INFO LIT AND THE DIVA: INTEGRATING INFORMATION LITERACY INTO THE OBERLIN CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC OPERA THEATER DEPARTMENT By Kathleen A. Abromeit and Victoria Vaughan 632  The teacher wondered . . . what the problem was. 1 Her students had been having such difficulties with find- ing research materials for their papers. Perhaps it was the assignments themselves, which were admittedly quite demanding of their information-literacy skills. Her students were so keen to learn about opera, and they seemed so enthusiastic about the interdisciplinary aspects of opera research, but somehow they could never quite pull all the information together. They were all wonderful, intelligent, and tal- ented students. Perhaps she was failing them as their teacher. The librarian pondered . . . how to convey to students that learning to find information is crucial. How do I get performers to understand the importance of well-honed library skills? Some- times I think they believe that just being able to play their instruments well will make them successful in the music world. Aren’t they curious about the bigger pic- ture? Don’t they wonder about the translations of the arias they are singing, or the social context for the characters in the opera they are performing? They are so talented, but why the complacency? Kathleen A. Abromeit is the conservatory public services librarian at Oberlin College and the author of An Index to African-American Spirituals for the Solo Voice (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999). Victoria Vaughan is the assistant director of Opera Theater (OPTH) at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and director of productions for Real Time Opera. This article is a combination of a report written by Victoria Vaughan for the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in December 2001; a paper presented by Kathleen A. Abromeit at the Music Library Association’s Continuing Education Workshop: Information Literacy in Austin, Texas, 12 February 2003; and a joint poster session presented at “Information Fluency/Literacy Workshop” sponsored by the Mellon Foundation in Rosemont, Illinois, in October 2003. The authors wish to thank the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; research assistants Eric Einhorn and Leslie Roberts; the Oberlin Conservatory Opera Department and Conservatory Library; the OPTH students and voice faculty; John, Dyani, Brook, and Sophie Sabin; and Jane and Paul Schick for their good humor and youthful open-mindedness. Naturally, we wish to thank each other for wonderful collaboration and friendship. 1. The style of the opening “thought dialogue” is based on the popular psychology book Every Day Gets a Little Closer: A Twice-Told Therapy by Irvin D. Yalom and Ginny Elkin (New York: Basic Books, 1974). When Ginny Elkin, a pseudonymous patient whom Yalom treated, began therapy, they agreed to write separate journals of each of their sessions. Their book is the product of the dual reflections of psychia- trist and patient.