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(Text adapted from CAUL Information Literacy Standards 2001 by Isabella Trahn, UNSW Library)

Please Note: The Standards are currently under revision. The 2003 revised edition will be released sometime in November

Information literacy enables learners to :

An information literate person can:

Computer literacy focuses on an understanding and increasingly skilled use of information technology.
Information literacy focuses on content, communication, analysis, information searching, and evaluation of information.
Fluency with information technology and sound investigative methods are useful but information literacy also incorporates critical discernment and reasoning.

The importance of developing lifelong learners in universities is increasingly reflected in descriptions of graduate qualities. By ensuring students can think critically, and by helping them construct a framework for learning how to learn, educational institutions provide the foundation for continued career development, as well as the development of informed citizens and community members
Academic role in relation to information literacy
To establish the context for learning and inspire students to explore the unknown, offer guidance on how best to fulfill information needs, and monitor student progress.

Library's role in relation to information literacy
To evaluate and select resources for programs and services; organise, and maintain collections and points of access to information; and provide advice and coaching to students and academic staff who seek information

Current UNSW Library plans, priorities strategies and performance indicators for information literacy are available at:

Information literacy development provides opportunities for self-directed learning, as students become engaged in using a wider variety of information sources. Achieving information literacy fluency requires an understanding that such development is not extraneous to the curriculum but is woven into its content, structure, and sequence.
Information literacy is a validated construct which can be incorporated into the instructional design of programs. Curricular integration affords possibilities for furthering the impact of student-centred teaching methods such as problem based learning, evidence based learning, and inquiry learning.

As students progress through their undergraduate and graduate years, they need to have repeated opportunities for seeking, evaluating, managing, and applying, information gathered from multiple sources and obtained using discipline specific research methods. Students will develop a meta-cognitive approach to learning, making them conscious of the explicit actions required.

Endorsed Australian standards, http://www.caul.edu.au/index.html, based on international standards, http://www.ala.org/acrl/ilcomstan.html, and http://www.sconul.ac.uk/publications/99104Rev1.doc already exist which can provide a framework for embedding information literacy in the design and teaching of educational programs, and for assessing the information literate individual. The standards outline the process by which academics and librarians can pinpoint specific indicators identifying a student as information literate.

For students they provide a framework for interaction with information in their particular environment. All students are expected to demonstrate all of the standards, but not everyone will demonstrate them to the same level or at the same time. The standards are not intended to represent a linear approach to information literacy and some disciplines may place greater emphasis on the mastery of specifics at certain points in the process. The reflective and evaluative aspects within each standard will require students to return to an earlier point in the process, revise the information seeking approach, and repeat the steps.

The outcomes described can serve as guidelines for academics and librarians to develop local methods for measuring student learning: see a US example at: http://www.ala.org/acrl/nili/criteria.html and http://www.earlham.edu/~libr/Plan.htm, and an Australian example at, http://www.library.cqu.edu.au/informationliteracy/criteria.htm Information literacy shows itself in the specific understanding of the knowledge creation, scholarly activity, and publication processes found within different disciplines. Assessment instruments and strategies should be developed in the context of particular disciplines. Both higher order and lower order thinking skills are evident throughout the standards and assessment methods appropriate to the thinking skills associated with each outcome should be identified.