The Universal Information Literacies Association (UiLA)Vision & Mission Statement

The Universal Information Literacies Association (UiLA) is set up as an international, professional nonprofit educational association to represent the interests of our membership of Information Literacy Professionals1 worldwide. The goal of the UiLA is to increase the information literacy (IL) rate globally² through its teaching & lifelong learning programs on how to process information refining one’s ability to extract, accept and create good value from a variety of information sources “…making the distance between doubt & certainty shorter”3 “…for good”4. Following UNESCO, the NFIL, and the IFLA’s “Alexandria Proclamation” that IL is “…a basic human right”5 the UiLA will focus on teaching IL skills to the most vulnerable for a good, more inclusive and better informed 21st century sustainable Global Information Society.The UiLA is rooted in the vision and legacy of Paul G. Zurkowski, Esq.6 who named and set in motion IL that has been fighting mis & dis-information since 1974 using critical & creative thinking and other IL pedagogical methodologies. Zurkowski, the founding president of the Information Industry Association (IIA)7 from 1968 to 1989 at the dawn of the Information Age, is co-founder of the UiLA with IL/critical thinking teacher Jeffrey “JK” Kelly, M.A.T.8 who was appointed by Zurkowski as founding president to lead the UiLA using IL and Action Literacy9 to raise awareness of the global good accomplished thru Information Literacy. As Quantum Information Physicist Anton Zeilinger says, “It is operationally impossible to separate Reality and Information”.10
To fulfill its goals, the UiLA will: be engaged in revenue generating activities such as grant seeking, fundraising, offering online certification and proprietary teaching materials, selling UiLA books and writings, charging speaking fees and organizing membership events & conferences…especially leading up to the 50th anniversary of Zurkowski naming, defining and launching IL, November 1974 - November 2024 continue to research and publish the history and definitions of IL, and the IIA, honor the contributions of Zurkowski, librarians and other IL pioneers worldwide while curating Zurkowski’s donated papers and materials.The UiLA is academic by nature based on library science and information science. The UiLA is NOT political, ideological or denominational; instead, it is grounded in scientific evidence, experience and reason in pursuit of accuracy through its IL research, definitions and teaching, supporting an inclusive and harmonious Global Information Community.

1. Professionals who proactively research, develop, teach and apply IL. 2. Zurkowski’s IL ratings: “…the estimated one-sixth of the U. S. population that is information literate.” Original page 30, “The Information Service Environment Relationships & Priorities” report to the US National Commission on Libraries & Information Science 1974. And in 2021 Zurkowski said, “One-fourth of the world’s population are now information literates”.3. “Western Balkans Information & Media Literacy Conference” WBIMLC, Bihac, Bosnia, Keynote Speech Video, Zurkowski, December 9 & 10, 2021.4. Information Literacy…Fueling…Action Literacy book by Zurkowski and Kelly. All Good Literacies Press, Washington, DC USA 2014, p. 17.5. “The Alexandria Proclamation” Alexandria, Egypt 2005. UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), the National Forum on Information Literacy (NFIL) and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).6. The founder of the IL movement in 1974 who started his IL vision interested in intellectual property as a lawyer in the late 1950s, working for the US congressional committee to overhaul the US Copyright Act in the 1960s as one of the authors of “Fair Use” and as founding president of the Information Industry Association (IIA) 1968-1989. In Memoriam 1932 – 2022.7. Merging to become the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) in 1999, Washington, DC USA8. IL/critical thinking teacher, Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.), Trinity University, Washington, DC USA.9. Information Literacy…Fueling…Action Literacy book by Zurkowski and Kelly. All Good Literacies Press, Washington, DC USA 2014.10. Quantum Information Physicist, Professor Anton Zeilinger, University of Vienna, Austria. Director of the Vienna branch of the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vice-Chancellor's Open Lecture video from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, October 25th, 2011. From the slide at the 48:18-minute mark: https://youtu.be/s3ZPWW5NOrw 11. In November 1974, Zurkowski submitted his original 30-page IL founding document, “The Information Service Environment Relationships & Priorities” to the US National Commission on Libraries & Information Science, in which he named, described and established Information Literacy.