Leadership

How Information Literacy Influences Scholarship, Practice, and Leadership in Education Information literacy is an individual’s ability to recognize a need for information, locate and evaluate the source of the information and correctly apply the information. The focus of this essay is to discuss the influence of information literacy on scholarship, practice, and leadership in the educational profession. Information literacy is a critical factor in numerous disciplines in today’s economy. The demand to improve information literacy in the education profession continues to grow as technology in education advances. Educational leaders must provide continued scholarship and practice through the increase of information literacy training to keep abreast of today’s changing technology. Badke (2009) discusses in his article how educators, have failed the Net Gen-ers. Badke (2009) refers to Net Gen-ers as students who grow up with the use of the World Wide Web. The increasing growths of information literacy compels educators to use effectively their skills, knowledge, and practice to teach students to use research, identify and apply concepts to be used in relevant situations. The ability of educators to use information literacy effectively is a key quality in areas such as lifelong learning, the practice of using evidence-based research and the ability to exert strong leadership skills. Information literacy in education requires educators provide learners with the tools to broaden their repertoire of skills and abilities. This means helping students become better users of information resources such as the use of Internet databases, libraries and other such print and non-print materials. According to Turusheva (2009) students need information competence to survive in today’s changing environment. The World Wide Web is currently one of the most popular sources of information available to all in the field of education. According to Badke (2009) “Many of our students g