You say potato and I say …potato? Blending the diverse flavors of literacy into a rewarding teaching experience.

Abstract

Literacy in libraries has come to mean more than information literacy. Librarians teaching a diverse population respond not only to library users’ research and analytic skills but must also consider the varied qualities each student brings with them into the classroom. Realizing that there are bodies of knowledge, skills, and social practices with which we use the symbol systems of our culture, new definitions are beginning to emerge that recognize a multiplicity of literacies and because of this, recent developments in teaching and learning are changing what literacy means in library instruction. This presentation examines how proficiencies such as cultural literacy, generational literacy, computer literacy, numeral literacy, scientific literacy and other forms of literacy are explored in the literature including what teaching techniques are being employed to respond to this broadened view of literacy. Included in the presentation are real-life examples of how two academic institutions in Indiana are embracing different domains of literacy to teach diverse groups of students including high achievers, at-risk freshmen, international students, and the elder community.