Abstract

This chapter presents Purdue Archives and Special Collections as a case study in growing an organizational culture committed to teaching information literacy parallel to classroom learning through student worker experiential learning. While student employment or internships may not traditionally be considered co-curricular activities, Purdue University Archives and Special Collections provides an environment not only for students to gain pre-professional experience but also expertise, confidence, and competence in information; for many students, this preparation has resulted in careers in museums, archives, libraries, and cultural heritage institutions. The result is a new approach to student employment: one designed to establish an environment to prepare, encourage, and mentor students to become leaders in new knowledge creation while also instilling information literacy skills and a belief in sharing that knowledge with others. The analysis outlines the relationship of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy and student employment in academic archives as well as potential benefits of a conscientious approach to student employee training and mentoring.

Keywords

information literacy, experiential learning, co-curricular, mentoring, student employment, archives, special collections

Date of this Version

2-2020

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