WELCOME
BACK ISSUES
As a graduate of Immersion '99, I encourage those of you in academic and research libraries to apply to participate in Immersion '01, which is scheduled for Washington, D.C., in July 2001. The Immersion Program, one of the ACRL Institute for Information Literacy program initiatives, is an intensive four and one-half day series of classes, discussions, projects, and fun that will benefit both you and your institution. You will have the opportunity to develop and apply instructional skills in your classes, plan for your own and your library's role in furthering information literacy on your campus, and become part of a community of librarians who continue to share ideas about information literacy and instruction.
Acceptance into Immersion '01 is competitive. Information about the application process will be posted on the Institute for Information Literacy web site <http://www.ala.org/acrl/nili/nilihp.html> in September. This year LIRT will be able to provide partial support for some LIRT members who are accepted into the program and who indicate on their application that they need financial assistance. LIRT will award the scholarships after the participants for Immersion '01 have been selected.
The Institute for Information Literacy has other program initiatives besides Immersion. One of these, Community Partnerships, focuses on building information literacy community partnerships that include different types of libraries as well as community groups. The preconference at ALA in Chicago was well-attended and generated lots of discussion and many good ideas. The Community Partnerships toolkit <http://library.austin.cc.tx.us/staff/lnavarro/CommunityPartnerships/Toolkit.html> provides suggestions on establishing partnerships. Use this toolkit as you forge new relationships for information literacy in your community.
Gale Burrow is Past President of LIRT, and Coordinator of Library Instruction at the Honnold/Mudd Library, The Libraries of The Claremont Colleges, Claremont, CA 91711.
LIRT News, September 2000. Volume 23, number 1.
To report problems, please contact the LIRT News Production editor
at jronan@ufl.edu