Issue V July 2000
Press Release
Committee on Literacy Holds Assembly, Announces Toolkit
Nancy Kranich, who was inaugurated ALA's president Tuesday, July 11, has
a Special Presidential Committee on Information Literacy Community Partnership's
(ILCP) to bring together librarians and community groups to help prepare
the public to utilize information efficiently and effectively so they can
fully participate in the workplace, education, community and family life.
The committee, co-chaired by Cerise Oberman and Julie Todaro, will build upon the highly successful information literacy efforts undertaken by AASL and ACRL over recent years.
During the 2000 Annual Conference, the committee held an assembly of 100 participants, all active members of ALA, representing all types of libraries, divisions, roundtables, and affiliate groups. Assembly objectives included harvesting ideas about collaborative projects for information literacy, shaping ALA action plan, and generating excitement among the participants who will work within their various ALA groups on ILCP issues.
Prior to the Assembly and in response to several informal meetings of librarians from a wide spectrum of libraries, Todaro spearheaded the construction of a toolkit, intended as a "guide" to assist libraries in starting local conversations about information literacy partnerships. Many of these conversations begin with librarians and extend to include government agencies, businesses, and other local constituent groups. During the assembly, participants provided initial feedback on the toolkit, a work in progress that can be explored at http://lrs.austin.cc.tx.us/lnavarro/CommunityPartnerships/Toolkit.html.
Assembly participants and other interested persons can keep up with
the ongoing work of the ILCP committee and share ideas on this topic by
joining an electronic discussion list. Instructions for joining are
available on a website devoted to this presidential initiative at http://www.ala.org/kranich/literacy.html.