Information Literacy: Concept

Information Literacy: Concept
Information literacy has become a survival skill for the contemporary society. It entails
individuals who are skillful in the use of information.
Information is available through libraries, community resources, special interest organizations,
media, and the Internet--and increasingly, information comes to individuals in unfiltered formats,
raising questions about its authenticity, validity, and reliability. In addition, information is available
through multiple media, including graphical, aural, and textual, and these pose new challenges for
individuals in evaluating and understanding it. The uncertain quality and expanding quantity of
information pose large challenges for society. The sheer abundance of information will not in itself
create a more informed citizenry without a complementary cluster of abilities necessary to use
information effectively. In such a scenario where we expect people to take informed decision
independently, the relevance of IL increases many fold. Be it any kind of organization, association,
profession and irrespective of gender, country, status, age and other social indicator, IL is and will
remain an important dimension.
Information literacy (IL) is the term used to describe the efficient and competent handling of
information. American Library Association (ALA) describes IL as is the ability to locate, evaluate and
use information. It is a set of abilities requiring individuals to “recognize when information is needed
and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.”
nformation literacy ranks among the most important key qualifications for success in study and
profession in an information society. In higher education, information literacy is primarily promoted by
libraries which have, in recent years, expanded on their original offers of library launches and research
courses to meet the optimal placement of skills for the information society. Rockman rightly observes,
“Information literacy is no longer just a library issue. It is the critical campus wide issue for the 21st
century, of keen importance to all educational stakeholders, including faculty, librarians, and
administrators”.
Definitions of Information Literacy:

 CILIP have defined information literacy as “Information literacy is knowing when and why you
need information, where to find it, and how to evaluate, use and communicate it in an ethical
manner.”
 SCONUL define Information Literacy as: “Information literate people will demonstrate an
awareness of how they gather, use, manage, synthesise and create information and data in an
ethical manner and will have the information skills to do so effectively.”
 The Joint Information Services Committee (JISC) uses the term i-skills to describe information
literacy and IT skills. i-Skills are defined as: “the ability to identify, assess, retrieve, evaluate,
adapt, organise and communicate information within an iterative context of review and reflection.