As of 22 April 2009 this website is 'frozen' in time — see the current IFLA websites
This old website and all of its content will stay on as archive – http://archive.ifla.org
As of 22 April 2009 this website is 'frozen' in time — see the current IFLA websites
This old website and all of its content will stay on as archive – http://archive.ifla.org
Concept:
Expanding from its traditional concept as the ability to read and write, literacy has been variously connected with different educational and cultural activities and linked with a great variety of mechanisms and technologies. The concept of literacy has been expanded into information literacy which goes beyond traditional literacy including computer literacy and use of computer produced informat
ion. Further, information literacy emphasizes the content rather than technological tools be they digital or multimedia.
Educational Needs of Librarians and Users:
Similarly to traditional literacy, information literacy must become the possession of every individual. However, in addition to cultural, educational and economical barriers, many gaps exist which hinder people from acquiring needed knowledge, skills and competencies.
Educators have successfully developed and implemented curricula to bring information specialists' and managers' computer literacy to a level adequate for industrialized society's needs, yet there exists an increasing demand to educate users of information to understand the main concepts of information management -- how to gather, process, utilize, transfer, evaluate and disseminate information. Concurrently, there is expanding a gap between computer literate persons and those who pursue education with conventional methods.
Change of Librarians' Work:
For librarians work, mastering new technologies is undeniably and urgently necessary. Looking back at multimedia's use for literacy work is helpful, when we try to understand recent changes. Current exploitation of multimedia technology is changing our understanding of the interconnections of graphics, sound and images and the types of information they represent. Thus, we need to understand bot
h human psyche and available technologies in order to create and to interprete new expressions.
Attention to users' information needs:
However urgently librarians aspire to change their profession for society's advance, they are both restricted and prompted by the organizational environment, their position in the professional hierarchy, the belonging of library to one of subsystems within a larger educational or cultural and financial entity and, foremost, by the governance of access to electronic information. The bridges neede
d for overcoming even some of the existing gaps between library profession and users' information needs require essentially two things: librarians need to educate themselves in order to master not only new technologies but also their influence on individuals and on society at large, and librarians need to emphasize the concept of life-long learning of information literacy skills for the benefit
of all members of the society.
"Literacy" has been connected with various activities and linked with other terms such as cultural literacy, information literacy, library literacy and technological literacy, recently also with digital literacy and multimedia literacy. Traditionally, literacy as a basic concept has been defined as the ability to read and write. What do we, then, mean with these concepts?
Do they interrelate? Is the acquisition of these literacies a worthy social goal, asked Dalrymple, wondering whether our understanding of definition and importance of these literacies affect the designing and evaluating of information systems, programs, and services for users. (Dalrymple 1991:341)
What kinds of abilities does information literacy require? According to Skovira, it is a conception of those abilities of an information user which include (1) locating needed information, (2) determining relevance and adequacy of the information, and (3) applying information in problem solving and decision making situations. (Skovira 1991:341) It has already become obvious, that something ess ential is being added to the basic reading and writing capabilities, because the scope of information literacy concept assumes essentially (1) a perceiving as well as (2) understanding of information structures in different formats, e.g., in a textual database or a printed article. Thus, a person who is information literate, according to Skovira, comprehends the application of technology to obta in informational goals; i.e., an information literate person is also computer literate.
[The information literate manager will]
Certainly, all these skills and competencies are essential for information managers and specialists, and for professionals performing their tasks, but we may question whether or to what extent they are necessary for an individual person's ability to gather, use and produce information. Entirely outside of these often competitive endeavours are left persons without means for acquiring any kind of literacy: the poor, the disadvantaged, the uneducated.
In an essay which reveals new vistas of digital world, Lanham explores "digital literacy," which he also calls "multimedia literacy." "The word literacy --- has gradually extended its grasp in the digital age to mean the ability to understand information, however, presented." (Lanham 1995:160) Immediately it occurs that something as new as multimedia, which within its format "blends words wit h recorded sounds and images into a rich and volatile mixture," combines both ancient characteristics of oral cultures and completely novel features presented with latest technologies .
In this amazing environment, "[t]he multimedia signal puts utterance back into time: the reader can change it, reformat and rescale it, transform the images, sounds and words. And yet, at the end of these elegant variations, the original can be summoned back with a keystroke." Lanham explains the differences between print literacy and digital literacy as a move from preserving text to transform ing it. "Print literacy aimed to pin down information; multimedia literacy couples fixity and novelty in a fertile oscillation."
