The evaluation challenge

For years writers concerned with information literacy (IL) – essentially the knowledge, skills and understanding needed to find and use information effectively – have stressed the importance of learners evaluating the material with which they come into contact whilst searching. As many commentators explain, the need to make sound judgements has become especially important today, since so much information searching now involves the World Wide Web. The evaluative framework proposed in this article was designed with the aim of helping to narrow the gap between discoveries emerging from research and the teaching of IL.