National Forum on Information Literacy's 20th anniversary celebration, honoring Dr. Patricia Senn Breivik and her legacy. October 2009

1. 20 years
1989-2009

3. “ The ability of our citizenry to learn how to learn by
accessing, evaluating and using information effectively is
critical to our success as a democracy and forward looking
civilization. For over two decades Dr. Patricia Senn Breivik
has been at the forefront of championing the need for
students and graduates to learn how knowledge is
organized, how to find information and how to use
information so that others can learn from them. In my view,
Dr. Breivik is modern information literacy’s Horace Mann.”
William L. Bainbridge, Ph.D., FACFE
Distinguished Research Professor
SchoolMatch Institute
UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON

4. Patricia Breivik conceived and nurtured the National Forum
on Information Literacy with careful attention to the core
issues of information literacy and the central needs of
members of the Forum. Her intellectual guidance, vitality, and
perseverance, the same characteristics that marked all her
professional endeavors, have influenced the work of people
across the United States, and through her work with
UNESCO, around the world.
Thank you, Patricia, for your professional leadership and your
personal warmth and integrity. Your colleagues and friends
are richer in mind and spirit from knowing you.
Barbara Cambridge
Director
National Council for Teachers of English

5. Once upon a time there was a little girl who saw an old photograph of a
massive building with children lined up waiting to go inside. Mommy,
Mommy what is that big building in the picture that everyone wants to go
in? That's a library, Honey. What's a library? That's where all the
answers are. Patricia was captivated. When I grow up, she thought, I
want to help people find answers! And, grow up she did. Patricia became
a tall, elegant woman, with her beautiful hair piled up on top of her head
and a heart as big as all the answers in that library. She not only helped
people find answers but she also helped build a massive building that
held answers for a city and a university! She also worked with others
who, like her, wanted to help people find answers. They called
themselves the National Forum. Patricia made many friends along the
way and generously provided tireless leadership for 20 years never once
forgetting the children lined up in the photograph so many years ago
who wanted to find answers. –
Jill Cody
Chair of the Department of Recreation
and Leisure Studies
San Jose State University

6. The Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) joins the
international information literacy community in celebrating Patricia Breivik's
many years of service, dedication, and accomplishment. Within the higher
education community, and, especially within ACRL, Patricia is revered as
the "Queen Mother" of information literacy-"stately and wise"--who
fearlessly championed information literacy as a curricular reform long
before it was popular As the 57th president ACRL, Patricia established the
Council of Liaisons, an enduring legacy that has enabled the association to
more effectively advocate for libraries and librarians within the higher
education environment. Patricia became a librarian to "make a difference
for the better in peoples' lives." Thanks to her commitment, passion, and
purpose, her vision lives on in ACRL where we work to ensure that all
academic and research librarians be seen as "indispensable in advancing
learning and scholarship."
Mary Ellen Davis
Association of College
and Research Libraries (ACRL)

7. Patricia Breivik is a force of nature. Happily, she chose to devote
her considerable talent and energies to the cause of information
literacy. Of her many stellar contributions I would point singularly
to her ability to make information literacy a societal issue, bringing
the background and experience of elementary and secondary
school teacher-librarians to the world of academic librarianship
and taking the case to school and academic administrators and
beyond, to the business and corporate communities. She is an
effective advocate, building relationships and forging partnerships
while connecting educational and political agendas. I admire her
and salute her.
Ken Haycock, Professor and Director
San Jose School of
Library and Information Science

8. The jury is in! Reports from many segments of the community – education, workforce,
public policy – in the United States and around the world – are coming to the same
conclusions about the importance of an information literate society, able to find,
evaluate and use information effectively. Workforce executives, political leaders, and
educators are all converging in their views. Information literacy, and all its associated
critical thinking, communication, and technology competencies, is now widely
recognized as a critical component of:
A democratic society
A knowledge economy
A 21st century workforce
Globalization
Lifelong learning
Instant information gratification combined with the glut of raw, unfiltered, non
authoritative, biased, and questionable information readily available and mixed in with
quality information, forces the information consumer to make intelligent choices.
The vision and pioneering efforts of Patricia Senn Breivik moved the conversation about
information literacy out of the realm of libraries and higher education and placed it firmly
on the agendas of business and civic leaders. The National Forum on Information
Literacy (NFIL) has been the vehicle for that public conversation, in the United States,
and more recently, around the world.
Congratulations and thank you to both NFIL and to Dr. Breivik for their leadership and
dedication to, as it is called in the Alexandria Proclamation, “this basic human right.”
Patricia Iannuzzi
Dean of Libraries
University of Nevada at Las Vegas

