White Paper on The Information Literacy Imperative

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White Paper on the
Information Literacy Imperative

"Now knowledge, - not minerals or agricultural products or manufactured goods, is this country's most precious commodity, and people who are information literate - who know how to acquire knowledge and use it - are America's most valuable resource."
- American Library Association report, 1989

This statement from the ALA's 1989 seminal report on information literacy foreshadowed the emergence of a new economy run by "knowledge workers."

"Knowledge workers" are employees who gather, analyze, and disseminate data, from a technician using an expert system to repair an elevator, to a highly educated scientist doing research in a laboratory. Knowledge workers are in almost every industry. Some of the most apparent are the computer, telecommunications, education, medicine, and financial services fields.

Persons who lack the skills of the information economy are already having trouble keeping and getting jobs, and are often underemployed, according to a report from the Commission for Labor Cooperation. America's educational system has not changed fast enough to help meet the employment needs of the new economy. Over 80% of tomorrow's jobs will require skills in effectively using information. As a recent Ohio labor report notes, only 20% of the high school graduates in the Ohio work force have the necessary information literacy skills to fill these new jobs. (Judy, 1999)

The need to launch a nationwide information literacy program to train workers for tomorrow's jobs has been understood by government leaders, educators, and information specialists with increasing urgency ever since the ALA Presidential Committee on Information Literacy issued its report in 1989. The ALA report states, "To be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and to have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information." Much has been written since 1989 about information literacy, but no one has formulated a significantly different definition from the original ALA definition.

In the early 1990's, the concept of information literacy was confused with computer literacy by the general public and labeled as largely an exercise in public relations by a small minority in the library profession.

However, computer literacy today is no longer the badge of merit of the technologically advanced because the term has come to imply the rote knowledge of basic computer skills, word processing programs, and email. With the explosion of the World Wide Web, e-commerce, and dot.coms, critics of the information literacy movement have fallen silent. At this time, educators are discussing the content and the implementation of information literacy programs. They no longer have to sell the concept to doubtful colleagues.

Accrediting associations, library organizations, schools and higher education institutions have collaborated in the last decade to develop a set of standards for information literacy. The Association of College and Research Libraries has identified the following list of six generally accepted indicators of an information literate individual.

Such an individual should be able to:

Determine the extent of information needed
Access the needed information effectively and efficiently
Evaluate information and its sources critically
Incorporate selected information into one's knowledge base
Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose
Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information, and access and use information ethically and legally.

Information literacy programs have been implemented at several colleges and universities over the last decade, with varying degrees of success. Strong information literacy programs begin by "trying to create a more active undergraduate learning experience that will prepare students for lifelong learning and problem solving." (Breivik, 1999)

Creating a culture that is supportive of resource-based learning is the first step in the process of transforming students into lifelong learners and critical thinkers. Resource-based learning shifts the curriculum from a reliance on textbooks and lectures to a broader base of resources, which includes books, journals, databases, government agencies, and the Internet.

For effective resource-based learning to take place, faculty and librarians must collaborate in designing learning experiences that will impart information literacy skills to the students.

Several major institutions of higher education have started the process of integrating information literacy skills into their curricula in the last five years. In 1995, California State University, with 23 campuses and over 370,000 students, appointed a task force for this purpose. The group's recommendations included the upgrading of faculty information literacy and computer skills through workshops; the redesigning of existing courses to include information literacy learning experiences; and grants for faculty and librarians to work in collaborative projects on integrating information literacy into the curriculum.

Florida International University, with 30,000 students, has been a pioneer in the information literacy movement. The university's librarians developed a successful information literacy program by taking the following actions:

Defining information literacy and the skills to be a lifelong learner
Identifying campus partners for collaborative relationships
Encouraging the development of faculty information literacy skills and librarian teaching skills
Working with the administration to include information literacy in important campus initiatives, such as accreditation reviews, strategic goals, student retention plans and instructional technology programs.

Hundreds of other colleges and universities are weaving information literacy into their curriculums in response to a labor market that is seeking workers who have the skills to successfully access, evaluate and format information. Bill Gates, a pioneer in the new economy, best summed up the need for information literate workers by writing recently,

"...the best way to put distance between you and the crowd, is to do an outstanding job with information. How you gather, manage, and use information will determine whether you win or lose."

