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Information Literacy

The Gospel & Information Literacy

Our Responsibility as Disciples of Jesus Christ

While information literacy has a strong academic foundation, these principles are also fundamental pieces of living as disciples of Jesus Christ.

In the Fall of 2020, Church leaders added a section to the General Handbook titled, "Seeking Information from Reliable Sources." It reads:

In today’s world, information is easy to access and share. This can be a great blessing for those seeking to be educated and informed. However, many sources of information are unreliable and do not edify. Some sources seek to promote anger, contention, fear, or baseless conspiracy theories (see 3 Nephi 11:30; Mosiah 2:32). Therefore, it is important that Church members be wise as they seek truth.

Members of the Church should seek out and share only credible, reliable, and factual sources of information. They should avoid sources that are speculative or founded on rumor. The guidance of the Holy Ghost, along with careful study, can help members discern between truth and error (see Doctrine and Covenants 11:12; 45:57). In matters of doctrine and Church policy, the authoritative sources are the scriptures, the teachings of the living prophets, and the General Handbook.

BYU’s aims and the methodology of the gospel of Jesus Christ endow information literacy instruction with purpose and power. A gospel perspective elevates information literacy from a general pursuit of information to the higher pursuits for truth, God, Zion-like communities, and the development of Christlike character.

Primarily, the gospel of Jesus Christ improves our understanding of information literacy by teaching us about our relationship with truth and our relationship with others.

Gospel Truths

  • BYU Aims, Lifelong Learning and Service

    • Lifelong Learning: "BYU should produce careful readers, prayerful thinkers, and active participants in solving family, professional, religious, and social problems."
    • Service: "BYU should nurture in its students the desire to use their knowledge and skills not only to enrich their own lives but also to bless their families, their communities, the Church, and the larger society. Students should learn, then demonstrate, that their ultimate allegiance is to higher values, principles, and human commitments rather than to mere self-interest. By doing this, BYU graduates can counter the destructive and often materialistic self-centeredness and worldliness that afflict modern society."
    Scholarship as Conversation

    • “Research . . . is a discursive practice in which ideas are formulated, debated, and weighted against one another over extended periods of time. Instead of seeking discrete answers to complex problems, experts understand that a given issue may be characterized by several competing perspectives as part of an ongoing conversation in which [people] come together and negotiate meaning” (ACRL Framework, 20).
    We are All Children of God

    • Being information literate requires that we see others as brothers and sisters, not as enemies or opponents. This charitable standpoint frees us from the impulse to defensively justify ourselves and turns differing opinions from threats into opportunities for understanding.
    • "Our objective is not personal or tribal gain but the elusive and all-important goal of community. Community is not possible without the foundational practice of forbearance and charity grounded in a profound and reverent appreciation for every human being as ‘a son or daughter of heavenly parents with a divine nature and destiny’" (If Truth Were a Child, George Handley, 172).
  • Christ is truth. Drawing closer to Him through obedience and action will increase our ability to understand truth.

    • “He that ascended up on high, as also he descended below all things, in that he comprehended all things, that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth…And the light which shineth, which giveth you light, is through him who enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth your understandings” (D&C 88:6,11)
    • “He that keepeth his commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things” (D&C 93:28).
    • “A knowledge of truth and the answers to our greatest questions come to us as we are obedient to the commandments of God” (Obedience Brings Blessings, President Monson, 2013).
    The gospel provides the why for seeking truth.
  • Disciples of Christ are intellectually humble.

    • Intellectual humility is a precursor to effective learning, teaching, and general communication. The language of the scriptures beckons us to adopt an intellectually humble posture: ask, seek, knock, listen, pray, study. Furthermore, we are warned: "When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not" (2 Nephi 9:28).
    • "Developing and applying “the qualities of Christlike humility . . . will help us eliminate the pride that is the root cause of contention and the primary barrier to establishing a Zion-like campus community” (Choose to Be Humble, President Worthen, 2022).
  • He can help us as we learn.

    • "The Holy Ghost guides us toward truth and testifies to us of the truth. He illuminates our minds and renews our understanding and touches our hearts through God’s revelation, the source of all truth” (Deepening Our Conversion to Jesus Christ, Elder Valenzuela, 2021).
    • " . . . the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance," (John 14:26).
    • ". . . for the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls." (Jacob 4:13)
    The Holy Ghost can allow us to discern truth from error.