LIBRARY VISION 2005

"Collaborations with faculty and staff challenge and transform students into lifelong learners with skills to become problem solvers...." (Wheaton College Mission Statement)

The Wallace Library will have a major role in carrying out this mission by becoming a leader in campus-wide efforts for the curriculum review. Curricular change mandates a systematic reconsideration of how information literacy is nurtured by information resources and technology, transforming students into lifelong learners. Through Library, Technology and Learning Committee-sponsored faculty workshops; Teaching & Learning Workshops; library-sponsored events and membership on key committees; we will share our vision that "information literate" students engage in independent, self-directed learning which assumes their ability to identify, access, organize, evaluate, use, and understand information. In addition, these competencies look at information broadly and assume it may be found in any variety of sources that exist in an information society. The Wallace Library staff has identified five principle themes under an overarching framework of information literacy for the first five years of the new millennium:

- Comprehensive curriculum-based information literacy program
- Instruction and services: support from every department for end-users
- Information resources: including electronic sources, as well as print/nonprint media, and their access and dissemination
- Human resources: staff assignment and on-going training/professional development
- Facilities

Link to LTLC Vision 2005 statement.

Five Principal Themes

Information Literacy Program

The success of such a broad-reaching effort to ensure "information literacy" requires collaboration among faculty, librarians, administration, and technology staff as well as a program that looks across the curriculum to achieve its ends. The Library proposes a progressive program which builds upon the successes of the Dana Faculty Librarian Partnership Program, conceived ten years ago. The Dana project promoted critical thinking skills among students, particularly as they related to the effective use of information technology. It fostered many course-related library instruction initiatives as well as a library component in each First-Year Seminar. The proposed information literacy program will go beyond Dana by building research components into all academic disciplines and interdisciplinary programs through collaboratively developed assignments and projects. As part of the requirements for their majors, students will learn to effectively access and use information. Such an all-encompassing program creates critical thinkers and students prepared for lifelong learning.

As defined by the Association of College & Research Libraries in its January 2000 publication"Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education," the six components of information literacy are:

1) Determine an information need
2) Access needed information effectively and efficiently
3) Evaluate information and its sources critically
4) Organize and incorporate selected information into one's knowledge base
5) Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose
6) Understand economic, social, and legal issues pertaining to the use of information.

Our proposal would integrate research and the use of information technology into the curriculum. It must be further shaped and defined in collaboration with the faculty, supported by the administration, and involve Academic Computing and the Information Technologies & Services staffs. It presumes a librarian liaison for each academic department, and involvement of Academic Computing staff in teaching basic computer skill competencies. The program could include the following components:

Introduce new students to the academic library and basic computer skills: Orientation with librarians/Academic Computing staff
Basic skills, strategies, and concepts of research: First-Year Seminar and other required First-Year courses
Reinforce and expand upon skills, strategies, and concepts of research: Lower-Division courses--at least one course in each academic department to include an information literacy component
Scholarly Applications: Upper-Division courses--each academic department should offer at least one course required for the major with an information literacy component; research appointments with liaison librarian/Academic Computing staff
Honors Students: research appointments with liaison librarian/Academic Computing staff

Instruction and Services

All Library departments will continue to provide traditional reference and public service while adapting to changing technology. We will find new ways to collaborate with faculty: establishing and maintaining partnerships; increasing their awareness and use of new information resources; and contributing to changing approaches to teaching and learning. The renovation of the Main and Periodical Levels will address the best logistics for providing end-user services. We will examine various forms of electronic reference and student research support, such as online tutorials and specialized web resource guides for academic disciplines.

Information Resources

The Library's collections and catalog provide the most holistic representation of and access to information on the College's stated priorities: gender, global awareness, service, and technology. We will continue to purchase materials in print and other formats for our collections with the understanding that collection growth exists in an environment of escalating costs. This mandates collaboration with faculty in decision-making for the selection and licensing of resources. To be better informed by a first-hand knowledge of the changing information needs associated with the curriculum, the College Librarian should contribute to the course-related resource deliberations of the Educational Policy Committee. Our collection development plan is a flexible guide that enables us to maintain the recognized strengths of our core collections while taking advantage of the advances in electronic resources, and will provide a framework for evaluation of the Library's holdings.

With the increasing quantities of electronic resources, the Library's website will continue to be a valuable tool for access to library-owned collections, materials from our special collections, licensed resources, and selected links to external sites and resources. We expect increased demand by off-campus members of the Wheaton community for access to our electronic resources. Since distance learning initiatives could expand our clientele and the demands on our collections and services, this program will require new funding and technical requirements to ensure reliable access to information. The need for proxy servers and other database management support will require IT&S network support and our continuing collaboration with Academic Computing. We will continue to take advantage of resources available through consortial agreements and explore other options for document delivery.

Human Resources

The Library's staff is a valuable resource. The profession of librarianship historically has been the embodiment and practice of lifelong learning and preservation of knowledge. Our unique position in academic leadership is based on our strong commitment to service, accessibility to students, broad knowledge of curricular needs, and constant and thoughtful incorporation of new technologies in teaching and learning.

Effective staffing evolves to meet curricular goals and end-user needs. Current internal trends have included groups working on such continuing initiatives as WebPAC and website development, collection development, teaching partnerships, and building renovations. Current and predicted trends and initiatives necessitate collaborations with Academic Computing, IT&S, and faculty in order to set technological proficiency standards that are integral to modern information literacy.

The Library Building

The Library building will continue to be important as a place for quiet and reflective study for individuals and groups; as a classroom where librarians, faculty, and students will interact in the pursuit of information literacy; as a cultural center for the College, hosting exhibits and programs; and as Wheaton's primary facility for the storage, preservation, and use of the materials in our collections. The present facility was designed before the advent of information technology, and its renovation is vital for the Library's future. Of immediate importance, therefore, is the completion of the Library master plan--reconfiguring space to substantially improve technology applications for patrons and staff alike, and to ensure the appropriate integration of users with the Library's core collections and services.

We continue to discuss options for maximizing the use of the current building, including additional compact shelving, use of remote storage facilities, weeding the collections, and the conversion of some materials to space-conserving electronic form. Future technologies, such as wireless networking, will allow us to plan increasingly flexible spaces. Our master plan includes discussion of a building addition, influenced not only by our growing collections, but also by expanding demands for more computer work stations and for group and individual study space resulting from increased enrollment, changes in pedagogy which increasingly rely on group projects, and new programs and technologies in support of information literacy.

Conclusion

The Library's vision for the new millennium is based on the competencies of scholars to effectively access, assess, and apply information in the creation of new knowledge and understanding, requiring a deliberate and progressive process of instruction and service. These competencies, essential for lifelong learning, are presented in the Library's Information Literacy program. The future of Library operations and services must be user-based. This principle unites all Library departments in the articulation, assessment, and provision of services. The vision also identifies prevailing and emerging formats of information resources. At the center of this vision of our Library is a staff that is continually renewed and prepared through ongoing training and development for the dynamic information service environment of the future. The viability of the forgoing statements will depend on well-designed and functional facilities derived from the full realization of the master plan for the Wallace Library.

(May 2000)

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