Information literacy

The National Forum on Information Literacy defines information literacy as “…the ability to know when there is a need for information, to be able to identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively use that information for the issue or problem at hand.” This is the most common definition; however, there are other conceptions of information literacy from different viewpoints. For example, one conception defines it in terms of a set of competencies that an informed citizen of an information society ought to possess to participate intelligently and actively in that society.

The American Library Association's (ALA) Presidential Committee on Information Literacy, Final Report states, "To be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and has the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information." Information Literacy is important to all libraries, library users, and the general public.

Jeremy Shapiro & Shelley Hughes (1996) define information literacy as "A new liberal art that extends from knowing how to use computers and access information to critical reflection on the nature of information itself, its technical infrastructure and its social, cultural, and philosophical context and impact."

A number of efforts were made to better define the concept and its relationship to other skills and forms of literacy. Although other educational goals, including traditional literacy, computer literacy, library skills, and critical thinking skills, were related to information literacy and important foundations for its development, information literacy itself was emerging as a distinct skill set and a necessary key to one's social and economic well-being in an increasingly complex information society.

History of the concept

The phrase information literacy first appeared in print in a 1974 report by Paul G. Zurkowski, written on behalf of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. Zurkowski used the phrase to describe the "techniques and skills" known by the information literate "for utilizing the wide range of information tools as well as primary sources in molding information solutions to their problems".

The Presidential Committee on Information Literacy released a report on January 10, 1989, outlining the importance of information literacy, opportunities to develop information literacy and an Information Age School. The report's final name is the Presidential Committee on Information Literacy: Final Report.

The recommendations of the Presidential Committee led to the creation later that year of the National Forum on Information Literacy, a coalition of more than 90 national and international organizations.

In 1998, the American Association of School Librarians and the Association for Educational Communications and Technology published Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning, which further established specific goals for information literacy education, defining some nine standards in the categories of "information literacy", "independent learning", and "social responsibility".

Also in 1998, the Presidential Committee on Information Literacy produced an update on its Final Report. This update outlined the six main recommendations of the original report, examining areas where it made progress and areas that still needed work. The updated report advocates for further information literacy advocacy and reiterates its importance.

In 1999, SCONUL, the Society of College, National and University Libraries in the UK, published "The Seven Pillars of Information Literacy" [10] model, to "facilitate further development of ideas amongst practitioners in the field ... stimulate debate about the ideas and about how those ideas might be used by library and other staff in higher education concerned with the development of students' skills." A number of other countries have developed information literacy standards since then.

In 2003, the National Forum on Information Literacy, together with UNESCO and the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, sponsored an international conference in Prague with representatives from some twenty-three countries to discuss the importance of information literacy within a global context. The resulting Prague Declaration described information literacy as a "key to social, cultural and economic development of nations and communities, institutions and individuals in the 21st century" and declared its acquisition as "part of the basic human right of life long learning".

On May 28, 2009, U.S. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenneger signed Executive Order S-06-09 establishing a California ICT Digital Literacy Leadership Council, which, in turn, is directed to establish an ICT Digital Literacy Advisory Committee. "The Leadership Council, in consultation with the Advisory Committee, shall develop an ICT Digital Literacy Policy, to ensure that California residents are digitally literate." The Executive Order states further: " ICT Digital Literacy is defined as using digital technology, communications tools and/or networks to access, manage, integrate, evaluate, create and communicate information in order to function in a knowledge-based economy and society..." The Governor directs "...The Leadership Council, in consultation with the Advisory Committee... [to] develop a California Action Plan for ICT Digital Literacy (Action Plan)." He also directs "The California Workforce Investment Board (WIB)... [to] develop a technology literacy component for its five-year Strategic State Plan." His Executive Order ends with the following: " I FURTHER REQUEST that the Legislature and Superintendent of Public Instruction consider adopting similar goals, and that they join the Leadership Council in issuing a "Call to Action" to schools, higher education institutions, employers, workforce training agencies, local governments, community organizations, and civic leaders to advance California as a global leader in ICT Digital Literacy".

