Competency-based information literacy instruction in public health: Librarian and faculty collaborations

Background: The Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH) Master's Degree in Public Health (MPH) Core Competency Development Project recognizes the need for an information-literate 21st Century public health workforce which is equipped for lifelong learning, able to recognize information needs, and efficiently locate, evaluate, and use information. In 2000, the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) published its Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, which are widely accepted by American colleges and universities for undergraduate and graduate programs. The degree to which diversely-prepared and international public health students entering MPH programs, many from universities in the developing world, have these skills is not known. Yet some mastery of these skills is required to be proficient in the Communication and Informatics Interdisciplinary/Cross Cutting, Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Social and Behavioral Science competencies. Academic health science librarians are uniquely qualified to support successful attainment of these competencies through collaborations with public health faculty to strategically integrate information literacy instruction into the MPH curriculum. Method: Librarians compared the relationship between the ACRL information literacy standards and ASPH MPH cross-cutting and discipline-specific competencies. Purpose: This session will present findings and propose collaborative librarian/ public health faculty models for the design and delivery of curriculum promoting both sets of competencies.