Information literacy in global perspective 1 Malmö Joint Nordic County Libraries Conference January 2005 Information literacy in global perspective: how disaster focuses our minds Alex Byrne Abstract Information literacy is crucially important for all peoples as has been dramatically demonstrated in times of disaster as well as in more normal times. Its many dimensions have been much discussed in the library and information literature and have been defined in standards in a number of countries. Putting those concepts into practice presents a logistical and resource challenge, a challenge to which we much rise if we are to support a fairer and more empowered global information society. Together with colleagues in the Nordic countries over the last few weeks, we in Australia and elsewhere have been following the media reports on the terrible consequences of the earthquakes and tsunami across the Indian Ocean. We have been horrified by the loss of life, destruction of villages, towns and cities, and the suffering of the survivors. Understandably, our national media have emphasised the dead and missing from our own countries and we have been profoundly moved by those stories. The tragic toll of young and not so young Swedes has been especially devastating. However, we have also begun to comprehend the wider dimensions of suffering particularly in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, the Maldives and Thailand, suffering which will continue for many years to come as the slow process of reconstructing infrastructure and re-establishing shattered communities and lives proceeds. Among the horror, there have been many stories of survival and hope. One which showed the power of information concerned a 10 year old English girl who was holidaying with her family on Maikhao Beach in Phuket. According to The Sun newspaper in the UK, Tilly Smith recognised what was happening because of a school lesson about tsunamis two weeks before Christmas (Larcombe 2005). She raised an alarm that saved hundreds of people by instigating evacuation of the beach and hotel. Other stories have reported the frantic efforts of staff at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii to warn of the impending danger but their inability to do anything effective because of the lack of an early warning network around the Indian Ocean, unlike the Pacific’s warning system (Lusetich 2005) and, in contrast, the effective action in the Seychelles which resulted in the loss of only one life (Tomczak 2005). The hopeful search for the missing and the grim process of identifying bodies centre on information management: the painstaking collection, collation and careful matching of identifying details – photographs, descriptions, tattoos and other distinguishing marks, jewellery, DNA. And then the information must be used to advise relatives and friends, bringing relief to some and great sadness to others.