Technology and the concept of information literacy for pre-service teachers

Through an examination of a variety of information literacy documents and an analysis of supporting materials, this article argues that the impact of technology on the conceptualization of information literacy is two-fold: technology serves as a catalyst for developing a rationale for the importance of the concept and as a mechanism for focusing attention on specific issues within the broader concept of information literacy. Understanding the relationship between technology and information literacy is particularly important in light of recent findings from the Pew Internet and American Life Project (2002) that "many schools and teachers have not yet recognized-much less responded to-the new ways students communicate and access information over the Internet" (iii), resulting in a "digital disconnect" (v) between students and teachers with respect to Internet-based information seeking. The discussion is thus contextualized within the field of education, but the majority of the ideas raised here apply to information literacy for any discipline or profession. The article ends with a discussion of additional considerations related to information literacy and digital technologies within the field of education.