1. LIB 601 Libraries and Learning
Fall 2010
Information
Literacy:
What Is It?
Finding a way
through the
word maze

2. 2
Information Literacy
information literacy (IL)
• Skill in finding the information one
needs, including an understanding of
how libraries are organized,
familiarity with the resources they
provide (including information
formats and automated search tools),
and knowledge of commonly used
research techniques.
• ODLIS
October 3, 2010 Information Literacy

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What is Information Literacy?
And why should I care?
• Information literacy skills are skills you will
need through your life. We are always seeking
information. . . . Information helps us reach
conclusions, make our choices, and
communicate more effectively. But the good
stuff is often buried in heaps of junk. We need
to continue to improve our searching,
evaluating and communication skills in a
changing information environment.
• Remember computer literacy is not
information literacy. For a comparison, read
this article.
• http://www.sdst.org/shs/library/infolit.html
Information Literacy

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 Why teach information literacy?
• Information literacy and communications
skills are vital to the present and future
success of our students.
• At least a decade of research has shown
that teaching information literacy skills in
the context of the content curriculum (and
a strong library program -) is the greatest
predictor of student success and
achievement. (Source)
• More . . .
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Another concept
What is Information Competence?
• information competence, at heart, is the
ability to find, evaluate, use, and
communicate information in all of its
various formats.
• the fusing or the integration of library
literacy, computer literacy, media
literacy, technological literacy, ethics,
critical thinking, and communication
skills.
• http://hcom.csumb.edu/infocomp/aboutic/
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Literacy, Competence or Competency?
Information literacy
• also known as information competence or
information competency is a set of skills
that helps students sift through the mass
of information now available to them in
order to locate and retrieve what is
relevant and reliable for their research
needs.
• Simply put, an information literate
student understands how to find, retrieve,
analyze, and use information
effectively.[1]
• Teaching Information Literacy at Pasadena City College
October 3, 2010 Information Literacy

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Adding to the confusion of terms!
 Several other terms and combinations of
terms have been also used by different
authors:
• ‗infoliteracy‘, ‗informacy‘, ‗information
empowerment‘, ‗information competence‘,
‗information competency‘, ‗information
competencies‘, ‗information literacy skills‘,
‗information literacy and skills‘, ‗skills of
information literacy‘, ‗information literacy
Sirje Virkus
competence‘, ‗information literacy
competencies‘, ‗information competence skills‘,
‗information handling skills‘, ‗information
problem solving‘, ‗information problem solving
skills‘, ‗information fluency‘, ‗information
mediacy‘ and even ‗information mastery‘
• Sirje Virkus: ―Information literacy in Europe: a
literature review‖
Information Research, Vol. 8 No. 4, July 2003
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Now also as Information Literacies
Why the plural?
• The use of the term ―information
literacies‖ emphasizes the complexity
and multiplicity of skills and
strategies involved in finding and
using information.
Dr. Dianne Oberg • Dianne Oberg: “Promoting Information
Literacies: A Focus on Inquiry.‖ 70th IFLA
General Conference and Council, 22-27 August
2004, Buenos Aires, Argentina
http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla70/papers/088e-Oberg.pdf
October 3, 2010

9. A related term often used outside library media 9
circles
Inquiry-based learning

• We learn best when we are at the center
of our own learning. Inquiry-based
learning is a learning process through
questions generated from the interests,
curiosities, and perspectives/experiences
of the learner. When investigations grow
from our own questions, curiosities, and
experiences, learning is an organic and
motivating process that is intrinsically
enjoyable.
•
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Project, Problem, and Inquiry-based Learning
Explore the Approaches
• Project-based learning, problem-
based learning, and inquiry-based
learning all three closely relate to the
information processing approach.
They all fit well with technology-rich
learning environments where the
focus is not on the hardware and
software, but on the learning
experience.
• Project, Problem, and Inquiry-based
Learning
http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic43.htm
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Another Related Term
 Resource-Based Learning
• Resource-based learning actively
involves students, teachers and teacher-
librarians in the effective use of a wide
range of print, non print and human
resources . . . Students who use a wide
range of resources in various mediums
for learning have the opportunity to
approach a theme, issue or topic of study
in ways which allow for a range of
learning styles and access to the theme
or topic via cognitive or affective
appeals. More
• Resource-Based Learning: Approaches
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Yet another related term
Lifelong learning
• Lifelong learning is the process of acquiring
and expanding knowledge, skills, and
dispositions throughout your life to foster
well-being. It isn't about taking an adult
pottery class or reading a nonfiction book
occasionally. It's about the decisions you
make and the problems you solve in
everyday life. From enrolling in an
structured, formal education program to
considering whether to believe an
infomercial's gimmick, lifelong learning
takes many forms.
October 3, 2010 Information Literacy

13. The new emphasis from 13
AASL
21st Century Skills
Rights and permission on the use of the learning standards
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21st Century Skills
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AKA
21st Century Literacies
• 21st Century Literacies refer to the skills
This page was last
updated July 8,
needed to flourish in today's society and in the
2002 future. Today discrete disciplines have
This resource was
created orginally emerged around information, media,
for the publication
"Managing
multicultural, and visual literacies. It is the
Information in a
Digital Age" by
combination of literacies that can better help
teachers at Seeds K-12 students and adult learners address and
University
Elementary School, solve the issues that confront them.
UCLA • http://www.kn.sbc.com/wired/21stcent/index.html
For more
information,
contact Sharon
Sutton October 3, 2010 Information Literacy

16. 16
Partnership for 21st Century Skills

17. How do we put it all together?
Use the school library media center!
17

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Evidence for the benefits
 Student Learning through Ohio
School Libraries (2004)
• Students appear to indicate that the school library –
not as a passive supply agency, but as an instructional
agency – helps them substantially in their learning.
• What is clearly perceived to be of help is the library’s
part in engaging students in an active process of
building their own understanding and knowledge –
the library as an agency for active learning.
• Review of the Findings
Powerpoint
presentation.
• Researchers:
Dr. Ross Todd and
Dr. Carol Kuhlthau, Rutgers
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Keith Curry Lance
What Research Tells Us About the
Importance of School Libraries
• At this point . . . there is a clear consensus in
the results now [2002] available for eight
states*: School libraries are a powerful force
in the lives of America's children. The school
library is one of the few factors whose
contribution to academic achievement has
been documented empirically, and it is a
contribution that cannot be explained away
by other powerful influences on student
performance.
• White House Conference on School Libraries
• *15 states—see
Now, 19 states with Indiana 2007

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A European view
 School Library and School Librarianship
• The stream of information from TV channels,
Internet, CD-ROMs, computer programmes
etc. is unending. If the students, when they
become adult citizens, are not to feel lost and
helpless in the face of such rich sources of
information, they must learn [to] devise
personal strategies for information retrieval
while they are still at school. Information
Literacy and ―strategies for independent
learning skill development‖ are key
components of any school library.
• From a White Paper by Gert Larsen, School Library
Advisor, Albertslund, Denmark, p. 7
• Part of Project GrandSlam - General Research and New
Development in School Libraries As Multimedia Learning
Centres (see project website http://www.gslam.net )

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The Key Concept?
 Competence and comfort with information and
information sources
• Information literacy is the solution to Data Smog.
It allows us to cope by giving us the skills to know
when we need information and where to locate it
effectively and efficiently. It includes the
technological skills needed to use the modern
library as a gateway to information. It enables us
to analyze and evaluate the information we find,
thus giving us confidence in using that information
to make a decision or create a product.
• Introduction to Information Literacy, Association for College
and Research Libraries (a division of the American Library
Association)
October 3, 2010 Information Literacy