Becoming Fluent in Information Literacy for Latino Students

1
Becoming Fluent in Information Literacy for
Latino Students

• Panel presentation
• by Isabel Espinal of
• University of Massachusetts Amherst
• LACUNY Institute, May 18, 2001

2

• New York is the capital of mambo and a global
  factory of latinidad.
• -Agustín Laó Montes

3
Defining Latinidad (Latino-ness)

• Latinidad is now a keyword in the emerging field
  of Latino Studies it is an analytical concept
  that signifies a category of identification,
  familiarity and affinity.
• Latinidad is both a category deployed within a
  variety of dominant spaces and institutions
  (state, corporate, academic) to label populations
  as well as a form of self-identification used by
  individuals, movements and organizations to
  articulate a sense of community.

4

• It is crucial to conceive latinidad not as a
  static and unified formation but as a flexible
  category that relates to a plurality of
  ideologies of identification, cultural
  expressions, and political and social agendas.

Image from National Latino Communications Center
http//www.nlcc.com/
5
Defining Information Literacy

• Information literacy is a set of abilities
  requiring individuals to recognize when
  information is needed and have the ability to
  locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed
  information.ACRL, Information Literacy
  Competency Standards for Higher Education,
  http//www.ala.org/acrl/ilintro.html

6
An information literate individual is able to

• Determine the extent of information needed
• Access the needed information effectively and
  efficiently
• Evaluate information and its sources critically
• Incorporate selected information into ones
  knowledge base
• Use information effectively to accomplish a
  specific purpose
• Understand the economic, legal, and social issues
  surrounding the use of information, and access
  and use information ethically and legally
• http//www.ala.org/acrl/ilintro.html

7
On Becoming Fluent - Redefining Information
Literacy

• Need for librarians to attain information
  literacy regarding Latino cultures. Importance of
  knowing ones own Latino communities
• Locate reports of Latino students on your campus.
  If they dont exist, do your own surveys and
  research.
• Take Latino Studies classes and avail yourself of
  resources like Dominican Studies Institute and
  Center for Puerto Rican Studies, both at CUNY

8

• Participating in your campus Latino events and
  programs
• Membership in REFORMA the National Association
  to Promote Library and Information Services to
  Latinos and the Spanish SpeakingRegional
  Northeast Chapter http//reforma-northeast.orgNat
  ional http//www.reforma.org

9
Information Poverty

• Whose information literacy?
• Whose information poverty?
• Need to question and eliminate racist,
  patronizing assumptions.
• Image from National Latino Communications Center
  http//www.nlcc.com/

10
Enhancing the Definition of Information Literacy

• Information Literacy for Latino Students entails
  a critique of the information establishment, for
  example Library of Congress Subject Headings and
  other indexing. Library of Congress subjects
  headings were the topic of a resolution at the
  2000 Conference of the National Association for
  Chicana and Chicano Studies.

11
Other issues

• Other important issues relating to Latino and
  Spanish-speaking students such as
• Educational and cultural diversity of
  Spanish-speaking students, including any
  significant differences between
  child-of-immigrant and immigrant Latino students.
• Latino demographics in New York and beyond.
  Movement from New York to outer areas continues
• overall language literacy for students from
  developing countries and how that plays into
  planning for IL
• teaching/learning styles of different students,
  for example, ESOL students versus graduate
  students.

12
In their own words - 1 (from research by Lori
Mestre)

• I think that definitely they teachers have to
  be involved. Its funny because the more
  involved the professor was with me, at least the
  more they showed they cared, the more, I think
  you do things. As long as the teacher showed me
  that I was worth something and I was worth doing
  something right, I always felt like I wanted to
  do it, to make them feel that I wasnt letting
  them down at least.

13
In their own words - 2

• Another issue for me was asking the librarians
  for help. Many of the times I stayed away from
  asking for help because, at times, I ended up
  more confused about what I was looking for than
  when I began.

