Information Literacy @ UWW

We are always seeking information, for both course work and "real life." Information helps us reach conclusions, make choices, and communicate more effectively.

In today’s information environment, finding reliable answers to questions can be difficult. In order to decipher and use the information we find effectively, we need to develop information literacy skills.

From Why is IL Important?

Adopted by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) in January 2016, the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education had been the impetus for great change in the field of information literacy. Below are the guiding frames on which we base our instruction program. Dispositions and knowledge practices are associated with each one.

• Authority Is Constructed and Contextual
• Information Creation as a Process
• Information Has Value
• Research as Inquiry
• Scholarship as Conversation
• Searching as Strategic Exploration

Approved in January 2000, the Standards, including performance indicators and outcomes are available online from the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL): Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education

In a complex and rapidly changing environment, higher education must help students to become information literate. Information literacy enables students to recognize the value of information and use it to make informed choices in their personal, professional and academic lives. An information literate student effectively accesses, evaluates, organizes, synthesizes and applies information from a variety of sources and formats in a variety of contexts. Information literacy requires an ongoing involvement in learning and in evaluating information so that life long learning is possible.

The student who is information literate is able to:

1. Identify and articulate needs which require information solutions.
2. Identify and select appropriate information sources.
3. Formulate and efficiently execute search queries appropriate for the information resource.
4. Interpret and analyze search results and select relevant sources.
5. Locate and retrieve relevant sources in a variety of formats from the global information environment.
6. Critically evaluate the information retrieved.
7. Organize, synthesize, integrate and apply the information.
8. Self-assess the information-seeking processes used.
9. Understand the structure of the information environment and the process by which both scholarly and popular information is produced, organized and disseminated.
10. Understand public policy and the ethical issues affecting the access and use of information.

WAAL Information Literacy Committee, Fall 1998

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