Australian School Library Association > Policy > Policy Statement - Electronic Information Literacy

Policy Statement - Electronic Information Literacy

Technology is used to provide access to information both within and beyond the school. In the future there will be greater emphasis on the delivery of information to support learning wherever curriculum programs are being taught in the school and the community, and wherever students are learning at school or at home. The role of the school library resource centre as a service facility will grow. The role of centralised resource storage is likely to diminish. Schools have a crucial responsibility to all students to develop their aptitude is using the information potential of these information technologies critically and wisely.

Power over information technology ultimately resides in power over the information itself. The skills to use particular technologies change as rapidly as the technologies themselves, whereas the skills needed to think with information and to use it with imagination and compassion are relatively constant. Information literacy is the fuel of all learning from preschool to school leaving, whether the school is technologically rich or poor, and whether teachers themselves are experienced or learner drivers of the technologies.

Efficient systems, effective use of technology and the availability of staff with the appropriate expertise contribute to a user's ability to gain access to information.

The effective use of information resources in the learning program is facilitated by access to information provided by systems and services managed through the library resource centre. These systems enable:

• the organisation, storage and circulating of information resources in the school;
• students and teachers to locate appropriate resources which are housed in the school;
• the identification of appropriate sources and information resources beyond the school.

Teacher librarians, with their specialised knowledge of information access systems, turn the potential for use provided by the systems into effective use in the school. Effective applications of information technology enhance the information access opportunities in the school.

Training and assistance for information retrieval can be achieved in the following ways:

• Students receive guidance and have access to programs which integrate information skills development into the curriculum.
• Teacher librarians, who have specialist expertise in information access, work cooperatively with classroom teachers to facilitate access to information for both learning and teaching.
• All library resource centre staff are skilled in using the systems and technologies, and able to assist teachers and student users.
• In addition to curriculum related professional development, teacher librarians are given the opportunities for continuing professional development relating to developments in information retrieval, information technology, information management systems and librarianship.
• To remain up to date with relevant technological developments, the resource centre's ancillary staff are given appropriate initial and ongoing training.

(Source: Australian School Library Association and Australian Library and Information Association, Learning for the future: developing information services in Australian schools, Curriculum Corporation, 1993)

Adopted November 1994