1. Policy making in information
literacy: what does it mean?
Dr John Crawford
Independent Information Professional
polbae2003@yahoo.co.uk

2. A lesson from history?
• little agreement about what information actually is - people’s
views influenced by education, experience, personal agendas
and issues of technology
• role of government poorly defined, government engagement
with information issues is intermittent & frequently vestigial
• relationship between governments & information
organisations is often weak, frequently nonexistent.
Information organisations themselves do not co-operate
harmoniously
• information retrieval or information searching ,however
defined, has travelled from being a specialist issue/skill, based
round science & technology to being a skill for everyone &
covering all subjects
• information literacy in a historical context is invisible

3. Historic debates about what IL is
‘...effective policy formulation and
implementation rely on an unambiguous
definition of the problem, while information
literacy remains difficult to characterize.’
(Haras and Brasley 2011)

4. The Information Society
Term defines a society in which the creation, distribution
and treatment of information have become the most
significant economic and cultural activities.
An information society also covers many related sectors
which include industrial and economic policy, technology
policy, telecommunications policy and a huge sector:
social issues and policies that comprise e-government,
education, e-health, media policy and cultural issues
within which much of the material of information literacy
lies.

5. Factors impacting on the information
environment
• Mass access to information through the Internet
• The need for lifelong learning
• The increasing proportion of available information with an
uncontrolled life cycle
• The proliferation of information services and tools
• The prevalence of intellectual over manual activities
(Basili 2011)

6. Connected stages in IL policy development
• A nation perceives the need for competitive reasons to be a
player in the global knowledge economy
• A need for upskilling of the population
• The emergence of a learning agenda associated with skills
development
• The growth of digital media and communications leads to
widespread information overload leading to a need for
effective information and knowledge management for both
individuals and organisations
(Town 2003)

7. Information literacy activism/development
• National concern
• Process analysis
• Product development (learning and teaching
materials)
• Not a logical sequence and product
development receives most attention and
more in HE than other sectors
(Town 2003)

8. A list of questions
• What is an information literacy policy and what are they for
• What is the role of information literacy policy within the wider world of
information policy making. How can information literacy be defined to
distinguish it from ICT infrastructural issues
• Who should make information literacy policy
• How can the information professional exert influence outside the
information sector
• What sort of agendas should information literacy policy making
identify/collaborate with, for example, educational and social policy,
lifelong learning, skills development, health awareness and deprivation
• Is information literacy recognised in policy agendas worldwide
• Can information literacy exploit digital inclusion agendas
• What kind of state is receptive to information literacy policies
• Have information literacy policies been systematically tested and evaluated

9. Criteria for IL policy documents
• Information literacy policy documents should be about information
literacy and not something else
• They should have some form of government endorsement and support
• They should be genuinely cross sectoral covering all education levels
from early years to PhD level, the workplace, health, lifelong learning,
employability and skills development and citizenship and civil rights
• They should be at least informed and preferably led by the
professional bodies of the countries concerned
• They should be collaborative with input from all organisations in the
countries concerned such as skills development bodies, employers’
organizations, trades unions, teaching and learning organizations and
relevant NGOs

10. Whitworth’s analysis
• Identified 11 policy documents.
• Analysed 6 using Bruce’s six frames
• Only two with state recognition – Finland, Hong Kong
• Finnish document mainly ‘academic’; Hong Kong does
not recognise citizenship
• Australasian, American and Hong Kong most broadly
based
• Personal relevance, social impact and collaboration
important
• Small countries sympathetic to IL?
(Whitworth 2011)

11. European IL policies
• Initially 461 initiatives!
• Identifies 54 policy initiatives
• But most do not focus specifically on IL
• Most policy measures initiated by Ministries of Education
but appear in ICT policy measures
• ‘...information literacy has not yet properly entered the
policy agenda in most European countries’
• Spread of credit bearing courses being delivered by
university departments and libraries (many initiatives
actually courses)
(Basili 2011)

12. Countries leading in policy initiatives
Country Number of policy initiatives
Lithuania 11
Finland 8
Germany 7
Denmark 5
Spain 5
Austria 4
Italy 4
Latvia 4
Estonia 3
Poland 3
Total 54

13. The long haul
‘The top priority of the National Commission on
Libraries and Information Science should be
directed towards establishing a national
program to achieve universal information
literacy by 1984’
(Zurkowski 1974)

14. The Gregynog conference

15. President Obama’s proclamation

17. What can we do?
• Develop policy documents, Yes but?
• Have R&D programmes to take policy forward
• Identify groups and organisations with whom
your interests overlap
• Link to long standing goals and reforms
• Connect with the information society
• Rethink what policy documents should be
• Evaluate impact

18. Information skills for a 21st century Scotland
An online information
literacy community of
practice
And he’s back!

19. Aims and characteristics
• Community of Practice 'Creating an information literate Scotland’
This community aims to connect up practitioners in a range of
sectors who are all working towards the common goal of creating
an information literate Scotland. Share your expertise, ask
questions and get involved!
• with archive links to: Scottish Information Literacy Framework;
Scottish Information Literacy Project website; Scottish Information
Literacy Project blog
• website is currently under construction. The site is being developed
by the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) in conjunction
with the former Scottish Information Literacy Project team and
partners

20. Questions?