Library Instruction Program
About the Barber Library Instructional Program
The Barber Library adds to the value of teaching and learning on the COCC campus by bringing subject expertise to information literacy instruction. The Library's Information Literacy Program Plan provides a comprehensive view of how the library's instructional program spans disciplines on campus to develop patrons' skills and knowledge to become effective, efficient information consumers, researchers, and lifelong learners.
Information Literacy Program Mission Statement
The COCC Library’s information literacy program fosters dynamic and inclusive learning and empowers learners to be self-sufficient, curious, and well-informed.
Information Literacy Definition
The Library’s instructional program (current plan; 2020-25 archived plan) is informed by our professional organization, the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL), and its work on threshold concepts included in the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. Additionally, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), a UK-based professional association, more recently adopted a new definition of information literacy that emphasizes workforce development and an informed citizenry in greater alignment with COCC and the library’s mission, strategic plan, and populations served. As such, the following CILIP definition of information literacy was used:
“Information literacy is the ability to think critically and make balanced judgments about any information we find and use. It empowers us as citizens to develop informed views and to engage fully with society.”
To inform how the library as information professionals view the dispositions necessary for information literacy instruction, we turn to ACRL’s Framework, comprised of frames that are intentionally nonprescriptive, emphasizing knowledge practices that stress critical thinking and metacognition. The six frames are:
- Authority Is Constructed and Contextual
- Information Creation as a Process
- Information Has Value
- Research as Inquiry
- Scholarship as Conversation
- Searching as Strategic Exploration
Barber Library Instructional Programs and Services
Students are paramount to the library’s mission and key to its success. But the Library also serves a variety of audiences beyond our primary student users. In alignment with COCC’s strategic plan, we approach the populations we serve with the following values:
- Empowering students — The Library provides informal and formal instructional opportunities to students that addresses their information needs and supports them in pursuing their goals.
- Supporting colleagues — The Library recognizes staff and faculty are integral to information literacy instruction and share responsibility for information literacy outcomes through collaboration. Additionally, the Library commits to supporting COCC staff in pursuit of their own personal research and professional development.
- Engaging our communities — The Library offers information literacy support to our local community through informal reference services and meaningful partnerships that make college-level research more accessible to Central Oregonians.
The Library’s instructional efforts are focused on the following three areas of delivery and associated activities:
- Library as Program — library tours, asynchronous tutorials, information literacy sessions, embedded librarian courses, credit courses
- Library as Place — in-person and virtual reference services, book-a-librarian appointments
- Library as Partner — collaborative relationships with CTE programs, transfer departments, and student-support services
Usage and metrics are captured and reported in the Library's annual report.