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What is Information Literacy?
Information literacy is a set of abilities requiring individuals to "recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information." 1
Why is Information Literacy Important?
Contemporary Environment of Rapid Technological Change and Proliferating Information Resources. Today's information environment is increasingly complex. There is a vast amount of information available through books, journals, broadcast media, and the Internet, but the quality and reliability of the information varies. People need information literacy skills to effectively find, select, evaluate, and use information.
Carnegie Mellon Needs. From faculty to administrators to students, the Carnegie Mellon community realizes the importance of information literacy. Faculty increasingly request librarian-lead classes on how to locate and evaluate information; administrators provide support for campus-wide information literacy programs; and students also are looking for resources in addition to just searching Google.
Accreditation Agency Requirement. Carnegie Mellon University's accreditation agency, Middle States Commission on Higher Education, published its updated standards for accreditation in 2002. The new standards clearly state that "information literacy is vital to all disciplines and to effective teaching and learning in any institution. Institutions of higher education need to provide students and instructors with the knowledge, skills, and tools to obtain information in many formats and media in order to identify, retrieve, and apply relevant and valid knowledge and information resources to their study, teaching, or research." 2
Who is Responsible for Information Literacy?
To improve students' information literacy skills, the whole campus community needs to be involved.
Administrator: Provides budget, staff time, etc. to support information literacy.
Faculty: Embeds information literacy components in curriculum and teach information literacy skills in class.
Librarian: Provides library tours, instruction sessions; create tutorials, both general and course oriented; create resource list for specific subject areas or specific course; helps faculty identify information literacy components in curriculum, creates and assesses effective research assignments.
Information Literacy Standards
The information literate student:
- determines the nature and extent of the information needed.
- accesses needed information effectively and efficiently.
- evaluates information and its sources critically and incorporates selected information into his or her knowledge base and value system.
- individually or as a member of a group, uses information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose.
- understands many of the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information and accesses and uses information ethically and legally.3
- American Library Association. Presidential Committee on Information Literacy. Final Report.(Chicago: American Library Association, 1989).
- Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Characteristics of excellence in higher education: eligibility requirements and standards for accreditation. (Philadelphia: Middle States Commission on Higher Education, 2002).
- Association of College and Research Libraries. Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. (Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2000).
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