The Benefits of Information Literacy

In considering whether our institution should teach information literacy skills, who should do the teaching and whether funding and staff should be allocated for this purpose, it is important to consider the ways students, as well as the institution, will benefit from this training to determine the level of investment to be made in information literacy.

Being aware of the ACRL's Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education,¹ it is easy to understand how this group of skills will contribute to students' ability to succeed and excel during their time in the academy, but the benefits of being information literate extend far beyond the academy.

In her essay "Global Education Goals, Technology, and Information Literacy in Higher Education,"² Loanne Snavely (2008) writes: "In today's rapidly evolving environment, information literacy is a key underlying element in global educational goals and in disciplinary learning in higher education; ultimately it is essential in producing lifelong learners" (p. 35). Encouraging lifelong learning has been a goal of our institution. Not only will information literacy curriculum benefit our students by teaching them skills that will extend their learning far beyond the campus, but it will also assist the institution in meeting its goal of creating lifelong learners.

Ann Marlow Riedling (2006), in her book Learning to Learn: A Guide to Becoming Information Literate in the 21st Century³ concurs with Snavely regarding lifelong learning and adds: "It [information literacy] is common to all disciplines, to all learning environments, and to all levels of education" (p. 2). This offers a substantial benefit to all students, the academic departments to which they belong, and the institution as a whole. Students will be able to apply information literacy skills to all of their endeavors, regardless of major area of study, during college and beyond. The academic departments and the entire institution will benefit from the improved quality of scholarly output that will result from their members possessing stronger information literacy skills.

Snavely also points out that information literacy strategies: "are critical in helping students learn about other cultures and peoples--both in the classroom and during study abroad, and in multicultural settings that go beyond those with which the student is familiar" (p. 39). This type of learning will prepare students to participate in the diverse, multicultural working environment that they will inevitably encounter in their careers.

Riedling argues that information literacy skills will benefit students in their careers beyond college:

Today's employers are looking for people who understand and can adapt to the characteristics of the Information Age. If a student has learned how to learn, he or she is a much more attractive job candidate. An information-literate individual--with his or her strong analytical, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills--can be expected to be an adaptable, capable, and valuable employee with much to contribute. (p. 6)

William B. Badke (2003), in his essay published in Musings, Meanderings, and Monsters, too: Essays on Academic Librarianship⁴, points to changes in the way information is accessed:

It wasn't such a problem when anyone who graduated from elementary school could at least read hard-copy data in the form of books, journals, newspapers, and so on. But computer systems hide the data in devious ways, and complex skills are required to retrieve it. In a card catalog, if you had the spelling of an author's name wrong, you could likely do a bit of browsing and find what you needed in the same drawer or at least the next one. Ask a computer for data related to a misspelled name, and the computer tells you that the data does not exist. (p. 79)

For students learning in a world of changing technology, there is not only a benefit in acquiring these skills, but also a serious disadvantage for those who neglect to master them.

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¹Association of College and Research Libraries. (n.d.). Information literacy competency standards for higher education. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/standards/informationliteracycompetency.cfm.
²Snavely, L. (2008). Global education goals, technology, and information literacy in higher education. New directions for teaching and learning, 114, 35-46.
³Riedling, A.M. (2006). Learning to learn: a guide to becoming information literate in the 21st century.New York, NY: Neal-Schuman.
⁴Badke, W.B. (2003). All we need is a fast horse: riding information literacy into the academy. In M. Raish (Ed.), Musings, meanderings, and monsters, too: essays on academic librarianship (pp. 75-88).