Reimagining the role of IL: Sustaining information literacy futures

In this keynote panel conversation we embrace the conference theme as a foundational principle; that is, that information literacy (IL) is essential to combatting mis/dis information in today’s Global Information Society. For us, information literacy, irrespective of the stance or paradigms we adopt, is intrinsically associated with critical thinking and the ability to discern wisely in the information universe. There will be many examples of this in action as this conference progresses over the next two days. Accepting these premises leads us to the important question of how we maximise the impact of the information literacy endeavour. Since its inception, and labelling by Paul Zurkowski in 1974, this has been achieved through contextualising IL to make it meaningful to the widest possible range of stakeholders. Today we will: a) Provide a recent example of contextualisation in the form of ‘Informed Research’. Bringing IL to the research community seems an easy and obvious intention, yet has remained challenging to realise. The potential for IL impact in this space has, been strengthened through the development of the Informed Research Framework, which we discuss as an example of innovation in contextualising IL originating from the work of our team. b) Explore the recent re-emergence of the concept of Information Literacy as a discipline, which has been made possible as a consequence of the ongoing contextualisation of IL over the last almost 50 years. This need for contextualisation has driven ongoing research, scholarship, policy formation and training since the inception of the idea; and has also driven the ongoing reimagining of a response to the question – how do we communicate the relevance and import of IL? These matters have been the subject of recent conversations initiated by a new group focussed on ILIAD (IL Is A Discipline). We conclude that it remains essential for IL Professionals to be at the vanguard of combatting mis/dis information through conveying trusted conventions around information sharing and knowledge construction. We see informed research as pivotal to the process of conveying IL as a discipline to the broader community, establishing disciplinarian is itself a research process. As a discipline embodying transdisciplinarity, information literacy is realised through contextualisation across diverse walks of life and is critical in addressing the contemporary global issues that affect us all. The IL Stakeholder community will no doubt continue these conversations throughout the conference. We look forward to many illuminating debates around contextualization, disciplinarity and the role of IL in securing, discerning, and wisely using information into our global futures