Information literacy rose to national consciousness in the U.S. with President Barack Obama's Proclamation designating October 2009 as National Information Literacy Awareness Month. President Obama's Proclamation stated that "Rather than merely possessing data, we must also learn the skills necessary to acquire, collate, and evaluate information for any situation... Though we may know how to find the information we need, we must also know how to evaluate it. Over the past decade, we have seen a crisis of authenticity emerge. We now live in a world where anyone can publish an opinion or perspective, whether true or not, and have that opinion amplified within the information marketplace. At the same time, Americans have unprecedented access to the diverse and independent sources of information, as well as institutions such as libraries and universities, that can help separate truth from fiction and signal from noise." Obama's proclamation ended with: "Now, therefore, I, Barack Obama, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 2009 as National Information Literacy Awareness Month. I call upon the people of the United States to recognize the important role information plays in our daily lives, and appreciate the need for a greater understanding of its impact."

Presidential Committee on Information Literacy

The Presidential Committee on Information Literacy was formed in 1987 by the American Library Association's president at the time Margaret Chisholm. The committee was formed with three specific purposes

1. to define Information Literacy within the higher literacies and its importance to student performance, lifelong learning, and active citizenship
2. to design one or more models for information literacy development appropriate to formal and informal learning environments throughout people's lifetimes
3. to determine implications for the continuing education and development for teachers [11]

A seminal event in the development of the concept of information literacy was the establishment of the American Library Association's Presidential Committee on Information Literacy, whose 1989 final report outlined the importance of the concept. The report defined information literacy as the ability "to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information" and highlighted information literacy as a skill essential for lifelong learning and the production of an informed and prosperous citizenry.

The committee outlined six principal recommendations: to "reconsider the ways we have organized information institutionally, structured information access, and defined information's role in our lives at home in the community, and in the work place"; to promote "public awareness of the problems created by information illiteracy"; to develop a national research agenda related to information and its use; to ensure the existence of "a climate conducive to students' becoming information literate"; to include information literacy concerns in teacher education; and to promote public awareness of the relationship between information literacy and the more general goals of "literacy, productivity, and democracy."

In March 1998 the Presidential Committee on Information Literacy re-evaluated its Final Report and published an update. The update looks at what the Final Report set out to accomplish, its six main goals, and how far it had come to that point in meeting those objectives. Before identifying what still needs to be done, the updated report recognizes what the previous report and the National Forum were able to accomplish. In realizing it still had not met all objectives, it set out further recommendations to ensure all were met. The updated report ends with an invitation, asking the National Forum and regular citizens to recognize that "the result of these combined efforts will be a citizenry which is made up of effective lifelong learners who can always find the information needed for the issue or decision at hand. This new generation of information literate citizens will truly be America's most valuable resource", and to continue working toward an information literate world.Link text

One of the most important things to come out of the Presidential Committee on Information Literacy was the creation of the National Forum on Information Literacy.

National Forum on Information Literacy

Background

In 1983, the seminal report “A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform” declared that a “rising tide of mediocrity” was eroding the very foundations of the American educational system. It was, in fact, the genesis of the current educational reform movement within the United States. Ironically, the report did not include in its set of reform recommendations the academic and/or the public library as one of the key architects in the redesign of our K-16 educational system. This report and several others that followed, in conjunction with the rapid emergence of the information society, led the American Library Association (ALA) to convene a blue ribbon panel of national educators and librarians in 1987. The ALA Presidential Committee on Information Literacy was charged with the following tasks: (1) to define information literacy within the higher literacies and its importance to student performance, lifelong learning, and active citizenship; (2) to design one or more models for information literacy development appropriate to formal and informal learning environments throughout people's lifetimes; and (3) to determine implications for the continuing education and development of teachers. In the release of its Final Report in 1989, the American Library Association Presidential Committee on Information Literacy summarized in its opening paragraphs the ultimate mission of the National Forum on Information Literacy:

“How our country deals with the realities of the Information Age will have enormous impact on our democratic way of life and on our nation's ability to compete internationally. Within America's information society, there also exists the potential of addressing many long-standing social and economic inequities. To reap such benefits, people--as individuals and as a nation--must be information literate. To be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information. Producing such a citizenry will require that schools and colleges appreciate and integrate the concept of information literacy into their learning programs and that they play a leadership role in equipping individuals and institutions to take advantage of the opportunities inherent within the information society.

Ultimately, information literate people are those who have learned how to learn. They know how to learn because they know how knowledge is organized, how to find information, and how to use information in such a way that others can learn from them. They are people prepared for lifelong learning, because they can always find the information needed for any task or decision at hand."

Acknowledging that the major obstacle to people becoming information literate citizens, who are prepared for lifelong learning, "is a lack of public awareness of the problems created by information illiteracy," the report recommended the formation of a coalition of national organizations to promote information literacy.”

