INFORMATION COMPETENCIES:
A BRIDGE TO NARROW THE
NORTH-SOUTH KNOWLEDGE GAPS
Mortenson Distinguished Lecture
Mortenson Center for International Library Programs
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
Urbana, Illinois, USA, September 23, 2003
www.library.uiuc.edu/mortenson
Jesús Lau, Ph.D.
Director, USBI Veracruz Library, and UV Virtual Library Coordinator
Veracruz, México
jlau@uv.mx / jlau@uacj.mx
Personal: http://bivir.uacj.mx/lau
Institutional: www.uv.mx
Topics
 The North-South knowledge gaps
 Southern socio-economic development
 Information literacy challenges
 Indicators of information growth
 The role of education and pedagogy in
information literacy
Decision Making - Information
 Cancun, the sunny beach resort
 World Trade Organization, 5th. Ministers Meeting / 2003
 Information is needed for
 Negotiation
 Planning
 International negotiations have a great impact on local
economies
 Agriculture is a trade battle arena between developed and
developing economies
 International negotiations cannot be based on just good will
 Leaders require information about decision alternatives
International Trade Competition
 The world is not a charity planet, it is a highly
competitive place
 International trade competition is fierce
 Developing countries require information
intelligence
 Southern leaders seldom come to a negotiating table
with background information
 Their information competencies tend to be limited
Leaders Need Information
Competencies
 Governments need to know about:




Competitors and potential allies
New goods and products entering to the world market
New technologies
New entrants to the economy
 Information/knowledge is essential to compete
 Maquila industry is moving to China
 China has taken 15 years to become a world industrial
power, but Mexico did not notice it until now
Information Competencies
Socio-Economic and political
development is best advanced by
people who recognize their need
for information, and identify,
locate, access, evaluate and apply
the needed information.
North – South
World Social Stratas
Wealthy
Middle class
Poor
Very poor
Wealth/Poverty Connotations
1. Income

Gross National Income per Capita
2. Basic needs





Food
Health
Housing
Education
Employment
3. Capability



Information competencies
Research
Management
Population 2002
(World Bank, 2002)
World
6,201,303
Low income
2,495,033
Middle income
2,741,531
Low & middle income
5,236,564
High income
964,739
Developing Regions
(World Bank, 2002)
Regions
1,823
GNP per
Capita
900
Latin America & Caribbean
475
524
1,970
3,580
Middle East & North Africa
South Asia
301
1378
2,220
450
East Asia & Pacific
Europe & Central Asia
Population
2
Knowledge Gaps
Internet: A great Venue for
Information
 Internet is opening access to information
 Great amounts of resources are available
 Some information aggregators are giving
information away
 However, low use capacity limits information
benefits in Southern populations
Information Development in
the Southern Hemisphere
 Publishing is limited
 Scientific serials are just a few
 Nobel prizes are not from developing
countries
 Reference publications are also scarce
Information/Knowledge Chain
1. Production
Authors
•Inventors
•Researchers
•
4. Storage/
2. Packaging
Distribution
Editor
•Databases/electronic
media companies
•Information aggregators
•
Bookstores
•Libraries
•Information services
•
3. Use/Demand
Researchers
•Academics
•Students
•Companies
•
Researchers
(Unesco, different years)
Country
Researchers
Africa
America
Asia
Europe
Oceania
71,308
71,308
4,483,881
1,892,307
60,066
Canada
Japan
80 510
651,099
United States
962 700
(12, 13)
Notes
15 Data for researchers refers to full-time equivalent. Data are from OECD
-12 Not including data for law, humanities and education
-13 Data refer to researchers only
Serials
(ISSN, 2003)
Country
ISSN Records
Africa
Asia
37,369
Europe
584,632
Latin América/Caribbean
27,842
Oceania
51,691
C anada
111,618
Japan
30,947
United States
161,031
7,064
National Libraries / Collections
(Unesco, different years)
Country
Africa
America
Asia
Europe
Oceanía
Libraries Volumes
13
2,920
10
20,560
26
45,992
63
278,194
1
2,441
Canada
Japan
General note
For general explanations and definitions, please
refer to the beginning of this chapter.
17
Data refer only to books.
18
Data refer only to gramophone records.
19
Data refer only to the number of visits to reading rooms.
1
1
6,387
5,528
Public libraries / Collections
(Unesco, different years)
Country
Unit
Volumes
Africa
America
Asia
Europe
358
2,060
22,741
127,271
6,271
18,231
597,394
2,568,421
Canada
Japan
(2) 1,045
70 077
195 390
2,172
Newspapers / Circulation
(Unesco, different years)
Continents
Number of
Circ Total
per 1,000
Dailies (000)
(millions)
inhabitants
World total
Africa
America
Asia
Europe
Oceania
8 391
224
2 939
3 010
2 115
103
548
12
111
229
190
6.4
96
16
141
66
261
227
Developed countries
Developing countries
Least developed countries
3 972
4 419
172
276
272
3.9
226
60
8
Newsprint Paper
Continents
groups of countries
Production Consumption
(MT)
(MT)
Consumption
per inhabitant
(kg)
World total
Africa
America
Asia
Europe
Oceania
36
0.4
17
6.8
11
0.8
35
0.5
14
10
9.4
0.8
6.1
0.7
18
2.9
13.1
28.2
Developed countries
31
27
21.9
Less developed countries
5
8.5
1.9
Least developed countries
0.04
0.1
0.2
Patents (´000)
(WIPO, 2002)
Af rica
America
Asia
Europe
Oceania
432
2 577.754
726.236
2 736.178
279
World Total
Canada
Japan
USA
2%
11.50%
40%
Internet
(www.blues.uab.es, 2003)
USA, Canada, Japan, and West Europe
90% Demand
70% Computer servers
English Language
60-80% Internet content
60 % English speakers users
8 % English speakers of total world population
3
Knowledge
Bridge
Education - Development







