During recent years discussions about the terms information literacy and information skills, and the nature of the concepts have intensified again in the UK. There are different approaches in using terms 'information literacy' and 'information skills' and many definitions have been suggested by several organizations, institutions and authors.

Researchers of the UK's Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) funded 'The Big Blue' project, led by the Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Leeds, find that in many instances both terms are used to describe what is essentially the same concept: 'information literacy' and 'information skills' can be described as synonyms.

Stubbings & Brine (2003) also note that at Loughborough University the phrases information literacy and information skills are both used to convey the same meaning. The Glossary of Information Terms at the British Open University (OU) Library site seems to support the same approach giving the following definition of information literacy: 'a skill that involves being able to use information successfully, including finding information, searching using various tools (e.g., internet, databases) and being able to critically evaluate the results.

Mutch (1996) is concerned that the term 'information literacy' carries overtones of a very tightly defined skill or competence rather than the broader and more complex set of attitudes, approaches and skills which is hinted at above and that there might be a danger that literacy is related very tightly to text and hence back to a view of information as a thing. He suggests that IL needs a definition of information which recognizes that it is not structured data, nor restricted to the printed word and to formal sources, and needs to include insights from varied disciplines. He rather sees the value of the concept of information literacy as a strategic concept.