Information literacy (IL) is the ab

Information literacy (IL) is the ability to recognize an information need,
identify potential resources to satisfy that information need, access and use the
aforementioned information resources, and do so in an efficient and ethical
manner (American Library Association, 1989). These fundamental skills
support lifelong learning, in and out of a classroom, at all ages. The
sophistication of skill required will vary depending on the information needs of
the user but the necessity of these skills is beyond question. Given the
importance of the skills and the benefit of IL skill acquisition, it is necessary to
examine to what degree these skills are acquired by students during their
education. However, examining student skill acquisition only elucidates one side
of this multi-faceted story. Exploring information literacy understanding, and
thus instruction, from the teacher’s perspectives will provide the library and
information studies and education fields with a more holistic picture of the state
of IL within schools. With research and anecdotal evidence indicating that many
students are not graduating from secondary school with these skills (Gross &
Latham, 2007,2009; Julien & Barker, 2009), existing gaps in educational
experiences need to be examined. Although it needs to be acknowledged that the
responsibility to teach these skills does not rest solely on educators, the
curricular expectations that these skills be taught and the reality that teachers
spend a considerable amount of time with students during their formative years
means that teachers should play a significant role in students’ IL instruction.
Formalized educational practices require students to either develop or already
possess these valuable IL skills (Alberta Learning, 2000; Alberta Education