A Conceptual Analysis and Historical Overview of Information Literacy

Abstract

A conceptual analysis is undertaken of information literacy by investigating some leading definitions and delineations of the concept. These are analyzed with the intention of exploring chronological extensions in the meaning of the concept. The range of skills and knowledge required for information literacy has. expanded over the last two decades in order to accommodate the continually developing requirements for effective information handling, and the article notes how the library and information science (LIS) profession is responding to these requirements. The review concludes by identifying three main trends in information literacy which are evident from the literature of the early 1990s. H nformation literacy is an abstract concept. As a metaphor, it is a neatly packaged-and imagi-- nativ~escriptive phrase that is not literally applicable or easily interpretable, implying something more qualitative and diffuse than is evident in the historical meanings of both literacy and information. Symbolically, information lit-eracy appears to represent the ability to use information, or possibly the posses-sion of a knowledge of information. In order to ascertain how the concept has come to have its current meaning and to identify what skills and knowl-edge are required of a person in order to be information literate, some definitions suggested since the 1970s will be ana-lyzed. At the same time, the future sce-nario for information literacy in the LIS field will be outlined by identifying what the current trends appear to be from the latest literature. Owing to the abundance of literature on information literacy, only a few of the major definitions can be analyzed for the purposes of this article.1 The review con-centrates on literature emanating from the United States; however, for purposes of comparison, reference is made to some definitions discussed in the Nether-lands, since the Dutch meaning of infor-mation literacy was originally more computer-oriented, but now appears to be moving closer to the meaning ascribed to the concept in the United States. DEFINITIONS OF THE 1970s In a proposal submitted to the Na-tional Commission on Libraries and In-