The Association of Colleges and Research Libraries, part of the American Library Association, has chosen Zayed University's information literacy program to join a team representing several of the best practices in the field of teaching of information literacy.
The Institute for Information Literacy's (IIL) Best Practices Project Team and Advisory Council has solicited various input from librarians and classroom faculty, in order to identify characteristics of model information literacy programs, according to Gulf News.
Dr. Hanif Hassan, Vice-President of Zayed University, said, "We dedicate this accomplishment to His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, President of UAE and leader of progress in our nation, and to His Excellency Sheikh Nahyan Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, President of Zayed University, the leader of higher education in the UAE, who constantly urges the higher education institutes to follow modern educational outcomes and technology, and to achieve creativity."
In addition, he said that Zayed University's Information Literacy Program was selected amongst a number of prestigious international universities such as the Austin Community College, California State University, Elmhurst College, James Madison University, Minneapolis Community and Technical College, Ohio State University, University of Albany, State University of New York State and others.
Dr. Hassan added that the University seeks to publish this program so that all other universities would benefit from Zayed University's unique experience, especially because it has recently signed an agreement for connecting an electronic common library system with the UAE University and Higher Colleges of Technology.
The program was a joint project between the English Language Center and Zayed University's library. This extensive program is the first of its kind throughout the Gulf region.
The University aims at educating students, developing their skills and information literacy, and applying them in their studies as a new transition in academic courses.
Carol Di Prete, Director of Zayed University Library, for his part, stated that, “This program is very important to the university since its allows all the team members to share their knowledge and expertise with other leaders in the field of information literacy”. (Albawaba.com)
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