Information Literacy and Librarian's Role

-Krishna Mani Bhandary

Librarian, TUCL

1.               Background

            The library and information services are responsible for supporting promoting and enhancing teaching, learning and research programme of universities and colleges by providing varieties of information materials in different format, in house and in remote location and providing training to use in house materials as well as access to information available at different location.

2.              Information Age/Society:

          The most recent revolution in human civilization is information revolution. This is also known as name information explosion/information age/society. According to Eugene Garfield information society is "characterized by the fact that the rapid and convenient delivery of needed information is the ordinary state of information society". In the information society the economy is driven by information where as in the industrial age/society the economy is driven by industries. In an information society more people are engaged in collecting, storing, retrieving, amending and dissemination information. Former Prime Minister of Japan Mr. Nakasone said in 1984 "Japan's major industries would be the one that deal with the information handling after 20 years."

The information society is now upon us, if we address it properly and take it as an opportunity we can reap the several benefit from the information society. If we do not give proper attention it will pass by and others will take the benefit and current digital divide will enlarged.

When large number of population is engaged in total gamut of information, it is obvious that there will be too much of information available in several formats at different location. Effective utilization of too much information requires a special literacy then functional or basic literacy. To function effectively in particular aspects people must be literate in that aspect. Literally following illiteracies are identified:

2.1              Functional literacy/Basic literacy

2.2              Cultural literacy

2.3              Scientific literacy

2.4              Computer literacy

2.5              Technical literacy

2.6           Business literacy, and to be competent in the competitive world, to survive in the information age/information society the essential literacy is "Information Literacy" Peter Drucker say's information society require that its member learn how to learn.

3.      Information Literacy:

3.1      First time the concept of information literacy was introduced by Mr. Paul Zurkowski President of Information Industry Association, when he submitted a proposal to the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS), USA in 1974.

           According to him "People trained in the application of information resources to their work can be called information literate. They have learned techniques and skill for utilizing the wide range of information tools as well as primary sources in molding information solutions to their problems".

3.2       ALA Presidental Committee on Information Literacy recognized the importance of Information Literacy to a democratic society and provided a definition on Information Literacy skills as follow.

          "To be an information literate, a person must be able to locate, evaluate and use effectly the needed information." Since then, several authors', study report, and institution have provided the definition of information literacy (4)

4.      Component of Information Literacy:

          Several definitions conceive that information may be presented in several formates and may include documentary sources, (Books, Journals, reports, thesis, patents grey literature), photo graphics, charts, graphs, multimedia, sound recordings, and computer graphics. In the future, there may be other formate presenting information beyond our imagination at present. Considering these possibilities varieties of formats require literacies beyond basic literacy. Other components of information literacy are:

4.1     Library Literacy:

i.               Knowing about types of libraries and their functions

ii.             Making use of catalogues, collection development and any special collections.

iii.            Understanding the use of reference tools for different purposes.

iv.           Use of secondary information sources, such as indexes, abstracts, reviews, bibliographies and biographies

v.             Familiarization with library rules, do's and don't do's to maintain library environment

vi.           Familiarization with the library services and facilities

vii.          Familiarization with the floor plan and organizational structure

viii.        Familiarization with information sources, such as documentary resources, audio-visual resources, electronic resources and multimedia maps and photographs; an expert in a subject also is an information sources.

ix.           Knowledge of the Online Public Access Catalogue system.

           These elements of literacy help one to become an independent user of the library, and enable to identify, locate, access and retrieve information from the library.

4.2      Visual Literacy: Is defined as the ability to understand and use images, including the ability to think, learn and express oneself in terms of images.

i.               Visual learning is the acquisition and construction of knowledge gained through intersection.

ii.             Visual thinking is the ability to organize mental images into shapes, lines and colors.

iii.            Visual expression is the ability to use visual symbols to express ideas and convey meaning.

4.3     Media Literacy: Is defined as the ability to access, analyze and produces information for specific outcomes.

The Media Literate person:

4.3.1        Is aware of his/her daily contact with the media and their influence on lifestyles.

4.3.2        Effectively interprets media message to derive insight into their meaning.

4.3.3        Is well informed about media coverage issues

4.3.4        Develops sensitivity to media content trends as a means of learning about his/her culture.

4.3.5        Remains abreast of ownership financial and regulatory issues impacting the media industries.

4.4     Computer Literacy: Is generally thought of a familiarity with personal computers and the ability to create and manipulate documents, and also familiarity with email and the Internet

4.5     Network Literacy: Is the ability to locates access and use information in networked environments at the national, regional and international levels (1).

5.      Information Literacy Standards:

There is no textbook for life, and school can no longer define success of student learning of a pre determine set of facts. School need to educate students to cope with a future of constantly changing need and information. The information literacy standards provide a mechanism for helping students become responsible users of information for everyday life, for the business world and for democracy.

Information literacy standards for different level of education are developed. The common standards include three categories:

5.1              Information Literacy

5.2              Independent Learning

5.3              Social Responsibility

Under the above three category there are three standards under each category and altogether there are twenty-nine indicators. Indicators are the characteristics of an information literate person.

