Supporting Information Literacy Learning: Implementation of the National Recommendation in a Science Library

Abstract

Information literacy (IL) has been under active discussion within Finnish academic libraries from the beginning of this millennium. In the Development Plan for Education and Research 2003-2008 The Ministry of Education emphasises the role of the university libraries in contributing to the development of teaching and studying methods, thus ensuring that graduates have good information literacy. Finnish universities have implemented several projects in order to create standards and teaching aids promoting information literacy education and learning. The first major project was “Standardising the management of information literacy 2001-2003” by the Undergraduate Library of the University of Helsinki, the aim of which was to translate the ARCL’s Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. In this paper we present a national project coordinated by the University of Helsinki and funded by the Ministry of Education from 2004 to 2006, the primary aim of which was to enhance integration of information literacy into the academic curriculum. We will present the main results of the project, the current situation in information literacy education in the University of Helsinki and the future of it in Kumpula Science library.