Information Literacy: Business and Workplace Information Literacy: Three Perspectives
Abstract
Businesses want workers who are critical thinking problem-solvers, who know how to find, evaluate, and use information to address work-related issues, and communicate effectively regarding those issues,1 much like the information literacy (IL) or media and information literacy (MIL) efforts worldwide recently described in this column.2 In businesses at all levels and in the workplace, IL/MIL is not a familiar phrase. Undaunted, however, librarians in many types of libraries try to help their users with these very issues. Those librarians face challenges, including constant and rapid change in directions and needs, little or no grasp of the availability of data (or lack thereof), especially on emerging topics, and the need to address and communicate work-related issues speedily, yet with valid evidence. The challenge for librarians in all types of libraries is how to support each other through sharing materials and approaches, perhaps in a new repository for workplace-related IL. The discussions that follow take a first step in that direction. Next steps could include analyzing the contents of such a repository and developing sequential supportive curricula and materials for librarians and for their users to extend and expand their business and workplace IL.—Esther Grassian, Co-Editor
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5860/rusq.57.2.6521
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