Does multimedia allow the user to change the meaning inherent in information and the product of searching for information? These questions are being answered by media specialists, but a much more prominent question requires now our attention: How would we, then, educate people so that they would become digitally literate or multimedia literate? Again, it seems that a sure starting point is comp uter literacy. "To be deeply literate in the digital world means being skilled at deciphering complex images and sounds as well as the syntactical subtleties of words -- being at home in a shifting mixture of words, images and sounds." (Lanham 1995: 161)
As yet it is not clear what should be the next step, and many specialists in multimedia field are not convinced that computer literacy should even be the first step. Thus, we need to understand both human psyche and available technologies in order to create new expressions. Looking back at multimedia's use for literacy work is helpful, when we try to understand recent changes.
Multimedia could be used for elevating us to new hights of information acquisition and processing. And, hopefully, of knowledge and understanding.
It seems that anyone learning, working or relaxing in multimedia world, in order to become skilled at presenting information in the new medium, must have acquired several skills and be knowledgeable in several technologies and, particularly, in their combinations. In Lanham's words -- "We must know what kinds of expression fit what kinds of knowledge" -- an enormous challenge is presented to s ocieties, if we think of all people embracing media literacy.
There exist many gaps in our understanding of these new media, because we have learned, through conventional literacy, to separate words, images and sounds, which now are interconnected in a previously unimaginable way. We have learned, for example, that text is an organized group of codes formed into words which generate meaning. Digital code, besides expressing words and numbers, can also gen erate sounds and images, which can be moved from their current contexts and reorganized to create new selections, new combinations and new meanings. Expressing ourselves by using digitally produced and producable sounds and images should, then, become those capabilities every informationally skilled, information literate person knows and can use for his or her own purposes. This person's educat ion must include, besides reading and writing, understanding of one's own intellectual, psychic and and physiological capabilities as well as the characteristics and functions of digital technology and media.
The three projects involved with plans to help promote adult literacy, in the late 1980s in the state of Oklahoma, USA, centered on adult tutoring, computer based instruction and learning kits. Different types of media -- printed text, sound recordings, CD-ROM disks, materials, video cassettes -- "were used to reinforce skills in an alternate form to ensure generalization of learning," while "[ t]he software provides a multi-sensory approach to learning utilizing the language arts of listening, speaking, reading and writing in an interactive fashion." (Stange 1989: 12) Two of the projects were directly aimed at adults and included a "people component" (tutoring) and a "machine component" (computer with voice recording capability), while the third program, a "materials component" depic ted works toward preventing adult illiteracy.
In this clever multimedia combination exist, though in an embryonic form, many of the elements now enhanced and reshaped by digital multimedia. In the Oklahoma projects, technologies were used separately, their purposes clearly defined and limited, and with librarians acting as guides every user was able to accomplish tasks without extensive training. Experiences with multimedia indicate that s pecialized lomg-term training is required of those persons, librarians, information specialists and teachers who intend to use multimedia in their professional work.
Training multimedia users on a large scale is happening only in a few technologically advanced countries, which have the required technology and networks installed and funding secured. An obvious related question was presented by Kohun: How could information systems support users who possess varying degrees of competency? (Kohun 1991: 341) We must still struggle with answering this question and many others: How to make information available? How to make information easy to use? These questions present challenges for information professionals and information users alike.
The history of writing shows that the evolution of systematic writing devalued, and eventually all but eliminated, oral tradition. Parallels have been drawn between the early days of writing and the present situation:
Are we to fear for an avalanche of information brought to us by new technologies? In Gaur's words, the answer is 'no': "Just as thousands of years ago a point was reached when the sum total of knowledge had become too large to be stored in human memory, so the sum total of information necessary to sustain contemporary society is becoming too vast and is growing too quickly to be stored efficien tly in a traditional form of writing. All writing may be information storage, --- but it has now become increasingly obvious that information can once again be stored, quite effectively, without writing." (Gaur 1987:210)
In changing a society as well as an organizational environment, where technological advances aim at expediting and enhancing productivity, some characteristics of the new informational factors are especially challenging. The extended interconnectivity of the information environment, which is result of digital processing of a variety of data in different forms, has significantly reduced the respo nse time available in many areas of modern life (Collins 1989: 235) This compression phenomenon, is reflected "in the escalating rate of change that must be absorbed and processed in order to remain competitive." As change is a function of the number and frequence of invention to innovation cycles, we look for a global diffusion of the capacity to create and compress these cycles for different purposes: science, military power, and economic power. There exist a direct relationship between science and competitiveness which can be examined in the context of a product's life-cycle. Collins argues that "[w]hen gaps develop along the life cycle continuum, the invention to innovation cycle is interrupted. This results in a relative decrease in competitiveness and an increased exposure to catastrophic change. Successfully managing change [in an organization] requires bridging these gaps. The strategic alliance model offers a method for closing these gaps." Many gaps threaten the life-cycle continuum of digital processing of information to fully developed digital literacy.
