October is National Information Literacy Awareness Month

Oct. 3, 2012 - PRLog -- Since presidential election season is upon us, perhaps now is a good time to remind every American that October is National Information Literacy Awareness Month and to put their information literacy skills to work.
 
James Madison, our 4th president and Father of the U.S. Constitution, once said
"A popular Government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance....”

Accessing and understanding information from today’s whirling dervish of digital and media information resources just simply boggles the mind.  If we are not careful, our current digital information universe will overrule our good common sense and render us subjects to the will of automation, spin masters, and the Technorati.

In 2009, President Obama issued the first national proclamation acknowledging the critical role information literacy plays in the everyday lives of all Americans.  In today’s Information Society, knowing how to find, analyze, synthesize, and utilize effectively information at home, in school and in the workplace is an essential, key pathway to professional, personal, and academic success…a fact often undervalued in our daily discourses around the water cooler and/or in the classroom.
 
Let there be no doubt - not to have and/or utilize this critical skill set in making any type of informed life and/or professional decision truly has the capacity to severely undermine our economic welfare, national security, and quality of life as one of the world’s great democracies.

How can you acknowledge National Information Literacy Awareness Month?  Begin by asking yourself this question, “How do I make informed decisions and do I do so in a manner that provides me with the best options and solutions available.”  Ask your relatives, friends, and neighbors how they make decisions and begin practicing information literacy by analyzing their answers...you may be surprised at what you might find.

Remember, the real secret weapon behind information literacy is individual and organizational empowerment. To know is to have options, take advantage of a broad spectrum of opportunities...that is if you know how to access and analyze the right information. Need to find out more…visit the National Forum on Information Literacy, http://www.infolit.org

The National Forum on Information Literacy dedicates its efforts and resources to mainstreaming information literacy competencies and practice in the U.S. and worldwide.