Information literacy: a 21st-century graduate skill.

There is a heightened awareness in higher education of the crucial role of information literacy in teaching and learning. The paper defines information literacy; encourages collaborative partnerships between academic teaching staff, librarians and learning support staff; and proposes an institution-wide systematic development of information literacy in teaching and learning. The paper also makes reference, from a librarianʼs perspective, to some of the key findings of a study undertaken by researchers at Middlesex University on user behaviour in the electronic environment specifically as it relates to information literacy in the academic context. The paper proposes a way in which these skills can become integral to the teaching and learning strategy of a higher education institution in the second decade of the 21st century.