Several authors have recognized dicothomy in terms of information provision and use. In discussion on the social value of information, Brooking Negrão et al. explained that "at least scientists, industrialists, and businessmen are aware of the value of information for science, technology, and economic development while, on the other hand, the majority of the population ignores the value of in formation for the solving of daily problems, for social mobility, and for participation in a democratic society" (emphasis mine). (Brooking Negrão et al. 1990: 33) This situation reveals one of the huge gaps between people -- in terms of access to applicable information and ability to use it -- between the elite of a country and the common people and, in a broader sense, this gap is compara ble with the gap between developed and developing countries.
As the researcher states, it is surprising that only 19 per cent of students used online databases and 28 per cent used CD-ROMs, although more than a half of the respondents had knowledge of CD-ROM databases and 43 per cent had searched them. Students clearly preferred online catalogs to other information channels. They consulted also print indexes, teachers or citation references, but much les s frequently than online catalogs.
When learning to use online catalog, most students studied onscreen instructions and many consulted library staff, although in general using online catalog was a solitary activity and students studied by themselves to use the search system.
Remote access to online catalog did not add to its use, because only 28 per cent of respondents searched it from outside the library. In consistency with some previous reports, undergraduate students did research in the library while graduate students, staff and faculty more frequently were remote users. (Hsieh-Yee 1996: 164-165) Where Internet has become available, remote access has increased, but it is still to be investigated what its actual impact is on users and their capabilities. In an academic institution, learning to use a multitude of information resources is often tailored for different types of users and the gaps revealed in their knowledge and skills are quickly filled by departmental or institutional training programs in which libraries actively participate.
Not without reason, librarians are alarmed both of changing their own field of work and of creating new relationships between the library and the learning community. In November 1995, the California State University held a systemwide conference on information literacy. Although there was expressed a "growing concern among higher education leaders for more active undergraduate learning (frequent ly prompted by state legislators and businesses demands for graduates who can communicate well and be effective problem solvers), many leaders still do not see the relationship between the role of librarians and improved undergraduate learning." (Breivik 1996: 110-111) The dilemma facing academic librarians, as Breivik has argued, parallels that facing higher education in general: librarians ne ed nonlibrarians to champion their cause and librarians must act in unity within states. The need for unity is profound and to neglect it could be fatal for libraries' central mission.
"For the academic system, the provision of electronic information to faculty scholars now has a new significance. As such, it will not be left to a subsystem (such as a library) whose dissimilar educational standards and variant operational norms complicate administrative and faculty understanding." ---
" --- placement of academic libraries under associate provosts or vice presidents for information services represents more than administrative realignment. From a system-based perspective, it is a logical step in a process through which the academic system will assume more control over matters formerly left to the library subsystem." (Crowley 1996: 114-115)
Exploring for societal and institutional structures to support a new information infrastructure, both within and outside of academic institutions and their libraries, is a vital part of the process by which libraries will establish themselves as the leading and energizing force.
How to make information available? How to make information systems easy to use? These have always been the challenges for information professionals. "Librarians play an important role in the education process by making people aware of a need and motivating the use of information, a new knowledge and a new ability. " (Brooking Negrão et al. 1990: 35)
"I also think that most librarians share in my belief of the potential value of their contributions to the well-being of individuals. --- Most of us entered librarianship because we had a work experience in a library that caused us to believe that, as librarians, we could make a positive difference in people's lives." The most profound challenge for all librarians is to see their work as one of society's cornerstones. "Elizabeth Martinez' s call for ALA [American Library Association] to be the champion of people's rights to intellectual participation should be our rallying cry. Can we do less than respond by emphasizing what we have in common rather than emphasizing our differences?" (Breivik 1996: 110)
Continually, leaders of library profession assert that librarians must operate in the broader educational and information policy environments, help shape those environments and build partnerships in society in order to promote desired outcomes. (Breivik 1996:112)
However urgently librarians aspire to change their profession for society's advance, they are both restricted and prompted by the organizational environment, their position in the professional hierarchy, the belonging of library to one of subsystems within a larger educational or cultural and financial entity and, foremost, by the governance of access to electronic information. The bridges neede d to overcome existing gaps between librarians and the society's information needs require essentially two things: librarians need to educate and reeducate themselves and acquire knowledge, skills and competencies for a new role; and librarians need "to cultivate the concept of life-long learning through information literacy skills. acquired and developed both in the school and in the library." -- They "must encourage students to question their findings every step of the way in the research process, especially as new formats are made available." (Sullivan & Campbell 1991: 184)
At a close look, both of these tasks have been assumed by librarians already; the bridges have been built again and again to fit the information needs of society and its members. The latest information technologies have added to the urgency of reassessing librarians' work in terms of the reorganization of information content and in terms of the influence of this reorganization.
