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

Policy Statement - Information Literacy

Information is as essential to our survival as water, food, shelter and sleep. Information is, however, much more than a survival tool. Information unleashes our imagination and challenges our preconceptions and thereby provides us with a pathway to personal growth and fulfilment.

Throughout history the processing of information has been essential to assist human survival and growth. The last few decades have witnessed an amazing increase in the quantity of information and the Australian workforce is now concentrated around the collection, analysis, manipulation and communication of that information. Change has been so dramatic that Australia can now be described as an information society.

Today's decision makers are often overwhelmed with information and the challenge for them is to choose that which is appropriate. Effective decision making is built upon timely access to this information and the ability to process the available information to suit the requirements of the decision. This problem exists for the aged, for those in employment, for the unemployed and for those who are at school.

The need to be able to use information effectively has in many cases become more important that the acquiring of factual knowledge itself. The sum total of information increases at such a rate each day that yesterday's best answer may be known to be incorrect today. Much of what many children learn during their school life will be quite obsolete by the time they enter the workforce.

Effective learners are not just those people who are knowledgeable but rather they are people who are able to find and use information as required. We might say that effective learners are those who are information literate. Information literacy is synonymous with knowing how to learn. This means that the ability to process and use information effectively is more than a basic tool for the empowerment of school students: it is in fact the basic survival skill for those who wish to be successful in the 1990s and beyond.

(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