If America is to remain the economic leader of the world, our schools and colleges must make a commitment to educate students for the thousands of new occupations that are being created by the new electronic business world. Unfortunately, our country's educational programs, in many instances, do not provide the skills needed to compete in an information-driven economy. Hundreds of thousands of jobs in America go unfilled every day, because of a lack of qualified applicants with the skills to find, filter and format information.

At Mansfield University, we must do our part in meeting the challenge of the new labor market by fashioning innovative programs that will prepare our students for leadership positions in the new economy. An information literacy program designed to equip our student with the skills to survive in an information-based environment should be one of the University's top priorities.

At North Hall Library, we've begun developing a new information literacy curriculum by creating a set of standards and performance indicators for information literate students. The list of standards and indicators listed below reflects a blending of our ideas on information literacy with the work on this subject by the Association of College and Research Librarians.

Standard One
The information literate student determines the nature and extent of the information needed.

Performance Indicators

Defines and articulates the need for information.
Identifies a variety of types and formats of potential sources for information.

Standard Two
The information literate student accesses needed information effectively and efficiently.

Performance Indicators

Determines the most appropriate information retrieval systems for accessing the needed information.
Selects discipline-specific information sources to further understand the matter.
Constructs and implements effectively-designed search strategies.

Standard Three
The information literate student evaluates information critically, and retains selected information for incorporation into his or her knowledge base for the purpose of creating new ideas and concepts.

Performance Indicators

Evaluates information for authenticity, reliability, authority, validity, and currency.
Recognizes distortions and misuses of information.
Analyzes and interprets information. Studies topics and contemporary issues in the major discipline or career path.

Standard Four
The information literate student, individually or as a member of a group, uses information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose.

Performance Indicators

Uses new and prior information for the planning and the creation of a product or performance.
Presents information, solutions, and issues in writing or orally to others.

Standard Five
Uses information ethically and legally

Performance Indicators

Follows laws, regulations, institutional policies, accepted professional practices, and etiquette in accessing and using information resources.

Information Literacy: A Shared Venture

Mansfield University's core mission has always been to prepare and to educate students for the world of work. Thousands of our graduates can be found in positions of importance throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

If our graduates are to continue to be important players in the future of the Commonwealth, we must be looking for ways to enhance our programs to reflect the new realities of an information based economy.

We have already taken significant steps in developing a strong information literacy program for our students by taking the following actions:

Recognizing the need for Information Literacy to be included in the curriculum as demonstrated in the General Education - 2000 Model.
Making available library faculty who are committed to working with classroom faculty in a collaborative environment to develop a program.
Utilizing the North Hall Library, which is designed to be an efficient and enjoyable environment in which to access and use information.

Now, we must integrate these elements into a cohesive package so we ensure our students will graduate knowing how to access, filter, and apply information to solve problems. This is the litmus test for information literacy and I look forward to working with all the campus groups to develop our program.

Please join the discussions planned for 2000-01 and participate in helping create an environment so our students are prepared to be leaders of the future.

If you have any suggestion on how we may improve our planning, please contact any of us in the Library.

Larry L. Nesbit, former Director Information Resources
Mansfield University

Bibliography

1) American Library Association. (1989) Presidential Committee on Information Literacy. Final Report. Chicago: American Library Association. http://www.ala.org/acrl/nili/ilit1st.html

2) Association of College & Research Libraries. (1999) Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. Chicago: American Library Association. http://www.ala.org/acrl/ilintro.html

3) Breivik, P.S. (1999). Take II - information literacy: revolution in education. Reference Services Review, 27, 271-275.

4) Commission for Labor Cooperation. (1997). North American labor markets: a comparative profile. Washington, D.C.: Bernan Associates.

5) Foster, S. (1993). Information literacy: some misgivings. American Libraries, 4, 344-45.

6) Gates, Bill. (1999). Business @ the speed of thought: using a digital nervous system. New York, NY: Warner Books.

7) Iannuzzi, P. (1998). Faculty development and information literacy: establishing campus partnerships. Reference Services Review, 26, 97-102.

8) Judy, R.W. (1999). Labor forecast: gray skies, worker drought continues. HR Magazine, 11, 18-26.

9) National Research Council. Commission of Physical Sciences, Mathematics and Applications on Information Tech Literacy, Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (1999). Being fluent with information technology. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

10) Roth, L. (1999). Educating the cut-and-paste generation. Library Journal, 18, 42-47.

More Information

If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Matt Syrett at 570-662-4679 or msyrett@mansfield.edu