What is Information Literacy?

It doesn’t take much observation of teenagers to recognize that they feel comfortable with technology. They can text, update their MySpace page, and download songs to their I-Pod in a flash.

What is a bit more surprising, researchers are finding, is that these same students struggle when faced with using a search engine to find a reliable website, or determining the validity of a web site, or navigating through search results. In fact, studies show that, “today’s undergraduates are generally far less prepared to do research than were students of earlier generations, despite their familiarity with powerful new information-gathering tools” (Breivik).

Technology has become an integral part of our daily lives and a necessity in the business and economic work force. Today’s work environment requires employees to be able to manage large amounts of information in order to maintain a “strategic advantage in today’s global market” (Breivik). With such rapid changes in technology, teachers and educators are beginning to realize that, while students may be familiar with technology, they are not proficient at learning how to use it. In other words, today’s youth are not information literate.

In January of 1989, the ALA Presidential Committee on Information Literacy offered this definition of the term: “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” (Leininger). Essentially, information literate people have learned how to learn. (If you're interested in what exactly students are expected to be able to do, you can check out the standards here.) They also concluded that information literacy is a learned skill—a skill which are becoming “more and more important in our jobs as well as our daily lives” (Leininger).

Recognizing the importance of information literacy isn’t enough. A major problem is arising. Technology develops, but our academic curriculum isn’t aligning itself to meet these changing needs. In other words, today’s students aren’t receiving the direct instruction they need to become information literate and consequently, successful in a technology-rich world.

While teachers may assign research projects and librarians may teach students how to navigate the library catalog and locate a book on the shelf, no educator takes direct responsibility for teaching students how to evaluate, locate and judge the material they find online. This isn’t to say they don’t try, but with the ever-present pressures of standardized testing and curriculum alignment, there often isn’t time to present students with the instruction that they need.

Businesses and higher education have begun to recognize the importance of ascertaining a candidate’s information literacy before making decisions and hiring judgments. As a result, the Prinction-based educational Testing Service, who also creates the SAT and ACT exams, has begun creating tests designed to “grade students’ knowledge of the cyber world” (Heyboer). Their initial test results show were “shocking [because] students did not perform well.” They view the preliminary results of these tests as “a warning flag…and a cry for action” (Heyboer).

While we might not be preparing to enter the collegiate world or pursue and international banking career, having sound informational literacy skills can benefit us in our personal lives. Not only can we better improve our own ability to interact with and utilize technology, but we can make sure our children are gaining the skills they need to succeed. Being able to speak the language and reinforce what your children are learning in school can have a powerful effect.

Have you been looking for a new home? Comparing the safety ratings of car before making a new purchase? Contemplating the advantages of one car seat over another? Looking for reliable information on a political candidate and their policies? Helping a youngster learn about whale sharks for homework? Learning about a newly diagnosed medical condition? Whatever your informational need, strong informational literacy skills can help.

The purpose of this little blog mini-series is to help you become familiar with some of these skills, so that you can apply them to you and your family’s lives. In the upcoming posts we’ll learn how to improve our internet search quests, evaluate the information we find, protect ourselves from internet hazards, and find some valuable resources of information. Make sure to come back to learn more!

Leininger, Michele. Information Literacy and Public Libraries Retrieved May 3, 2007 from http://www.webjunction.org

Breivik, Patricia Senn. (2005) 21st Century Learning and Information Literacy Change 37(2) 20-28.

Heyboer, Kelly. (2007) Tech-savvy kids? New test shows shortcomings in cyber literacy. http://www.ets.org/ictliteracy/demo.html