Information literacy for speech-language pathologists: a key to evidence-based practice.

Purpose: In this tutorial, we review the tenets of information literacy (IL) that parallel and intersect with new American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) certification standards requiring clinicians to engage in evidence-based practice (EBP).

Method: A review of the literature on EBP in medical and allied health areas was conducted through an online database search. The Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (American Library Association, 2004) are used as a framework for outlining IL practices that will aid in EBP.

Results: Current strategies are contrasted with more desirable strategies. Potential barriers to the utilization of information-literate procedures in locating sources of reliable clinical evidence are discussed together with potential solutions.

Conclusion: Suggestions for more efficient information searches by clinicians, as well as a proposed discipline-wide agenda for increasing clinicians' IL skills during and after entry-level graduate training, are provided.