Student Success Centre

Academic life can be a whirlwind. You are given an assignment that directs you to use only peer-reviewed journal articles with qualitative research, prohibiting Single Case or Pilot studies, with everything properly cited in APA. It can be very frustrating deciphering assignments and establishing your first steps. However, your ability to navigate these academic requirements and meet the needs of your assignment is a specific skillset called information literacy and it is the librarian’s role today to support the development of your information literacy skills.

As individuals, information literacy helps you navigate the world, particularly the wealth of information available on the Internet. Learning to assess the authority of sources (journals, magazines, newspapers, government websites, etc.) allows you to determine whether information being shared online is factual or just “fake news.” These are serious matters; people are not just reading information but acting on it.

As students, you are participating in information literacy through scholarly activities like coursework, discussion questions, and the papers you write for classes. While you build knowledge, skills and competencies specific to your program through these efforts, you are also developing your information literacy skills. Every assignment you complete makes you that much more ‘literate’ in your ability to think critically about information.

At its core, information literacy encourages critical thinking. The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) considers the information literate individual somebody who can gather and assess information, determine how information is produced, valued and disseminated, and participate in the active and ethical creation of new information.