"Lifelong learning is "a continuously supportive process which stimulates and empowers individuals.. . to acquire all the knowledge, values, skills and understanding they will require throughout their lifetimes...and to apply them with confidence, creativity, and enjoyment in all roles, circumstances, and environments" (A National Learning.. 8), according to the First Global Conference on Lifelong Learning, cosponsored by the American Council on Education. Consider the philosophy underlying the definition:

* Continuous-Lifelong learning never stops.

* Supportive-We don't do it alone.

* Stimulating and empowering-It's self-directed and active, not passive.

* Knowledge, values, skills, and understanding-It's more than what we know.

* Lifetime-It happens from our first breath to our last.

* Applied-Lifelong learning is not just for knowledge's sake.

* Confidence, creativity, and enjoyment-It's a positive, fulfilling experience.

* All roles, circumstances, and environment-It applies not only to our chosen profession, but to our entire life" (Duff).

"Lifelong learning is not a new idea. It has driven the development of human potential since we emerged from prehistory. Ancient Chinese, Greek, Hebrew, and Roman teachers extended their teaching to adults...

"Thomas Jefferson reflected the belief that lifelong learning is basic to the foundation of democracy-by creating an informed citizenry...

"In 1980, the noted educator Malcolm Knowles predicted a vision for the 1990s, that lifelong learning would finally become the organizing principle of all education. The reasons? A world of accelerating change" (Duff).

CHANGE: AN IMPERATIVE FOR LIFELONG LEARNING

"Why is so much attention now given to developing an attitude of (and plan for) learning throughout life? Why are leaders from every sector of society addressing the need for a new learning culture for every citizen, regardless of age? Why has our profession taken a strong stand on behalf of lifelong learning? The environment in which we work and live makes it clear. We truly have no option!" (Duff)

Information Explosion

"Knowledge is exploding at an exponential rate, so much so that the Space Age is now history and we have entered the Information Age. Experts estimate that, depending on the field of study, knowledge doubles every 3 to 10 years-perhaps even faster-with new fields of study emerging rapidly...

"The workplace needs workers who must do far more than gather and sort a large volume of data quickly; we also need to evaluate, interpret, and synthesize what we learn. In addition, we need to be more skilled at accessing and networking a changing body of information and using it creatively and effectively. Competence depends on information literacy. Solutions for the modern, increasingly complex workplace are no longer found in textbooks, databases, or small groups of supervisors. Today organizations that thrive are knowledgebased. Staff are empowered by information, thoughtful inquiry, group discourse, and skills acquired through an ongoing commitment to lifelong learning" (Duff).

"Leaders throughout the nation cite a perspective for professionals. "Advanced professionals must be lifelong learners to keep up with current research and development in their field and maintain their licensing and certification eligibility. Since the global economy is heavily knowledge-based, investments in the special needs of advanced professionals is crucial to quality of life for all" (A National Learning... 13), notes the Commission for a Nation of Lifelong Learners (CNLL)" (Duff).

New Workforce

"The workforce outlook is changing dramatically. In today's competitive global marketplace, lifelong earning demands lifelong learning...

"The CNLL report, cited by the White House, noted changes in workforce statistics. Between 1979 and 1995, 43 million jobs in the American economy were eliminated affecting 75% of households, while 70 million new jobs were created, giving a net increase of 27 million jobs. However, only 35% of laid-off, full-time employees landed in jobs with equal or better paying work. The key to higher wages? Retraining. Of the current workforce, 75% will need significant retraining in the next decade for 4 important reasons (A National Learning...)" (Duff).

Skills

"According to research, certain skills empower us to assess our progress and manage and revise our plans for lifelong learning:

* well-developed communication skills for acquiring, processing, and transferring knowledge;

* self-directed learning skills that help us determine what we need to learn as well as how to make and carry out a plan to get there;

* information literacy, meaning the ability to locate appropriate information, evaluate its quality, organize it, and use it effectively;

* higher-order thinking skills, which, as Todhunter reminded us 50 years ago, are skills for critical and creative thinking, problem solving, decision making, and inquiry; and

* metacognitive skills, or skills for "thinking about thinking": selfawareness, self-monitoring, positive self-talk, and reflection" (Duff).

