Information Literacy in the Workplace

In today’s information-driven workplace, the modern professional must know when research evidence or relevant legal, business, personal or other information is required, how to find it, how to critique it and how to integrate it into their existing knowledge base. To fail to do so may result in defective and unethical practice which could have devastating consequences for clients or employers. This demands highly focused and complex information searching, assessment and critiquing skills.This book, through a range of perspectives from the personal to the organizational, shows how information literacy (IL) is essential to the contemporary workplace and to an understanding of how the modern professional experiences, and could potentially experience, the contemporary information environment. Using an evidence-based approach, Information Literacy in the Workplace demonstrates several aspects of IL’s presence and role in the contemporary workplace, including IL’s role in assuring competent practice, its value to employers as a return on investment, and its function as an ethical safeguard in the duty and responsibilities professionals have to clients, students and employers.Chapters are contributed by a range of international experts, including Christine Bruce, Bonnie Cheuk and Annemaree Lloyd, with a foreword from Jane Secker. Content covered includes: how the range of Information Literacy experiences in a profession or workplace can be investigated a discussion of the value and impact of IL in the workplace how IL is experienced remotely, beyond workplace boundaries IL’s role in professional development IL's role in organizational learning and knowledge creation how IL in the workplace can be developed in an evidence-based way how to unlock and create value using IL in the workplace.

Dr. Marc Forster is a librarian at the University of West London, UK, looking after the needs of the College of Nursing, Midwifery and Healthcare. His research interests include Information Literacy’s role in learning and in the performance of the professional role.