While information literacy has been around at many institutions for a long time, I have been shoving it into the curriculum and culture at Champlain. And making it a key component of our Core Curriculum but also a key component of our students’ lives. And I don’t mean with just library skills (though we do talk about those). I mean talking to students about what they do everyday with information. I mean asking them to describe how they choose the websites they use, the people the listen to, the ads that lead them to buying things. I mean IL for the RD (real deal).

When I am not talking to students, wrangling faculty, or developing assessment tools, I am blogging over at the Sheck Spot. I also teach a course on the impact of technology on politics and democracy online. While this is separate from my work at the library, I embed the same kinds of questions about information, particularly when it comes to news, into the course. Little do my students know, but they too are talking IL. Well, they do know it by the end of the semester!

I am making my way in this amazing profession. I am shoving my way into conferences (with some creative powerpoints) like ACRL, LILAC, and IFLA but also into faculty venues like AGLS. And trying to make the point that IL needs to step out of the library and into a broader playing field. Every day I make a new ally and I am grateful for their support. And every day I learn something new from colleagues near and far. And that keeps me moving ahead.