Electronic information literacy for the criminal justice student

Abstract

Computerization of libraries and information sources has radically changed the amount of information available to researchers and has created new ways to access this information. This “explosion,” although exciting and invaluable, can make library research bewildering and overwhelming for students. This article discusses new information sources and formats, and the skills, knowledge, and judgement needed by criminal justice students to use them most effectively and most widely. Educators must not underestimate the value, for students, of a solid foundation in the nature of information, how information is produced and organized, the forms in which it can be presented, and how it can be evaluated.