Does literacy mean the ability to read Anne of Green Gables? Nope.

Surprisingly, I thought that public libraries have been around for longer than 150 years, but soon discovered this was not true. Before the free library became a widely-used entity, the rich and elite had access to knowledge, therefore power.

But, as public education became popular, and required across the United States, so did the need for public libraries. Students, young and old, needed a place to research and to learn. People desired free books so they could learn how to read and educate themselves about a variety of topics. In other words, they became literate.

Today, millions of more Americans are literate than in the late 1800s because of libraries and public education. Then, I began to think what it means to be information literate in the 21st century. Does it mean understanding the phonetics of the alphabet or understanding the context of a book? Or does it mean understanding computers and the Internet?

The American Library Association states that "To be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.”

Apparently, my assumptions were far from correct to the real meaning of information literacy. In today’s world, it means that a patron has to know when he or she needs a question answered and know how to efficiently formulate a process to locate and gage the information.

When patrons pursue information literacy at public libraries, they seek the help of reference librarians (a profession that also emerged with the concept of the public library). These librarians help patrons correctly identify the question and how find and understand an answer; therefore, helping the patrons increase their information-literacy skills.

Because information literacy is increasing among patrons because of the establishment of the public library in the 19th century, knowledge and power are also increasing among the population. With the help of reference librarians and the availability and access to information they provide, patron curiosity about anything and everything has the ability to increase.