Thus, in 1989, the A.L.A. Presidential Committee established the National Forum on Information Literacy, a volunteer network of organizations committed to raising public awareness on the importance of information literacy to individuals, to our diverse communities, to our economy, and to engaged citizenship participation.

The forum today

Since 1989, the National Forum on Information Literacy has evolved steadily under the leadership of its first chair, Dr. Patricia Senn Breivik. Today, the Forum represents over 90 national and international organizations, all dedicated to mainstreaming the philosophy of information literacy across national and international landscapes, throughout every educational, domestic, and workplace venue.

Although the initial intent of the Forum was to raise public awareness and support on a national level, over the last several years, the National Forum on Information Literacy has made significant strides internationally in promoting the importance of integrating information literacy concepts and skills throughout all educational, governmental, and workforce development programs. For example, the National Forum co-sponsored with UNESCO and IFLA several “experts meetings”, resulting in the Prague Declaration (2003) and the Alexandria Proclamation (2005) each underscoring the importance of information literacy as a basic fundamental human right and lifelong learning skill.

In the United States, however, information literacy skill development has been the exception and not the rule, particularly as it relates to the integration of information literacy practices within our educational and workforce development infrastructures. In a 2000 peer reviewed publication, Nell K. Duke, found that students in first grade classrooms were exposed to an average of 3.6 minutes of informational text in a school day. In October, 2006, the first national Summit on Information Literacy brought together well over 100 representatives from education, business, and government to address America’s information literacy deficits as a nation currently competing in a global marketplace. This successful collaboration was sponsored by the National Forum on Information Literacy, Committee for Economic Development, Educational Testing Service, the Institute for a Competitive Workforce, and National Education Association (NEA). The Summit was held at NEA headquarters in Washington, D.C.

A major outcome of the Summit was the establishment of a national ICT literacy policy council to provide leadership in creating national standards for ICT literacy in the United States.

As stated on the Forum’s Main Web page, it recognizes that achieving information literacy has been much easier for those with money and other advantages. For those who are poor, non-White, older, disabled, living in rural areas or otherwise disadvantaged, it has been much harder to overcome the digital divide. A number of the Forum’s members address the specific challenges for those disadvantaged. For example, The Children’s Partnership advocates for the nearly 70 million children and youth in the country, many of whom are disadvantaged. The Children’s Partnership currently runs three programs, two of which specifically address the needs of those with low-incomes: Online content for Low-Income and Underserved Americans Initiative, and the California Initiative Program. Another example is the National Hispanic Council on Aging which is:

Dedicated to improving the quality of life for Latino elderly, families, and communities through advocacy, capacity and institution building, development of educational materials, technical assistance, demonstration projects, policy analysis and research (National Hispanic Council on Aging, and, Mission Statement section).

In the final analysis, the National Forum on Information Literacy will continue to work closely with educational, business, and non-profit organizations in the U.S. to promote information literacy skill development at every opportunity, particularly in light of the ever growing social, economic, and political urgency of globalization, prompting us to re-energize our promotional and collaborative efforts here at home.

Bibliography

Prague Declaration: “Towards an Information Literate Society” - http://www.infolit.org/2003.html

Alexandria Proclamation: A High Level International Colloquium on Information Literacy and Lifelong Learning, http://www.infolit.org/2005.html

2006 Information Literacy Summit: American Competitiveness in the Internet Age http://www.infolit.org/reports.html

1989 Presidential Committee on Information Literacy: Final Report http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/publications/whitepapers/presidential.cfm

1983 A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform http://www.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/index.html

Gibson, C. (2004). Information literacy develops globally: The role of the national forum on information literacy. Knowledge Quest. http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/kqweb/kqarchives/vol32/324TOC2.cfm

Breivik P.S. and Gee, E.G. (2006). Higher education in the internet age: Libraries creating a strategic edge. Westport,CT: Greenwood Publishing

Global Information Literacy

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA)

IFLA has established an Information Literacy Section. The Section has, in turn, developed and mounted an Information Literacy Resources Directory, called InfoLit Global. Librarians, educators and information professionals may self-register and upload information-literacy-related materials (IFLA, Information Literacy Section, n.d.) According to the IFLA website, "The primary purpose of the Information Literacy Section is to foster international cooperation in the development of information literacy education in all types of libraries and information institutions." http://www.ifla.org/en/about-information-literacy

The International Alliance for Information Literacy (IAIL)

