Information Literacy and Instruction: Cool Jobs

Abstract

To help our graduates become successful in both traditional and nontraditional information settings, Roy and Hallmark suggest that the requirements listed in modern job descriptions reveal the type of skills and talents we should include in our information science curriculum. This unique perspective allows us to determine how well our information science curriculum matches the skillsets required for atypical “cool jobs” not frequently associated with the library and information science field. They offer suggestions on how to include activities and challenges in a variety of courses to make the instructional setting more closely align with future employment settings. Loriene Roy has taught library instruction and information literacy for more than twenty years, and served as ALA president from 2007 to 2008. Elizabeth Hallmark graduated from the iSchool at The University of Texas at Austin. Hallmark herself has “cool job” experience as the Creative Director for the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts and more recently as Internal Communications Leader in the public medical sector. Together, these authors summarize findings and offer recommendations for preparing students to become successful in those unusual, atypical work settings—those “cool jobs.”—Editor