With funds from the Office of the President and in consultation with academic computing personnel and teaching faculty at the five campuses, librarians will develop a set of information literacy competencies that all UMass students should possess before they graduate from the University. The competencies will be developed through a series of four discussion meetings, each addressing a specific aspect of information literacy. Between sessions, participants and all members of the University will be able to read and comment on these discussions through Web pages posted on the UMass Dartmouth Library's server. A final report, Information Literacy Competencies at the University of Massachusetts, will be posted on the Web site, and distributed to academic deans and directors at all five campuses, and the President's Office.

Establishing information literacy competencies crosses traditional disciplines, promotes communication between campuses and advances an understanding of information technology. The discussions and Web site will serve as a platform for instructional programs and course development at each campus and throughout the system and may be a model for the nation.

Project Goals

• To develop outcomes based guidelines for information literacy competency for all UMass students;
  
• To provide faculty and staff with a better understanding of information literacy;
  
• To promote multi-campus discussion of information literacy and technology issues;
  
• To disseminate the UMass guidelines on the World Wide Web and in other sources;
  
• To begin discussion of implementation of information literacy competency on all the UMass campuses based on the skills, history, and culture of each campus.

Project Documents

Information Literacy Project Committee

Information Literacy Bibliography

Information Literacy Project Survey

Information Literacy Project Update, 1996

UMass Dartmouth General Education Committee recommendation on Information and Computer Literacy

Information Literacy Competencies

Information Literacy Project Grant Proposals:

• Defining Competencies - an Information Literacy Project proposal, 1996-97
• A Proposal to develop a system-wide information literacy module, 1997-98
• Takin' it to the Web: An interactive information search strategy for freshmen, 1998-99