National Information Literacy Framework (Scotland): Pioneering Work to Influence Policy Making or Tinkering at the Edges?

Abstract

This article examines the creation of the National Information Literacy Framework for Scotland, from its original concept linking secondary and tertiary education to an expanded framework including primary education, lifelong learning, the workplace, and adult literacies. It discusses the framework's evolution from the original concept through to the development, piloting, restructuring, and use of the framework. It reflects on how the project engaged with policy and advocacy issues in order to gain recognition of the term information literacy. The policies and strategies it used to influence the inclusion of information literacy within the school curriculum through channels such as the Scottish Parliamentary E-petitions mechanism and engaging with the consultation process on the development of the new Scottish curriculum, "Curriculum for Excellence." It looks at the project's engagement in the wider world outside the academy and its conclusion that to be "effective, an information literacy policy must be firmly pegged to the information, lifelong learning, inclusion, and digital policies of the state." The article concludes that the project did influence information literacy practice, strategies, and policy making locally, nationally, and internationally. It discusses the reasons for that success, the lessons learned, and then examines the issue of sustainability and the future of the framework.