This alliance was created from the recommendation of the Prague Conference of Information Literacy Experts in 2003. One of its goals is to allow for the sharing of information literacy research and knowledge between nations. The IAIL also sees "life-long learning" as a basic human right, and their ultimate goal is to use information literacy as a way to allow everyone to participate in the "Information Society" as a way of fulfilling this right. The following organizations are founding members of IAIL:

• Australian and New Zealand Institute for Information Literacy (ANZIIL)
  • based in Australia and New Zealand
  • http://www.anziil.org/
• European Network on Information Literacy (EnIL)
  • based in the European Union
  • http://www.ceris.cnr.it/Basili/EnIL/index.html
• National Forum on Information Literacy (NFIL)
  • based in the United States
  • http://www.infolit.org
• NORDINFOlit
  • based in Scandanavia
• SCONUL (Society of College, National and University Libraries) Advisory Committee on Information Literacy
  • based in the United Kingdom
  • http://www.sconul.ac.uk/groups/information_literacy

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Media and Information Literacy

According to the UNESCO website, this is their "action to provide people with the skills and abilities for critical reception, assessment and use of information and media in their professional and personal lives." Their goal is to create information literate societies by creating and maintaining educational policies for information literacy. They work with teachers around the world, training them in the importance of information literacy and providing resources for them to use in their classrooms.

UNESCO publishes studies on information literacy in many countries, looking at how information literacy is currently taught, how it differs in different demographics, and how to raise awareness. They also publish pedagogical tools and curricula for school boards and teachers to refer to and use.

Specific aspects of information literacy (Shapiro and Hughes, 1996)

In "Information Literacy as a Liberal Art", Jeremy J. Shapiro and Shelley K. Hughes advocated a more holistic approach to information literacy education, one that encouraged not merely the addition of information technology courses as an adjunct to existing curricula, but rather a radically new conceptualization of "our entire educational curriculum in terms of information".

Drawing upon Enlightenment ideals like those articulated by Enlightenment philosopher Condorcet, Shapiro and Hughes argued that information literacy education is "essential to the future of democracy, if citizens are to be intelligent shapers of the information society rather than its pawns, and to humanistic culture, if information is to be part of a meaningful existence rather than a routine of production and consumption".

To this end, Shapiro and Hughes outlined a "prototype curriculum" that encompassed the concepts of computer literacy, library skills, and "a broader, critical conception of a more humanistic sort", suggesting seven important components of a holistic approach to information literacy:

• Tool literacy, or the ability to understand and use the practical and conceptual tools of current information technology relevant to education and the areas of work and professional life that the individual expects to inhabit.
• Resource literacy, or the ability to understand the form, format, location and access methods of information resources, especially daily expanding networked information resources.
• Social-structural literacy, or understanding how information is socially situated and produced.
• Research literacy, or the ability to understand and use the IT-based tools relevant to the work of today's researcher and scholar.
• Publishing literacy, or the ability to format and publish research and ideas electronically, in textual and multimedia forms … to introduce them into the electronic public realm and the electronic community of scholars.
• Emerging technology literacy, or the ability to continuously adapt to, understand, evaluate and make use of the continually emerging innovations in information technology so as not to be a prisoner of prior tools and resources, and to make intelligent decisions about the adoption of new ones.
• Critical literacy, or the ability to evaluate critically the intellectual, human and social strengths and weaknesses, potentials and limits, benefits and costs of information technologies.

Ira Shor further defines critical literacy as "[habits] of thought, reading, writing, and speaking which go beneath surface meaning, first impressions, dominant myths, official pronouncements, traditional clichés, received wisdom, and mere opinions, to understand the deep meaning, root causes, social context, ideology, and personal consequences of any action, event, object, process, organization, experience, text, subject matter, policy, mass media, or discourse".

Educational schemata

One view of the components of information literacy

Based on the Big6 by Mike Eisenberg and Bob Berkowitz.

