.ISU LIBRARY BASICS: Home

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Library Services for Students

Cunningham Memorial Library at Indiana State University offers one stop shopping for students.  Whether students need help with researching a topic, writing a paper, or finding a book, ISU Library is The Campus Living Room. Effective services to distance education students is a priority of the ISU Library.

The library promotes the educational and research missions of ISU by providing the collections, services, and environments that lead to intellectual discovery, creativity, and the exchange of ideas. The library collections include more than two million items. The library catalog facilitates access to over 3000 electronic books and over 10,000 electronic government documents. Preference is given to collecting journals and periodicals in an online format. The library provides access to over 230 databases that include journals, magazines, newspapers, electronic books, and other sources.

The Assocation of College & Research Libraries presented the ACRL's Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education in 2015 that described what students need to learn about information literacy.

Information literacy is the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning.

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:

• • Authority Is Constructed and Contextual
• • Information Creation as a Process
• • Information Has Value
• • Research as Inquiry
• • Scholarship as Conversation
• • Searching as Strategic Exploration

Information literacy forms the basis for lifelong learning. It is common to all disciplines, to all learning environments, and to all levels of education. It enables learners to master content and extend their investigations, become more self-directed, and assume greater control over their own learning. An information literate individual is able to:

• Determine the extent of information needed
• Access the needed information effectively and efficiently
• Evaluate information and its sources critically
• Incorporate selected information into one’s knowledge base
• Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose
• Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information, and access and use information ethically and legally

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