What is it?
The American Library Association (ALA) says that Information Literacy is "...a set of abilities requiring individuals to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evalaute, and use effectively the needed information" (ALA, 2000).

What are these abilities?
There are five compentency standards, which outline the Information Literacy abilities.
The information literate student...
1. ...determines the nature and extent of the information needed.

What should be done for this standard?
A. Define and articulate the need for information
- Develop a research topic, thesis statement
- Explore general information sources
- Narrows or broadens the topic as needed in order for it to be manageable
- Identify key concepts and terms that describe information need
- Recognize that existing information can be combined with original thought to produce new information

B. Identify a variety of types and formats of potential sources of information
- Know how information is produced, organized, and disseminated
- Recognize that knowledge is organized differently depending on the discipline
- Understand the value of resources in a variety of formats such as a database, website, or book
- Identify the purpose and audience of potential resources such as the difference between popular vs. scholarly
- Differentiate between primary and secondary sources
- Realize that information may need to be constructed with raw data from primary sources

C. Consider the costs and benefits of acquiring the needed information
- Determine availability of needed information and seek beyond local resources (i.e. Interlibrary Loan)
- Considers acquiring new language or skill to gather needed information
- Defines overal plan and timeline to acquire needed information

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