post-intervention test scores, pre- and post-intervention tests, pre- and post-intervention surveys, post-intervention interviews with participants, and a debriefing with the intervention instructor. This paper focuses of the results of the post-intervention interviews. Those results suggest that students learned at least one skill from the intervention. The results are mixed as to whether they gained a greater understanding of information literacy as a skill set and whether they recalibrated their perceptions of their own information literacy skill levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Competency theory predicts a miscalibration between students'' self-assessments of their information literacy skills and their actual skill level. This study investigates whether such a disparity is evident among incoming freshmen who test as non-proficient on a standardized test of information literacy. In addition, this study analyzes Information Literacy Test scores and library anxiety test scores to provide preliminary data on whether library anxiety is related to information literacy skill attainment. Findings reveal that the relationship between information literacy skills and self-assessments predicted by competency theory are evident in the domain of information literacy. This study did not find an association between information literacy skill scores and total library anxiety scores. However, a significant negative correlation between information literacy scores and the subscale “knowledge of the library” indicates that as information literacy scores rise, anxiety scores related to a lack of knowledge of the library fall. The findings suggest that traditional information literacy instruction may not be effective with non-proficient students, who are unlikely to see themselves as needing or benefiting from such instruction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Discusses various aspects of information architecture curriculum. Functions of information architects; Pedagogical approaches employed in education which may be adopted for information architecture education.