It wasn’t until recently (seriously–like, today) that it really dawned on me that information literacy “programs” are most effective when librarians and compositionists combine forces. 
(Apparently, I felt that a picture of famous Ghostbusters “[Don't] Cross the Streams” image would illustrate this necessity.)
That said, I have begun building what I hope will be a beautiful relationship with the English Department on campus. I have been particularly interested in the relationship between Librarians and Composition Instructors in part because I have experience in both areas. For a brief two year stint, I taught basic composition to college freshman and have an understanding of the concepts and practices instructors try to instill in students through regular writing assignments that culminate in a large research paper.
Enter my librarian self. Having a past life as a composition instructor, I certainly feel more equipped to deal with some of the challenges of teaching the writing and research processes. As a composition instructor, I liked to think I had some knowledge about conducting sophisticated research inquiries (I had, after all, composed a Graduate Thesis). But I found that I didn’t know much more about finding information than my students did. I could suggest databases I had used, but I was in no position to articulate key difference between subject and general datatbases, subject searching versus key word searching, or expanding thesauri to determine the anguage being employed to classify information.
Long story short, I wanted to be able to find information. Good, reliable, and worthwhile information. But I’ve discovered that the research process, like the writing process, is tedious, laborious, and discursive. The reductivist approach to writing (“master your skills in a semester!) and research (“get certified in library skills in one visit!”) is just a bunch of malarchy that misguides and disillusions. Composition and Rhetoric Instructors and Librarians are in a unique position to support each other and to join forces for a common cause. We just need to decide on what that cause will be, and how we will “teach” research and writing. Is our cause responsbile citizenship? Critical, lifelong learning? Praxis? (Whoa….I said praxis. I never say praxis. And I think I got that from Paulo Freire)
In an article called “First Year Writing Teachers, Perceptions of Students’ Information Literacy Competencies, and a Call For A Collaborative Approach,” (availabe here )Elizabeth Birminham of North Dakota State University and Company address th opportunities that librarians and writing instructors have to form alliances. Really, after I read the piece, it just confirmed my suspicions that we are not getting together as much as we should–that there is a great disconnect between librarians and instructors of writing which I can certainly feel. Part of the problem is that we’re not seeing how we are striving toward common goals–to challenge students to enter into a larger conversation, to question actively, and to contribute to that conversation. And one solution would be that librarians and composition instructors go beyond their own disciplines and seek out pedagogical and theoretical underpinnings in each other’s field for a more wholistic understanding of the writing and research processes. To quote a poignant statement in the above named article, “the writing process does not begin where the research process ends” (19). Too often, I think we’ve unwittingly compartmentalized these two processes and presented them as skills to be obtained (they are….but you know, they’re not).
I’d be interested to hear how other librarians and composition instructors are collaborating to offer students opportunities for engaging the research & writing process(es). I’d like to hear, too, how other instructors from other disciplines are teaching research and writing which is not strictly limited to English Departments and Libraries….or at least should not be.
