Read This! Barbara Fister's "Decode Academy"

The text of Barbara Fister's talk presented at the annual LOEX conference, held in Nashville, TN, on May 3, 2013.  

Fister asks some big questions and makes some provocative claims in relation to student learning, libraries, and information literacy.  It's worth a read, and not just for librarians.

A teaser:

"Since I work at a small college with an undergraduate focus, my answer to “what are libraries for” tends to focus on student learning. In what ways does my library contribute to what our graduates learn? When we talk about information literacy, what we really mean by it is preparing students to keep learning, to participate in society, and to have the skills and habits that will help them make the most of their lives and contribute something valuable to society. This means helping them not only to decode how to find and use information – that’s the easy part – but helping them discover within themselves the ability to create new knowledge; to develop the skills that will not only help them recognize authority, but to become, themselves, authors of the world they’re stepping into when they graduate. We have a tendency to respond to the needs that present themselves, and those tend to focus on helping students be successful students. But we need to keep our eye on the ultimate purpose of

information literacy: to be able to use critical skills for inquiry wherever our students land, knowing that for most of them, it will be in a very different place."

Read the full text here: "Decode Academy."