Information Literacy Standards

Abstract

The first edition of the following standards derives from the US Information Literacy Standards for Higher Education approved by the Association of College and Research Libraries in January 2000, and subsequently endorsed by the American Association for Higher Education and US accreditation bodies.Several countries have now translated the US standards for local use, without substantial change.The US standards were reviewed at a workshop initiated and conducted 22-23 September 2000 by the University of South Australia for the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL).Facilitator ofthe workshop was Mary Jane Petrowski from Colgate University in the US.The 62 participants were representative of Australian and New Zealand universities, the schools sector, the Technical and Further Education sector, the Council of Australian State Libraries and the Australian Library and Information Association.In reviewing the standards, consideration was given to the implications of Australian research, theory elaboration and practice which may not have been available or accessed when the US standards were developed.The relational model of information literacy was considered in this context.Permission to use and vary the US standards has been granted by the Association of College and Research Libraries.The major difference in the Australian version is the addition of two standards.The new standard four addresses the .ability to control and manipulate information.Standard seven represents information literacy as the intellectual framework which provides the potential for lifelong learning.At its Canberra meeting 27-28 October 2000 the Council of Australian University Librarians approved the revision of the US standards as Information Literacy Standards.The intended primary application is to higher education, but they may be applied to other educational sectors.The first edition of the standards includes introductory and other material, and is accessible at www.caul.