“Information literacy” is a term most often associated with academic libraries. Sometime in the 1980s, it began to replace the older “bibliographic instruction.” By whatever name, showing people how to use the library has long been one of the librarians’ core duties in any kind of library. Social media and search engines have made it more important and more complicated than ever.
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The mass media often misuse statistics when they report about such subjects as health, science, education, and the economy. Media outlets seem to be more concerned with pushing agendas than accurate reporting. Even if there is no agenda, emotionally vivid language in headlines and teasers create and maintain interest in the story. I’m not writing media criticism, though. This post is as much about research and any of my others. Not many Americans know much about statistics. And journalists have no more training in statistics than most of the rest of us. Badly understood and misused statistics also influence public policy and legislation. Instead of playing the blame game, the general public ought to learn enough about statistics to view discussions that depend on them with respectful skepticism.
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Classes have started at colleges and universities. Some time at the beginning of every term, academic librarians conduct tours of the library and visit classes to offer library instruction. Or perhaps meet them in the library’s own classrooms. What are they trying to accomplish? What happens when they don’t get through to students? The results can be comical. They also help perpetuate a cycle of ignorance. After all, some students who never catch on graduate anyway. And some of them wind up teaching somewhere.
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I heard on NPR recently that CNN is losing market share in the US because viewers prefer the “more opinionated” coverage of Fox News and MSNBC. That’s sad. I say that not as a fan of CNN–I don’t regularly watch any of those networks. I say it’s sad because people who prefer to hear only what conforms to their own viewpoint have essentially decided not to be informed citizens. They have consciously and deliberately turned their back on information literacy. The term “information literacy” seems to have originated in the mid 1970s, but the need it expresses is much older. Back in the dark ages, before the Internet even existed, teachers warned students over and over that just because they found something in print somewhere didn’t mean the information was either true or useful.
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Railroad tracks used to divide some communities into the right side and the wrong side. People on the wrong side of the tracks lacked both social standing and the resources to better themselves. The term “digital divide” similarly refers to those who have access to the Internet and those who don’t. Libraries, and especially public libraries, are at the forefront of attempts to bridge the digital divide. What is the digital divide? What constituted the digital divide changes over time. When the general public first began to acquire computers at home, poor people and minorities were less likely to have them. After all, they were expensive and not easy to use. When the Internet began its transformative influence on American life, poor people and minorities were less likely to use it. In the beginning, everyone used dial-up. When broadband became available, poor people and minorities–assuming that they had computers or access to the Internet at all–were more likely to be stuck with slower connections. By this time, the digital divide did not represent only the gap between racial and income groups. People living in rural areas, regardless of income, often lacked–and still lack–high-speed access to the Web. The foregoing statements … Continue reading →