FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                    February 22, 2008 

NORTHWESTERN TO PARTICIPATE IN INFORMATION LITERACY PROJECT
FUNDED THROUGH GRANT FROM AT&T

            The AT&T Foundation, the corporate philanthropy organization of AT&T Inc., today awarded a $43,275 grant to launch a seven-school project that will gauge the ability of state college students to access and use information.

            Northwestern Oklahoma State University is one of the seven schools involved in the project.

            The data from this initial study will be used to develop an interactive, Web-based program to help teach students how to improve their information literacy and gathering skills.

            AT&T Oklahoma President Don Cain made the grant announcement today.

            “We hope this project will help Oklahoma students improve their educational experience, graduate from college and go on to be successful in whatever careers they choose to pursue,” Cain said. “We’re excited to contribute to a project where seven state schools are teaming up and working together to enhance higher education in Oklahoma.”

            The AT&T grant helps to fund the first phase of a large-scale project called Successfully Completing College: Developing Integrated Information Literacy Skills. It involves the collaboration of libraries from seven state schools: East Central University, Cameron University, Langston University, Northeastern State University, Oklahoma Panhandle State University, Southeastern Oklahoma State University and Northwestern.

            The information literacy project will survey 2,500 students at the seven participating schools. The survey will provide a benchmark of the information literacy skills of students and identify problem areas. The grant will allow the university libraries to design a framework for developing a program that will ultimately be integrated at each participating school.

-NW-

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