National Information Literacy Month

Today, we have a message from Mary Cash, CCCOnline’s Instructional Online Librarian:

President Obama has declared October to be National Information Literacy Month. In our busy, technological world, we are inundated by information – thanks to the Internet, we can learn new information, share ideas and photos and communicate instantly. It’s very easy to become overwhelmed. According to President Obama, “Rather than merely possessing data, we must also learn the skills necessary to acquire, collate, and evaluate information for any situation. This new type of literacy also requires competency with communication technologies, including computers and mobile devices that can help in our day-to-day decision making. National Information Literacy Awareness Month highlights the need for all Americans to be adept in the skills necessary to effectively navigate the Information Age” (Presidential Proclamation).

What can we do to help our students gain the skills they need to navigate the busy world of information? We can offer them information and guidance so that they know when they need to seek out information, how to locate the specific information they need, and then what to do with it once they find it. We can create lessons and assignments so our students can practice those skills and become better consumers of information. Need some assistance or ideas on how to do this? As the instructional online librarian, information literacy is a huge interest of mine, and I’ll be glad to sit down and talk to you about little or even big things you can do in your course to help your students learn to manage the information in their worlds.

· Read the President’s Proclamation: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/presidential-proclamation-national-information-literacy-awareness-month/

· Visit the National Forum on Information Literacy’s website:
http://infolit.org/

-Mary Cash
Instructional Online Librarian
CCCOnline