Information Literacy

Wow I didn't realise how behind our school was in this area. I have not heard anyone mention the term information literacy at any staff meetings, or just in general conversation. I attended a professional development day at Rockhampton last year and was overwhelmed ( and excited ) at the possibilities for collaboration and use of great tools such as noodletools http://www.noodletools.com/ and wikis http://whosrunningthecountry.wetpaint.com/ . So who is responsible for raising the issues regarding information literacy? Is it the sole responsibility of the Teacher Librarian? I think not. As we hve discovered in our Masters course, one of the major roles of the Tl is to collaborate with staff and admin to provide the best programs and outcomes for students. So all staff should be responsible for information literacy. Guided inquiry should be an assessable component of any unit involving reseach skills. In Queensland the Essential Learnings for English devote a substantial amount of space to information skills but I do not see this reflected in the planning in our region. Every term our cohort groups for the region meet to moderate, plan and share. The Tl cohort is currently attempting to integrate the Essential Learnings, ALIA and ASLA standards into a workable document for planning and assessment. Big job you say, but a necessary one. So on the whole the Tl must be resposible for initiating discussion and planning for this very important area of the curriculum. The responsibility then falls to the school community to accept and integrate information literacy as a valuable area of skill development. As Alvin Tofler quoted in one of his books

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write but those who cannot access and evaluate information.

Can't find the direct quote but I think you can understand what he is saying.