During the 2007 Fall semester, I investigated information transfer for a library school course entitled Information Transfer in the Disciplines. Course lectures and projects ranged from recognizing everyday information transfer to assessing specific information transfer among academic disciplines. In order to follow the information transfer process as it related to faculty teaching roles, I had the opportunity to interview faculty members and observe their classes at a large state university. The purpose of the interview and observation was to focus on information needs and seeking behaviors of faculty in course preparation and instruction. By investigating how information is gathered and transferred to students, I hoped to identify areas where the library or librarian could be of service to both faculty and student. This would be a good introduction to discerning similarities and differences in information transfer among academic disciplines beyond merely identifying resources traditionally associated with the disciplines and to see how librarians can collaborate and facilitate this overall information transfer process.

Study Setting
The setting for this research project was a state university with an enrollment of 27,875 undergraduate and graduate students. The university is located in a Midwestern town with a population of over 88,000 people. The methods used to collect information consisted of a short interview with the faculty member and one classroom observation. The first academic discipline that I investigated was English and specifically a literature class involving the study of Latina Writers. The second academic discipline I investigated was natural science and specifically an Environmental Science class called Principles of Environmental Planning. Both courses were upper level (500) courses.

Research Methods
Data collection methods included both interview and observation. When I initially contacted these professors to ask permission to interview and observe, they were both immediately willing to help. But, when I arrived for the interview, they both asked, “Now, explain to me again what you’re doing.” In each instance I re-introduced myself, described the course I was enrolled in and explained the purpose of the assignment. I explained that as an academic librarian, I will have liaison duties with the faculty at the university and the assignment is an exercise in identifying information needs and discovering ways in which a librarian and the library can be of assistance to faculty and students. They both seemed to understand this and we proceeded with the interviews. I was very pleased in both instances where I was introduced to the class by the professor. They each told the class who I was and that I was a graduate student at Emporia State University, pursing my masters degree in Library Science and that I would be observing the class as part of my coursework. This introduction was pleasing to me because it showed me that they had been listening when I spoke and that they had an understanding of my purpose. Hopefully, this means that they each now had a better understanding of the profession of librarianship and the purpose of librarians in an academic environment.

Study Findings
Among the many study findings, I observed in my interactions that perceptions of library services varied from frustration to satisfaction. Both professors expressed frustration over the electronic reserve restrictions at the library. Both professors have had recent interactions with the library concerning limitations applied to the online course reserves at the university. These limitations are a result of copyright compliance that restricts the amount of text from a particular source and creates costs (to the library) for use. The libraries process to comply with copyright requires faculty to submit requests months in advance; a requirement that many faculty find unreasonable. While both of the professors I interviewed understand that these changes are not the fault of the library, it has resulted in a decision to use the course monitoring software, Blackboard, to post course readings instead of using library services. Both of the courses that I observed require a book (or several in the case of the English class) that was selected by the professor. The library did play a small part in the books that were selected for these courses because both professors reported that they chose books that they had read, that supported the themes of the class, and in some instances were discovered at the library.

Both participants in this study expressed a general satisfaction with library and librarians as well. The English professor was very pleased with a new service implemented at the library that allowed her to request materials that would be checked out to her and sent to her office via campus mail. She said that this is a wonderful service as it saves her the time of walking across campus to pick up books. The Environmental Science professor did admit that often she is not sure who she needs to contact at the library for questions pertaining to her field of study, but that when she has interacted with librarians and library staff it had been a pleasant experience and they were helpful.

Unfortunately, neither of my research subjects actually enlisted the assistance of a librarian for either course preparation or instruction. The only collections mentioned by these faculty members that were used for class preparation or lecture would be considered personal collections. The English professor reported that she will occasionally read something on her own and then assign it as a reading for the class. She also will provide articles to the students to use for oral presentations on a theme of the class. The Environmental Science professor uses a similar method, but more often will read something in the news or learn about something at a conference that she will share with the class.

The interviews with these professors revealed that each course had an assignment that had a research component. The English class had a research paper that required the use of four scholarly resources in addition to the required readings from class. The Environmental Science class had three assignments that built upon each other that required the students to identify an environmental issue and public policy related to that issue. Obviously, both of these assignments involve research that could or should be conducted at the library or using library resources. Neither of these classes had a library instruction session. I asked both of the faculty members if they find that their students, even in a 500 level class, do not know what a scholarly resource is and they both said yes. While they both admitted that this is rare in the upper level courses, it is still of concern.

Project Discussion
Through my interactions with the faculty for this assignment, I believe that both courses would have benefited from library services and interaction with a librarian. Ideally, the faculty should know who to contact at the library for their subject area. Since neither of these faculty members knew the name of their subject specialist, perhaps the librarian responsible for these subject areas needs to do more outreach to the department. Once this contact is made, a library instruction session should occur at the start of the research project. For the English class subject, Latina literature, not only are literary sources important, but historical, cultural and political sources would be valuable as well. The librarian can identify appropriate databases and print resources ahead of time and then demonstrate these sources during the instruction session. For the Environmental Science class, the librarian can tell the students where to look to find actual public policy information on the environmental issue they chose. This professor told me that she was worried that not all of the students had yet chosen their topic. With a library instruction session on the schedule, they would be forced to come up with a topic.

