What is Information Literacy?

• find information
• evaluate information
• use information

The American Library Association defines an information literate person as someone who can:

• Determine the extent of information needed
• Access the needed information effectively and efficiently
• Evaluate information and its sources critically
• Incorporate selected information into one’s knowledge base
• Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose
• Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information, and access and use information ethically and legally

(From ACRL's Information Literarcy Competency Standards for Higher Education)

Every day we make decisions in our personal, academic, and professional lives based on the (mis)information we have or receive. We need certain skills that will aid us in this decision-making process. With the popularity of the internet, there's a whole lot more information out there, but in many cases it makes finding exactly what you're looking for more difficult. It also makes it harder to know if you've found a reliable source.

This course is designed to introduce you to many concepts related to the organization of information. We will focus mostly on finding information in an academic environment. We will discuss how to develop a research topic and how to search library catalogs, databases, and the world wide web. We will cover issues related to academic integrity and citing sources. We will also learn how to evaluate the information you find and determine if it is "good" or "bad" information. The aim is that, as a result of this course, you will feel more comfortable making sense of all the information resources that are out there.

Although your successful completion of LIB 100 will provide you with the basic skills to find, use, and evaluate information, Information Literacy doesn't stop when you leave this course. I hope you will use these skills and add to them throughout your academic, professional, and personal life.