There are many variations on definitions depending on what you read. The overall consensus seems to be that a person who has information literacy (IL) – or is information literate – is able to process information from any and all sources to gain the information they require. Not only do they know how to acquire the desired information, they can process, critically analyse, adapt and understand it.
When you consider this skill within the context of us living in an infosphere or information landscape it makes it a very valuable skill. We are literary surrounded by information. This of course has huge ramifications for educators and teacher librarians if we want to prepare our students to be both successful and life-long learners.
You can review my earlier blogs about the definition of the words ‘information’ and ‘literacy’ as separate ideas.