It’s not hyperbole to conclude that in today’s world, information literacy is essential for survival and success; and also that, if left unchecked, the social consequences of widespread misinformation and information illiteracy will only continue to grow more dire. Thus its study must be at the core of every education. But while many books have been written on information literacy, this text is the first to examine information literacy from a cross-national, cross-cultural, and cross-institutional perspective. From this book, readers will

• learn about information literacy in a wide variety of contexts, including academic and school libraries, public libraries, special libraries, and archives, through research and literature that has previously been siloed in specialized publications;


• come to understand why information literacy is not just an issue of information and technology, but also a broader community and societal issue;


• get an historical overview of advertising, propaganda, disinformation, misinformation, and illiteracy;


• gain knowledge of both applied strategies for working with individuals and for addressing the issues in community contexts;


• find methods for combating urgent societal ills caused and exacerbated by misinformation; and


• get tools and techniques for advocacy, activism, and self-reflection throughout one’s career.

Natalie Greene Taylor, PhD, MLS, is an associate professor and coordinator of the Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program at the School of Information of the University of South Florida. Dr. Taylor’s research focuses on youth information literacy, information intermediaries, and information policy as it affects youth information access. She has published articles in more than two dozen scholarly journals, her research has appeared in American Libraries and other professional journals, and she has coauthored five books: Digital Literacy and Digital Inclusion: Information Policy and the Public Library; Libraries, Human Rights, and Social Justice: Enabling Access and Promoting Inclusion; Foundations of Information Policy; Libraries and the Global Retreat of Democracy: Confronting Polarization, Misinformation, and Suppression; and Foundations of Information Literacy. She is coeditor of Library Quarterly.

Paul T. Jaeger, PhD, MLS, JD, MEd, is a professor at the College of Information Studies and codirector of the Museum Scholarship and Material Culture program at the University of Maryland. He studies the impacts of law and policy on information access, accessibility, and literacy, with a primary focus on human rights and civil rights. He is the author of about 200 journal articles and book chapters, as well as twenty books. His research has been funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Science Foundation, the American Library Association, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, among others. He is coeditor of Library Quarterly. In 2014 he received the Library Journal/ALISE Excellence in Teaching Award. A 2019 study published in Public Library Quarterly named him one of the two most influential scholars of public library research in the past thirty-five years (it was a tie).

Acknowledgments and Sanctuary
List of Acronyms

1    Searching for Information (Literacy)
2    Defining Information Literacy
3    Information Literacy in the Context of Information Behavior and Everyday Life
4    The Operationalization of Information Literacy, Part I: Academic and School Libraries
5    The Operationalization of Information Literacy, Part II: Public Libraries, Special Libraries, and Archives
6    Information Literacy Is a Human Right 
7    Controlling Information Literacy
8    Literacy Politics and Literacy Policies
9    Why Libraries?
10    The Field Guide to Incorrect Information 
11    A Brief History of Advertising, Propaganda, and Other Delights 
12    Pandemic-Style Disinformation, Misinformation, and Illiteracy
13    Toward Lifelong Information Literacy
14    Advocacy, Activism, and Self-Reflection for Information (Literacy) Professionals
15    The Social Infrastructure for Information Literacy
16    The Lifelong Information Literacy Society 

References
About the Authors
Index