            To summarise the indicators, information literate students are:

i.                     Competent, independent learner

ii.                   They know their information need,

iii.                  They display confidence in their ability to solve problem at hand.

iv.                 They manage technology to access information and to communicate information

v.                   They hold high standards for their work and create quality product

vi.                 They are flexible, can adopted change

vii.                They are able to function independently and in-group.

Ultimately information literate people are those who have learned how to learn. They know how knowledge is organized. They know how to find information and how to use information. They are people prepared for life long learning. Because, they can always find information need for their task or decision.

6.      Information Literacy and Librarians:

The most vigorous proponents of information literacy have been librarians, other information professionals and scholars, in these areas. Wherever they work, librarians know all too well that most of us are not savvy information seekers and users. The role of librarians is to ensure that students and staff are effective users of information. The library supports the curriculum by providing adequate resources, personnel and training so that both students and teachers become independent users of information.

To foster information literacy the librararian's

6.1              Work with the classroom teachers as a partner to plan, design, deliver and evaluate instruction using a verity of information resources.

6.2              Serves as a teacher and consultant in the transition from textbook centered classroom to resource based classroom.

6.3              Provides leadership, expertise and advocacy in the use of technology.

6.4              Manages a programme in which student receive instruction and practice in the use of information.

6.5              Students learn from the librarian to use multisources of information, locate, select evaluate and present information.

6.6              Librarians can help teacher in developing alternative assignment to use multimedia in demonstrating proficiencies.

6.7              Librarian can help student before and after the class in their academic activities

6.8              Librarians can help student in the use of databases, online searching, and additional current information.

6.9              Librarians provide instruction for the entire class and small group about the function and service provided by the library.

6.10          Librarian provide non-competitive environment to the students.

6.11          Librarian frequently works with the individual student in cooperative learning situation.

6.12          Librarian work collaborates with the teachers to develop and implement curriculum on using wide verity of materials and approaches to meet students learning needs.

Librarians working as information specialist, teachers, and instructional consultant help students develop lifelong learning skills, thinking skills and the ability to sue information effectively.

7.      State of Information Literacy in South Asia:

Information is considered as an important weapon to fight against poverty. Information literacy imparts the skill to determine the need of information, provide skill to access relevant information helps to evaluate information critically, provide skill to incorporate the information into one's knowledge, helps to understand the economic, legal, and social conditions laid to use of information. The person who has acquired these skills is known as information literate persons. If a person has these skills, he is a life long learner. His all activities are enhanced, that will help him to improve his life standard. Therefore, the skill to access to quality information will help to reduce the poverty, which is a strongest enemy of humanity. The need, importance and discussion on information literacy is increasing world wide. Mission or Forum for the promotion of information literacy in Australia, Canada, UK, USA is discussed in (3). In Nepal, perhaps in South Asia, TU Central Library organized a national Seminar on Information Literacy for the first time on February 2002.

Second National Seminar on Information Literacy was organized by TU Central Library on March 2004.

Both the seminar helped to increase the awareness on need and importance of Information Literacy in Nepal. The seminar made a strong recommendation to integrate the information literacy topics in the curriculum of Master in Library and Information Science (M. Lib. Sc.). The study on Information Literacy in M. Lib. Sc was begun in 2004. Second important recommendation of the seminar was, introduction of assessment of the information literacy skill in all the national commission like:

a.         Public Service Commission, b. TU Service Commission, c.        Teacher's Service Commission where large number of human resource are selected for various purpose. The reason of the recommendation is that the selected human resource have some skill of information literacy, whose application in the job will enhanced their performance.

One-day National Seminar on the role of Information Literacy for quality education at school level was organized by National Association of School Library(NASL) on February 2005.

In India, Indian Library Association in its 51^st Allual conference on Dec. 2005 has included information literacy one of the theme of the conference.

In Patialia, India, International Workshop on Information Skill for learning "Empowering 8" was organized on October 2005.

Empowering 8 is a new model of information literacy skill recommended to the participating countries. The model includes:

1.                  Defining

-         Understanding the need and formulating the quarry.

2.                  Strategizing

-         Identifying possible information sources, chose keywords, formulate search strategies

3.                  Finding

-         Locating and accessing sources

4.                  Selecting

-         Choosing

5.                  Getting

-         Collecting, obtaining, retrieving

6.                  Organizing

-         Arranging, Synthesizing

7.                  Evaluating

-         Determining relevance and judging the quality

8.                  Using

-         Communicating, Reporting, Applying and representing

8.      Conclusion:

The fundamentals of information literacy are the resource based learning. A library with rich collection of printed as well as facility to access electronic resources is a laboratory. To acquire information literacy skills Librarians can play a vital role to import information literacy skills working together with the faculties, researchers and students.

9.      Bibliography:

1.      Bhandary, K. M.: Information Literacy. TULSSA, a Library and Information Science Journal. Vol. 3, 1. 2003

2.      Breivik, Patricia Senn: Student learning in the information Age: Arizona, American Council of Education, 1998.

3.      Spitzer, Kathleen L: Information Literacy: Essential skills for the information Age. New York. ERIC, 1998.

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