The Committee's Definition of Literacy

[Dale Lipschultz]

In June 2005, the Committee officially adopted the DOE's definition of literacy. The Committee didn't want to draw any boundries, but rather establish a baseline for discussion. This is intentionally vague, but that was the point.

The ALA Committee on Literacy, at its Annual Conference meeting on June 24, 2005 in Chicago, Il, adopted the following definition for literacy.

(Literacy is defined as the ability to use)… printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential.” United States Department of Education, 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy

The adoption of this definition will guide the Committee and the Association as they address library literacy in practice, research, and policy.

The Committee, initiated in 2001, is made up of ten (10) members from across the Association. Committee members are appointed by ALA presidents. Additional information about the Committee on Literary can be found at http://www.ala.org/ala/olos/aboutolos/commonliteracy/alacommittee.htm.

Dale Lipschultz, Staff liaison, ALA Office for Literacy & Outreach services (OLOS)
July 25, 2005

[Aimee Quinn]

Is there any discussion since 2005 on the definition of literacy? I think that one component of overall literacy includes civic engagement (government literacy). Of course, one cannot be civicly engaged if one is illiterate, but literacy is a life-long pursuit. Too often people stop once they can read or write well enough to fill out a form, usually a government form such as tax, medicare, social security, unemployment, or job applications. I believe that to be fully literate, we need to insure that our users understand the context of literacy. Reading and writing for the sake of functioning to get benefits should only be the beginning.

As a career documents librarian, I am troubled by the number of people coming in to learn about citizenship so they can become Americans who have a better understanding of the American form of government than many native born citizens.

The Department of Education, when looking at the literacy challenges for the 21st century, created a program of English Literacy and Civics Education (http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/AdultEd/elctopic.html). I think it worthwhile if ALA were to incorporate this program into some of its literacy programs.

Thanks for starting this discussion.
Aimee C. Quinn

[Dale Lipschultz]

I'm working on president elect Camila Alire's literacy and advocacy initiative. Just today I was reviewing definitions of literacies -- not literacy -- and came across across this one from the National Council of Teachers of English. It made sense to me and I wanted to share it with you. While it doesn't specifically address Aimee's concern it address the issue of broadening the definition to more clearly reflect 21st Centuries literacy.

The NCTE Definition of 21st-Century Literacies
Adopted by the NCTE Executive Committee
February 15, 2008

Literacy has always been a collection of cultural and communicative practices shared among members of particular groups. As society and technology change, so does literacy. Because technology has increased the intensity and complexity of literate environments, the twenty-first century demands that a literate person possess a wide range of abilities and competencies, many literacies. These literacies—from reading online newspapers to participating in virtual classrooms—are multiple, dynamic, and malleable. As in the past, they are inextricably linked with particular histories, life possibilities and social trajectories of individuals and groups. Twenty-first century readers and writers need to

• Develop proficiency with the tools of technology
• Build relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively and
cross-culturally
• Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of
purposes
• Manage, analyze and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous
information
• Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multi-media texts
• Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments