Information Literacy: An International State of the Art

Specialized seminars on INFOLIT

With a more specialized intent, a number of seminars were held in 2006 which strongly drew attention to the growing interest in INFOLIT in Spain:

• 
  A seminar on «Las nuevas alfabetizaciones. La alfabetización digital a debate político y social» (The new literacies: Digital literacy and the political and social debate) was held in February 2006, under the auspices of the Observatorio de la Sociedad de la Información y del Conocimiento(Monitoring Unit for the Information and Knowledge Society), of the FIAP («Foro de investigación y acción participativa para el desarrollo de la sociedad del conocimiento» - Forum for Research and Participatory Action for the Development of the Knowledge Society), as well as of a number of other foundations and monitoring centres, including the Fundación Telefónica. This seminar, while prioritizing digital literacy, also pointed up the importance of examining the significance of the new literacies in general, as well as analyzing their best practices, their relationship with knowledge processes (i.e. not conceiving them as merely a means of promoting consumption of technology), the strategies to be applied, the social repercussions, etc.
  

• 
  February 2006 also saw the seminar «Biblioteca, aprendizaje y ciudadanía: la Alfabetización Informacional (ALFIN)» ('Libraries, learning and citizenship: Information Literacy (INFOLIT)'), held by the Biblioteca de Castilla-La Mancha in Toledo, with the support of the Subdirectorate-General for Library Coordination and the Junta de Comunidades of the Castilla-La Mancha region. The aim was to examine INFOLIT from the conceptual viewpoint, as well as looking at didactic methods and their practical application, the criteria for assessing the results and learning outcomes of INFOLIT programs, and policies for the social extension of INFOLIT on the part of educational, cultural and documentational institutions. Material relating to this seminar may be found at: Travesía. Portal de las Bibliotecas Públicas Españolas (Portal for the Public Libraries of Spain) - URL: http://travesia.mcu.es/alfin.htm). Already available in this context is the Toledo Declaration (at present by means of guest access to the e-learning platform of CITA). Also to be found at the Travesía site is the logo designed by the Subdirectorate-General for Library Coordination. Concerning this, it is stated that it is a 'visual embodiment of the concept of INFOLIT, that is, the set of capacities, skills, behaviors and attitudes which enable the individual to seek, access, assess and use, in effective fashion, the most useful information existing in whatever medium for the purposes of decision-making, problem-solving, personal and social development, democratic participation, etc'. This portal also offers a number of downloadable files with the logo, in .eps and .pdf format.
  

• 
  A professional seminar was held at the Biblioteca Nacional (National Library. Madrid) in June 2006, under the title: 'Bibliotecas y educación: Una relación a debate' ('Libraries and Education: A Relationship under Debate'. This seminar, organized by SEDIC and the Fundación Germán Sánchez Ruipérez, was aimed at examining the education/ library relationship, starting from two communications:
  

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  «La alfabetización informacional: bases y modelos», by Félix Benito Morales;
  

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  «Bibliotecas, educación y lectura: el encuentro esperado», by José Antonio Merlo.
  

The seminar also included the following two round tables:

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  «El profesional de las bibliotecas de centros de enseñanza: perfil, formación y competencias» ('Library professionals in educational institutions: profile, training and skills')
  
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  «La biblioteca como centro de recursos: nuevos modelos para realidades cambiantes» ('The library as resource centre: new models for changing realities')
  

3. 
   International actions and meetings
   

The spring meeting of the European Council of Information Associations, held on 25 and 26 March 2001 in Madrid with representatives from Finland, Sweden, Germany, Spain, Portugal, the UK, France, Italy and Belgium, highlighted information literacy as a must in the information society, and it could also be seen as the first step in promoting the profession. Carla Basili, from Italy, expressed willingness to coordinate a work group that would define the term and monitor initiatives taken in different countries. Therefore, she has initiated a project under the name 'EnIL: European thematic network on information literacy' (URL: http://www.ceris.to.cnr.it/basili/enil/index.html), the idea being to form a European network of information literacy experts. Currently, among other actions, EnIL is developing the European Observatory on IL Policies and Research (EgIL), which is an online gateway to European policies, research projects and initiatives related to information literacy, with special focus on higher education developments. This gateway is organized on a country basis and has so far been released for Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy and Poland. Work for other European countries (including Spain) is still in progress.

In addition, several projects in information literacy have been initiated at European level and funded by the EU, with the involvement of Spain. Among the best-known are the End User Courses in Information Access through Communication Technology (EDUCATE) and the Distance Education Information Courses with Access Through Networks (DEDICATE) projects. EDUCATE (1994-1997) was developed under the EU Telematics for Libraries Third Framework project, and concerned subject-related aspects of information literacy for scientists and engineers, aiming to develop an on-line course in the selection and use of information tools which could be used in a number of settings, for self-directed learning or as part of a formal course in information literacy. It led to two 'Into Info' subject modules, respectively for physics and for electrical and electronic engineering, which were tested for the training of undergraduate students and researchers at ten universities. The programs were produced in seven subject areas: architecture, chemistry, energy, electrical and electronic engineering, environmental information sources, medicine and physics. Later, the production of modules followed for other subjects: history of science and technology, and civil engineering. These programs, which were produced in English, French and Spanish, may be used by librarians and information specialists in courses on information literacy. The project involved universities from Ireland, Sweden, France, Spain and the UK.

4. 
   Listservs/discussion lists
   

There are two listservs related to information literacy in Spain:

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  Listserv of the ALFINCAT Group (information at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alfincat/).
  

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  Listserv ALFAINFOR: Alfabetización en Información, Documentación en Educación (Information Literacy and Documentation for Education) (information at: http://www.rediris.es/list/info/alfainfor.es.html)
  

5. 
   Weblogs
   

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  Weblog ALFIN: Alfabetización Informacional: Recursos e ideas sobre cultura de la información y nuevas alfabetizaciones (INFOLIT - Information Literacy: Resources and Ideas on Information Culture and New Literacies)
  

URL: http://alfin.blogspirit.com

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  This blog, coordinated by José Antonio Gómez Hernández, is aimed at disseminating INFOLIT in the Spanish-speaking community and promoting it as a service in the library and educational context and as part of information society policy. It is an open-access blog, containing information structured by categories related to the application of INFOLIT to different contexts, INFOLIT models, application criteria, teaching experiences, relevant texts, etc. It is updated continually and carefully. It was the first, and remains the most complete, INFOLIT blog in Spain.
  

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  Weblog Alfabetización informacional (ALFIN) en la educación secundaria (Information Literacy (INFOLIT) in Secondary Education)
  

URL: http://alfinsecundaria.blogspirit.com/

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  This blog, run by a secondary school teacher, Jordi Fernández, is bilingual in Catalan and Spanish.
  

6. 
   Websites devoted to information literacy
   

There are no specific websites devoted to information literacy in Spain (cf. point b.3 of this report: Tutorials and portals for citizens).