Building an information literate school community:

Approaches to inculcate information literacy in secondary school students

Abstract

Purpose: This paper considers the concept of an information literate school community (ILSC) and approaches to information literacy instruction appropriate to secondary schools in Malaysia. Methodology: The paper examines the literature to determine the conditions that need to be in place in order to create an ILSC, and benchmarks for determining how well a school is progressing towards an ILSC. Different approaches to IL education are outlined and a case study of project based learning in the history curriculum is highlighted. Findings: The project based learning approach in the history curriculum for 13-15 year olds does not ensure good information literacy skills if library instruction is not embedded. A digital library of the students’ history projects is being developed to encourage improvements in students’ work. Originality: This paper offers an insight into how Malaysian schools approach the task of developing student information literacy and their progress towards becoming ILSC.