Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Information Literacy Fail


Which of the following statements comes closest to representing the point of view expressed by the American Library Association (ALA) and presented in class or in class readings?
a.    Do No Harm: A library collection should not include any materials that would be harmful to the most-vulnerable members of the community the library serves.
b.    Neutrality: Libraries should carry only materials that have been vetted as fact and should avoid controversial materials.
c.    Freedom to Read: Libraries should include materials that express diverse viewpoints and should oppose censorship.
d.    The Best Thinking: Libraries should carry materials that represent the best thinking on topics and should not carry materials that contain bad, unorthodox, or dangerous ideas.
e.    All of the Above are statements of principle from the ALA.

This semester, I promised myself to spend more time with my students on evaluating information sources. After last semester, when one of the students who earned an A in the class didn't notice any potential bias in a source funded by groups promoting low taxes and reduced government intervention, I thought that I hadn't done enough for them. I felt like I had failed them in this area.

I feel like I've failed again. This semester, we looked at The Freedom Read Statement. I tried to convey to my students that the statement includes emotional language like "censorship," "coerce," and "freedom" and that language conveys a particular point of view. I tried to explain that a site that would take the opposite point of view would not describe what they are doing as censorship or coercion and would use positive language. When I wrote this exam question, I made sure that the answers all had details to make it clear which answers were contrary to the Freedom to Read Statement. Nevertheless, E was a popular answer choice for this exam question. 

What can I do next time to get them to see when sources are not neutral and to see the stands that writers are taking?

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