NATIONAL FORUM ON INFORMATION LITERACY
 

Summary of the
September 14, 1998 Meeting

Meeting host:
National Education Association
Washington, D.C.

Present:

Patricia Breivik, Chair, National Forum on Information Literacy
Ilene Berman, Council for Basic Education
Suzy Buckovich, Health Information Technology Institute
Prudence Dalrymple, Association for Library and Information Science Education
Donald Fork, U.S. Department of Education
Amy Garmer, Aspen Institute
Craig Gibson, Association of College and Research Libraries
Linda Golodner, National Consumers League
Jeffrey Hale, the College Board
Althea Jenkins, Association of College and Research Libraries
Keith Kruger, Consortium for School Networking and Friends of the National Library of Medicine
Janet Lieberman, National Council for the Social Studies
Mark Luker, EDUCAUSE
Kristin McCabe, American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education
Julie Medin, Institute for Simulation Training
Joyce Ray, Institute of Museum and Library Services
Bernadette McGuire Rivera, U.S. Department of Commerce,
National Telecommunication and Information Administration
Robin Taylor Roth, Association for Educational Communications and Technology
Jan Schmidt, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
Sylvia Siedel, National Education Association
Greta Southard, Public Library Association
Julie Walker, American Association of School Librarians
 

  1. I.  Information Literacy and Consumer Rights Issues (Discussion with Linda Golodner, President of the National Consumers League)
Patricia Breivik introduced Linda Golodner of the National Consumers League, which is the oldest consumers’ rights group in the U.S. and a member for some years of the Forum.
  · Linda spoke of the overarching mission of the National Consumers League: to represent consumers in the marketplace, to engage in education and advocacy on consumer issues, and to promote research on those issues and disseminate the results to make the citizenry more informed about their consumer rights. The NCL especially works to assist consumers who are the most vulnerable—the elderly, migrant workers, sweatshop workers, people receiving the minimum wage.

The NCL’s research mission seeks to understand the history of a particular consumer issue, to check the ‘traps’ regarding an issue: who supports one side of an issue and why, and who opposes and why. The NCL uses national surveys and focus groups around the country to "look beyond the Beltway" in conducting its research.
 

· Particular programs in which the NCL is engaged are concerned with: consumer fraud; health care (including managed care and the concomitant shift of responsibility for health care to consumers); telecommunications (including information about Telecommunications Act and Telemarketing Sales Act); electric industry deregulation (helping community groups to understand this issue). In all of its programs and outreach, the NCL is especially interested in creating networks of groups and advocacy organizations.

Linda’s general comment on consumer health: people are taking more responsibility for their own health, which means that they obtain more information now about health issues from the Internet and magazines.
 

· Research conducted by the NCL shows that the most trusted sources of health information are doctors and nurses, but also advocacy groups. A recent NCL survey about citizens’ awareness of and beliefs about cardiovascular disease showed the following findings: (1) the most frequently used sources of information about this topic are doctors and health education organizations; (2) there is a strong interest in reducing risk of heart disease; (3) on a survey question re: cholesterol, respondents showed only a vague awareness of differences between HDC and LDC; and (4) there is much confusion about what foods are harmful or beneficial in terms of cardiovascular problems. The results of this survey will be release in January 1999.
  · Another important issue for NCL is "over the counter" drugs and nonprescription drugs. There are many people who can’t understand labels on drugs because they’re too difficult to read. To remedy this problem in part, the NCL has developed a series of publications called "Take Care With [name of drug]." These publications are specifically written to assist those with low literacy skills understand the appropriate use of medications, through the use of quick, easy-to-understand explanations and drawings.
  · Goals for NCL in the future include: Healthy People 2000. This program is intended to increase to 75% the proportion of pharmacies that use linked systems to provide adverse drug reaction alerts; and to increase to at least 75% the percentage of the U.S. population who receive useful information about their prescription drugs from their pharmacies.


The NCL is also very interested in a major issue before Congress: the Patient’s Bill of Rights.

                                         · Comments and questions regarding Linda Golodner’s talk:
 

--There is a need to reduce "messiness" of the information environment for students and others—as opposed to helping people understand the legitimacy of information sources especially on the Internet.

--How to work with the food industry on consumer issues especially as they relate to cardiovascular problems?

