Abstract

This chapter explores the emerging role of academic librarians in the learning and teaching process through their involvement with teaching staff in the development of student information literacy skills. Information literacy – that is, the ability to find, evaluate and use information effectively – is a key component of university students’ learning experience. It also equips students with skills for the workplace and lifelong learning: It could be argued that the skill of the twenty first century graduate will be to articulate the right questions and to understand where and how they can search for knowledge, not remember the answers (Donnelly and Fitzmaurice, 2005, p. 96). The chapter provides a brief overview of the institutional and learning background against which contemporary information literacy development takes place. This background is characterised by a changing context for the operation of academic libraries; a changing higher education environment; a changing information environment; and a changing user. The chapter goes on to provide some formal definitions of information literacy, developed by library-related bodies. These are followed by some working understandings of the term, derived from responses given by several academic developers and lecturers to the question, “What does information literacy mean to you? ” Finally, the chapter discusses the role of information literacy in higher education and the key role librarians play in information literacy development.