The Informed Researcher Booklet and Information literacy lens on the Vitae Researcher Development Framework out now

In collaboration with the Research Information Network (RIN) and the Society of College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL), Vitae is pleased to announce the publication of The informed researcher booklet and an Information literacy lens on the Vitae Researcher Development Framework.

Being informed and informative are important aspects of being a researcher. In our increasingly information based society, information literacy is a vital ability that is required to be able to make effective and efficient decisions. It enables researchers to find, analyse and evaluate information and become independent lifelong learners. To highlight these important abilities, RIN, SCONUL and members of the Working Group on Information-Handling have created a mapping of information literacy onto the Vitae Researcher Development Framework, using the SCONUL Seven Pillars of Information Literacy. This information literacy lens can be used to identify how information literacy can contribute to researchers' professional development, as well as identify how the skills and attributes they have developed through research can contribute to, or underpin their development in information literacy.

To support the Information literacy lens The Informed Researcher booklet has been developed as a practical guide to being an information-literate researcher. The booklet is based on the Information Literacy lens and can be used to audit your skills and form an action plan for taking them forward.

‘An excellent resource that I look forward to sharing with students: clear and approachable, this booklet nevertheless covers all the bases. I'm delighted to see open access and data management issues discussed and encouraged, and particularly like the focus on the research question as the starting point." Insert your block quote here’
Emma Coonan, Librarian

Information literacy is an umbrella term which encompasses concepts such as digital, visual and media literacies, academic literacy, information handling, information skills, data curation and data management. Interacting with information is at the very heart of research and informed researchers are both consumers and producers of information.