http://big6.com/

1. The first step in the Information Literacy strategy is to clarify and understand the requirements of the problem or task for which information is sought. Basic questions asked at this stage:
   1. What is known about the topic?
   2. What information is needed?
   3. Where can the information be found?
2. Locating: The second step is to identify sources of information and to find those resources. Depending upon the task, sources that will be helpful may vary. Sources may include books, encyclopedias, maps, almanacs, etc. Sources may be in electronic, print, social bookmarking tools, or other formats.
3. Selecting/analyzing: Step three involves examining the resources that were found. The information must be determined to be useful or not useful in solving the problem. The useful resources are selected and the inappropriate resources are rejected.
4. Organizing/synthesizing: It is in the fourth step this information which has been selected is organized and processed so that knowledge and solutions are developed. Examples of basic steps in this stage are:
   1. Discriminating between fact and opinion
   2. Basing comparisons on similar characteristics
   3. Noticing various interpretations of data
   4. Finding more information if needed
   5. Organizing ideas and information logically
5. Creating/presenting: In step five the information or solution is presented to the appropriate audience in an appropriate format. A paper is written. A presentation is made. Drawings, illustrations, and graphs are presented.
6. Evaluating: The final step in the Information Literacy strategy involves the critical evaluation of the completion of the task or the new understanding of the concept. Was the problem solved? Was new knowledge found? What could have been done differently? What was done well?

The Big6 skills have been used in a variety of settings to help those with a variety of needs. For example, the library of Dubai Women’s College, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates which is an English as a second language institution, uses the Big6 model for its information literacy workshops. According to Story-Huffman (2009), using Big6 at the college “has transcended cultural and physical boundaries to provide a knowledge base to help students become information literate” (para. 8). In primary grades, Big6 has been found to work well with variety of cognitive and language levels found in the classroom.

Differentiated instruction and the Big6 appear to be made for each other. While it seems as though all children will be on the same Big6 step at the same time during a unit of instruction, there is no reason students cannot work through steps at an individual pace. In addition, the Big 6 process allows for seamless differentiation by interest (Jansen, 2009, p.32).

A number of weaknesses in the Big6 approach have been highlighted by Philip Doty:

This approach is problem-based, is designed to fit into the context of Benjamin Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive objectives, and aims toward the development of critical thinking. While the Big6 approach has a great deal of power, it also has serious weaknesses. Chief among these are the fact that users often lack well-formed statements of information needs, as well as the model’s reliance on problem-solving rhetoric. Often, the need for information and its use are situated in circumstances that are not as well-defined, discrete, and monolithic as problems (Doty, 2003).

Eisenberg (2004) has recognized that there are a number of challenges to effectively applying the Big6 skills, not the least of which is information overload which can overwhelm students. Part of Eisenberg’s solution is for schools to help students become discriminating users of information.

Another conception of information literacy

This conception, used primarily in the library and information studies field, and rooted in the concepts of library instruction and bibliographic instruction, is the ability "to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate and use effectively the needed information" (Presidential Committee on Information Literacy. 1989, p. 1). In this view, information literacy is the basis for life-long learning.

In the publication Information power: Building partnerships for learning (AASL and AECT, 1998), three categories, nine standards, and twenty-nine indicators are used to describe the information literate student. The categories and their standards are as follows:

Category 1: Information Literacy

Standards:

1.The student who is information literate accesses information efficiently and effectively.

2.The student who is information literate evaluates information critically and competently.

3.The student who is information literate uses information accurately and creatively.

Category 2: Independent Learning

Standards:

1.The student who is an independent learner is information literate and pursues information related to personal interests.

2.The student who is an independent learner is information literate and appreciates literature and other creative expressions of information.

3.The student who is an independent learner is information literate and strives for excellence in information seeking and knowledge generation.

Category 3: Social Responsibility

Standards:

1.The student who contributes positively to the learning community and to society is information literate and recognizes the importance of information to a democratic society.

2.The student who contributes positively to the learning community and to society is information literate and practices ethical behavior in regard to information and information technology.

3.The student who contributes positively to the learning community and to society is information literate and participates effectively in groups to pursue and generate information. (AASL and AECT, 1998)

Since information may be presented in a number of formats, the term "information" applies to more than just the printed word. Other literacies such as visual, media, computer, network, and basic literacies are implicit in information literacy.

Many of those who are in most need of information literacy are often amongst those least able to access the information they require:

Minority and at-risk students, illiterate adults, people with English as a second language, and economically disadvantaged people are among those most likely to lack access to the information that can improve their situations. Most are not even aware of the potential help that is available to them. (Presidential Committee on Information Literacy. 1989, para. 7)

As the Presidential Committee report points out, members of these disadvantaged groups are often unaware that libraries can provide them with the access, training and information they need. In Osborne (2004) many libraries around the country are finding numerous ways to reach many of these disadvantaged groups by discovering their needs in their own environments (including prisons) and offering them specific services in the libraries themselves.

The Impact of the Evolution of the Economy

The change from an economy based on labor and capital to one based on information requires information literate workers who will know how to interpret information.