"The era of the ssshh-ing librarian is long past; these days our facilities are often buzzing with the noise of active use. But many of the `Powers That Be' who are responsible for our funding still (want to?) think of us as quiet, and unassertive, and maybe even a redundancy in the new realm of instant/electronic information access. To make sure that our positions and programs don't become educational roadkill because we didn't toot our own horns every so often, we've got to be very V*O*C*A*L* so that people understand the value of what we do" (Yucht).

V is for Visibility

"You can't make an impact if you're invisible: if nobody sees how what you do can affect what they do. Are you a recognizable presence in the building beyond your room... ?" (Yucht).

O is for Opportunity

"We ARE the information professionals; the ones trained and qualified to select and evaluate the glut of information that keeps threatening to swamp us. Because we are not bound to any particular grade level or subject area, we have a much broader knowledge of both curriculum and resources, of interdisciplinary connections and strategies that can increase student learning, of what's available and how to use it. Don't just wait for someone to ask, "Do you have anything on...?" Be aware of what they will want/need, and offer it to them before they even know to ask! Use every opportunity available to tout new materials and even services to your educational community" (Yucht).

C is for Credibility

Know your collection: and know it well... We wouldn't think very much of a store manager who didn't know what s/he had in stock; the same is true for librarians who are unaware of the intricacies of their inventories. I read or at least skim every book I add to my collection, I explore websites and CD-ROMs before recommending them, I even flip through the magazines as they arrive. Takes time? Yes, but it also means that I KNOW what I'm providing...Be prepared to defend your choices; after all, it IS the public's money you're spending" (Yucht).

A is for Accessibility

"School libraries should always be friendly places, where all interests and abilities are welcome... Remember that today's library user is tomorrow's school budget voter, and act accordingly" (Yucht).

L is for Linkability "If librarians have a single word mantra, it must be "share." We provide the connections between readers and resources... We also know how to explain the connection between effective library programs and educational excellence, and why Information Literacy Standards for Students are so important to the success of the entire school community" (Yucht).

"The real issue is that the possible obsolescence of a significant portion of our technological infrastructure is simply a portent of things to come. Paralleling this is the imminent obsolescence of our current educational system. The proliferation of new technologies, combined with new directions being taken by government, is transforming our economic system and leading to demands for an entirely different type of worker. In doing so, the new economy is quickly rendering irrelevant many of the skills and behaviors that have been traditionally promoted by our Industrial Age schools. What this means is that our children are not graduating from the current education system with the skills necessary to thrive in the growth industries of the 21st century" (Jukes et al. 27).

"The Industrial Age model of education defined what it meant to be educated and employable in the 20th century. Workers were expected to be punctual, follow instructions, and do things without question. The fact that the Industrial Age coincided with government programs to take care of people further reduced the need for teaching independent thinking, problem solving and selfreliance.

"The rapid technology changes of the 21 st century, accompanied by the political trend to decrease government responsibility for social programs, will quickly demand a completely different set of skills-ones such as critical thinking, problem solving, information literacy, self-reliance, and the ability to think independently while working collaboratively" (Jukes et al. 27).

Change or Become Irrelevant

"As our colleague David Thornburg asserts, the real Y2K compliance problem has far less to do with computer readiness than it does with the readiness of our students, teachers, schools and thus, our nation, to be properly prepared for the new millennium....

"What are the critical Y2K questions that must be addressed? Consider these: Are you as a teacher willing to move from a teacher-centered classroom, to a more student-centered classroom? From managing an environment of conformity, to cultivating an atmosphere of creativity? From hovering over rows of isolated, front-facing students, to facilitating the collaboration of small teams of students facing each other? From directing students to collect data on arbitrary topics, to encouraging them to investigate questions of direct relevance to their own lives? From dictating facts for regurgitation, to guiding students in the synthesis of new ideas? Are you as a teacher willing to move from employing teaching skills acquired in the decade you were trained in, to developing new teaching skills suited to the decade you are teaching in?" (Jukes et al. 27).

22% of colleges and universities surveyed in 1995 had an information literacy program (ACRL).

"There is a growing amount of research evidence to suggest that the integration of information technology into learning can empower learners. A report by Gregoire, Bracewell & Laferriere (1996), available at the web site provides a substantial review of research which demonstrates that:

"new information technologies have the power to stimulate the development of intellectual skills such as reasoning and problem solving, learning how to learn and creativity;

"new information technologies can contribute in several ways to better learning in various subjects and to the development of skills and attitudes. The nature and breadth of learning depend on previously acquired knowledge, and on the type of learning activity;

"most students show greater spontaneous interest in a learning activity that uses a new technology than in the traditional approaches in class;

"the attention span or concentration that the majority of students are willing to devote to learning activities is greater when they use a new information technology than when they are in a traditional setting using traditional resources;

"new technologies have the power to stimulate the search for more extensive information on a subject, and a more satisfying solution to a problem;

"the use of new technologies pro motes cooperation among students in the same class and among students or classes in dif ferent schools;

"if the new technologies are used in such a way as to exploit their potential, the teacher interacts with students much more than in a traditional classroom, as a facilitator, a mentor, a guide to the discovery and gradual mastery of knowledge, skills and attitudes;

"teachers begin to view knowledge less and less as a series of facts to be transferred and more and more as a process of contin uous research in which they share the difficulties and results with their students.." (Todd 16)

"In essence, the key challenge confronting schooling in the wake of the information technology revolution and the enormous volume of information it provides is empowering learners to be creative, critical and constructive users of information. This has to be the central feature of any pedagogical transformation involving information technology. And central to this is developing students' critical literacies: developing the skills needed so that students are able to look critically at information and to question and challenge the words of ideas on the Net; are able to understand and analyze the ways information works to empower some and exclude others; and have the capability of managing and effectively utilizing the quantities of information they confront. Kehoe (1993) sums up the essential dilemma:

"Critical judgment is particularly important when scanning the Web. The following questions must always be considered:

what is this site trying to do?

what is this site trying to do to me?

whose interests are being served here?

what is the text trying to say?

what are the possible meanings?

what do I already know and how does this relate to it?

how does this relate to other sites? other sources?

what are the alternative/opposing views?

where can I find out about alternatives?

how does this site help me construct an alternative position?

what do I do with this site now?

who can I talk to about this site?

which voices are silent here?

what actions can/should/will I take?" (Todd 18)

A STUDY

"The case study summarized here sought to examine how students made use Net information in the process of their learning. It sought to identify learning barriers and difficulties and to develop and implement information literacy/critical literacy centered teaching and learning strategies to address these concerns. The case study took place at Marist Sisters' College, Woolwich (Sydney) under the leadership of Celeste McNicholas.

"The study involved one classroom teacher and two senior classes, one geography and one religious education class involving a total 42 students. The research tasks were set by the classroom teacher and designed without consultation with the teacher-librarian, this serving to represent the more common practice rather than a task designed to suit the Internet aspect of the work.

"Each class comprised two randomly selected groups. Group A used information sources considered tradi tional by Marist Sisters' College, that is print texts, multimedia and electronic indexes and full text services. Group B accessed the Internet, primarily the World Wide Web, from any of SO possible sites around the College using Netscape as a search engine and unconstrained by any electronic censorship. Group B students had open access to the Net at all times throughout the course of the study. The tasks were initially set with a firm time line that reflected the program for both subjects. The research was planned using naturalis tic observation of the students and teacher, recording their experiences and impressions of 'traditional' versus new information sources while documenting the process and the product outcome.

"Prior to beginning their tasks both groups of students were asked to record their search plans making comment on what information was to be to looked for and where they expected to find it. In addition a process diary was used by each student to make comment about their impressions and perceptions of the sites visited and judgments about the quality and usefulness of the information gathered.