14
In their own words - 3

• One of the main things which my students
  commented on (my upward bound students) they did
  a search all together and the example was some
  author that the students didnt even care about.
  If they librarians would have used something
  from the groups culture, ... if they would have
  even said something like the Chupacabra, I think
  they would have had more of an impact then
  looking for a Robert Frost poem, even if its a
  great poem. Youve got to reach the students
  first (chuckle). Whereas my black students at the
  community college, a lot of the authors that they
  thought up were people theyd heard of, Toni
  Morrison, Maya Angelou...So she made them feel
  like it was more theirs. They could relate to it
  and they even commented, Wow, she showed us
  where the black authors were. ...and they
  liked that.

15
Suggestions for Librarians (some adapted from
Lori Mestre)

• Offer library instruction in both Spanish and
  English, depending on student preferences.
• Do not maintain an impersonal, aloof, or distant
  relationship with the students. Communicate
  respect.
• When communicating, avoid inappropriate slang,
  library jargon and unfamiliar references. Repeat
  and define important words and concepts.

16

• Be sensitive to the subtle and indirect ways in
  which they communicate that they do not know
  something.
• Allow the class to arrive at a consensus in
  whatever way is most comfortable.
• De-emphasize competition and utilize group
  participation.
• Include more community projects, group projects,
  group work and peer tutoring.
• Do not rush students if they do not answer
  quickly or work rapidly.

17

• Use examples that are culturally relevant and
  reflective of diversity
• Address the inadequacies of mainstream library
  information retrieval systems for researching
  Latino issues
• Include Latino and ethnic library resources in
  information literacy, e.g. Ethnic NewsWatch,
  Dominican Studies Institute, Center for Puerto
  Rican Studies, Chicano Database
• Include multimedia literacy in information
  literacy
• Include business information literacy

18
Best practices overview

• UMass for credit undergraduate course in
  conjunction with Bilingual Collegiate Program
  Education 192 Introduction to Library
  Researchhttp//www.library.umass.edu/subject/educ
  ation/Educ192R/educ192.html
• El Camino Community College Information Literacy
  for Latino Students during Latino Heritage Month
• UC Berkeley one-credit class Chicano Studies 98
  An Introduction to University Life from the
  Chicano/Latino Perspective

19
For further reading and exploration(included in
handout)

• ACRL, Information Literacy Competency Standards
  for Higher Education, http//www.ala.org/acrl/ili
  ntro.html
• Fiske, Edward B. The Undergraduate Hispanic
  Experience A Case of Juggling Two Cultures,
  Change. May-Jun 1988, v20 n3 p29-33.
• Güereña, Salvador. Library Services to Latinos
  an Anthology. Jefferson, N.C. McFarland, 2000.
  Especially
• Ayala, John, Luis Chaparro, Ana María Cobos and
  Ron Rodriguez, Serving the Hispanic Student in
  the Community College Library, p111-120
• Berlanga-Cortez, Graciela, Cross-Cultural
  Communication Identifying Barriers to
  Information Retrieval with culturally and
  Linguistically Different Library Patrons, p51-60
• Hinojosa, Susana, Libraries in the New
  Millenium and What About the Students?
  p121-130.
• Laó-Montes, Agustín and Arlene M Davila, editors.
  Mambo Montage The Latinization of New York City.
  New York Columbia University Press, forthcoming
  July 2001.
• Padilla, Raymond V. and Rudolfo Chávez Chávez.
  The Leaning Ivory Tower Latino Professors in
  American Universities. Albany State University
  of New York Press, 1995.
• Mestre, Lori S. Designing Internet Instruction
  for Latinos, Internet Reference Services
  Quarterly. v2 n4, 1997 p185-99.
• Mestre, Lori S. Latinos, Libraries and Electronic
  Resources. Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of
  Massachusetts at Amherst, 2000.
• Padilla, Felix M. The Struggle of Latino/a
  University Students In Search of a Liberating
  Education. New York Routledge, 1997
• Reforma the National Association to Promote
  Library and Information Services to Latinos and
  the Spanish Speaking http//www.reforma.org and
  Reforma Northeast Chapter http//reforma-northeast
  .org