Hi Philip,
I would look at the American Library Association's report on IL, in my
view the definition devised by the ALA has stood the test of time and
illustrate the strong link between IL functional literacy and
independent learning/knowledge construction process. Here it is
"To be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when
information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use
effectively the needed information. Producing such a citizenry will
require that schools and colleges appreciate and integrate the concept
of information literacy into their learning programs and that they play
a leadership role in equipping individuals and institutions to take
advantage of the opportunities inherent within the information society.
Ultimately, information literate people are those who have learned how
to learn. They know how to learn because they know how knowledge is
organized, how to find information, and how to use information in such
a way that others can learn from them. They are people prepared for
lifelong learning, because they can always find the information needed
for any task or decision at hand."
available from:
http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/whitepapers/presidential.htm
there are also two IL frameworks I would recommend, the American one
http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/standardsguidelines.htm
and the Australian/New Zealand framework found on
http://www.caul.edu.au/info-literacy/
as these offer clear standards of IL and promote higher/lower-order of
thinking that address IL development at different levels of
provision/user abilities
all the best
Susie
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