Keywords
Citation
Armstrong, C. (2005), "Information Literacy: A Practitioner's Guide", Program: electronic library and information systems, Vol. 39 No. 3, pp. 281-283. https://doi.org/10.1108/00330330510610627
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2005, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
In the Foreword to Information Literacy: A Practitioner's Guide Alan Bundy, writing from Australia, suggests that there is “in Britain in particular – a coyness about the term ‘information literacy’”, although a need for strategies to cope with information overload has “been building for 150 years”. I am not quite sure what he means, although perhaps he is referring to the unfortunate impression given early in the book that the professional body in the UK most closely aligned to information has no agenda on information literacy. Of course, this stems from an accident of timing, but late in the book's production in mid‐2004, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) was putting the finishing touches to a definition and model of information literacy skills which is now published on their web site (www.cilip.org.uk/professionalguidance/informationliteracy/definition/) and which, unlike the three models discussed, is specifically designed to reach communities other than the academic (Armstrong et al., 2005). Perhaps, more percipient than other observers, Bundy refers to a more deep‐rooted terminological vagueness. Over the years, in the UK, as in the European Commission (EC), the phrases Information Technology (IT) and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) have often been used without any attributed definitions, and it is apparent that official reports have used ICT and information literacy interchangeably, seeing no need for distinction, with the term “e‐literacy” sometimes used to convey either or both. For example, the Department for Education and Skills', Towards a Unified e‐Learning Strategy, made reference to “raising ICT literacy” while frequently referring to “wide access to digital resources and information systems” (DfES, 2003). This imprecision – echoing an earlier emphasis in the 1998 National Grid for Learning, as well as in other earlier reports – is identified by Andretta. Post‐publication, in February 2005, an EC Staff Working Document, eInclusion Revisited: The Local Dimension of the Information Society once again treated access to, or use of, ICT as synonymous with the provision of eLearning and wider participation in the information society (CEC, 2005). As Town (2003) has pointed out, Dearing (1997) may be responsible – in the UK, at least – for more recent failures to distinguish between technology and information‐related skills. I am not sure that “coy” is quite the word I would use of the stances of either Dearing or the commission, but this is the third book on information literacy that I have reviewed in about six months (see also Herring, 2004 and Webb and Powis, 2004), so while the powers that may not see information literacy as “consonant with the[ir] reform agendas” (p. xix), it is clear that practitioners have a very clear idea of its provenance; I think that the Society of College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL), whose model is discussed in Andretta's book, and I know that CILIP does not feel ambivalent about information literacy.“Had we but World enough, and Time” – the opening line of To his Coy Mistress, a poem written in 1681 by Andrew Marvell
From the 150 years of building, Dr Bundy concedes that this book is one on which the author and publisher are to be congratulated – and I would agree with him on this point, at least. The book examines in some depth three models – one from SCONUL in the UK, and the others used in USA, Australia and New Zealand – in the context of independent and lifelong learning, and the role played by the information literacy educator.
The first two main chapters of the book – Chapter 1 is a short introduction – set the context and introduce the concept of information literacy within independent learning – the “learning‐how‐to‐learn approach” – which is a basic requirement of lifelong learning. These are very thorough overviews, and Chapter 3 deals in depth with, and compares, the frameworks of SCONUL, the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) in the US and the Australian and New Zealand Institute for Information Literacy (ANZIIL), thus offering perspectives on information literacy from four countries. There is a very useful table comparing the three models, and it is apparent from the discussion that SCONUL's is the most structured of the three. The Australia/New Zealand model is perhaps more firmly set in an educational pedagogy of experience, reflection and practice, and both this and the ACRL model are said to be easier to apply as they “start from the description of general information literacy standards, and expand on each one through the identification of performance indicators and of measurable learning outcomes”. SCONUL's hierarchical “Seven Pillars” approach to skills acquisition is the only one to mention the creation of new knowledge, although that of ANZIIL refers to knowledge construction to describe the learning process. Both the ANZIIL and ACRL models sit easily within subject‐based curricula and the author suggests that the ANZIIL framework “promotes a wider social dimension that enables its application beyond the confines of Higher Education (HE)”. Of course, SCONUL's model also comes from HE. My short synthesis of the three models does not do the chapter justice, as it provides a comprehensive and excellent background to the case studies to follow.
Chapter 4 introduces the two case studies, which cover information literacy in the social sciences and applied information research. Both are based on the author's experiences at the London Metropolitan University and both are detailed explorations including feedback from the learners. It is clear from both (as indeed from the book as a whole) the role that information can, and must, play in providing a framework for independent and lifelong learning. Perhaps the most important statement in the book comes at the end of the introductory chapter:
… the successful implementation of information literacy education depends on a substantial cultural shift within the academic environment, where learning is not focused exclusively on the acquisition of subject‐specific knowledge, but on the students' ability to learn independently …
This is a very useful book – particularly the two case studies (and the appendices), which form the bulk of it, and those charged with introducing information literacy into the independent‐learning arena will, without a doubt, benefit from these. Susie Andretta clearly shares my irritation with decades of UK government confusion and the book repeatedly emphasises “information literacy is not synonymous with IT”; for this reason, alone, I would feel bound to praise the book!
References
Armstrong, C. et al. (2005), “Defining information literacy for the UK”, Library+Information Update, Vol. 4 Nos 1/2, pp. 22‐5.
CEC (2005), eInclusion Revisited: The Local Dimension of the Information Society, EC Staff Working Document Commission of the European Communities, Brussels, available at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/news/2005/feb/eincllocal_en.pdf.
Dearing Report (1997), “National committee of inquiry into higher education”, Higher Education in the Learning Society, The Stationery Office, London, available at: www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/ncihe/.
DfES (2003), Towards a Unified e‐Learning Strategy, Department for Education and Skills, London, available at: www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations/downloadableDocs/towards%20a%20unified%20e‐learning%20strategy.pdf.
Herring, J.E. (2004), The Internet and Information Skills: A Guide for Teachers and School Librarians, Facet Publishing, London.
Town, J.S. (2003), “Information literacy and the information society”, in Hornby, S. and Clarke, Z. (Eds), Challenge and Change in the Information Society, Facet Publishing, London, pp. 81‐103.
Webb, J. and Powis, C. (2004), Teaching Information Skills: Theory and Practice, Facet Publishing, London.