Document Type

Breakout Session

Publication Date

11-2010

Abstract

19.4 million fantasy sports players, many college students, rely on information literacy to succeed in fantasy sports leagues, but do not realize it. This session analyzes the connection between fantasy sports and information literacy and how librarians can use fantasy sports to make information literacy meaningful to students. A background on fantasy sports, media and research is provided. One library, University of Dubuque, connected information literacy skills to fantasy football for incoming student athletes. The planning, implementation, and assessment of those instruction sessions are outlined, which included the following steps:

1. Fantasy sports and fantasy football skills were mapped to the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards.

2. These standards were used to create an engaging research session that broke students’ misconceptions of the library and of their own research abilities.

3. Students engaged in discussions of creditability, validity, timeliness, and search strategies to find and evaluate fantasy football information.

Connecting information literacy to fantasy sports provides a new way to reach out to students who struggle to see the application of information literacy in their lives. This session provides a way of linking fantasy strategies to academic skills to create successful, information literate students.

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