Based on a recommended Action in the research Report, Reflection and Renewal in P.E.I. School Libraries (Doiron and Davies, 1996), the Prince Edward Island Department of Education launched the development of an "Information Literacy" document for the public education system in this province. This was primarily the responsibility of the School Library Standing Committee and its Chair, Resource-Based Learning Consultant, Judy Davies. The Committee accepted the advice contained in the research Report, and an ad hoc committee was formed, with the sole mandate of beginning the development of this document during the 1997-98 school year.

The Committee met a number of times between February and June, 1998. They began by considering the recommended Actions (19 & 20) and the references to Information Literacy in the Report, Reflection and Renewal in P.E.I. School Libraries. The notion of "embracing information literacy" was seen as an important step for all educators and learners, and it was clearly understood by the Committee from the outset that there was a need to relate the APEF Curriculum development (and outcomes for student learning) to this new concept of literacy in our society and in our schools. It was also recognized that the School Library Policy and Guidelines for School Libraries, the "cornerstone documents" for school library programs in Prince Edward Island needed to be updated and revised to reflect this and other changes, especially the pervasive use of information technology in education. The Information Skills Continuum, was also urgently in need of being updated, to include a greater emphasis on technology, and the use of student outcomes (language and content consistent with the APEF documents.) The Committee agreed early in their meetings that this new document would replace the Skills Continuum. It was also understood that this new document had to be accessible to the wider educational community, that it had to be useful and relevant to both classroom teachers and teacher-librarians, regardless of their school situations.

You are encouraged to support other educators by sharing what you have learned, and by visiting and using the services provided by our "Building Site".

From their earliest "visioning" activity the Committee dreamed of an electronic document that would be more than a list of skills or a philosophical treatise, of interest to the minority. They were committed to a viable, growing, "interactive" site, one best served online, and accessed by educators at their convenience through computer connections. The process was not an easy one... after all, few of the Committee members had ever ventured into this type of work before, but they were committed to making the online document a reality!