Information as liberal art: statement for
Information as a Liberal Art: Statement for
LIS 560
I wish I had found my calling to librarianship a decade ago while attending a small liberal arts college. This unfortunately was not the case, yet I can begin to see in retrospect how well that education prepared me for the nature of what we are currently engaged in. We are pursuing mastery of an emerging, ambiguous, vast field. It is largely those "theoretical" skills that that allow us to do what we are trying to do. This program asks us to transcend what we simply know because the universe of information is both vast and rapidly changing due to global social and technological forces. We can no longer just “know” everything we need to do our jobs as information professionals, but will need the skills to just figure it out when the time comes.
As students we are asked to learn both new facts and think critically about the ambiguous nature of the information world we occupy. Shapiro gives us some background on the nature and definition of the liberal arts education that was suitable for "the free man" (people that were not slaves) and needed to learn, not just a trade skill in the traditional sense, but the fundamental skills of rhetoric, grammar and reasoning (logic). The liberal arts were simply the level of education needed to function fully as a participant and decision-maker in society. It’s such a shame that now the term is largely associated with the idea of a “luxury” or the ability to pursue an education that is simply not practical.
I agree with the notion of information literacy as a new liberal art if we look as society through the lens of "the information age" where the ability to understand and manipulate information is the new basis of intellectual and economic freedom as we learned in LIS 550 reading “the Future of Ideas” by Lessig. I've been in the workforce for many years and I'm personally tired of trying to arm myself with "a bunch of technical skills" as a survival mechanism as proof that I can do my current or future job and I look forward to the time when a future employer is able to see me as the information professional in the holistic/global sense.
Bruce, C, (1994). Information Literacy Blueprint. Division of Information Services. Griffith University, Australia
Lessig, Lawrence, The Future of Ideas
Shapiro, Jeremy J. and Hughes, Shelley K. (1996). Information literacy as a liberal art: enlightenment proposals for a new curriculum. Educom Review, 31(2). Available at http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/review/reviewArticles/31231.html (accessed April 2, 2008).
LIS 560
I wish I had found my calling to librarianship a decade ago while attending a small liberal arts college. This unfortunately was not the case, yet I can begin to see in retrospect how well that education prepared me for the nature of what we are currently engaged in. We are pursuing mastery of an emerging, ambiguous, vast field. It is largely those "theoretical" skills that that allow us to do what we are trying to do. This program asks us to transcend what we simply know because the universe of information is both vast and rapidly changing due to global social and technological forces. We can no longer just “know” everything we need to do our jobs as information professionals, but will need the skills to just figure it out when the time comes.
As students we are asked to learn both new facts and think critically about the ambiguous nature of the information world we occupy. Shapiro gives us some background on the nature and definition of the liberal arts education that was suitable for "the free man" (people that were not slaves) and needed to learn, not just a trade skill in the traditional sense, but the fundamental skills of rhetoric, grammar and reasoning (logic). The liberal arts were simply the level of education needed to function fully as a participant and decision-maker in society. It’s such a shame that now the term is largely associated with the idea of a “luxury” or the ability to pursue an education that is simply not practical.
I agree with the notion of information literacy as a new liberal art if we look as society through the lens of "the information age" where the ability to understand and manipulate information is the new basis of intellectual and economic freedom as we learned in LIS 550 reading “the Future of Ideas” by Lessig. I've been in the workforce for many years and I'm personally tired of trying to arm myself with "a bunch of technical skills" as a survival mechanism as proof that I can do my current or future job and I look forward to the time when a future employer is able to see me as the information professional in the holistic/global sense.
Bruce, C, (1994). Information Literacy Blueprint. Division of Information Services. Griffith University, Australia
Lessig, Lawrence, The Future of Ideas
Shapiro, Jeremy J. and Hughes, Shelley K. (1996). Information literacy as a liberal art: enlightenment proposals for a new curriculum. Educom Review, 31(2). Available at http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/review/reviewArticles/31231.html (accessed April 2, 2008).
