Today, one group of literacy experts is asking library professionals to help them answer the question: what does “digital literacy” look like in a library context? The Digital Literacy Task Force – a group spearheaded by the American Library Association’s Office for Information Technology Policy – is now seeking comments on the preliminary report “Digital Literacy, Libraries, and Public Policy.” The document seeks to provide a broad overview of libraries and digital literacy and discusses the current policy context, including digital inclusion, education and lifelong learning, and workforce development.
The Task Force (pdf) is made up of literacy experts from school, public, and higher-education libraries and represents a wide range of ALA units. The Task Force addresses issues and questions related to digital literacy and national policy conversations. The report will serve as a launching point for the development of a set of recommendations to the Association and the broader library community to continue and expand libraries’ engagement and leadership to effect meaningful and sustainable change in our communities. The Task Force will develop these recommendations as a companion piece to this report.
The public comment period is open from September 18, 2012 – October 19, 2012. Commenters are asked to focus their feedback on substantive issues and the task force specifically asks representatives of each library type to consider how their library is portrayed.
Please send questions about the report to mvisser@alawash.org.
Marijke Visser
Assistant Director
ALA Office for Information Technology Policy
About Marijke Visser
As Assistant Director of OITP, Marijke’s responsibilities include primary management of OITP’s E-rate activities, working in collaboration with Larra Clark and Alan Inouye. In addition, Marijke’s policy portfolio includes projects focused at the intersection of children and youth and information technology policy as well as broadband adoption issues including digital literacy and challenges for diverse populations. As Assistant Director, Marijke also has responsibility for OITP communications and other office-wide activities.
