Information Literacy: An AMBIGUOUS term for an equally ambiguous group!!

Terms, terms, terms!!! I think I've hit a brick wall.

The more research I do on the topic of information literacy, the more I'm finding out that different people interpret it differently. The most common idea I've discovered is that most people in the Academic Library world view information literacy (IL) as an umbrella term that includes other sorts of literacies: digital literacy, media literacy, critical literacy, etc.

The graphic below seems to match the understanding I'm coming to agree with:

Graphic from http://www.flickr.com/photos/danahlongley/4472897115/lightbox/

I've got over 12 books on my desk spanning from everything to the Net Geners to Wikinomics to learning pedagogies to video games and learning, I've gone through 2 reams of paper and a brand new laser toner cartridge ($$$)... and I got so far into the forest, I couldn't even see the trees... or vice versa. See? Look at what I'm doing to myself.

Add on top of that, there's a few different terms for the new tech-generation I'm looking at. One person says they're individuals born after 1993--another says they're those who were between the age of 2 and 22 in 2002! Apparently Generation ME, isn't considered the same as Generation MYSpace, but the Millenials encompass the Google Generation and the Net Geners. I think.

I had to ask a professor I know who teaches IL--Michelle Simmons--great resource (I'm going to have to take her class now that I've read everything under the sun now on IL seemingly) and she forwarded her lecture over to me for the start of the term which has some helpful definitions of information literacy. I'll cut & paste them into this blog to keep all my notes in one place:

A few definitions of information literacy:

1. "The ability to locate, evaluate, and use information to become independent life-long learners" - Commission on Colleges, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Criteria for Accreditation, Section 5.1.2 [Library and Other Information Resources] Services. 10th ed. Dec. 1996.
2. The set of abilities requiring individuals “to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.” -- American Library Association. Presidential Committee on Information Literacy. Final Report. (Chicago: American Library Association, 1989.)
3. “An information literate individual is 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 Competency Standards for Higher Education." Association of College and Research Libraries. 2006. http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/informationliteracycompetency

4. “Ultimately information literate people are those who have learned how to learn.” (ALA Presidential Committee on Information Literacy, 1989).

Resources for further reading:

• ACRLog (http://acrlog.org/) is a blog sponsored by ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) and written by practicing librarians, some of whose names you will be familiar with from our readings for this course (for example, Barb Fister and Scott Walter)
• AASL Blog (http://aaslblog.org) is a blog sponsored by AASL (Association of School Librarians). This blog is focused on issues related to the K-12 library community.
• Information Literacy Blog (http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/) is written by Sheila Webber, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Information Studies, University of Sheffield, UK. She tends to write with an international perspective on information literacy issues. I enjoy the photos that she includes with almost every post.
• Hannelore Rader has published annual annotated bibliographies about information literacy from 1975 to 1999 in Reference Services Review. You can find her bibliographies by doing a search for her name in the Library Literature database through SJSU.

Some additional readings she also suggested I take a look at:

• Booth, C. (2011). Reflective Teaching, Effective Learning: Instructional Literacy for Library Educators. American Library Association Editions. 
• Barbara Fister: librarian at Gustavus Alopjus College in MN and a total rock star in the IL world. 
• Pew Research Studies about Info Seeking and different age groups. 
• U of Wash's Project Information Literacy: great research on the ways of different groups of people finding and using information.