The American Library Association defines information literacy as "the set of abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning" (ALA). Information literacy is essential when searching for appropriate and credible sources.

This guide will explain how to:

• Find web sources, articles, and books via the Library Catalog
• Evaluate sources
• Manage citations

The University of Illinois Library system is spread between:

• Main Stacks (in the Main Library)
• Undergraduate Library
• Departmental Libraries (located in the Main Library and across campus)
• Oak Street Facility (off-campus high density storage facility for items that have a low circulation history)

If a book is not available at the University of Illinois, it may be available for request via I-Share, a consortium of over 70 libraries across Illinois. If I-Share does not own the source, you can request books, articles and other research materials through Interlibrary Loan.

This guide is based on the Information Literacy Tutorial from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Information Literacy Tutorial by Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. Based on a guide at guides.library.uwm.edu.