Study of the information skills of internal auditors

Abstract

The amount of available information is expanding at an increasing rate and those who have the skills of information literacy have power. Information literacy refers to proficiency in processing information to meet a specific need. Underlying these skills is the theme of knowing how to learn - the empowerment that comes from knowing how to access, evaluate, and use information from a variety of sources. To be effective, today's employees may not need to have the same degree of skills in a narrow area of expertise but instead must have a good knowledge of a wide range of skills. Individuals need to leam more than just the content of a given subject; in order to make informed strategic decisions in a range of contexts, they also need to learn how to learn in informal and independent ways. Each individual brings a different personal database of experience and learning to the workplace. This base cannot remain static because our lives are a caldron of experiments responding to die need to adapt to changing circumstances. How we process incoming information is governed by our ability to learn, and mis ability is made more valuable by our becoming aware of how we process and develop strategies for applying information.