National Information Literacy Awareness Month, 2009

Proclamation 8429 of October 1, 2009

National Information Literacy Awareness Month,
2009

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Every day, we are inundated with vast amounts of
information. A 24-hour news cycle and thousands of
global television and radio networks, coupled with an
immense array of online resources, have challenged our
long-held perceptions of information management. Rather
than merely possessing data, we must also learn the
skills necessary to acquire, collate, and evaluate
information for any situation. This new type of
literacy also requires competency with communication
technologies, including computers and mobile devices
that can help in our day-to-day decisionmaking.
National Information Literacy Awareness Month
highlights the need for all Americans to be adept in
the skills necessary to effectively navigate the
Information Age.

Though we may know how to find the information we need,
we must also know how to evaluate it. Over the past
decade, we have seen a crisis of authenticity emerge.
We now live in a world where anyone can publish an
opinion or perspective, whether true or not, and have
that opinion amplified within the information
marketplace. 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.

Our Nation's educators and institutions of learning
must be aware of--and adjust to--these new realities.
In addition to the basic skills of reading, writing,
and arithmetic, it is equally important that our
students are given the tools required to take advantage
of the information available to them. The ability to
seek, find, and decipher information can be applied to
countless life decisions, whether financial, medical,
educational, or technical.

This month, we dedicate ourselves to increasing
information literacy awareness so that all citizens
understand its vital importance. An informed and
educated citizenry is essential to the functioning of
our modern democratic society, and I encourage
educational and community institutions across the
country to help Americans find and evaluate the
information they seek, in all its forms.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim October 2009 as
National Information Literacy Awareness Month. I call
upon the people of the United States to recognize the
important role information plays in our daily lives,
and appreciate the need for a greater understanding of
its impact.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
first day of October, in the year of our Lord two
thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.