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Information literacy

EducationOriginal
Yanling Liu

From AI Debate to Learning Design: When Does GenAI Support Student Learning?

What happens when a student asks an AI chatbot to solve a problem, explain a concept, or draft an answer? The answer may depend less on the technology itself than on what happens after the response is generated. Research on generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in higher education tells two seemingly different stories. Some studies show that students achieve better learning outcomes when they use GenAI. Others suggest that students may become less engaged, less reflective, or overly dependent on the technology.

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FeaturedOpinion
Yanling Liu

What Happens When Research Starts with an Answer?

Have you ever asked ChatGPT a question just to get a quick answer? You’re not alone. Millions of people now turn to AI assistants before opening Google, visiting a website, or asking a librarian for help. College students are no different. Instead of beginning a research assignment by searching for books, articles, or websites, many now begin by asking a generative AI assistant a question and receiving a polished response within seconds. It feels much faster and easier. Yet this seemingly simple shift raises an important question: if research increasingly starts with an answer instead of a search, how do learners move from information to understanding?

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FeaturedOpinion
Sheila Webber

Information Literacy in a Time of Polycrisis

You know that polycrisis isn’t just an academic obsession when the accountants start saying it’s a thing. In a document that mentions polycrisis 84 times, the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) identifies that understanding “the interconnectedness of external factors such as climate change, nature, or inequality, and seeing the patterns of change and the feedback loops between the factors” is essential for developing a sustainable business model.

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Education
Misty Trunnell

Parents Want Help with Clearing Information Landmines: Information Literacy Programs for Parents of Children Under Twelve

Considering the ubiquity of devices available to children and content created for them, parents of children 12 and younger should be targeted as a specific group for new information literacy programs.  A May 2025 Pew Research Center survey reported that parents of children 12 and younger allow their children to use various devices (TVs, tablets, smart phones) to access platforms (YouTube and social media), for reasons such as entertainment, learning, staying connected, and calming down. Parents of the same survey also reported that smartphones and content created for social media is more harmful that beneficial and that tech companies and law makers should do more to prevent harms. They also reported challenges about deciding what to allow and how to manage screentime for their children. Many reported they felt a need to improve their decision making related to screentime and content. Today, families are less likely to receive instruction and support from libraries to evaluate technology and content for children than in the past due to more option to access devices and information.

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Original
Sana

College Students as Key Learners in Information Literacy Programmes for Combating Misinformation and Disinformation

Have you ever used strategies while searching for a specific problem? Well, most youngsters do not even bother whether they are consuming actual information on the internet or not, because they only care about synthesized information to fulfill their needs. The major issue in developing nations like Pakistan is that we, as students, face the risk of believing all the information we find on Google or social media is accurate. When it comes to information literacy, people who consume content on social media and in their daily lives don’t bother about the authentication of the news they consume. So, the question is what will happen when students get literacy instructions at college and early university life in all disciplines?

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Original
Leili Seifi

Rural Women Hold Some of Iran’s Most Valuable Knowledge. Can Information Literacy Help Them Keep It?

When people hear the term information literacy, they often think about searching online, spotting misinformation, or evaluating websites. These skills matter. Yet recent thinking in Information Literacy suggests that IL is also about understanding how knowledge is created, valued, shared, and sustained within communities. Information literacy is not only about finding information. It is also about recognizing valuable knowledge, preserving it, sharing it responsibly, and ensuring that it survives for future generations. In Iran, one of the most important priorities for the future of IL may be helping rural women preserve the indigenous knowledge they already possess and pass on to future generations.

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FeaturedOpinion
Elaine Kong

Beyond “Check the Source”: Information Literacy for Health Decisions in the Age of AI

For decades, the golden rule of information literacy was simple: check the source. Who wrote the article? When was it published? Does the URL end in .gov or .edu? Those questions still matter, but in today’s digital ecosystem, they are no longer enough. Modern users don’t just read static webpages; they navigate a chaotic blend of search engine snippets, algorithmic social feeds, influencer testimonials, and AI-generated summaries. In high-stakes arenas like personal health, evaluating a single “source” is no longer the primary task. The real challenge is making sense of an entire information environment.

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FeaturedOriginal
Amelia Haire

Neurodiverse Perceptions of Information Literacy

In many academic and professional settings, IL is treated as something people either possess or lack. Once someone is qualified or trained, they are often assumed to be information literate by default. In contrast, we believe that becoming information literate in the workplace is a continuous, effortful, and highly contextual process, particularly for neurodivergent people, for example, for autistic librarians in the workplace.

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