Information Literacy
We live in an information society. Learning to find the information we need and to sift through that information to determine what is accurate and what is incorrect has become an essential skill.
Information literacy skills basically focus on competence in accessing, analyzing, evaluating, and communicating information.
According to the article, “Truth, Lies, Hype, or Fact?” (Library Media Connection, October 2007, p. 5), information literacy involves the following steps:
- Planning research or posing a question.
- Organizing a way to search for the answer.
- Finding resources.
- Evaluating resources and thinking critically about them.
- Expressing the information learned in meaningful ways.
How can the library media specialist help students to develop information literacy skills? In the same article, here are some suggested methods:
- Use successful models like The Big Six and the Super 3 as information gathering models.
- Teach skills in real-world settings at a time when students have a need to know them.
- Provide rich opportunities and motivating materials for gathering information.
- Provide a variety of ways for students to communicate what they have learned.
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