Information Literacy - for academic staff

Information Literacy Rubric

The Information Literacy rubric describes the information skills students should achieve at NZQA level 1 - postgraduate.

What is Information Literacy?

Information literacy is the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning.

(Association of College and Research Libraries, 2015)

Research Thinking and Information Skills

Alongside the specific skills needed to locate, manage and use information, it is important for students to develop a reflective mindset when working with information. The Research Thinking diagram below outlines some of the reflective qualities needed for skilled infomation use.

Why is information literacy so important?

The Tertiary Education Strategy 2014-2019, emphasises the crucial importance of learning transferable skills in tertiary education. Information literacy skills are highly transferable skills that help students succeed in the workplace and beyond.

We help students filter through the masses of information by teaching them methods to select correct key terms, relevant resources and strategies for determining the value of the information they find.

Further Information

For further information about Unitec's Information Literacy programme, please contact:

your Subject Librarian

What academic support can Subject Librarians offer?

  1. Advice on Information issues in the 21st Century
  2. Library tours and scavenger hunts
  3. Tailored in-class or online sessions for your students. Topics may include:
  • Introduction to Unitec Library resources
  • What is meant by “scholarly sources”
  • Level-appropriate Information Searching Techniques (including searching Library databases, Google & Google Scholar)
  • Locating NZ Sources
  • Critical Evaluation of Resources
  • Training on a specific information resource or subject area
  • How to find and use Government information sources
  • How to find and legally use images
  • Ethical Use of Information
  • Research and Postgraduate Study Skills
  • Organising and managing research resources
  • Citation Management Software (Zotero or Mendeley)
  1. Working with you to:
  • Embed information literacy into your course, including use in Moodle

Rauru Whakarare Evaluation Framework

Misinformation Lexicon