The Seven Pillars of Information Literacy : research lens

Moira BentRobinson Library

I’m doing cutting edge research into

bambooYou need to make sure

you’re information literate then

IL encompasses• Digital literacy• Media literacy• Visual literacy• Information handling & skills• Academic literacy • Data curation • Data management

Not onlySkills and competenciesBut alsoAttitudes and behaviours

Isn’t information

literacy just for librarians?

An information literate person will demonstrate an awareness of how they

use, manage, synthesise and create information and data, in an ethical manner, together with the information skills to do so

effectively.

Information literacy is central to learning and essentially involves developing skills and competencies and changing learning attitudes, habits and behaviours so that people understand how information and

data fit into their learning.

This is too complicated, surely all researchers know what to do….

T

The Information Landscape

The 7 Pillars model can be helpful

The 7 pillars of Information Literacy

Yes, I can see the whole landscape from up here, but how will that help

me?

The Information Literacy Landscape

Ooh, this looks like a pillar! How

does it work?

Pillar 6: Manage“A researcher can organise information and data and apply the knowledge gained”The researcher understands:• Their responsibility to act with professional integrity and to be honest in all

aspects of research, especially information handling and dissemination (e.g. copyright, plagiarism and IP issues)

• The role they play in helping others in information seeking and management• The need to keep systematic records, for example of:

o search strategies and resources searchedo resources found & resources used o research data & methodologies

• The importance of sharing research data ethically without breaching data protection and informed consent of individuals

• The need to archive research data ethically • The importance of metadata

Pillar 6: Manage

The researcher is able to:• Use the information and data found to address the research

question • Use appropriate bibliographical software to manage information• Cite printed and electronic sources using suitable referencing

styles• Create appropriately formatted bibliographies• Demonstrate awareness of issues relating to the rights of other

researchers and research participants, including ethics, data protection, copyright, plagiarism and IP issues

• Set standards of conduct for academic integrity• Identify data curation opportunities to ensure that research data is

ethically stored for re-use in other projects • Use data management software to manage and curate research

data

Right, sorted, I’m off to the

pub!Eh? RDF?

Researcher Development Framework

• RDF recognises the importance and place of information literacy

• Several competencies in the RDF are explicitly relevant, notably:o Information seekingo Information literacy and managemento Synthesisingo Evaluatingo IPR/copyrighto Attribution/co-authorshipo Publication