ILAGO is the Information Literacy Advisory Group of Oregon.
The mission of ILAGO is to:
- Promote information literacy integration into the K-20 curriculum in Oregon
- Facilitate discussion and innovation in information literacy instruction among practitioners
- Advocate for information literacy
History of ILAGO
In November of 2006, Oregon State University at Corvallis issued a call to educators in the State of Oregon to gather for an Information Literacy Summit. The group gathered and began discussion about the advent of information literacy in today’s educational scheme. Invited educators included librarians, writing instructors, and information technologists at community colleges whose students are likely to transfer to Oregon State University. Representatives from OSU expressed concern that students transitioning from the two-year to the four-year environment were less prepared than students native to OSU. The first meeting at OSU affirmed the necessity for development, and by the end of the day, the group decided on another, broader meeting the next year to set goals and proficiencies for Information Literacy.
In the spring of 2007, Chemeketa Community College hosted an information literacy retreat where Summit participants along with other librarians from 4-year colleges and universities revisited the work done at the fall Summit. Following the Information Literacy Retreat, the second fall Summit group expanded to include educators from other four-year institutions in Oregon. The group again gathered at OSU and hammered out a set of eight proficiencies which every student in the first two years of college or university must attain in order to facilitate proper access to Information literacy in the next two, advanced years of education. The group worked as a whole, without a direct leader. Advocates from many disciplines did presentations, but most important, libraries were represented more clearly in the work of the group.
In 2008 at the third fall Summit, the group gathered once again at OSU to set up a more formal organization that might communicate with state organizations and agencies. The entire group, this time with an even larger representation from libraries across the state, reaffirmed the eight proficiencies developed by the Summit previously. The group made clear Information Literacy must not be a single course in the curriculum but must be a part of every discipline in the lower division. At that time, in 2008, the group assigned tasks to various committees to develop a formal structure for the organization which is now known as the Information Literacy Advisory Group of Oregon (ILAGO).
In the 2013-2014 year, ILAGO has continued its work with state organizations and agencies. While ILAGO is still focused on strengthening information literacy across the curriculum in higher education, due to the changing educational climate in the state of Oregon, the organization is broadening its scope to include information literacy throughout the K-20 continuum. In the Winter/Spring of 2014, ILAGO is working with the Developmental Education Redesign Work Group as it revamps Developmental Education in Oregon community colleges. ILAGO’s purpose in this work will be to communicate the importance of information literacy as an essential wrap-around support service, as well as critical to the academic preparation and persistence of college students. Please refer to the Dev Ed Work Group page under Resources in the top menu for more information on this topic.
