I won't talk too much about this report from the "National Information Literacy Summit" in late 2006, largely because, like many such summit reports, the bulk is spent advocating the topic of discussion in relatively vague terms, rather than drawing specific conclusions or recommendations that I find really urgent. Two of the key points for example are that "information literacy is crucial to the competitive advantage of individuals, enterprises, regions, and nations (surprise!) and that "a team of experts should develop national standards for information literacy". Following the fact that information literacy is important, schools and hopefully the business community should take steps to promote it.
True as this all is, I'm always slightly disappointed when reports such as this conclude with a lot of not-so-surprising "that" realizations, and maybe some "why"s, but not so many "hows". When it comes to one of the summit's stated goals, to "raise awareness among policy makers and the media about the importance of an information-literary society in the 21st schedules, I'm personally drawn more by media mentions like President Obama's in 2009. But rather than poo-poo the article, I did find one extremely interesting outcome from the end of the report. That is, a definition of what precisely is meant by information literacy, with surprising and interesting aspects.
If you look at the end of the report, info literacy is broken into categories, including some obvious ones like good-old-fashioned literacy and technology literacy. Some more interesting ones that I don't always think about and could probably brush up on myself include "economic and financial" literacy, "health" literacy, and "multicultural" literacy. Doing things specifically to help people become more knowledge about finances, health concerns, and multiculturalism are all exciting things that I'd love to do in my career, that don't quite seem to show up explicitly in everyday library service as I know it at work. I'd be interested to hear in the future of library programs and themes, especially in public libraries, promoting info literacy in those areas.
Hey, Brett - you're leaving us hanging on the edge of the cliff! What WAS the interesting definition? Was it the division into categories? Or more than that?
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Need to Know in North Quad
I love the different literacies mentioned. I read an article that talked about information literacy in education vs. information literacy in the workplace. In the workplace, info literacy is based on people, social interactions, rather than text and technology. Information is much broader than just books and technology. I can envision a library hosting workshops on health and finance, etc. I think some do. It does give us a lot of areas to explore.
ReplyDeleteI second Elise on her love of the different literacies. I would venture that this is a new way of thinking of information literacy for many people, and it's so relevant to everyday life! Also, I love the point you make about articles discussing the "thats" and "whys" but not the "hows." I couldn't agree more. The "how" needs to be addressed and I wonder why it hasn't in a broad sense when it comes to information literacy, considering the acknowledgment of its importance. Maybe it's a matter of finding the best "how." Then again, that would vary depending on the type of information literacy being discussed!
ReplyDeleteWhoops! I think I worded the post badly. The "definition" as I saw it was the combination of the different categories offered. I think. ?
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