Information literacy education in Japanese libraries for lifelong learning

Basic library skills and Information Technology skills are foundations of information literacy competences. Information literacy is also essential for everybody to continue lifelong learning independently. In this sophisticated information society, it becomes more serious that an information gap between library users with information literacy and those without information literacy is increasingly expanded by the spread of the Internet in recent years.

Library use education, in all kinds of libraries, is necessary for every library user to improve one's own information literacy and make use of information resources. Many different kinds of libraries, such as school libraries, public libraries and academic libraries, carry out information literacy education and library use education for library users to perform their own lifelong learning in Japan.

This book "Information Literacy Education in Japanese Libraries for Lifelong Learning" clarifies the issues of information literacy education in school libraries, public libraries and academic libraries from a viewpoint of lifelong learning for every library user.

For example, the main issues in school libraries in Japan are to create their own school library websites, to provide meaningful and appropriate contents for library users, and to provide user-friendly Web-OPAC for children in their own school library websites. On the other hand, in public libraries in Japan, the main issues concerning children's web pages and young adult web pages in public library websites are: to provide adequate web content especially for library use education toward children and young adults; to improve the usability of web contents; and to provide Web-OPAC for children, which is different from Web-OPAC for adults.

Meanwhile, the main issues in Japanese academic libraries are to have a variety of educational content, as well as to execute more advanced library use education far beyond library orientations. Also, it is important for academic libraries to make use of Computer-Assisted Instruction for library use education in order for every library user with to learn different content at their own pace.

This book describes unique and important studies of information literacy education concerning school libraries, public libraries, and academic libraries in both Japan and the USA. Also, this book is of great significance in regards to finding the essential guidelines for library use education and information literacy education. This book will be of great interest to undergraduate students, graduate students, researchers, and librarians in Library and Information Science.