The Information Age is here and it has brought new challenges to education. Students are now faced with increasing amounts of information in a variety of sources.

CSULB must prepare Black Studies scholars/activists for lifelong learning. Black Studies graduates must leave the University knowing how to research the information they need for any task or decision they face on the journey ahead.

How can we better prepare African American students with 21^st century skills?

Numerous approaches have been suggested in this tutorial. Some are easily applied by individual instructors, others must be addressed as a department, and at least one must be raised in a nation forum. A few possible options are listed below and many others exist. Please come prepared to discuss these possibilities and others you may favor on April 18^th.

Course Integration
You can do this right now! Individual faculty can integrate the assignments developed during this tutorial into their course offerings. Additionally, faculty can review all their course assignments for opportunities to reinforce the concepts of finding, evaluating and locating information.

Curriculum Changes
The Department of Black Studies Curriculum Committee, in consultation with the Black Studies librarian, could systematically integrate information competency skills into the department curriculum. This effort might begin with lower division classes and systematically determine what would be expected at the freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior levels. Then, CSULB Black Studies information competency standards could be created. A portfolio of research assignments or items identifiable as learning outcomes could possibly be used to assess each graduate’s demonstration of the information competency standards. For example see this page developed by the University of Connecticut Libraries, ACRL Standard Performance Indicators By Competency and Level.

Ongoing Dialogue and Training
Library faculty in collaboration with Black Studies faculty could continue to dialogue about information competency issues. Regular training updates could also be held to keep Black Studies faculty abreast of new Library resources.

A Black Studies faculty and the Black Studies librarian can train other Ethnic Studies faculty members on how to integrate information competency skills into academic curriculum.

National Standards
One avenue with broad implications would be the creation of national Information Competency standards for the discipline of Black Studies. Information literacy is already considered a key outcome for college students by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). The Information Competency for the Discipline of Black Studies Reader highlights the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education and the CSULB University Library Information Literacy Minimum Standards. These could be used as a model for Black Studies standards. National standards would have to be reviewed and approved by an appropriate professional association.