11 - Information Literacy and Career Skills

Abstract

This chapter discusses the role that information literacy (IL) can play in developing career skills for the engineering students. Developing career skills is a vital part of lifelong learning, and IL provides an essential part in that skill set. Librarians are now turning their attention to the co-curricular units on campus. Progress has been made in such areas as international student programs. The same information-seeking skills used for research papers can be used for career planning and enhancing the search for internships and jobs. Trade magazines, newspapers, newswires, and company and industry data can be used to gain an understanding of the chosen field. Librarians and career counselors possess complementary expertise and make good partners in co-creating programs to increase the lifelong-learning skills of their students. This chapter begins with a discussion on collaboration between career counselors and librarians. The chapter further elaborates the topics of locating internships and finding background information about companies. The chapter also introduces a model developed at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), as an example to show how career counselors and librarians can combine their skills to assist students in uncovering internships and job opportunities.