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SI InfoLit

FeaturedOriginal
Clarence Maybee

Information Literacy and the Shaping of Reality

Is information literacy (IL) capable of enabling people to effectively use information in the age of AI? The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) into the mainstream has been even more disruptive than previous technological advancements, such as the World Wide Web or social media, and in some ways has fostered much disorder and uncertainty within the world of information. While new IL models and tools are being developed to address AI, they have tended to treat AI-generated information similarly to how earlier IL models provided checks and balances for considering human-created information sources and tools. Continuing to enable effective use of information, IL needs to keep pace with evolving ideas of AI-generated information and its effects on the human beings that interact with it.

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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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Original
Noah Azehaf

The Numeracy Gap in Information Sciences

Because I studied statistics for my undergraduate degree, I have for years maintained a strong interest in the topic of statistical literacy. This is not just because I think it is important for people in general to be able to make sense of numbers and data, which is of course true, but also because I believe the information professions increasingly demand some degree of proficiency in this area. Information sciences as a field diverged a while ago from pure librarian work, and graduate degree holders in LIS now go on to pursue a host of professions, many of them concerned directly with data. That does not mean that MLIS/MSIS programs need to turn into data analyst or data scientist training programs, but it does mean that these programs should adjust their curricula to account for the growing relevance of data work in the information professions.

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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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A black keyboard at the bottom of the picture has an open book on it, with red words in labels floating on top, with a letter A balanced on top of them. The perspective makes the composition form a kind of triangle from the keyboard to the capital A. The AI filter makes it look like a messy, with a kind of cartoon style.
Original
Alberto Garcia

Finding the Familiar in the Age of AI

Why do we automatically respond to new technologies by wanting to create more? The Mexican writer Juan Villoro observes that our relationship with technology has evolved into one of dependence in which failure is defined by “the fear of missing out”. This is the fear that pushes us towards production fed by our tendency towards addition and complexity, a phenomenon well documented. When solving problems, we tend to add rather than subtract. Faced with the challenge that generative AI presents to learning and research in higher education, the same instinct has shaped our response.

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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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Original
Dijana Šobota

In Pursuit of Social Justice: Reclaiming Information Literacy as a Transformative Practice

Over the last fifty years, IL has evolved from a “niche” library practice and skill into a concept connected to democracy, social justice and human rights. Yet much discussion in the field still revolves around definitions, frameworks and competences, while broader social and political realities shaping information practices receive less attention. If IL is to be socially relevant and “fit for the future”, its value cannot lie only in conceptual refinements, but in its ability to respond to the conditions affecting our lives.  

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