Meredith Professor Ruth Small joins governor’s task force on information literacy

Meredith Professor Ruth Small joins governor’s task force on information literacyFebruary 04, 2008Margaret Costello Spillettmcostell@syr.edu

Meredith Professor Ruth Small, who has been with Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies (iSchool) since 1989, recently was appointed to the Governor’s Information Literacy Standards Task Force. The group of library media specialists, established by the New York Library Association, gathers and reviews examples of P-20 Information Literacy Standards and makes recommendations that are utilized by the New York State Council for Universal Broadband.

The task force and broadband council are a part of Gov. Eliot Spitzer and First Lady Silda Wall Spitzer’s drive to ensure that every New Yorker has access to affordable high-speed Internet service. Spitzer’s ultimate goal is to make New York “the most connected and technologically advanced place to live and do business in the world,” he said in a press release.

Small adds this new position to a list of others focused on information literacy. She is currently director of SU’s Center for Digital Literacy (CDL). Established in 2003, the CDL is an interdisciplinary and collaborative research and development center that studies information, technology and media literacies in children and adults, with a focus on those from underserved populations.