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Media and information literacy

Explore how media and information influence the way we think, communicate and engage with the world. Aligned to the Australian Curriculum’s General Capability for Digital Literacy, this resource supports literacy across Learning Areas. Using an inquiry-based approach and examples from the Library’s collections—including insights from media literacy advocate Michelle Ciulla Lipkin—it helps students develop the skills to question sources, recognise bias and navigate media in contemporary contexts.
Teachers English Languages Mathematics

About this module

Using an inquiry-based approach, this module helps students and educators develop critical information, media and digital literacy skills. It features examples from the Library’s collections and offers practical frameworks and flexible learning opportunities to explore the importance of these literacies in contemporary contexts.

Copyright for teachers

You can download all collection materials in this resource for education purposes. For more information, go to copyright for teachers.

Michelle Ciulla Lipkin media literacy advocate

Michelle Ciulla Lipkin is the Executive Director of the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) in the United States. Under her leadership, NAMLE has become the leading organisation for media literacy education in the country. Her passion for this work is deeply personal.

Read more about her story: Her family tragedy was breaking news. Now she makes students into better media consumers.

In 2017, the Library, in partnership with the United States Embassy, hosted an event featuring Michelle Ciulla Lipkin and U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Gavin Sundwall. They spoke about the importance of media and information literacy, and how to recognise and evaluate bias in media.

Snippets from this event appear throughout the module and provide further insight into these topics.

Full Audio - Media Literacy Basics Bias & Agenda Event

Topics in this module

A page of a newspaper with the headline 'LITERACY: FACT and FICTION'. The page also includes cartoons and black and white photos

N.S.W. Teachers' Federation & New South Wales Public School Teachers' Federation. (1919). LITERACY: FACT and FICTION, Education : journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-710682297

Defining literacies

Topic

Media, information and digital literacy, by their most basic definitions, relate to a person’s skills and ability to locate, create, use and engage critically with information in a range of formats.

Digital Classroom
A black and white photograph of a group of men standing at a white information desk. Above the desk is a large sign that says INFORMATION. Men behind the counter and speaking and hanging out brochures.

Wolfgang Sievers, Information desk at German stand, Exhibition Building, Melbourne, Victoria 1966, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-161478886

Information sources

Topic

Information is all around us, every day. Regardless of whether we are looking for the information or having it presented to us unexpectedly, it is easy to become overwhelmed by the amount of data we are exposed to.

Digital Classroom
Man wearing face mask and purple vest standing new a doorway. On the wall around the door are instructions on how to vote in a federal election.

Sandy Scheltema, Australian Electoral Commission officer standing next to a 'How to Vote in a Federal Election' poster outside the polling place in Glenlyon Hall, during the Australian federal election, Glenlyon, Victoria, 21 May 2022, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3108998796

Media literacy skills matter

Topic

We interact with information in a vast array of forms from any number of sources every day. It is becoming increasingly apparent that, to fully participate, navigate and thrive in the modern world, people need the skills and abilities to engage critically with information presented to them.

Digital Classroom

Interpreting the collection

A black and white photograph of a group of men standing at a white information desk. Above the desk is a large sign that says INFORMATION. Men behind the counter and speaking and hanging out brochures.

Wolfgang Sievers, Information desk at German stand, Exhibition Building, Melbourne, Victoria 1966, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-161478886

Art: The Death of Cook

Topic

Within the Treasures Gallery in the Library hangs a large oil painting in a gilded frame. The artwork was painted in 1781 by British artist George Carter (1737–1795). It is titled Death of Captain Cook.

Digital Classroom
A yellowed sheet of paper with the headline '[Co]nventional Lies of the Anti-Federal Party'. The 'C' and 'O' of the word 'conventional' is missing as the corner of the page has been torn off. The very small text is set out in four columns

(1899). Conventional lies of the Anti-Federal Party, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135107257

Commentary: Conventional Lies

Topic

The idea of Federation of the states had been discussed in Australia from about 1850, with the movement gaining real momentum in 1889 after a speech by veteran New South Wales politician Sir Henry Parkes.

Digital Classroom
The front page of the Tribune newspaper. The headline reads 'USA FORCED TO DROP CUBA INVASION'. There is a black and white photograph of 5 people holding protest signs.

Tribune (Sydney, NSW: 1939–1991), 31 October 1962, p. 1, nla.gov.au/nla.news-page25610837

Print media: The Cuban Missile Crisis

Topic

Under legal deposit provisions of the Copyright Act (1968), one copy of everything that is published in Australia must be lodged with the National Library of Australia. As a result, the Library’s collection holds a vast array of Australia’s printed news media.

Digital Classroom
A large red and yellow poster with a bold headline reading 'COAL IS VITAL TO VICTORY!'. The poster has three sub headings that read 'Switch off PROMPTLY' with a picture of a light switch, 'Turn that GAS down!' With an image of a pot on a gas cooktop, and 'Don't waste WATER!' with an image of a running tap.

Commonwealth Coal Commission from New South Wales. Department of Health. & Commonwealth Salvage Commission (Australia). & Commonwealth Coal Commission (Australia), Coal is Vital to Victory!, from [Posters Relating to the Australian Civilian War Effort During World War 2]. nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2633341080

Public service announcements: For the war effort

Topic

The posters on this page were published during times of conflict.

Digital Classroom

Curriculum links

This resource aligns with the Australian Curriculum Version 9 and is suitable for use across multiple learning areas, particularly Humanities and Social Sciences, English and Languages.

The module supports the development of general capabilities, with a strong focus on information, media and digital literacy. It draws on collection items from the National Library of Australia to help students apply these skills in meaningful and engaging ways.

The module also connects with other general capabilities, including Literacy, Critical and Creative Thinking, and Digital Literacy.

  • Use criteria to make informed decisions and judgements and consider the influence of values and perspectives. (ACHASSI129)
  • Interpret, analyse and evaluate sources to answer inquiry questions. (ACHASSI126)

  • Use comprehension strategies to analyse and synthesise information and ideas. (ACELY1703)
  • Analyse and explain how language features and images are used to represent ideas and issues. (ACELY1708)

  • Access and analyse information from a range of sources and evaluate for relevance and reliability. (ACLILC009)

  • Apply digital tools to locate, organise and analyse information.
  • Use media texts to explore, interpret and present ideas clearly and ethically.
  • Develop critical and creative responses to different perspectives and contexts.

For more information, visit the Australian Curriculum website.

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Author Kathy Weeden reading and acting out her book 'Phonobet' to children and their parents in the foyer during Enlighten

Kathy Weeden reading her book Phonobet, illustrated by Kim Drane and published by NLA Publishing, at Enlighten at the Library 2024

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Page published: 30 Jun 2023

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