The document discusses information literacy and its importance in social science research. It describes a workshop conducted by Delhi University Library System (DULS) to promote information literacy among university students and faculty. The workshop aimed to acquaint participants with using internet resources, subscribed databases, and search techniques for academic pursuits and research in social sciences. It covered topics like important e-resources, orientation to databases, and hands-on practice. The overall goal was to help users effectively evaluate, organize and communicate information as needed for research.

1. Mohit Kumar
Senior Research Fellow
Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute
Pusa New Delhi

2. Historically the term information literacy was first used in print by Paul G.
Zurkowski in 1974 in a report written on behalf of the National Commission
on Libraries and Information Science. The phrase was used 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". Although other educational
goals, including traditional literacy, computer literacy, library skills, and
critical thinking skills, are related to information literacy and important
foundations for its development, information literacy itself has emerged as a
distinct skill set and a necessary key to one's social and economic well-being
in an increasingly complex information society".

3. 


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 have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use
effectively the needed information"
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."
The Western Michigan University Libraries define the term as
"Information Literacy is the ability to identify, retrieve, evaluate, and
use information that is appropriate to a need. Students who develop
information literacy skills will be more successful in their studies and
their daily lives. They will find that these skills are an essential element
in becoming a lifelong learner."

4. 




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.

5. 

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.

6. Recognize the need for information
 Know how to access information
 Understand how to evaluate information
 Know how to synthesize information
 Be able to communicate information with rest of the world


7. The characteristics are primarily intended to help those who
are interested in developing, assessing, and improving
information literacy programs. This audience includes faculty,
librarians, administrators, and technology professionals, as
well as others involved in information literacy programming at
a particular institution.
 Individuals involved with information literacy programming
are encouraged to use the characteristics in a variety of ways.
These characteristics both present and represent a set of ideas
that can be used when establishing, developing, advancing,
revitalizing, or assessing an information literacy program.


8. 
Category 1: Mission

A mission statement for an information literacy program:
Includes a definition of information literacy;
Is consistent with the “ACRL Information Literacy Competency
Standards for Higher Education”;
Aligns with the library’s mission statement to correspond with
the larger mission statement of the institution;
Adheres to the format of campus strategic documents;
Incorporates the institutional stakeholders, clearly reflecting their
contributions and the expected benefits;
Appears in appropriate institutional documents; and
Promotes relevant lifelong learning and professional
development








9.  Goals
and objectives for an information literacy program:
 Are consistent with the mission, goals, and objectives
of the library and the institution;
 Establish measurable outcomes for evaluation of the
program;
 Accommodate input from institutional stakeholders;
 Clearly present the integration of information literacy
across the curriculum for students’ academic pursuits and
effective lifelong learning.
 Accommodate sequential growth of students’ skills and
understanding throughout their education,
 Take into account all learners served by or connected to the
institution, regardless of delivery systems or location

10. 

Planning for an information literacy program:
Articulates and develops mechanisms to implement and/or adapt
components of the best practices listed in this document (as needed):
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦



mission
goals and objectives
administration and institutional support
articulation (program sequence) with the curriculum
collaboration
pedagogy
staffing
outreach
Assessment/evaluation.
Addresses current opportunities and challenges.
Is tied to library, institutional, and information technology planning and
budgeting cycles.
Incorporates findings from environmental scans.

11. 





Accommodates the level of the program, department, and
institution.
Addresses and prioritizes human, technological and financial
resources (both current and projected), taking into account
administrative and institutional support.
Encourages librarian, faculty, and administrator collaboration at the
outset.
Enables librarians to take on leadership roles that will extend
beyond the planning stages.
Includes a program for training and development,
Provides a timeline for systematic revision

12. 






