Who first used the term 'information skills' in the early 1970s?

• A. Dewey
• B. Zurkowski
• C. Berners-Lee
• D. McLuhan

Answer: (B)

Paul Zurkowski is the one who first used the idea in the early 1970s that people need a distinct set of abilities to locate, evaluate, and use information. In 1974, while leading discussions in the Information Industry Association, he framed these abilities as essential for functioning in an information-rich world and helped popularize what would come to be called information literacy. His emphasis on developing information skills laid the groundwork for how libraries and educators teach people to be competent information users. The other figures mentioned were influential in related areas, but they did not coin this focus on information skills in that era.