Workplace experiences of information literacy

The idea of information literacy, broadly defined as the ability to recogni se information needs and identify, evaluate and use information effectively , has been of growing concern in the education sectors for a number of year s; whilst in the workplace, employers and managers have perhaps attended mo re to the need for computer and information technology skill. New descripti ons of information literacy, that may be of value to the business sector, a re now beginning to appear as a result of qualitative research into how pro fessional employees experience the effective use of information. This paper summarises the outcomes of an investigation into the experience of informa tion literacy amongst various types of professionals; and explores the poss ible differences and interrelations between individual and organisational i nformation literacy suggested by these outcomes. Seven different ways of ex periencing information literacy were identified. These experiences are clos ely related to important workplace processes such as environmental scanning , information management, corporate memory, and research and development; c onfirming that information literacy should be considered a significant part of the character of learning organisations as well as being a key characte ristic of the organisation's employees. Implications of individual and orga nisational information literacy for beginning and continuing professional e ducation are explored. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.