Administration within an institution:
Assigns information literacy leadership and responsibilities to
appropriate librarians, faculty, and staff.
Incorporates information literacy in the institution’s
mission, strategic plan, policies, and procedures.
Provides funding to establish and ensure ongoing support for :
◦
◦
◦
◦
teaching facilities
current and appropriate technologies
appropriate staffing levels
Professional development opportunities.
Recognizes and encourages collaboration,
Communicates support for the program.
Rewards individual and institutional achievement and
participation in the information literacy program

13. Articulation with the curriculum for an information
literacy program:
 Identifies the scope (i.e., depth and complexity) of competencies
to be acquired on a disciplinary level as well as at the course
level.
 Sequences and integrates competencies throughout a student’s
academic career, progressing in sophistication.
 Emphasizes learner-centered learning, .
 Is formalized and widely disseminated.
 Uses local governance structures to advocate for and ensure
institution-wide integration into academic or vocational
programs.
 Specifies programs and courses charged with implementing
competencies.

14. 





Fosters communication among disciplinary faculty, librarians,
other instructors (e.g., teaching assistants), administrators, and
other staff within the institution.
Focuses on enhancing student learning and skill development for
lifelong learning.
Communicates effectively with faculty, librarians, other
instructors, administrators, and additional staff members to gain
support for the program within the academic community.
Aligns information literacy with disciplinary content.
Works within the context of the course content, and other
learning experiences, to achieve information literacy outcomes.
Takes place at different stages: planning, delivery, assessment of
student learning, and evaluation and refinement of the program

15. Pedagogy for an information literacy program:
 Supports diverse approaches to teaching and learning.
 Is suitable to the type of instruction (e.g., one-shot, dedicated course).
 Takes into account diverse teaching and learning styles.
 Incorporates and uses relevant and appropriate information technology
and other media resources to support pedagogy.
 Advances learning through collaborative and experiential-learning
activities.
 Promotes critical thinking, reflection, and recursive learning.
 Builds on learners’ existing knowledge, course assignments, and career
goals.
 Contextualizes information literacy within ongoing coursework
appropriate to the academic program and course level.
 Prepares students for independent lifelong learning.

16. Staff for an information literacy program:
 Includes librarians, library staff, administrators, program coordinators,
instructional technologists, as well as disciplinary faculty, graphic designers,
teaching/learning specialists, and other program staff as needed.
 Endeavors to work collaboratively with others and support each other’s
learning development.
 Are knowledgeable in instruction/teaching, curriculum development, and
assessment of student learning.
 Garner expertise in developing, coordinating, implementing, evaluating, and
revising information literacy programs.
 Exemplify and advocate for information literacy and lifelong learning.
 Engage in professional development and training.
 Are adequate in number to support the program’s mission and workload.
 Receive regular evaluations about the quality of their contributions to the
program and areas for improvement

17. 
Delhi University Library System (DULS) comprising of more
then 34 libraries in its fold, caters to the information needs of
entire University community. In addition to the e-resources
available through UGC-Infonet, DULS also subscribes a good
number of e-resources. Besides, it also promotes prominent
public domain e-resources available free of cost through its
website: http://crl.du.ac.in/.

18. 








To acquaint the users with the academic power of Internet;
To provide an indication as to what is there on Internet related to the
area of study and research.
To show how web resources could be of immense use in their academic
pursuit and research;
To show the usefulness of various multimedia resources on web in
Social Science Research.
To promote the use of subscribed databases in academics and research;
To describe specific features of various databases being subscribed by
DULS;
To acquaint the users with the use of various search techniques to
retrieve relevant information;
To recognize the need for information, and to
evaluate, organize, interpret, and communicate information in all its
formats;

19. The presentation mainly described the following aspects.
 Internet and Academic Research in Social Sciences.
 Electronic Information Sources in Social Sciences.
 Importance of subscribed databases
 Role of e-resources in Social Science Research.
 Orientation to subscribed databases
 Practical exposure


20. 



http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/charannot
http://crl.du.ac.in/Information%20Literacy%20and%20Competency%20De
velopment%20Programme.htm
http://crl.du.ac.in/ot/
Majumdar, S and Singh, Rajesh, Information Literacy Program for Social
Sciences: A workshop Report, pp.1-15.