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Welcome to Information Competency at GCC Guide!
Welcome to Information Competency (IC) at Glendale Community College (GCC) Guide! This guide will provide an overview of information competency as described in library and information science and outline available tools that cover various Information Competency (IC) topics. GCC Library subscribes to:
- Niche Academy (Niche) that includes tutorials on research essentials, basic computer skills, critical thinking and more. Tutorials contain videos, quizzes and knowledge check assessments and can be added to Canvas for gradebook tracking.
- Proquest Research Companion (PQRC) includes 10 learning modules of videos and text that focus on finding, evaluating and using information. It also includes a great module on plagiarism and using your own voice for students learning to cite.
Use the tabs on the side of this page to explore our available tutorial platforms. On mobile, navigation options may be available by scrolling up or down the webpage.
Information competency content is available to all currently enrolled students, faculty, and staff. IP authentication covers on-campus access. Off-campus access requires login:
- Faculty/Staff - use your gcc email username and password
- Students - use your GCC student ID number for your username and your Canvas login or Google email password (should be the same)
As teaching faculty and librarians at GCC Library, our pedagogy is guided by the Library and Information Science industry standard regarding information competency entitled "The Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education" as outlined by the Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association. Tutorial available from the library are also guided by this framework and use terms presented here as a basis for learning how to research and use information more effectively.
This framework envisions information literacy as extending the arc of learning throughout students’ academic careers and as converging with other academic and social learning goals, an expanded definition of information literacy is offered here to emphasize dynamism, flexibility, individual growth, and community learning:
In our context, literacy and competency are often used interchangeably to describe not only being able to do something effectively but to also empower users to have sufficient knowledge, judgment, skill, or strength for use in the area of information and research.
The Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education is called a framework intentionally because it is based on a cluster of interconnected core concepts, with flexible options for implementation, rather than on a set of standards or learning outcomes, or any prescriptive enumeration of skills. It draws significantly upon the concept of metaliteracy, which offers a renewed vision of information literacy as an overarching set of abilities in which students are consumers and creators of information who can participate successfully in collaborative spaces. The Framework is organized into six frames, each consisting of a concept central to information literacy, a set of knowledge practices, and a set of dispositions. The six concepts that anchor the frames are presented alphabetically: