Presidential Documents

Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 193 / Wednesday, October 7, 2009 / Presidential Documents 51445 

Proclamation 8429 of October 1, 2009 

National Information Literacy Awareness Month, 2009 

By the President of the United States of America 

A Proclamation 

Every day, we are inundated with vast amounts of information. A 24-hour 

news cycle and thousands of global television and radio networks, coupled 

with an immense array of online resources, have challenged our long-held 

perceptions of information management. Rather than merely possessing data, 

we must also learn the skills necessary to acquire, collate, and evaluate 

information for any situation. This new type of literacy also requires competency with communication technologies, including computers and mobile 

devices that can help in our day-to-day decisionmaking. National Information 

Literacy Awareness Month highlights the need for all Americans to be adept 

in the skills necessary to effectively navigate the Information Age. 

Though we may know how to find the information we need, we must 

also know how to evaluate it. Over the past decade, we have seen a crisis 

of authenticity emerge. We now live in a world where anyone can publish 

an opinion or perspective, whether true or not, and have that opinion 

amplified within the information marketplace. At the same time, Americans 

have unprecedented access to the diverse and independent sources of information, as well as institutions such as libraries and universities, that can 

help separate truth from fiction and signal from noise. 

Our Nation’s educators and institutions of learning must be aware of— 

and adjust to—these new realities. In addition to the basic skills of reading, 

writing, and arithmetic, it is equally important that our students are given 

the tools required to take advantage of the information available to them. 

The ability to seek, find, and decipher information can be applied to countless 

life decisions, whether financial, medical, educational, or technical. 

This month, we dedicate ourselves to increasing information literacy awareness so that all citizens understand its vital importance. An informed and 

educated citizenry is essential to the functioning of our modern democratic 

society, and I encourage educational and community institutions across the 

country to help Americans find and evaluate the information they seek, 

in all its forms. 

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States 

of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution 

and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 2009 as 

National Information Literacy Awareness Month. I call upon the people 

of the United States to recognize the important role information plays in 

our daily lives, and appreciate the need for a greater understanding of 

its impact. 


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51446 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 193 / Wednesday, October 7, 2009 / Presidential Documents 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of 

October, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence 

of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth. 

[FR Doc. E9–24290 

Filed 10–6–09; 8:45 am] 

Billing code 3195–W9–P 


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