--How can we work more collaboratively with colleges of nursing on consumer health/consumer information literacy issues?

--The legitimacy of Web sites related to health issues is a major problem.

--How to educate the media regarding consumer issues? [Linda pointed out that she recently attended a health issues forum at which health reporters were present.]

--Patricia observed that she is now a member of the Accrediting Council for Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication whose standards emphasize the importance for a sound liberal arts education in order to prepare people for accessing and evaluating information from many areas including consumer issues.
 
 

II. Announcements

The minutes of the May 15th meeting of the Forum were approved as written.
 
 

III. Reports of Member Organizations
 

National Education Association—Sylvia Seidel

Sylvia reported on a new program promoting partnerships between colleges and universities, the NEA, and public schools, in which information literacy figures significantly. There will be a symposium on information literacy in this partnership from November 4—November 8.

The NEA has also publishing a new book on information literacy for elementary school principals.
 

 Health Information Technology Institute—Suzy Buckovich The mission of the organization Suzy represents is to use information technology to improve consumer health. She is especially concerned about the quality of health information on the Internet, and the need for criteria for rating Web sites offering health information. College Board—Jeff Hale Jeff’s organization is especially emphasizing "quantitative literacy" in its activities now: the ability to make good decisions about the use of numbers, and the interpretation of numbers, in our society.

The College Board has put together professional development materials for middle school teachers regarding "quantitative literacy."

 The College Board Web site is being redesigned to make it more interactive.
 

National Council for the Social Studies—Janet Lieberman

This is Janet’s first Forum meeting.
 

American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education—Kristin McCabe

· The AACTE has a new office and both mailing address and e-mail address have changed. (Telephone and fax numbers and Web site remain the same.). New contact information: AACTE Carol Smith: csmith@aacte.org
1307 New York Ave., NW Kristin McCabe:
Suite 300 kmccabe@aacte.org
Washington, DC 2005-4701 · Cynthia Graddy will no longer be representing AACTE on the Forum, as she has changed positions within the organization. Kristin McCabe and Carol Smith will continue to participate on behalf of AACTE.

· AACTE continues to work with Forum representatives to coordinate input to teacher education accreditation standards revision at NCATE (National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education). Because of its extensive involvement in NCATE on this and many other fronts, AACTE seeks to limit its role in Forum "lobbying" to one of providing resources and insights into the process.

· The ERIC Clearinghouse on Teaching and Teacher Education, housed at AACTE, continues work on a Digest on Information Literacy. This document is undergoing final revisions this month. [Patricia Breivik distributed copies of Jo Ann Carr’s piece on "Information Literacy and Teacher Education" at this point and requested that suggested changes be forwarded directly to Carr.]

· AACTE is working with AASL and other associations through the Alliance for Curriculum Reform, a coalition of discipline organizations working together on standards-related issues. Many ACR members currently are faced with the challenge of revising standards, while others (such as AASL) have only recently issued their first sets of standards. AACTE is working with both groups to share lessons and develop strategies for future work.

· AACTE looks forward to linking to the Forum’s Web site from its own.


Council for Basic Education—Ilene Berman

· The Council for Basic Education is an independent nonprofit organization, which advocates a rigorous liberal arts education for all students in the nation. CBE was established in 1956 by founders committed to advocating student learning to high academic standards. The projects CBE undertakes advance this mission in every way.

· CBE will release results of a nationwide poll on familiarity with academic standards when it unveils the Standards for Excellence in Education (SEE) kit, at a press conference on October 20, 1998, at the National Press Club. The kit is a comprehensive synthesis of the nation’s best academic standards organized into a 300-page book, a CD-ROM, wall charts, and essays, and is suitable for educators, parents, and libraries.

· CBE’s Schools Around the World (SAW) project will hold a steering committee meeting in October with representatives from eight other nations. SAW staff have been invited to present on the international project, which focuses on best practices, at the ASCD convention in San Francisco next spring.

· CBE has published Good Education: The Virtues of Learning, a book by Ivor Pritchard on the moral dimensions of learning. CBE has also published a booklet of essays on reading, written by experts in the field: Louisa Moats, Reid Lyon, Barbara Foorman, Jack Fletcher, David Francis, Isabel Beck, and Margaret McKeown.

· Information on obtaining copies of CBE publications, and more about CBE projects, can be found on the web site at: www.c-b-e.org.
 

 Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT)—Robin Taylor Roth

Now that the Information Power revision has been published (a joint project with AASL), AECT is focusing on implementation. This major effort launched formally during the Summer Leadership Conference in August, and will be continued vigorously throughout the year at regional meetings and at the Annual Convention in February.

AECT also has a committee devoted to the revision of the NCATE standards.
 

Institute of Museum and Library Services—Joyce Ray

Joyce is currently working on grant guidelines for museums and libraries.
 

Public Library Association—Greta Southard

PLA has no ongoing projects related to information literacy at this time, and has not been involved to this point in the creation of national standards related to information literacy. American Association of School Librarians—Julie Walker

AASL has been much involved with information literacy standards for K-12; a current goal is to target library organizations for articles and presentations, and has developed press releases related to the latter. AASL has also worked with the Alliance for Curriculum Reform in promoting information literacy standards.
 

Association for Library and Information Science Education—Prudence Dalrymple

One of the major concerns for ALISE is educating the beginning librarian professional to engage in "cleaning up" the information environment.

ALISE is increasingly involved in information studies in undergraduate education.
 

National Telecommunication and Information Administration (Dept. of Commerce)— Bernadette McGuire Rivera

The NTIA is involved in giving advice on telecommunications and telecommunications policy and about grants regarding the use of technology in schools. Bernadette said that once telecommunications and technology was in place, information literacy was the next big effort. The organization’s December conference is on "Networks for People."
 

EDUCAUSE—Mark Luker

Educause is a new organization resulting from a merger of two important higher education technology associations: CAUSE and Educom. These two organizations saw an increasing convergence in their purposes and goals; their consolidation into Educause is the result. The new association focuses on the management and use of instructional, research, administrative, and library computing and networking. Educase seeks to build a community of professionals, to advocate on higher education policy issues, to facilitate technology transfer, to forge new partnerships, and to facilitate technology transfer.

This organization and its predecessors have historical roots in computing centers. Applications related to educational computing have become more important than ever in recent years, in keeping with the NLII (National Learning Information Infrastructure). Standards are more important than ever, and not just technical ones. More important than ever as well is involving deans and other administrators in technology issues on campus.
 

 Institute for Simulation Training—Julie Medin Julie’s organization has previously done work on simulation training with the military. She believes there is much potential for simulations in more traditional educational settings, particularly through web-based training and virtual reality. One crucial question: how to train teachers to use simulations before training students? Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development—Jan Schmidt Jan announced that Vicki Hancock has moved to New Ventures, another part of ASCD, and that she would now be ASCD’s representative to the Forum.

Professional development is the major issue now for ASCD; the organization is also offering several new publications on such topics as class size, corporate/school partnerships, global and multicultural education, and brain-based education.
 

 Association of College and Research Libraries—Althea Jenkins Althea mentioned the title change of the previously designated National Institute for Information Literacy; its new name is the Institute for Information Literacy. The Institute, sponsored by ACRL, will have three stages of development: (1) a training program for librarians, faculty, and K-12 teachers and others from public schools, to be offered for the first time in summer 1999; (2) a "Best Practices" program, highlighting model programs related to information literacy instruction, also to be offered in 1999; and (3) a Partnerships/collaboration program, focusing on faculty, librarians, computing professionals, and others, including outreach to community-based initiatives.

Althea mentioned the need to develop competencies related to information literacy at the university level, and need to look at model sets of competencies already developed by others, such as public schools and state departments of education.
 

 Aspen Institute—Amy Garmer The Aspen Institute’s focus is bringing together business, government and nonprofit organization leaders to discuss broad societal issues, especially recently focusing on education and technology.

The CEOs of these organizations have been holding day-and-a-half meetings related to a series of topics; information literacy has been one of those topics. There will be other, future meetings on information literacy as well. At a recent meeting, the CEOs made 25-30 suggestions about information literacy. A report is due in Fall 1998 on the CEO’s recommendations—the overall approach is school-focused.

 The CEOs has shown sustained interest in the use of technology in education.

Consortium for School Networking/Friend of the National Library of Medicine—Keith Kruger

Keith mentioned the Senate Educational Technology Showcase, which is a demonstration of how public schools put technology to effective educational uses; and the COSN conference on "Technology and Learning"—co-sponsored with the National School Boards Association.

