What does it mean to be “information literate”?

Why do you need to know this?

After all you are literate.You can read and write.

So, isn’t that all you need to get through college?

Well it’s true being literate is the ability to read and write.

And it’s true you need to read and write to get through college.

Information literacy is a little different.

So what is it?

It’s a life skill used to go from a place of not knowing something, to finding a source of knowledge, to examining that source and then using what you have learned properly.

Today information literacy is very important because there are so many information resources available.

To be information literate means you have developed a very important set of skills.

According to the American Library Association (to make this official) “Information Literacy is the set of skills needed to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information.”

Let’s use a simple real life example.You want to buy a computer.

That’s an easy task to solve.

First you need to know what type of computer you want to buy!

– PC– Mac– Other

There are some things you know already!

• Your friend, Maria, has a Windows computer! • You like the computer she has. • You want to buy a Windows computer.

Now you want to go to a computer store. You asked Wanda where she bought her computer!

But, she didn’t like the store where she bought the computer.

Tells you not to go there.

“The store provided bad service!”

So where do you go?You need information about computer stores.

What do you do? You search for information about computer stores on the Internet.

You use your favorite search engine.

You find a lot of stores.

Just a note, Google is okay for researching information about a computer store.

We’ll talk about what you should use for college research later.

Ok?

You found that there are many stores that sell computers.

But, you want to find a store near you.

So, you narrow your search by typing the name of your town into the search form.

There are five computer stores in your area.

So, you do another search. This time adding the name of the computer that you want to buy.

The next search lists three stores in your area that has the computer.

The first two stores are close to your house.

The third you’ll have to drive to reach.

You look at the various store websites.

The stores near your house sell the computer you want for $799.

The one furthest away is running a special at $499.

At each step in locating the store you’ve:• Identified the information needed.• Searched to find the information.• Retrieved the information.• Analyzed the information.• Found that you needed additional

information.

Then you did the following.• Identified the additional information you

needed. • Searched to find the additional information.• Retrieved the information.• Analyzed the information.

What’s Next?

USE THE INFORMATION!!

You are now computer store knowledgeable. You’ve gained knowledge from your research.

You are ready to act upon that knowledge.

You get in your car and go to the store.

You buy your new computer.

This is how information literacy works!

Through a logical series of steps you found,

retrieved, analyzed, and used information.

Next we’ll look at the academic worldand answer a important question.

What does it mean to be information literate for college?