Barner's (1996) study of the new workplace indicates significant changes will take place in the future:

• The work force will become more decentralized
• The work force will become more diverse
• The economy will become more global
• The use of temporary workers will increase

These changes will require that workers possess information literacy skills. The SCANS (1991) report identifies the skills necessary for the workplace of the future. Rather than report to a hierarchical management structure, workers of the future will be required to actively participate in the management of the company and contribute to its success. To survive in this information society, workers will need to possess skills beyond those of reading, writing and arithmetic.

Effect on education

The rapidly evolving information landscape means that education methods and practices must evolve and adapt accordingly. Information literacy must become a key focus of educational institutions at all levels. This requires a commitment to lifelong learning and an ability to seek out and identify innovations that will be needed to keep pace with or outpace changes. Educational methods and practices, within our increasingly information-centric society, must facilitate and enhance a student's ability to harness the power of information. Key to harnessing the power of information is the ability to evaluate information, to ascertain among other things its relevance, authenticity and modernity. The information evaluation process is crucial life skill and a basis for lifelong learning. Evaluation consists of several component processes including metacognition, goals, personal disposition, cognitive development, deliberation, and decision-making. This is both a difficult and complex challenge and underscores the importance of being able to think critically.

Critical thinking is an important educational outcome for students. Education institutions have experimented with several strategies to help foster critical thinking, as a means to enhance information evaluation and information literacy among students. When evaluating evidence, students should be encouraged to practice formal argumentation. Debates and formal presentations must also be encouraged to analyze and critically evaluate information.

Education professionals must underscore the importance of high information quality. Students must be trained to distinguish between fact and opinion. They must be encouraged to use cue words such as "I think" and "I feel" to help distinguish between factual information and opinions. Information related skills that are complex or difficult to comprehend must be broken down into smaller parts. Another approach would be to train students in familiar contexts. Education professionals should encourage students to examine "causes" of behaviors, actions and events. Research shows that people evaluate more effectively if causes are revealed, where available. Such initiatives would aid educators help people become more Information Literate. As a society, we must critically evaluate information to establish a public demand for high information quality.

Because information literacy skills are vital to future success:

• Information literacy skills must be taught in the context of the overall process.
• Instruction in information literacy skills must be integrated into the curriculum and reinforced both within and outside of the educational setting.

Education in the USA

Standards

National content standards, state standards, and information literacy skills terminology may vary, but all have common components relating to information literacy.

Information literacy skills are critical to several of the National Education Goals outlined in the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, particularly in the act's aims to increase "school readiness", "student achievement and citizenship", and "adult literacy and lifelong learning". Of specific relevance are the "focus on lifelong learning, the ability to think critically, and on the use of new and existing information for problem solving", all of which are important components of information literacy.

In 1998, the American Association of School Librarians and the Association for Educational Communications and Technology published "Information Literacy Standards for Student Learning", which identified nine standards that librarians and teachers in K-12 schools could use to describe information literate students and define the relationship of information literacy to independent learning and social responsibility:

• Standard One: The student who is information literate accesses information efficiently and effectively.
• Standard Two: The student who is information literate evaluates information critically and competently.
• Standard Three: The student who is information literate uses information accurately and creatively.
• Standard Four: The student who is an independent learner is information literate and pursues information related to personal interests.
• Standard Five: The student who is an independent learner is information literate and appreciates literature and other creative expressions of information.
• Standard Six: The student who is an independent learner is information literate and strives for excellence in information seeking and knowledge generation.
• Standard Seven: The student who contributes positively to the learning community and to society is information literate and recognizes the importance of information to a democratic society.
• Standard Eight: The student who contributes positively to the learning community and to society is information literate and practices ethical behavior in regard to information and information technology.
• Standard Nine: The student who contributes positively to the learning community and to society is information literate and participates effectively in groups to pursue and generate information.

In 2007 AASL expanded and restructured the standards that school librarians should strive for in their teaching. These were published as "Standards for the 21st Century Learner" and address several literacies: information, technology, visual, textual, and digital. These aspects of literacy were organized within four key goals: that "learners use of skills, resources, & tools" to "inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge"; to "draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge"; to "share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society"; and to "pursue personal and aesthetic growth".

In 2000, the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), released "Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education", describing five standards and numerous performance indicators considered best practices for the implementation and assessment of postsecondary information literacy programs. The five standards are:

• Standard One: The information literate student determines the nature and extent of the information needed.
• Standard Two: The information literate student accesses needed information effectively and efficiently.
• Standard Three: The information literate student evaluates information and its sources critically and incorporates selected information into his or her knowledge base and value system.
• Standard Four: The information literate student, individually or as a member of a group, uses information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose.
• Standard Five: The information literate student understands many of the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information and accesses and uses information ethically and legally.

