October is Information Literacy Month!

President Obama has declared October as Information Literacy Month and has issued a proclamation: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Presidential-Proclamation-National-Information-Literacy-Awareness-Month/

At the School Library Journal Summit, I read it as part of my wrap-up speech and school librarians were once again disappointed that there is not a direct acknowledgement of the school librarian's role as teachers of information literacy. (We get weary of seeing ourselves in reports like the recent Carnegie report on  improving adolescent literacy, Time to Act: An Agenda for Advancing Literacy for College and Career Success, but not being mentioned.) President Obama does mention the role of libraries: "At the same time, Americans have unprecedented access to the diverse and independent sources of information, as well as institutions such as libraries and universities, that can help separate truth from fiction and signal from noise."

That IS what libraries do--public, academic and certainly school libraries. We can own this; we can make it ours. We can print this off, make a display, send a message out on our intranet so all our colleagues know, write a press release for the local media, send it out on the state library listserv. It's an advocacy tool, another for our toolbelt, and can be this week's promotion of our library programs. Promotion has to be deliberate and persistent to gain the advocates we need to speak for us.

Speaking of that Carnegie report, YALSA President Linda Braun has posted a strong response. That oversight is not one we can overlook.