eliterate or illiterate?

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

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

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

4. 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?

5. Information Literacy Distinguish ways of addressing gap Recognise information need Locate and access Compare and evaluate Organise, apply and communicate Construct strategies for locating Synthesise and create Novice Advanced Beginner Competent Proficient Expert Basic Library Skills IT Skills

6. Conceptual & Boundary Axioms

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

8. 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

9. 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’

10. 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

11. Information Literacy Distinguish ways of addressing gap Recognise information need Locate and access Compare and evaluate Organise, apply and communicate Construct strategies for locating Synthesise and create Novice Advanced Beginner Competent Proficient Expert Basic Library Skills IT Skills

12. Information Literacy Distinguish ways of addressing gap Recognise information need Locate and access Compare and evaluate Organise, apply and communicate Construct strategies for locating Synthesise and create Novice Advanced Beginner Competent Proficient Expert Basic Library Skills IT Skills

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

14. 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

15. 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’

16. Axiom Three:Information Literacy is not IT or ICT Literacy

17. 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

18. I/ECDL • Concepts of Information Technology • Using the Computer and Managing Files • Word Processing • Spreadsheets • Databases • Presentation • Information and Communication

19. 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

20. Use of search engines (Stacey et al)

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

22. 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’

23. Social & Political Axioms

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

25. 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

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

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

28. Practical Axioms

29. Axiom Seven:Information Literacy is contextual

30. 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

31. Axiom Eight:IL is contextual by local resource

32. Information Literacy Distinguish ways of addressing gap Recognise information need Locate and access Compare and evaluate Organise, apply and communicate Construct strategies for locating Synthesise and create Novice Advanced Beginner Competent Proficient Expert Basic Library Skills IT Skills

33. Information Literacy Distinguish ways of addressing gap Recognise information need Locate and access Compare and evaluate Organise, apply and communicate Construct strategies for locating Synthesise and create Novice Advanced Beginner Competent Proficient Expert Basic Library Skills IT Skills

34. Axiom Nine:Information Literacy is contextual by subject

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

36. 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?

37. Axiom Ten:Information Literacy requires knowledge of relevant information science

38. 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

39. 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

40. J. Stephen Town Director of Information Services Royal Military College of Science Defence Academy of the UK Deputy University Librarian Cranfield University j.s.town@rmcs.cranfield.ac.uk Acknowledgments: Selena Lock & Members of ACIL