Information Literacy Toolkit

The information literacy connection

Information literacy is more than personal processes, skills and lifelong learning. It is also about using information for social responsibility.

Information literate people:

• "engage in independent learning through constructing new meaning, understanding and knowledge;
• derive satisfaction and personal fulfilment from using information wisely;
• individually and collectively search for and use information for decision making and problem solving in order to address personal, professional and societal issues; and
• demonstrate social responsibility through a commitment to lifelong learning and community participation."

Australian and New Zealand Institute for Information Literacy and Council of Australian University Librarians (2003). Australian and New Zealand information literacy framework. Principles, standards and practice . Adelaide, Australian and New Zealand Institute for Information Literacy.
Retrieved from the World Wide Web 24 October, 2006:
http://www.caul.edu.au/info-literacy/InfoLiteracyFramework.pdf

The information literate person

• "recognises the need for information and determines the nature and extent of the information needed;
• finds needed information effectively and efficiently;
• critically evaluates information and the information seeking process;
• manages information collected or generated;
• applies prior and new information to construct new concepts or create new understandings; and
• uses information with understanding and acknowledges cultural, ethical, economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information."

Australian and New Zealand Institute for Information Literacy and Council of Australian University Librarians (2003). Australian and New Zealand information literacy framework. Principles, standards and practice . Adelaide, Australian and New Zealand Institute for Information Literacy.
Retrieved from the World Wide Web 24 October, 2006:
http:// www.caul.edu.au/info-literacy/InfoLiteracyFramework.pdf

Information literacy:

"...is a means of personal empowerment. It allows people to verify or refute expert opinion and to become independent seekers of truth. It provides them with the ability to build their own arguments and to experience the excitement of the search for knowledge. It not only prepares them for lifelong learning; but, by experiencing the excitement of their own successful quests for knowledge, it also creates in young people the motivation for pursuing learning throughout their lives."

American Library Association Presidential Committee on Information Literacy. (1989). Final Report . Chicago: American Library Association, p. 2.
Retrieved from the World Wide Web 24 October, 2006:
http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/whitepaper/presidential.htm

Did you know:

• that many students use web search engines as their first strategy in finding information?
• that students regard the web as a good way of finding out a range of perspectives on a topic?
• that some students search to back up an existing argument while others explore the topic and develop an argument as they search?
• students regard evidence as statistics, facts, figures, opinions, ideas, perspectives?

Lupton, M. (2004). The Learning Connection . Adelaide: AusLib Press

 

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