Information Literacy Task

Name

Instructor

Course

Date

Information Literacy Task

Davida Scharf

Director of Reference Services

Robert W. Van Houten Library

New Jersey Institute of Technology

Newark, NJ 07102

Dear Mr. Scharf,

My names are Richard Branson. I am currently a first year Engineering student at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. The purpose of this letter is to highlight the issues faced by the information literacy movement in the Robert W. Van Houten Library at New Jersey Institute of Technology. The resources I have reviewed for this purpose include understanding citations, scholarly vs. popular periodicals, the process of locating a book in the NJIT library, the process finding the full text of an article, using academic search premier and using web search engines. However, for your convenience, I have specifically chosen the process of finding a book in the NJIT library as my primary focus.

The process of locating a book in any library is entirely dependent on the arrangement of books in the library. There is need for an organization system so that finding books in the library becomes a systematic and procedural process. In the late 1800’s a librarian called Melvil Dewey invented an organization system that is today known as the Dewey Decimal system (Singh 1). This system has been widely embraced by public and university libraries because of its efficiency and reliability. In the Robert W. Van Houten Library, the Dewey Decimal system has been used to organize the books, which aids in the quick location of books. The use of computerized and card catalogues systems has also helped the process of finding books in the NJIT library. Lastly, the use of call numbers to represent the addresses of books has aided in the simplification of the process. However, there is still a challenge when it comes to using the computerized catalogue systems (Williams 107). This can be improved by increasing the user-friendliness of the computerized catalogue’s interface.

This area of the library services can be improved by adding new features to the already existing ones. For instance, the library can explore its potential of providing electronic books to students (Williams 107). This activity can be very beneficial to the library because the storage space will be reduced and at the same time, multiple students can be able to access the same book. In general, it is obvious that information literacy is essential in any field of education. For instance, if any student is to carry out research on a particular topic, he/she must have information literacy. Therefore, the role of the library is to provide quality services that enhance information literature among students (MacCabe 2). In my opinion, the NJIT library is currently on the right track concerning its efforts to elevate the levels of information literacy in NJIT.

Sincerely,

Richard Branson

Works cited

MacCabe, Gerard B. Academic Libraries: Their Rationale and Role in American Higher Education. Westport, Conn. [u.a.: Greenwood Press, 1995. Print.

Singh, Shivendra. The Theory and Practice of the Dewey Decimal Classification System. New Delhi: Isha Books, 2011. Print.

Williams, Delmus E, and Janine Golden. Advances in Library Administration and Organization: Volume 29. Bingley: Emerald, 2010. Print.