These standards are meant to span from the simple to more complicated, or in terms of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, from the "lower order" to the "higher order". Lower order skills would involve for instance being able to use an online catalog to find a book relevant to an information need in an academic library. Higher order skills would involve critically evaluating and synthesizing information from multiple sources into a coherent interpretation or argument.

K-12 education restructuring

Educational reform and restructuring make information literacy skills a necessity as students seek to construct their own knowledge and create their own understandings. Today instruction methods have changed drastically from the mostly one-directional teacher-student model, to a more collaborative approach where the students themselves feel empowered. Much of this challenge is now being informed by the American Association of School Librarians that published new standards for student learning in 2007.

Within the K-12 environment, effective curriculum development is vital to imparting Information Literacy skills to students. Given the already heavy load on students, efforts must be made to avoid curriculum overload. Eisenberg strongly recommends adopting a collaborative approach to curriculum development among classroom teachers, librarians, technology teachers, and other educators. Staff must be encouraged to work together to analyze student curriculum needs, develop a broad instruction plan, set information literacy goals, and design specific unit and lesson plans that integrate the information skills and classroom content. These educators can also collaborate on teaching and assessment duties

Educators are selecting various forms of resource-based learning (authentic learning, problem-based learning and work-based learning) to help students focus on the process and to help students learn from the content. Information literacy skills are necessary components of each. Within a school setting, it is very important that a students' specific needs as well as the situational context be kept in mind when selecting topics for integrated information literacy skills instruction The primary goal should be to provide frequent opportunities for students to learn and practice information problem solving. To this extent, it is also vital to facilitate repetition of information seeking actions and behavior. The importance of repetition in information literacy lesson plans cannot be underscored, since we tend to learn through repetition. A students’ proficiency will improve over time if they are afforded regular opportunities to learn and to apply the skills they have learnt.

The process approach to education is requiring new forms of student assessment. Students demonstrate their skills, assess their own learning, and evaluate the processes by which this learning has been achieved by preparing portfolios, learning and research logs, and using rubrics.

Efforts in K-12 education

Information literacy efforts are underway on individual, local, and regional bases.

Many states have either fully adopted AASL [12][13] information literacy standards or have adapted them to suit their needs. States such as Oregon (OSLIS, 2009) [14] increasing rely on these guidelines for curriculum development and setting information literacy goals. Virginia, on the other hand, chose to undertake a comprehensive review, involving all relevant stakeholders and formulate it own guidelines and standards for information literacy. At an international level, two framework documents jointly produced by UNESCO and the IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) developed two framework documents that laid the foundations in helping define the educational role to be played by school libraries: the School library manifesto (1999),.

Another immensely popular approach to imparting information literacy is the Big6 set of skills. Eisenberg claims that the Big6 is the most widely used model in K-12 education. This set of skills seeks to articulate the entire information seeking life cycle. The Big6 is made up of six major stages and two sub-stages under each major stages. It defines the six steps as being: task definition, information seeking strategies, location and access, use of information, synthesis, and evaluation. Such approaches seek to cover the full range of information problem-solving actions that a person would normally undertake, when faced with an information problem or with making a decision based on available resources.

Imaginative Web based information literacy tutorials such as TILT are being created and integrated with curriculum areas, or being used for staff development purposes.

"Library media programs" are fostering information literacy by integrating the presentation of information literacy skills with curriculum at all grade levels. But information literacy efforts are not being limited to the library field, but are also being employed by regional educational consortia.

Efforts in higher education

Information literacy instruction in higher education can take a variety of forms: stand-alone courses or classes, online tutorials, workbooks, course-related instruction, or course-integrated instruction. One attempt in the area of physics was published in 2009.

State-wide university systems and individual colleges and universities are undertaking strategic planning to determine information competencies, to incorporate instruction in information competence throughout the curriculum and to add information competence as a graduation requirement for students. The six regional accreditation boards have added information literacy to their standards, Librarians often are required to teach the concepts of information literacy during "one shot" classroom lectures. There are also credit courses offered by academic librarians to prepare college students to become information literate.

Academic library programs are preparing faculty to facilitate their students' mastery of information literacy skills so that the faculty can in turn provide information literacy learning experiences for the students enrolled in their classes.

