Library Survival Guide for Faculty and Staff

What is Information Literacy?

Information literacy is the ability to identify an information need, find and access quality sources, and use those sources appropriately and ethically. The library staff is working hard to develop and expand information literacy instruction for all levels of student work.

The video below offers an overview of information literacy in action.

Why is information literacy (IL) important for your students? 

IL helps your students:

• Learn and apply effective research strategies. This includes creating a research question, determining key concepts they need to be researching for their assignment, and identifying relevant, credible sources.
• Make informed choices about credible and relevant information types and/or sources.
• Critically evaluate content for credibility, accuracy, and relevance.
• Proactively engage with diverse perspectives, marginalized voices, and worldviews, while recognizing that information sources can be influenced by authority and reinforced by existing power structures.
• Use verbal and/or nonverbal media ethically and legally by appropriately citing and following copyright guidelines.
• Develop and demonstrate scholarly identity by generating meaning rather than merely consuming and restating information.

Adapted from Skyline College Library (tinyurl.com/SCInfoLit)