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Unit 12: Evaluation of User Educational Programmes

7. Tool literacy or ability to understand is a holistic approach to information literacy is stated Notes
by:
(a) Shapiro and Hughes (b) Ira Shor
(c) Barack Obama (d) None of these.

12.3 National Forum on Information Literacy

In 1983, the seminal report “A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform” declared
that a “rising tide of mediocrity” was eroding the very foundations of the American educational
system. It was, in fact, the genesis of the current educational reform movement within the United
States. Ironically, the report did not include in its set of reform recommendations the academic
and/or the public library as one of the key architects in the redesign of our K-16 educational system.
This report and several others that followed, in conjunction with the rapid emergence of the
information society, led the American Library Association (ALA) to convene a blue ribbon panel of
national educators and librarians in 1987.
The ALA Presidential Committee on Information Literacy was charged with the following tasks:
(1) to define information literacy within the higher literacies and its importance to student
performance, lifelong learning, and active citizenship; (2) to design one or more models for
information literacy development appropriate to formal and informal learning environments
throughout people’s lifetimes; and (3) to determine implications for the continuing education and
development of teachers. In the release of its Final Report in 1989, the American Library Association
Presidential Committee on Information Literacy summarized in its opening paragraphs the ultimate
mission of the National Forum on Information Literacy:
“How our country deals with the realities of the Information Age will have enormous impact on
our democratic way of life and on our nation’s ability to compete internationally. Within America’s
information society, there also exists the potential of addressing many long-standing social and
economic inequities. To reap such benefits, people—as individuals and as a nation—must be
information literate. To be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information
is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.
Producing such a citizenry will require that schools and colleges appreciate and integrate the concept
of information literacy into their learning programs and that they play a leadership role in equipping
individuals and institutions to take advantage of the opportunities inherent within the information
society. Ultimately, information literate people are those who have learned how to learn. They
know how to learn because they know how knowledge is organized, how to find information and
how to use information in such a way that others can learn from them. They are people prepared for
lifelong learning, because they can always find the information needed for any task or decision at
hand.”

Acknowledging that the major obstacle to people becoming information literate
citizens, who are prepared for lifelong learning, “is a lack of public awareness of the
problems created by information illiteracy,” the report recommended the formation
of a coalition of national organizations to promote information literacy.”
Thus, in 1989, the A.L.A. Presidential Committee established the National Forum on Information
Literacy, a volunteer network of organizations committed to raising public awareness on the
importance of information literacy to individuals, to our diverse communities, to our economy, and
to engaged citizenship participation.

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