eliterate or illiterate? The relationship of Literacy, Information Literacy and IT Literacy

or … Ten Axioms of Information Literacy Suggested by the work of the SCONUL Advisory Committee on Information Literacy

Axioms? “that which is thought to be right” ‘established principle’ ‘ a self-evident proposition or truth’

Rationale & ISTF to ACIL Definition & Boundaries Linking theory, politics and practice An “integrated myth” ISTF to ACIL –Workload & permanency –Not just “skills” and “training” –Belief in the IL concept?

Information Literacy Recognise information need Distinguish ways of addressing gap Construct strategies for locating Locate and accessCompare and evaluateOrganise, apply and communicate Synthesise and create Basic Library SkillsIT Skills Novice Advanced Beginner Competent Proficient Expert

Conceptual & Boundary Axioms

Axiom One: ‘Information Literacy’ is an extension of ‘Literacy’

What is Basic Literacy? ‘Using printed and written information to function in society in order to achieve one’s goals, and to develop one’s knowledge and potential’ OECD (1996) & National Assessments of Adult Literacy 2003

from Bernardo, 2000 Literacy is … ‘embedded in the activities and practices of a community’ ‘Extracting and processing complex meanings from text and other printed forms of language’ ‘to sort through information, to think and reason beyond the given information’

Conclusions from A1 Information literacy can be seen as part of the requirements for ‘functional literacy’ As basic literacy is about reading and writing then information literacy can be seen as being about “reading” and “writing” in a particular social context IL is about the creation and formation of meaning

Information Literacy Recognise information need Distinguish ways of addressing gap Construct strategies for locating Locate and accessCompare and evaluateOrganise, apply and communicate Synthesise and create Basic Library SkillsIT Skills Novice Advanced Beginner Competent Proficient Expert

Information Literacy Recognise information need Distinguish ways of addressing gap Construct strategies for locating Locate and accessCompare and evaluateOrganise, apply and communicate Synthesise and create Basic Library SkillsIT Skills Novice Advanced Beginner Competent Proficient Expert

Axiom Two: Information Literacy is a combination of knowledge, skills and practice

from Savolainen, 2003 Competence is a combination of … What to do (Knowledge) How to do it (Skills - the technical aspect) But also, for a full model in practice … Outcome expectations Perceived self-efficacy Perceived competence Affects (anxiety, enjoyment) Experiences of information seeking

A2 Conclusions If IL is driven by the national skills agenda, it may lack knowledge & motivational components eliteracy focus tends to concentrate on the technical rather than content aspects More research on practice needed ‘Information skills’ was perhaps an unfortunate transition from ‘user education’

Axiom Three: Information Literacy is not IT or ICT Literacy

Information Literacy & IT Literacy? ‘Increasingly, information technology skills are interwoven with, and support, information literacy’ ACRL, 2000 ACIL & UCISA TLIG –Joint model? –ECDL & NetCulture matrices –7PM with IT “ivy” –Distinction in content; knowledge vs personal skills

I/ECDL 1.Concepts of Information Technology 2.Using the Computer and Managing Files 3.Word Processing 4.Spreadsheets 5.Databases 6.Presentation 7.Information and Communication

A3 Conclusions E-literacy does not equal information literacy plus IT literacy ‘By talking about e-literacy we separate Information Literacy and restrict our concept to “literacy with electronic and digital objects’” ‘Information Literacy can exist with or without IT Literacy’ [and vice versa?] ‘no serious person believes that resources available on the web are superior to the contents of a … library, but many act as if it were so’ Appleton, 2003; Gorman, 2003

Use of search engines (Stacey et al)

Axiom Four: Information Literacy may depend on other competences, particularly in the digital world, but it is a distinct entity

Media Literacy Statement, DCMS, 2001 ‘Opportunity to learn to understand and manipulate multiple digital media … understanding of power and use’ ‘Critical viewing skills’ –Distinguish fact from fiction –Appreciate different levels of realism –Awareness of commercial messages –Awareness of economic imperatives in news –Justify media preferences ‘obvious links to the citizenship agenda’

Social & Political Axioms

Axiom Five: Information Literacy is a personal lifelong learning process; a through-life need

ACIL & related activities CILIP –Knowledge economy –Start with the Child –Social inclusion National Forum for the UK? New ‘strapline’ definition Broader application of the 7PM WSIS

Axiom Six: IL programmes should be embedded and integrated with other learning programmes

ACIL Action Lines National Subject benchmarks Research HE White Paper JISC e-literacy Colloqium Institutional L&T Strategies –Survey of inclusion and involvement

Practical Axioms

Axiom Seven: Information Literacy is contextual

Literacy and context Literacy is ‘a social practice [rather than a skill] that varies in accordance with socio-cultural contexts and customs’ ‘research suggests transfer [of literacy skills across domains] is unlikely’ ‘the proponents …have effectively underscored the power of literacy in allowing individuals to master and control various types of information encountered in the environment’ Hautecour, Barton & Hamilton, Bernardo, 2000

Axiom Eight: IL is contextual by local resource

Information Literacy Recognise information need Distinguish ways of addressing gap Construct strategies for locating Locate and accessCompare and evaluateOrganise, apply and communicate Synthesise and create Basic Library SkillsIT Skills Novice Advanced Beginner Competent Proficient Expert

Information Literacy Recognise information need Distinguish ways of addressing gap Construct strategies for locating Locate and accessCompare and evaluateOrganise, apply and communicate Synthesise and create Basic Library SkillsIT Skills Novice Advanced Beginner Competent Proficient Expert

Axiom Nine: Information Literacy is contextual by subject

ACIL Subject Work Initially … Chemistry Theology Education Now expanding to … Medicine & Health Concepts of academic tribes (Becher, 2001)

A9 Conclusions Information Literacy in a subject context requires assimilation into the relevant academic/professional language and customs IL requires knowledge of the relevant “literature” (See Axiom 10) Consideration of Grid and dataset skills The drive for graduate transferable skills may lead to oversimplification and may therefore fail Where does this leave generic programmes?

Axiom Ten: Information Literacy requires knowledge of relevant information science

What is information science? Volume, growth, relationships and regularities of “the literature” Information retrieval, including citation and ranking relationships and issues Communication and publishing in the relevant field Information quality

Model Conclusions The Model to be understood as more than a “laundry list” of qualities The Model not to be a framework for simple standards The Model requires fitting to the relevant context and community The Model is about knowledge creation as well as retrieval

J. Stephen Town Director of Information Services Royal Military College of Science Defence Academy of the UK Deputy University Librarian Cranfield University Acknowledgments: Selena Lock & Members of ACIL