Information literacy in Scotland:

an opportunity for all

Dr John Crawford

Friday 13th February 2015

Atlantic Quay: Glasgow

Information literacy defined

"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."

Chartered Institute of Library and

Information Professionals (2004)

What information literacy involves

• A need for information

• The resources available

• How to find information

• The need to evaluate results

• How to work with or exploit results

• Ethics and responsibility of use

• How to communicate or share your findings

• How to manage your findings

A brief history

• Term coined in 1974 by Paul Zurkowski

• Originally made progress in higher and otherareas of education

• Closely linked with independent and lifelonglearning

• Other areas increasingly recognised –workplace, health, informed political decisionmaking, digital participation, skillsdevelopment and much more

Information skills for a 21st century Scotland

An online information literacy community of practice

And he’s back!

Royal Society of Edinburgh report

Spreading the benefits: vision

• The report ‘vision’ states:

• ‘That everyone in Scotland has the information anddigital skills required to participate in the digital arenaand prosper from digital opportunities.

• That sustainable online and peer support forcontinuing learning and development of informationand digital skills throughout all stages of life is in place.

• That information and digital skills are embedded acrossthe curriculum and from pre-school to tertiary.’

Spreading the benefits: public libraries

The role of public libraries in the digitalinclusion agenda is recognised:

‘As a valuable resource in the drive to fulldigital inclusion, libraries must besupported to maintain and increase theircapacity to provide public access to theonline world’

Spreading the benefits: training

teachers in information literacy

• All Education Faculties within Scottish

universities should include components of

information literacy, digital skills and

computing science in their programmes of

study for all primary and secondary teachers.’

Information literacy at school

Craigholme School Pupils, Glasgow 2008

The workplace

Health literacy

A world of political engagement

Information for an informed citizenry

And a new category of voters

The lessons of the Referendum

• A festival of information use – but oldproblems resurfaced

• Information literacy no longer a specialisttopic

• The importance of 14-17 year olds. 89% ofthose surveyed had consulted key sources ofinformation on the Referendum :https://www.aqmen.ac.uk/youngscotsurveyresults

The challenge of digital participation

• 22% of the Scottish population are not Internet

users (about 1.3 million)

• UK‘Digital by default’ programme – key services

to be delivered online including social security

benefits

• Scottish Government ‘digital first’ and a devolved

training strategy

• A crisis requiring a response from the information

sector and a devolved training agenda

Information literacy is about...

• not only the evaluation and use of traditional ‘library’sources but also social policy issues, relating to therelief of inequality and disadvantage, skillsdevelopment for a post industrial society, criticalthinking and lifelong learning, an activity whichinformation literacy informs and supports, digitalliteracy, school and higher education curricula, earlyyears learning, health issues, the dynamics of theworkplace, learning and teaching skills and strategieswith an increasing emphasis on teaching and learningin informal situations

• Crawford and Irving pp. 250-251

Things we could do

• Understand better what we are all doing

• Identify areas of common interest

• Develop activities in co-operation with each

other, rather than separately

• Be aware of each others R&D activities and try

to work together

• Make information literacy a national activity

Questions? Contact details

John Crawford

johncrawford705@yahoo.co.uk

Chair, Information Skills for a 21st

Century Scotland,

Information skills for a 21st century

Scotland

http://scotinfolit.squarespace.co

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