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Information fluency refers to the ability to recognize information needs and to gather, evaluate, and communicate information appropriately. In this study, I treat "information fluency" as both an overall competency and as a collection of knowledge and skills. The purpose of this study is to explore the specific workplace information fluency skills valued by employers of technical communicators, to find out how instructors perceive and teach these skills, and to suggest how these findings can inform our teaching practices. Within the framework of qualitative methodology, this study employs two data-collection instruments, including a content analysis of online job recruitment postings and a survey of technical communication instructors across the United States. The study discovers that when hiring technical communicators, employers require candidates to have skills in information processing, information technology, and critical thinking. Candidates must be able to identify their information needs, and must know how to use specified tools to gather, evaluate, and communicate information. It also reveals that although "information fluency" is a new terminology to a majority of instructors, the skill sets that constitute information fluency already existed in their knowledge. The study's last finding suggests that the opportunity for an internship is perceived as the most helpful in students' acquisition of information fluency skills. This dissertation concludes with a list of specific employer-valued information fluency skills, recommendations for program administrators and instructors for implementing information fluency, as well as recommendations for future researches on this subject.

An examination of the research regarding the problems associated with student academic writing indicated that two abilities, writing abilities and information literacy skills, intersect, and that an accepted term for this intersection is information literacy. The University of Central Florida’s Information Fluency Initiative recognized information literacy as a key component in developing students’ information fluency skills. This qualitative case study of the initiative used semi-structured interviews, study of documents, and observations to gather data in order to describe how the university planned, developed, and implemented the initiative. Study of relevant literature, narrative analysis (Tierney & Lincoln, 1997), inductive analysis (Hatch, 2002) and the elements of educational criticism (Eisner, 1998) informed the analysis of data. Participants in the Information Fluency Initiative identified as successful the creation of online information literacy modules by librarians and faculty, program-wide efforts to embed information fluency into curriculum, and individual faculty projects. Additionally, the initiative encouraged a scholarly approach to the study of information fluency with the implementation of an annual Information Fluency Conference held at the University of Central Florida and publication of a peer-reviewed Information Fluency Journal. Results from the study suggested that administrative support for the initiative and the leadership’s empowerment of faculty and librarians to undertake leadership roles were important factors in the initiative’s success. Results also suggested that collaboration between faculty, librarians, and instructional technologists to construct curriculum produced a professional learning community that proved valuable to participants both professionally and personally.