Information Literacy: An International State of the Art

C. Publications
In general terms, we may affirm that there is still a relative lack of studies in the world of Spanish professional bibliography approaching user training from the standpoint of information literacy.
In no way is the Spanish bibliography comparable to what we find in relation to INFOLIT in the international bibliography, in which the subject is already fully developed, especially among professionals in the US, the UK and Australia.
Nonetheless, things are gradually moving forward, and, both in the professional library environment and in the university context, INFOLIT as an area of research is certainly acquiring a tangible presence.

1. 
   Theses of international relevance
   

Some doctoral dissertations awarded in Spain have also concerned information literacy. A dissertation by C. Urbano Salido in 1999 used a citation analysis technique to focus on the level of awareness and use of information sources by computing researchers at the Universitat de Barcelona. Eva Ortoll Espinet's dissertation of 2003, on Information competency in the health sciences: proposal for a training model, examines information literacy models developed for instruction in that field, especially in the healthcare sector. Her study analyses the approach to INFOLIT issues in the Spanish higher education context, in the area of biomedical sciences. It proposes an integrated model to be used as a reference framework for the design and implementation of information literacy programs aimed at the development of information competencies among healthcare professionals.

2. 
   Translations of key international documents into different languages
   

It should be noted that the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education approved by the ACRL are being translated and used in several countries. This is the case in Spain, which does not have its own set of INFOLIT standards.

We may here note the work being done by the university libraries grouped in the Asociación Andaluza de Bibliotecarios (Andalusian Librarians' Association), which is pioneering the translation into Spanish of the main INFOLIT standards, under the direction of Cristóbal Pasadas (Universidad de Granada).
In addition, the journal Anales de Documentación, of the Universidad de Murcia, has published (in Spanish translation) a number of international articles relating to INFOLIT research.
The group ALFINCAT has produced translations into all the official languages of the Spanish state (Spanish, Catalan, Basque and Galician) of the texts of the Alexandria and Prague Declarations (URL:

http://www.cobdc.org/grups/alfincat/documents.html).

LIST OF PUBLICATIONS (as at August 2006 - NB: Nos. 12, 20, 24, 30 and 42 are in Catalan):
1. Merino, A. and Rufi, J. (2000) «Un nuevo reto para las bibliotecas universitarias: la colaboración con la docencia y la investigación: El caso de la Universitat de Girona». Rebiun Seminario Barcelona. La biblioteca al servicio de la docencia y la investigación. http://biblio.uoc.es/cas/rebiun/jornada.htm [Know-how materials]
2. Núñez, L. Dossieres electrónicos en la biblioteca de la Universitat de Barcelona. Rebiun Seminario Barcelona. La biblioteca al servicio de la docencia y la investigación. http://biblio.uoc.es/cas/rebiun/jornada.htm [Know-how materials]

3. 
   “Estudio de Evaluación de Necesidades y Requerimientos de los Usuarios de la Biblioteca de la UAM, con especial incidencia en los factores de cambio asociados al uso de las publicaciones y la información en soporte electrónico» Madrid: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Biblioteca UAM. Estudio de evaluación. In http://biblioteca.uam.es/documentos/Calidad/2.-Informe%20Final.pdf. 2001. 79 pp. [Know-how materials]
   

4. 
   “Formación de usuarios InFormar IX». Fundación Germán Sánchez R. 2001. 7pp. [Guidelines for information literacy]
   

5.