Need for expanded definition of literacy

If you ask a primary or secondary school teacher to define literacy, you would most likely hear that literacy is “the ability to read and write.” (Tompkins, 2006). However, if you were to ask a new age librarian the same question, the answer would be much different. A librarian believes literacy is “the power to excel and when necessary, break the rules to improve society and the community.” (Smith, 2011). As an educator and a budding library student, I prefer the latter definition most.

The librarian’s vision of literacy places more responsibility on the individual to achieve literacy and less on the librarian; the librarian still plays an essential role in guiding the individual towards knowledge, however, the individual must first seek it.  Literacy empowers people to succeed in life and change the world around them for the better. Literacy brings power to the people.

On another note, I agree that READ posters are a disservice to the library. This type of promotion propels the stereotype that libraries are all about books and learning to read. Libraries should have posters that say Think, Dream, Knowledge, and Create. Those are verbs that belong on posters in libraries. 


Lankes, R.D. (2011). The Atlas of New Librarianship. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Tompkins, G. (2006). Literacy for the Twenty-first Century. Columbus, OH: Prentice Hall.