Media and Information Literacy Education and

Transcript:Media and Information Literacy Education and:
Media and Information Literacy Education and Training for LIS Professionals in the Digital Era Dr. Navkiran Kaur, Assistant Professor Department of Library and Information Science, Punjabi University, Patiala (Punjab) Email: navkiran_19@yahoo.com and Dr. Harinder Pal Singh Kalra, Professor Department of Library and Information Science, Punjabi University, Patiala (Punjab) Email: hpskalra8@gmail.com Need for Media and Information Literacy Skills In the transition towards information society, we are witnessing a shift from print-based sources, to the Internet as the source of first choice, particularly for the young generation. But there are a few issues in the use of digital information, such as the currency, authenticity and reliability of information available via the Internet in various media and formats. Library and information professionals need to further develop their skills. Media and information literacy skills have emerged as important skills for managing information in diverse media and formats in the digital era. Media and Information Literacy MIL is not a new concept, the concept of information literacy was first introduced in 1974 by Paul Zurkowski, president of the US Information Industry Association. Since then, several associations and institutions (ALA, CILIP, SCONUL, etc.) have tried to define information literacy and vast amount of literature has been published on information literacy highlighting its importance around the world. Several models of information literacy have been developed from time to time like The Big Six, The Seven Pillars Model, The Empowering-8 Model, The 8 Ws Model, Kuhlthau Model, Research Cycle, The Alberta Model, etc. Media and Information Literacy (Contd.) UNESCO has extended the concept of information literacy to Media and Information Literacy which is defined as “a set of competencies that empowers citizens to access, retrieve, understand, evaluate and use, create, as well as share information and media content in all formats, using various tools, in a critical, ethical and effective way, in order to participate and engage in personal, professional and societal activities.” Media and Information Literacy Education and Training In the emerging information society, one of the major challenges before all, and particularly before library and information professionals is the digital divide and the information divide. On the one hand there are a large number of people who neither have access to technology nor the information they need for their survival, and on the other hand there are many people who possess latest information and communication technology (ICT) tools, but many of these do not have the