"The learning process was tracked in depth from the time the students were given the research tasks, to the time the tasks were assessed by the classroom teacher. An action research framework underpinned the process. This involved five phases of identify, plan, act, observe and reflect. The process involved careful observations of and discussions with the students during their work; it involved articulating problems, barriers, concerns; then planning and implementing appropriate teaching and learning strategies based on an information literacy framework to address the concerns; and to evaluate and reflect on the processes with a view to ongoing planning, classroom action and evaluation.

"The outcomes of this study are presented in the following table. Based on these findings, six key learning dilemmas were conceptualized from this case study. They were derived from our observations, and stated in students' comments. Typical comments included:

"I don't know what to search for"

"I'm lost."

"I know there's information in here but I can't seem to find it."

"I can't work out if the info's good or not."

"I can't find any useful information."

"I get so much useless information."

"The Internet's great - a one stop shop for information."

"It doesn't encourage you to use your brain."

"It's so easy to cut and paste."

"In summary, the six learning dilemmas were:

"Design Of Research Tasks: A major barrier to effective searching was a poorly designed research task. This is a problem that teachers must resolve. This problem compounds the difficulties as student engage in the search, analysis and synthesis processes.

"Understanding Search Engines: This was a major problem. Search engines work differently, and their scope, capabilities, and search and logic processes need to be understood in order to generate a search output that is precise, relevant and with a minimum of "noise" or junk information.

"Search Design: Coupled with poorly designed research tasks, weakly developed skills to analyze this task for searchable key words, based on an understanding that Net English is often not classroom English, were clearly evident. Lateral thinking skills to establish narrower, broader and related terms were not strongly evident. The problem was compounded by the inability of students to construct a search string based on the principles of Boolean logic that underpins the Net search engines.

"Information Quality: Judging the quality and utility of information for the required task was a major barrier for students. They have traditionally worked in a school environment where library resources are assumed to be "good" by their mere presence in the collection. The assumption that all information is "good" has been carried over to the Net.

"Construction Of Information: Abilities to analyze and synthesize information, and to construct a personal answer that demonstrated understanding of the ideas, were poorly developed. There was a tendency to scroll through pages to find the answer and to cut and paste the relevant paragraph into a document that was to become the research assignment.

"Productivity: Poorly developed search skills, and consequently the huge volumes of information to sift through, resulted in a prolonged and frustrating search process. This impacted both on students' productivity as well as on time-cost efficiencies of being online on the Net" (Todd 19-21).

" Information literacy will be essential for all future [engineering] employees" (Langlois 285).

"Information literacy, the term most commonly used to describe the organized process of information seeking that students must assimilate in order to become effective learners.." (Byerly and Brodie 27).

"Information literacy standards for student learning, prepared by the American Association of School Librarians and the Association for Educational Communications and Technology...

"Nine standards cover three major areas: information literacy, independent learning and social responsibility.

Ken Haycock, president of AASL, said the standards are crucial for students' success in the 21st century.

Information Literacy

Standard 1: The student who is information literate accesses information efficiently and effectively.

Standard 2: The student who is information literate evaluates information critically and competently.

Standard 3: The student who is information literate uses information accurately and creatively.

Independent Learning

Standard 4: The student who is an independent learner is information literate and pursues information related to personal interests.

Standard 5: The student who is an independent learner is information literate and appreciates literature and other creative expressions of information.

Standard 6: The student who is an independent learner is information literate and strives for excellence in information seeking and knowledge generation.

Social Responsibility

Standard 7: The student who contributes positively to the learning community and to society is information literate and recognizes the importance of information to a democratic society.

Standard 8: The student who contributes positively to the learning community and to society is information literate and practices ethical behavior in regard to information and information technology.

Standard 9: The student who contributes positively to the learning community and to society is information literate and participates effectively in groups to pursue and generate information.

Each standard includes several indicators of success, which confirm that the standard has been reached" ("School Librarians Unveil.." 12).

Abstract:
LaForty presents a course on Information and Electronic Literacy. The course integrates information problem-solving , computer skills, critical thinking and cooperative learning strategies (LaForty).