Keith also mentioned the NLM/Friends’ interest in the usefulness of the videotaped speech by Newt Gingrich related to health information (previously shown at a Forum meeting).
 

 Department of Education—Don Fork

Don mentioned two satellite teleconferences: one, on September 18, on distance learning: "Technology Learning Beyond the Schoolhouse", being hosted by the Arlington (VA) School District, and offering speakers such as Chris Dede of George Mason University; and two, "American Links Up," dealing with the importance of the Internet to children today, and offering suggestions to adults about keeping children safe while they use the Internet. Sept. 15 marks the beginning of National Kids Online Week.

Don mentioned a new Dept. of Education publication, Safeguarding Your Technology, dealing with computer security issues.
 
 

IV. Updates from Patricia Breivik, Chair, National Forum on Information Literacy

Vicki Hancock, formerly ASCD representative to the Forum and its vice chair, is now with the New Ventures organization within ASCD. Members voted that she should receive a certificate of appreciation from the Forum for her outstanding work in supporting the Forum and information literacy.

Mike Eisenberg, formerly of Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies, the ERIC Clearinghouse, and Web site administrator for the Forum, is now with the University of Washington, where he is Dean of the School of Library and Information Science. Members voted that he should also receive a certificate of appreciation from the Forum for his outstanding work in supporting the Forum and information literacy. Mike was the representative from the ERIC Clearinghouse on Information & Technology who helped set up the Forum’s web page, and encouraged Clearinghouse Publications on information literacy. He also taught, consulted and wrote on info lit in the school setting.

Patricia mentioned the need to update the Forum’s web site, and distributed a basic template with current information on member organizations for revision and updating.

She also mentioned the possibilities for networking among organizations to identify partnerships, and using the Web site to showcase information literacy innovations.

The NCLIS (National Council on Library and Information Services) may have a meeting in Detroit in April 1999. If so, Patricia will encourage a briefing on information literacy.

Of growing interest is the Small Business Administration’s role in dealing with technology and information issues. Many small business owners rely on research/technology shows, and advice from personal friends about information and technology, not libraries, professionals or consultants. From their perspective, there is a need to manage both internal information systems better, as well as gathering information from the external environment.

Due out in August 1998 is the President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee Interim Report. This report discusses future directions for federal government involvement in the rapidly changing technology environment, in research and development for high performance computing and communications, and the role of the federal government in information technology in general.

Don Hausrath was not available to attend this Forum meeting but is working on an information literacy project within California Community Colleges; the learning outcomes for the community colleges are now being developed.
 


V.  Update on NCATE standards initiative; ERIC Clearinghouse publication

Patricia distributed a letter to NCATE regarding role of information literacy in

teacher education standards which was developed by Janet Nichols at Wayne State University under the guidance of Vicki Hancock. This was discussed by the group as teacher education is one of the key areas of concern in the 1998 national report. Julie Walker offered to work with Patricia in finalizing the letter and getting it into the right hands.

Patricia also distributed a piece authored by Jo Ann Carr on "Information Literacy and Teacher Education." It is being considered for publication by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Teacher Education Digest on Information Literacy. Comments are to be sent directly to Carr.
 
 

 VI. Discussion of role of international organizations in Forum There have been instances when various international organizations have contacted Patricia about representation in the Forum; one example is NORDINFO, a Scandinavian organization dealing with scientific information by colleges and universities. The question is whether the NORDINFO should be open to international organizations and/or national organization of other countries.

Forum members generally supported including international organizations. If international organizations are included, they should be full, not affiliate members. There should be a clarifying statement on the Forum web site to avoid giving wrong impression that only some organizations are included in the Forum, and others are not.
 


VII.  Request for Higher Education and/or more generic version of AASL/AECT statement of student learning outcomes.

Forum members recommended, after some discussion, that there is a crucial need currently to gather feedback/examples/models of outcomes-based approaches to information literacy beyond the AASL/AECT statement. Julie Walker from AASL will make inquiries as to whether an adaptation of the latter for higher ed and/or lifelong learning would be favorably received by AASL & AECT.
 

VIII. Initial discussion topic for January 22 meeting of Forum

The discussion topic will be: "Information Literacy and the 21st Century Learner." This comes at the special request of Diane Frankel, Director for the Institute of Museum & Library Services Office.

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