Saddling the octopus: critical success factors for the Information Literacy Program at the Australian National University

Abstract

This paper explores the critical success factors which have combined to create a program which has attracted nearly 26,000 staff and students to over 2300 workshops, seminars, lectures and demonstrations in the last two years. The basic success ingredients involve a strategic mix of substantial funding, effective marketing techniques, the nurturing of critical and occasionally unlikely partnerships and the support of key University policy making bodies. The most critical element, however, has been the talented and experienced human resources gathered together to determine how such a commonly misunderstood and widely interpreted concept as “information literacy” could be delivered equitably across the campus. The combination of these success factors has engendered a “can do” response to opportunities sought and offered during the last 2 years to build information literacy into the curriculum at the Australian National University. The program has been embraced enthusiastically by the academic community who have used the program resources extensively to embed information literacy into their coursework.