JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL AND INSTRUCTIONAL STUDIES IN THE WORLD November 2012, Volume: 2 Issue: 4 Article: 18 ISSN: 2146-7463 COPYRIGHT @ JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL AND INSTRUCTIONAL STUDIES IN THE WORLD 154 THE ROLE OF LIBRARIANS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS’ INFORMATION LITERACY SKILLS AND A MODEL PROPOSAL Dr. Asiye Kakırman Yıldız Marmara University Istanbul, TURKEY akakirman@marmara.edu.tr Abstract The development of societies depends upon the quality of their workforces. Contemporary societies, in comparison with past societies, now need workforces with different qualities. The best way to prepare for a future characterized by constant change is to equip the individuals which make up these societies with skills which will help them to keep up with these changes. The most important of these skills are life-long learning skills and information literacy skills. Individuals who have information literacy skills are people who are more likely to be equipped for all kinds of change in their personal and professional lives. In equipping the individuals who make up society with these skills, the educational institutions, libraries and librarians have an important role to play. Key Words: Information literacy, librarians, students, model. “The illiterates of the future will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who don’t know how to obtain information”. Alvin Toffler INTRODUCTION Information literacy means having the right skills to locate information in different formats, access it, evaluate it, use it and communicate it. In equipping individuals with these skills, educational institutions and therefore the libraries which support these institutions have important duties to fulfill. Librarians are also expected to play a supporting role in helping to equip students with such skills. It is often stressed that information literacy should occupy a place on the programs of educational institutions at all levels and ought to be a part of the educational process of each student. That information literacy skills are some of the fundamental skills that should be taught to students throughout their education is an idea which has begun to gain general acceptance (Kurbanoğlu and Torun, 2009). The term information literacy is a term which was first used in a report written in 1974 by Paul Zurkowski which refers to “the education of individuals to enable them to use information sources related to their work”. Information literate people were defined as “individuals who have the necessary skills to use sources of information, as well as the ability to create solutions to problems by accessing appropriate sources (Polat, 2003)”. Although many more definitions of information literacy have been developed, the definition of the American Library Society (ALA) is generally used. According to this definition (ALA, 1989); “Information literacy is a set of abilities requiring individuals to "recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information."