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• Originally made progress in higher and otherareas of education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
Chair, Information Skills for a 21st
Century Scotland,
Information skills for a 21st century
Scotland
http://scotinfolit.squarespace.co
m/