Information Literacy: Formal Information Literacy Skills

The skills listed on this page are the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education as developed by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association.⁵

1. Determine the nature and extent of the information needed:

• Define and articulate the need for information
• Identify a variety of types and formats of potential sources
• Consider the costs & benefits of acquiring needed information
• Reevaluate the nature & extent of the information needed

2. Access needed information effectively & efficently:

• Select the most appropriate investigative methods or information retrieval systems for accessing needed information
• Construct and implement effective search strategies
• Retreive information online or in person using a variety of methods
• Refine search strategy as necessary
• Extract, record, and manage information and its sources

3. Critically evaluate information and its sources, and incorporate selected information into your knowledge base & value system:

• Summarize the main ideas to be extracted from the information gathered
• Articulate and apply initial criteria for evaluating both the information & its sources
• Synthesize the main ideas to construct new concepts
• Compare new knowledge with prior knowledge to determine value added, contradictions, or other unique characteristics of the information
• Determine whether new knowledge has an impact on your value system & take steps to reconcile differences
• Determine if the initial query should be revised

4. Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose:

• Apply new & prior information to planning and creating a particular product or performance
• Revise the development process for the product or performance
• Communicate the product or performance effecively to others

5. Understand many of the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding information and access & use information ethically and legally:

• Understand many ethical, legal, and socio-economic issues surrounding information & information technology
• Follow laws, regulations, institutional policies, and etiquette related to access & use of information resources
• Acknowledge the use of information sources in communicating product or performance