Media Room
NationalPresident Declares Information Literacy Awareness Month Every day, billions of e-mails are sent. Add tweets, blogs, social networking site updates, 24-hour news services, and work-related data—and you have information overload. So the fact that President Barack Obama declared October as Information Literacy Awareness Month might have slipped by you. The President's proclamation calls on Americans to be aware of the importance of information and the range of information resources available through radio, television, and the Internet. ProLiteracy President and CEO David C. Harvey said he is especially pleased by the proclamation's statement that "In addition to the basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic, it is equally important that our students are given the tools required to take advantage of the information available to them." "Adult literacy and basic education programs understand fully the need that adult learners have to acquire computer skills not just to access the jobs available today, but to access and evaluate the information that will help them make good decisions in their everyday lives—about their health care options, for example, or informed voting decisions," Harvey said. "As a result, programs are incorporating technology literacy instruction into the services they are offering, not just how to use the computer but how to determine if the information learners find there is credible. And that's a skill that everyone needs to have!" Read the full proclamation on the White House Web site.
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