Information is the context of a new course that has created much interest in Ontario. four Information Studies teachers (formerly teacherlibrarians) from the Durham Board of Education created, wrote and are teaching a grade 11 course, Information and Electronic Literacy, INF 3A1. This course was piloted at O'Neill Collegiate and Vocational Institute in Oshawa in 199S1997 and within one year it is being taught in schools in over six boards across Ontario (LaForty).

RATIONALE FOR COURSE A. World of Work

"Knowledge and technology is today's #1 product. There is hardly a job or position that is untouched by information and computer technology. The US department of labor has estimated that by the year 2,000 at least 44 percent of workers will be engaged in the data services: gathering, processing, retrieving and analyzing information. Moreover, our students will probably have more than one career, realistically three or four careers in their lifetime. Tomorrow's workers, our students today, must learn what it takes to compete in this global world of work and what it takes to be a life-long learner; to access, understand and manipulate information and as Eisenberg states, transform it into "knowledge and action"" (LaForty).

"The problems inherent in any information system-disorientation, navigation inefficiency, and cognitive overload-are multiplied on the Internet. Novice users of databases or online catalogs are confused about how to search and what they find [Oliver]. The Internet is even more disorienting because it is difficult to tell what is being searched or browsed-a single Web page, a series of pages, or a database of links" (Brandt 112).

"So-called bibliographic instruction, as taught by librarians, has progressed far beyond using the library to teaching information literacy to develop models for interacting with and controlling information systems as part of a larger research process. Librarians are currently leaders as teachers and practitioners of information retrieval, and have developed a variety of successful approaches based on their expertise [Nahl-Jakobovits and Jakobovits]."(Brandt 117).

Another bibliography of studies on information literacy

Brandt, D. Scott. "Constructivism: Teaching for understanding of the Internet." Association for Computing Machinery. Communications of the ACM, 40(10). (Oct 1997): 112-117.

Byerly, Greg, and Carolyn S. Brodie. "Information literacy update." School Library Media Activities Monthly, 15(1). (Sep 1998): 27+.

Drucker, Peter. Post-capitalist society. New York: Harper, 1993.

Duff, Roberta L. "The value of lifelong learning: Key element in professional career development." Journal of the American Dietetic Association 99(5). (May 1999): 538-543.

Jukes, Ian, Anita Dosaj, and Bruce Macdonald. "The REAL Y2K crisis." Technology & Learning 19(9). (May 1999): 27+.

Kehoe, L. "Casting the net worldwide." Financial Times (Nov. 30, 1993): 11.

LaForty, Jo-Anne. "A New Literacy For A New Age." Emergency Librarian, 25(5). (May/Jun 1998): 8-10.

Langlois, Claudine. "Universities and new information and communication technologies: Issues and strategies." European Journal of Engineering Education, 23(3). (Sep 1998): 285-295.

Nahl-Jakobovits, D., and Jakobovits, L. Bibliographic instructional design for information literacy: Integrating affective and cognitive objectives. Research Strategies 11, 2 (Feb. 1992), 73-88. 5.

A National Learning: Vision for the 21 st Century. Washington, DC: Commission for a Nation of Lifelong Learning; 1997.

Oliver, R. Interactive information systems: Information access and retrieval. Eletronic Library 13, 3 (June. 1995), 187-193.

"School librarians unveil first-ever national standards for information literacy ." Teacher Librarian, 26(1). (Sep/Oct 1998): 12+.

Todd, Ross. "WWW, critical literacies and learning outcomes." Teacher Librarian 26(2). (Nov/Dec 1998): 16-21.

Todd, R., and C. McNicholas. "Electronic information and learning organisations. Information online & on disc 97." Proceedings of the eighth Australasian Information Online and On Disc conference and exhibition, Sydney, Australia, 27-23 January 1997 (pp. 363-373). Sydney: Australian Library and Information Association, Information Science Section, 1997.

Yucht, Alice. "VOCAL-izing for library support." Teacher Librarian 26(5). (May/Jun 1999): 30+.