Example 2: Information literacy movement in Australia
In Australia:
The
Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) has developed information literacy
standards adapted from the Association of College and Research
Libraries (ACRL) ones.
From 1992, successful national
conferenceson information literacy have been conducted every two years by the University
of South Australia and the Australian Library and Information
Association (ALIA).
In 2001 a joint Australian and New Zealand Institute for Information Literacy (ANZIIL) was established.
ALIA
released a Statement on Information Literacy for all Australians
endorsing the importance of information literacy from a personal, political, economic and
global perspective.
It should also be mentioned that valuable research related to information literacy is being done.
Information literacy strategies have been integrated into many university institutional plans.
There are also references to information literacy developments in Canada, China, Japan, Mexico, Namibia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Africa.
References to information literacy initiatives in Europe are, however, quite rare and fragmented. The majority of publications have come from the United Kingdom. Part of the problem of understanding European information literacy activities stems from the language barrier. Many information literacy initiatives have been, for example, documented only in local languages - in Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish and other languages - but not in English.
Reflection
Information-related competencies
Do information-related
competencies (information literacy) differ from their
predecessors (library instruction,
bibliographic instruction and user/reader education)?
And if so, in what way?
Share your experiences with your study group in
the virtual discussion forum.
Reflection