Answers
Information Literacy
- Why is information literacy important?
In this Information Age, when the expansion of available information is proceeding at an unprecedented rate, clear concepts of how to access and evaluate this information are essential. National organizations, including the American Association of Higher Education (AAHE), the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), and a growing number of the regional accreditation associations are grappling with the issue of ensuring that our graduates are information literate.
When citizens fail to understand how information is organized and accessed, they lose the freedom to seek and critically analyze information for themselves, the freedom to make personally informed decisions on political and social issues, and the freedom to make an enlightened contribution to the body of human knowledge. In this context, information literacy as a set of skills is much more than how to search the Internet or use the latest Microsoft product. Information literacy rises to the level of possessing a worldview that acknowledges that there is a wealth of information available and that an educated citizen should possess the ability to harness it to enhance his or her own life and the lives of those around them.
Information literacy is also important in order...
to empower students to learn for themselves.
to enable informed decision-making.
to equip students for success in their careers.
to meet needs of employers for information literate employees.
to promote the creation of self-sufficient researchers.
to encourage the careful evaluation of information sources for bias and inaccuracy.
to help students deal with information overload.
to offer strategies for using Google with discernment and for evaluating online information.
to meet NEASC standards.
to support the University mission.
to meet University strategic plan objectives.