9. The National Forum on Information Literacy has made an
important contribution to the national dialogue on what it means
to be prepared for the 21st century. While giving stature to
information literacy, the forum has never taken its eye off social
justice and equity issues. This is due in no small measure to the
outstanding leadership of Dr. Patricia Senn Breivik. Her
contributions to school library media programs have transformed
how students master information technology. The National
Education Association applauds the National Forum on
Information Literacy on its 20th anniversary.
John I. Wilson
Executive Director
NEA

10. Long before others did, Patricia Senn Breivik understood the
integral role of information literacy in all aspects of
life. Individuals who develop and cultivate their information
literacy throughout their lives have the tools they need to
succeed in the increasingly competitive global marketplace
and to discern value amid ubiquitous media cacophony. The
worldwide economic crisis has demonstrated the necessity
of lifelong learning and its foundation, information literacy, in
an ever changing and challenging world.
Jim Rettig
University Librarian
Richmond University
Immediate Past President, ALA

11. On behalf of the American Association of School Librarians
(AASL), I would like to congratulate the National Forum on
Information Literacy (NFIL) on twenty years of successful
outreach on behalf of the information literacy movement. Under
the leadership of Patricia Senn Breivik, the movement expanded
beyond education and became part of government, business and
public conversations. Because of this, to be information literate
has become an everyday expectation of students, workers and
consumers. Our best wishes to both Patricia and NFIL.
Julie A. Walker
Executive Director
American Association
of School Librarians (AASL)

12. Helping to establish new professional societies and related kinds of associations is
perhaps one of the most difficult, frustrating, and demanding tasks that I have ever
attempted in the course of my own professional life. I know first-hand the long hours,
attention to detail, hand-holding, and other responsibilities which the organizers, and
then the officers that come after them, must face 24/7, 52 weeks of the year. The
stream of tasks never seems to end - - they are with you at night when you turn out
the lights, and with you in the morning when the rooster crows! Patricia Senn Breivik
faced up to those never-ending duties with patience, perseverance, tact, diplomacy,
charm and astonishing people and organizational skills, and, as a result, the National
Forum has been an enormous success, and has even served as a role model for
several other similar organizations around the world. Shunning the spotlight herself,
she has always gone the extra mile to make sure those around her, serving in helping
and supportive roles, felt appreciated, important, and involved as key players. While
the Forum’s annual meeting programs, and its involvement in both national and
international conferences, all have been critical to the advancement of the information
literacy concept worldwide, above all else, the most memorable experience for me
was just working side by side with her, and hoping that maybe just a few of those
outstanding skills and capabilities might rub off a little!
F. Woody Horton
Information Management Consultant

13. Bold, visionary, passionate, inclusive, successful. These powerful words capture the essence of
Patricia Senn Breivik and the National Forum on Information Literacy that she created. Back in
the 1980s, Patricia did not simply glimpse the future, she knew, with every fiber, the nature and
importance of information. Information literacy went far beyond simply locating items in a library,
and her definition of information literacy endorsed by the American Library Association in 1989 is
as relevant today as it was then. This is extraordinary when you realize that this work precedes
two of the most profound information systems developments of the 20th Century: the Internet
explosion and the invention of the World Wide Web! And, with this forward-looking definition in
hand, Patricia brought together the widest possible range of people—thinkers and writers,
librarians and educators, business people and policy makers—in a National Forum to champion
information literacy and to infuse its elements into all aspects of human endeavor. This year—
2009—we can step back and recognize all that’s been accomplished. Information literacy is now
widely accepted as essential for all people. It’s not just one of many literacies, it’s at the center of
all. And the single most important person in making this happen is Patricia Senn Breivik and the
single most important organization is the National Forum on Information Literacy. The
Presidential Proclamation of National Information Literacy Awareness Month is a most fitting
recognition to both Patricia and NFIL. I salute you.
Mike Eisenberg
Dean Emeritus
University of Washington Information
School