The Irish Working Group on Information Literacy: a cross-sectoral approach

BACKGROUND At its 2006 AGM, the Library Association of Ireland (LAI) passed the following motion: ‘That this Annual General Meeting calls on the incoming Executive Board to work with other agencies to adopt a standard for Information Skills; lobby to ensure government is made aware of the need for, and value of Information Skills; lobby government to recognise and affirm the role of Libraries in the delivery and maintenance of Information Skills’ (proposed by the Executive Board of the LAI). Following this, a call was sent to all library sectors seeking out members either working in or interested in the area of information skills / information literacy (IL). Members were asked whether they would be willing to contribute by participating in a working group on this topic. Membership of the working group was open to everyone, the sole stipulations being that any officers of the group must be members of the LAI, and have interest and enthusiasm! The Working Group on Information Literacy (WGIL) was consequently established by the LAI in January 2006. WORKING GROUP ON INFORMATION LITERACY (WGIL