The 7i Framework - Towards a Measurement Model for Information Literacy

The networked information and media society provides us increasingly with digital information and knowledge. However, the effective and efficient use of information requires a high level of information literacy (IL), i.e. adequate capabilities to deal with information. IL is in general described as the ability to recognize problem-driven information needs, to select information sources, to access, evaluate and use information, and to reflect upon both the applied information searching and processing procedure and the information resulting from it. Despite of its growing importance, IL has been considered only sporadically in information systems research and education. There is a lack of a scientifically proven model to operationalize and measure IL. The paper contributes to fill this gap by providing a synthesis on existing research related to definition, conceptualization and measurement of IL. Based on the findings of the literature analysis the 7i model for measuring IL is proposed.