Purdue Plans First Endowed Info Literacy Chair—Eventually

-- Library Journal, 10/17/2005

Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, on September 30 announced the promise of a $2.5 million gift from alumnus Wayne Booker, a former Ford Motor Co. vice chair, to fund what the school claims is the first endowed chair in information literacy. Purdue said that Booker funded the chair in large part to bolster the leadership role of Purdue libraries, which Booker categorized as "the backbone of any great university."

Alexius Macklin, associate professor of library science, echoed the feeling of numerous librarians, stating, "Students feel as if they know how to do research because they can Google. But they don't necessarily know how to evaluate the search results or how to search scholarly resources. They also inadvertently plagiarize because of the ease of cutting and pasting information from web-based material." Purdue still may get beaten to the punch by another university. Macklin told LJ that, while the money is promised, there's a catch: the school won't receive it until after Booker's passing.