Publications and Research
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Fall 11-5-2015
Abstract
CUNY, one of the largest urban universities in the United States, comprises eleven senior colleges, seven community colleges, five graduate and professional schools, and an honors college. The University’s system is a federation of 31 libraries, with more than 350 faculty and professional staff. As faculty members, CUNY librarians provide students and departmental faculty with a high level of professional library services, at the same time doing research, publishing, teaching, and leading information literacy programs. In the fall semester of 2013 the CUNY Office of Library Services decided to conduct a university-wide survey to explore and identify best practices for collaboration between University faculty and librarians teaching Information Literacy in subject courses. Previous research has shown that collaborative relationships between library and subject faculty is a fundamental key to creating effective student-centered Information Literacy (IL) programs. The students value IL more when it is presented within the disciplinary environment, and their ability to learn IL skills is linked directly to the disciplinary context in which they learn them. We believe that librarians who collaborate with faculty have a greater chance to develop IL instruction that is resonant with the course objectives and make a greater impact on student learning.