Similarly to traditional literacy, information literacy must become the possession of every individual. However, in addition to cultural, educational and economical barriers, many gaps exist which hinder people from acquiring needed knowledge, skills and competencies.
Educators have successfully developed and implemented curricula to bring information specialists' and managers' computer literacy to a level adequate for industrialized society's needs, yet there exists an increasing demand to educate users of information to understand the main concepts of information management -- how to gather, process, utilize, transfer, evaluate and disseminate information. Concurrently, there is expanding a gap between computer literate persons and those who pursue education with conventional methods.
For librarians work, mastering new technologies is undeniably and urgently necessary. Looking back at multimedia's use for literacy work is helpful, when we try to understand recent changes. Current exploitation of multimedia technology is changing our understanding of the interconnections of graphics, sound and images and the types of information they represent. Thus, we need to understand bot h human psyche and available technologies in order to create and to interprete new expressions..
However urgently librarians aspire to change their profession for society's advance, they are both restricted and prompted by the organizational environment, their position in the professional hierarchy, the belonging of library to one of subsystems within a larger educational or cultural and financial entity and, foremost, by the governance of access to electronic information.
The bridges needed to overcome existing gaps between informatin literacy and the society's information needs require essentially two things: librarians need to educate themselves in order to master not only new technologies but also their influence on individual and on society at large and need to emphasize the concept of life-long learning for acquiring information literacy skills for the bene fit of all members of the society.
Brooking Negrão, May, and Sonja Regina Céu Bertonazzi. (1990) Public Libraries, Information and Citizenship, 56th IFLA General Conference, Sweden 18-24 August 1990. Booklet 8. pp. 33-38.
Collins, Tom. (1989) The International Center for the Application of information Technology: Managing Change through Strategic Alliance. [Notes.] Managing Information and Technology. ASIS '89. Proceedings of the 52nd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Information Science. Vol. 26. Medford, N.J.: Learned Information Inc. p. 235.
Crowley, Bill. (1996) Redefining the Status of the Librarian in Higher Education. College and Research Libraries 57(2) March: 113 - 121.)
Dalrymple, Prudence W. (1991) On the Notion of Literacy. In Systems. People. Understanding. Proceedings of the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Information Science. Vol. 28. Medford, N.J.: Learned Information Inc. p. 341.
Gaur, Albertine. (1987) A History of Writing. [2nd ed.] London: The British Library.
Hsieh-Yee, Ingrid. (1996) Student Use of Online Catalogs and Other Information Channels. College & Research Libraries 57(2) March: 161 - 175.
Kohun, Fredrick G. (1991) Information Literacy or Competency. In Systems. People. Understanding. Proceedings of the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Information Science. Vol. 28. Medford, N.J.: Learned Information Inc. p. 341.
Lanham, Richard A. (1995) Digital Literacy. Scientific American 273(3) September: 160 - 161.
McLeod, Raymond, Jr. (1994) Information Systems Concepts. New York: MacMillan Publishing Company.
Schatz, Bruce R. (1989) Towards the Electronic Library: Managing Large Hypertext Collections. [Notes.] Managing Information and Technology. ASIS '89. Proceedings of the 52nd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Information Science. Vol. 26. Medford, N.J.: Learned Information Inc. p. 228.
Skovira, Robert J. (1991) On Being Information Literate. In Systems. People. Understanding. Proceedings of the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Information Science. Vol. 28. Medford, N.J.: Learned Information Inc. p. 341.
Stange, Terrence. (1989) People, Machines and Materials: Resource Links to Literacy. IFLA Section on Public Libraries 1989 Preconference - Paris "Public Libraries Against Illiteracy". Massy-Paris, 15 - 19 August. 28 p. (Mimeographed.)
Stoffle, Carla J., Robert Renaud, and Jerilyn R. Veldof. (1996) Choosing Our Futures. College and Research Libraries 57(3) May: 213-225.
Sullivan, Laura A., and Nancy F. Campbell. (1991) Strengthening the Foundation for Information Literacy in an Academic Library. The Reference Librarian (USA) No. 33: 183 - 189.