ALIA Information Literacy Forum

Exploring information literacy meaning

Monday 8 September 2003

My approach to information literacy is that it is analogous to literacy. In that area we talk about basic skills which can be measured (which may or not be a good thing). So for example a real world literacy skill is the ability to read a bus timetable. Therefore a corresponding example of information literacy is someone who can find the capital of Liberia. We need to define the basic skills necessary to perform this task.

Information literacy is already embedded in the primary education sector, as well as the secondary and tertiary sectors. Workplace information skills are merely an extension of basic skills and may be specialised for a particular area but the basic skills must first be acquired.

Reg Mu Sung

Leslie, your comments on communities of practice ring a bell for me and are a strong focus on the research I am currently conducting. Within the workplace being information literate is not just being able to access information using text or electronic sources. It is also being able to identify non-textual sources of information and evaluate those sources. This is where 'others' within the community become important as information mediators who are able to assist the information access process within workplaces. Through their engagement with others, emerging practitioners are able to construct mental maps about the paths, nodes and edges of the information environment; where and with whom information lies, and the most efficient ways to access it. This is an incremental process and occurs over-time.

You comment about your student asking 'what's in it for me?' is also very familiar. Many of the participants of the research indicate that when they enter the workplace they have to learn a different set of skills and strategies for information access, with the ability to communicate an information need and to use others as primary sources an important focus. In this respect information seeking becomes a verbal activity and the act of evaluating information and information sources has to take into account value judgements about the credibility of people as information sources. This is often influenced by others within the community of practice, in this respect information access is also becomes an issue of power.

Anne Lloyd