Education enables people to be better citizens
It helps economic mobility of individuals
It determines national progress
Education access is a challenge
Education quality is even a greater one
Information development is related to education
Education fosters information competencies
Teacher-Centered
Education
 Equips students with static knowledge
 Teaching to the test
 Reproducing texts
 Students are classroom-bound
 Predominates in developing countries
Information Literacy - Hurdles
Professors´
course notes
Rote learning
Textbooks
Hurdles
Professor lecturebased learning
Memorization
Learner-Oriented Education
 Fosters:







Information competencies
Knowledge construction by learners
Life long learning
Independent students
Creativity and innovation
Open-horizontal management
Contributes to create a base for democracy
Learning Is Changing
(Goldfarb, 1999)
•
•
•
•
Internet summarizes and orders information in a
hierarchical order
The book-reader interaction has changed because “words
become pictures and pictures become words”
Readers “gain information from bytes and text fragments
that are not organized in a straight line from beginning to
end or from left to right”
Successful books that have appeal to new cyber readers
are non-linear, similar to computer formats: “graphics in
exciting new forms and formats¨
4
Information
Competencies
Information Age
(Kuhlthau, 1999)
 It is characterized by instability and
uncertainty because of constant state of
innovation and development
 Society is shifting from scarcity of resources
to an abundance of resources
 Computer technology is changing learning
environments, communication and the way
people create
Information Literacy: A Must for SocioEconomic Development
 Workers need to be learning constantly, jobs are for a short time-span
 The work place is moving from routine to rich-thinking activities
 Education for future citizens is focusing on learning how to learn in
information-rich environments
 New education models are based on inquiry approach to learning rather
than on transmission approach to teaching
 Education´s new paradigm is to prepare students to know and to be able
to do
 Information competencies are a critical life skill
Competencies / Skills
 Reading
 Numerical
 Writing
 Information
 Computer
 Research
Professional Competencies
(Evers, Et al)
A.
B.
Mobilizing Innovation and Change:
C.
Managing People and Tasks: Accomplishing
D.
Conceptualizing as well as setting in motion
ways of initiating and managing change that
involve significant departures from the current
mode.
- Ability to conceptualize
- Creativity, innovation, change
- Risk-taking
the tasks at hand by planning, organizing,
coordinating, and controlling both resources
and people
- Coordinating
- Decision-making
- Leadership and influence
- Managing conflict
- Planning and organizing
Communicating: Interacting effectively with a
variety of individuals and groups to facilitate
the gathering, integrating, and conveying of
information in many forms (for example,
verbal, written)
- Interpersonal
- Listening
- Oral communication
- Written communication
Managing Self: Constantly developing
practices and internalizing routines for
maximizing one’s ability to deal with the
uncertainty of an ever-changing environment
- Learning
- Personal organization and time management
- Personal strengths
- Problem-solving and analytic
Information Core Competencies
I
N
F
O
R
M
A
T
I
O
N
Identify
Locate
Access
Evaluate
Apply
5
Library Role
Information Competencies
(American Asocciation School Libraries)
”Information users should have both
information-gathering strategies and the
critical thinking skills to select, discard,
synthesize, and present information in new
ways to solve real-life problems.”
Information Literacy Actors
 Parents
 Teachers
 Professors
 Librarians/Information
Professionals
 Managers
The Librarians´ Role
 Librarians provide essential expertise:



Access to information,
Selection of information resources, and
Facilitating the use of information in learning process
 Librarians and information specialists´ new roles:


Knowledge facilitator
Instructional facilitators
Libraries´ Role in Information Literacy
 Libraries´ new paradigm is to prepare users to know and to be able to do
 Libraries have the leading position of focusing on learning Libraries are
knowledge repositories and offer a wealth of information
 Libraries should be learning-centered institutions
 Libraries are or ought to be information literacy centers
 Libraries ought to be:
 An extension of the classroom
 Integrated into the curriculum
 Providing opportunities and resources to students´ inquiry process
Cancún: An Example of the
Importance of Information
.
Conclusions
 The North-South knowledge gaps can be bridged
by information competencies
 Individuals of all ages need information literacy
competencies
 Good decisions are based on good information
 Education needs pedagogical changes in developing
countries
 Librarians are information experts who can
advocate information development in Southern
countries