participate in collaborative faculty and/or university projects (Peacock, 2000:
29-30).
Bruce and Lampson (2002) note, that despite some progress over the past decade, library
and information professionals still report that universal information literacy is a distant,
if not a receding, goal. Johnston and Webber (2003, 338) also argue that even in the
United States: “Whilst much attention has been paid to information literacy by American
policy-makers, librarians and academics, the results are still relatively narrow, giving a
potentially superficial guide to the nature of a curriculum for information literacy in
HE”. (Virkus, 2004b).
Brophy (2001: 25) concludes that the role that academic libraries will play in the future
is thus far from clear. However, the CILIP (2002) report
Libraries and Lifelong Learning draws the picture of the future where the library will continue to emphasize selecting,
accessing, and subsidizing information resources and of equal importance will be
teaching students and faculty time and place independently to identify, locate, and
evaluate information. The library of the future will blend the best traditions of the past -
those of structure, service, and subsidy - with an electronic or virtual library. The
academic library will offer collections in all formats, as well as networked information
services and materials for self-paced learning and programs that support new ways of
teaching and delivering information resources. The new academic library will be
creative, flexible, and closely allied with the academic disciplines. Collaborative
relationships in both public and private settings, from the local and regional to the state,
national, and international levels will be developed.
