The Transformational Ambition of University Libraries and Student Experience through Information Literacy

Abstract

Contextualized by individual experience (Dewey, 1938), the aim of this article is to describe the transformational ambition of university library actions concerning students (Allan, 2010). To do so, an in-depth reflection on the concept of educational experience is conducted using narrative research (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000). University space, subjective experience and sociality in university libraries create a conceptual framework using different kinds of texts and analyses. The aim is to show how information literacy can be used to contribute to the academic development of university students, highlighting the theoretical understandings proposed by Bruce (1997; 2003; 2004). Information skills, considered transversal, contribute decisively to what is expected of the individual after graduation, putting them to use in a labor context, also in transformation (Weaver, 2008). In this sense we can expect librarians’ collaboration, training students in the information literacy context, using “real life” situations concerning the need for information, to enable in-depth learning. Learning takes place in a university campus, within which academic libraries are part of a possible response to the challenges posed by teachers and counselors. The challenged students seek solutions through multiple means available, such as seminars, conferences, conversations, associations, cultural activities, study visits and libraries. This open dialogue provides that growth, in knowledge, power, information, responsibility and reflective learning. It is also why the role of the academic library implies its positioning on an answering-asking axis, as a result of the challenges proposed by academics. The training in the library aims to respond and contribute importantly to these learning processes, resulting in a transformation in the students’ transversal skills (Ivanic, 1998). Experience is a key factor for academic skills and particularly for information literacy. This assumption is stated not only in the content of the curricula programs to be taught but also through this other type of skill – information literacy - that is needed to develop the individual route.