Technology

Information Technology is the great enabler. It provides, for those who have access to it, an extension of their powers of perception, comprehension, analysis, thought, concentration, and articulation through a range of activities that include: writing, visual images, mathematics, music, physical movement, sensing the environment, simulation, and communication (Carpenter, 1989, p. 2).

Technology, in all of its various forms, offers users the tools to access, manipulate, transform, evaluate, use, and present information.

Technology in schools includes computers, televisions, video cameras, video editing equipment, and TV studios.

Two approaches to technology in K-12 schools are technology as the object of instruction approach, and technology as the tool of instruction approach.

Schools are starting to incorporate technology skills instruction in the context of information literacy skills. This is called technology information literacy

Technology is changing the way higher education institutions are offering instruction. The use of the Internet is being taught in the contexts of subject area curricula and the overall information literacy process.

There is some empirical indication that students who use technology as a tool may become better at managing information, communicating, and presenting ideas.

Distance education

Now that information literacy has become a part of the core curriculum at many post-secondary institutions, it is incumbent upon the library community to be able to provide information literacy instruction in a variety of formats, including online learning and distance education. The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) addresses this need in its Guidelines for Distance Education Services (2000):

“Library resources and services in institutions of higher education must meet the needs of all their faculty, students, and academic support staff, wherever these individuals are located, whether on a main campus, off campus, in distance education or extended campus programs—or in the absence of a campus at all, in courses taken for credit or non-credit; in continuing education programs; in courses attended in person or by means of electronic transmission; or any other means of distance education.”

Within the e-learning and distance education worlds, providing effective information literacy programs brings together the challenges of both distance librarianship and instruction. With the prevalence of course management systems such as WebCT and Blackboard, library staff are embedding information literacy training within academic programs and within individual classes themselves (Presti, 2002).

See also article on library instruction, considered by some a more general topic.

Information Literacy Assessment Tools

• iCritical Thinking, former variation known as iSkills, and before that ICT Literacy Assessment, from the Educational Testing Service (ETS)
• Standardized Assessment of Information Literacy Skills (Project SAILS) developed and maintained at Kent State University in Ohio
• Information Literacy Test (ILT) developed collaboratively by the James Madison Center for Assessment and Research Studies and JMU libraries
• Research Readiness Self-Assessment (RRSA) from Central Michigan University originally designed by Lana V. Ivanitskaya, Ph.D. and Anne Marie Casey, A.M.L.S. and developed in collaboration with many of their colleagues.
• More Assessments of Information Literacy
• WASSAIL, an open-source assessment platform for storing questions and answers, producing tests, and generating reports.

Notes

References

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Barner, R. (1996, March/April). Seven changes that will challenge managers-and workers. The Futurist, 30(2), 14-18.

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Carpenter, J. P. (1989). Using the new technologies to create links between schools throughout the world: Colloquy on computerized school links. (Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom, 17–20 October 1988).

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Eisenberg, M., Lowe, C., & Spitzer, K. (2004). Information Literacy: Essential Skills for the Information Age. 2nd. edition. Libraries Unlimited.

Grassian, E. (2004) Information Literacy: Building on Bibliographic Instruction. American Libraries, 35(9), 51-53.

National Commission of Excellence in Education. (1983). A Nation at risk: The imperative for educational reform. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. (ED 226 006)

National Hispanic Council on Aging. (nd). Mission statement. Retrieved July 13, 2009, from National Forum on Information Literacy Web site.

Obama, B. (2009). Presidential Proclamation: National Information Literacy Awareness Month, 2009. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved October 27, 2009 from http://www.whitehouse.gov/assets/documents/2009literacy_prc_rel.pdf

Osborne, R. (Ed.). (2004). From outreach to equity: Innovative models of library policy and practice. Chicago: American Library Association.

Presti, P. (2002). Incorporating information literacy and distance learning within a course management system: a case study. Ypsilanti, MI: Loex News, (29)2-3, 3-12-13. Retrieved February 3, 2004 from http://www.emich.edu/public/loex/news/ln290202.pdf

Ryan, J., & Capra, S. (2001). Information literacy toolkit. Chicago: American Library Association.

Schwarzenneger, S. (2009). Executive order S-06-09. Sacramento, CA. Retrieved October 27, 2009 from http://gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=12393

SCONUL. (2007). The Seven Pillars of Information Literacy model. Retrieved November 3, 2010 from http://www.sconul.ac.uk/groups/information_literacy/sp/model.html

Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills.