Historical development of definitions of information literacy: A literature review of selected resources

This article traces the historical progression of Information Literacy (IL) definitions from 2000 to 2015 in the published literature on first-year seminar and freshman general education IL instruction in the U.S. This period roughly corresponds to the influence of the ACRL's Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (Standards) on the work of LIS professionals and scholars in IL and information literacy instruction (ILI), prior to the adoption in January 2016 of the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (Framework). Following a brief look at the background of IL in Library and Information Science (LIS), the chronological development of IL definitions is examined using the three major categories of IL definitions based on Addison and Meyers' (2013) framework of IL definitions, and concludes with a discussion of limitations of Addison and Meyers' (2013) framework of IL definitions. The information presented here offers one perspective of viewing the development and history of IL in U.S. higher education.