Since I had the added benefit of working for the library at the university where I interviewed and observed faculty, I was able to answer many questions about library services. I was very surprised to find out that many of the things the library has to offer, they didn’t know existed. I was equally surprised when I mentioned the benefit of a library instruction session to help students prepare for research projects and I got a response such as, “Huh, I hadn’t thought of that. That’s a good idea.” Because of my personal knowledge of the libraries at this university, I know that library instruction is happening, but this experience opened my eyes to the fact that it may not be happening enough.

Clearly, faculty and students would benefit from collaboration with a library liaison and instruction directed toward enhancing information literacy. Learning is facilitated through an effective information transfer process and this affects the outcome of the work produced. Librarians see the process that the students are using when they come to us for help in the library. Often, faculty do not see this process but assume students are proficient. Teaching and facilitating information literacy may help students with the overall information transfer process. Seeing better results is the first step in creating a successful partnership between the librarian and the teaching faculty. Successful partnerships are what is needed to create an information literacy program in higher education. Individuals who are information literate are lifelong learners and the type of people that universities strive to create.

Implications for the Profession
Projects completed for this course on Information Transfer in the Disciplines have for me, highlighted the importance of librarians promoting information literacy as a prime service to aid faculty and student. The American Library Association’s definition of information literacy is a set of abilities that enable the user to “recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information” (ALA, 1989). In considering this definition, and specifically the locate and evaluate portion, there are students in the courses I observed who would not be considered information literate. This is a frustrating revelation for teaching faculty and librarians alike. The purpose of higher education is to create lifelong learners; individuals who are information literate and use these skills to contribute to society. My observations through interaction with two faculty members at a large, state university have made it evident that this is an area where librarians can help students meet the learning outcomes expected in higher education.

The key to developing an effective information literacy plan at a college or university starts with developing a partnership between the librarian and the teaching faculty. A 2004 book by Ilene Rockman called Integrating Information Literacy Into the Higher Education Curriculum identifies four strategies to developing successful relationships between faculty and librarians. The first strategy is to identify the partners at the university. These partners are not only the teaching faculty, but also the academic senate, the senate committee on libraries, the center for teaching and learning, academic administrators, and department chairs (Rockman, 2004). It is important that campus leadership recognize that information literacy is a learning issue and not a library issue. Once the partners are identified, they can be used to help support the importance of teaching information literacy.

The second strategy is to create awareness. Often times, the teaching faculty don’t have the same perceptions about information literacy as librarians. The term information literacy could almost be considered library jargon in the way it is discussed within the profession. Librarians know what it means and know why it is important. However, university faculty may not have the same understanding of the concept. It is important that information literacy issues be presented to the faculty in a way that demonstrates the importance to them. “Critical thinking is the best platform for a meeting of minds between faculty and librarians” (Rockman, 2004, p.33). Faculty understand critical thinking and know how important it is for students to possess critical thinking skills. The librarian’s knowledge of information literacy ties in with critical thinking outcomes clearly and cleanly and this can be the best platform for creating awareness.

The third strategy for a successful partnership is to avoid partnership pitfalls. Sometimes, librarians are too intense about information literacy which can turn faculty off (Rockman, 2004). This intensity includes not properly defining information literacy. Librarians should be sure that they can define the concept in a way the faculty can understand. Librarians need to emphasize that there is mutual interest in creating students who are information literate and that there is a mutual benefit to partnering with the librarian. While there are reported benefits to partnering with the faculty, the librarian must also be sure to respect the faculty’s control over the curriculum. Faculty can be very protective over the content of their teaching and the librarian will fail if they try to take over the class.

The last strategy is actually using these partnerships to teach information literacy. The book outlines nine different models for teaching information literacy. These models are the Introduction Model, General Education Model, Learning Outcomes Model, Information Literacy Course Model, Demonstration of Mastery Model, Faculty Focus Model, College Readiness Model, Entrance Requirement Model and the On-Demand Model. I will not describe each of these models, but the emphasis of the book is that not all models work for every situation and the librarian and faculty should work together to decide which model works best for their situation.

Conclusions
During this library school course on Information Transfer in the Disciplines, I learned why and how to investigate the role of teaching faculty in academia. Course lectures and projects provided ideas and first-hand experiences needed to examine differences and similarities in information transfer among various disciplines. Faculty information needs and seeking behaviors in course preparation and instruction directly affect university student learning. Library and librarian can assume a central place in university life for both faculty and student by promoting information literacy through effective librarian liaison and instructional service programs.

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