Keynote speakers Maria-Carme Torras and Pål Steiner

Theme: Information literacy and writing centres

Information literacy and academic writing: Intertwined processes, integrated services.

Maria-Carme Torras and Pål Steiner, University of Bergen, Norway

Information
literacy and academic writing education address similar student
competences and challenges, but traditionally these two areas have been
dealt with separately. Over the last ten years, several attempts have
been made to place academic writing and information literacy education
in the same location for instance at a library or writing centre.
Despite the fact that these two fields of education may share a space,
they may still be regarded as independent from each other.

This
paper makes a case for a more holistic approach to student academic
support based on integrated information literacy and academic writing
teaching and advising. The University of Bergen Library has made an
attempt to integrate teaching and advising within the two fields both by
bringing together academic writing specialists and academic librarians
and by developing a model where academic writing and information
literacy education are merged and embedded in the curricula.

This
paper is organised as follows. First academic writing, literature
searching and literature use are presented as intertwined processes.
This serves as the background for a discussion of how the academic
writing services at the University of Bergen compare to other academic
writing centre and library collaboration models found in the literature.
Finally, the value of these integrated services for enhanced student
learning is discussed, as well as the implications of these services for
resource allocation and professional development.