Is Information Literacy a Public Concern? A Practice in Search of a Policy
Haras, Catherine; Brasley, Stephanie Sterling
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/31875
Description
Title
Is Information Literacy a Public Concern? A Practice in Search of a Policy
Author(s)
Haras, Catherine
Brasley, Stephanie Sterling
Issue Date
2011
Keyword(s)
Information literacy
Abstract
Since its emergence in the 1970s, information literacy has developed
in theory, practice, and scope. In the United States, librarians,
business leaders, and political stakeholders have emphasized that
information literacy is essential to an informed twenty-first-century
citizenry. But despite the pervading feeling that the subject is important,
there is as yet no clearly identifiable public policy on information
literacy. Public policy may be defined as governmental
action or inaction, decided upon and taken by the public, the state,
and other actors. Public policies are usually enacted as the result of
sustained effort to place them on the public policy agenda, that is,
bring them to the attention of the public, and gain support from
critical interest groups, influential individuals, and politicians at different
levels of government. The authors contend that information
literacy is not yet part of the public agenda. Rather, information
literacy is claimed by a relatively narrow group of stakeholders, lacks
name recognition and broad-based public support, is not mandated
in U.S. primary and secondary education (“K-12”), and therefore
remains fundamentally ineffective in implementation. This article
considers whether information literacy is a legitimate public interest,
and therefore the degree to which it merits a public policy and where
such a policy might best be located. However, locating information
literacy within education policy, although this seems intuitive, appears
to be problematical. The authors discuss how policy options
emerge, identify barriers to doing so, and provide recommendations
for advancing the critical development and dissemination of
information literacy.
Publisher
Johns Hopkins University Press and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
ISSN
0024-2594
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/31875
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1353/lib.2011.0041
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Copyright 2011 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.
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