Information Literacy Commons^™

Using Open Access Resources In Data Literacy Instruction: Renewing The Il Curriculum By Aligning It With Changing Needs, Don Macmillen

Library Instruction West 2014

To align information literacy instruction with changing faculty and student needs, librarians need to expand their conceptions and competencies beyond traditional information sources. In the sciences, this increasingly means integrating the data resources used by researchers into instruction for undergraduate students. Open access repositories allow students to work with more primary data than ever before, but only if they know how and where to look. This presentation will describe the development of classes designed to scaffold student learning in biology across two courses, detailing the long-term collaboration between a librarian and an instructor that now serves over 500 students per …

Sustainable Decision Making For Emerging Educational Technologies In Libraries, Richard Hayman, Erika E. Smith

Library Instruction West 2014

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to discuss approaches to sustainable decision-making for integrating emerging educational technologies in library instruction while supporting evidence-based practice (EBP).

Design/methodology/approach – This article highlights recent trends in emerging educational technologies and EBP and details a model for supporting evidence informed decision-making. This viewpoint article draws on an analysis of recent literature, as well as experience from professional practice.

Findings – Authors discuss the need for sustainable decision-making that addresses a perceived lack of evidence surrounding emerging technologies, a dilemma that many library educators and practitioner-researchers will have faced in their own library …

Flashlight: Using Bizup’S Beam To Illuminate The Rhetoric Of Research, Kate Rubick

Library Instruction West 2014

Purpose: This paper demonstrates how a librarian at a liberal arts college partnered with a professor of rhetoric and media studies to teach methods students to classify sources using Bizup’s BEAM.

Design/ Methodology Approach: Students in rhetorical criticism, read the Bizup article on BEAM. The library instruction included a discussion of the article and an application exercise where students classified cited references in a peer reviewed journal article using BEAM.

Findings: BEAM was a valuable addition to the rhetorical criticism course. The application exercise used in the library instruction session introduced BEAM as a tool to use in reading and …

More Than A Citation Manager: Zotero For Scalable Embedded Librarianship And Instructional Assessment, Rebecca Kuglitsch

Library Instruction West 2014

Purpose – This paper aims to describe a new application of Zotero, a citation management system, for embedded librarianship and assessment. It explores student reception of this approach and maps Zotero’s capacities to represent citations to learning outcomes and information literacy frames that instruction librarians assess.

Design/methodology/approach – The librarian worked with a course using Zotero group libraries for collaborative work, used Zotero to communicate with students and assess their information literacy skills and surveyed the students to determine their perception of librarian participation via Zotero.

Findings – Using Zotero’s features made it possible to formatively and summatively assess student …

Library Instruction West 2014: Open, Sustainable Instruction, Joan Petit, Sara Thompson

Library Instruction West 2014

Editorial by Joan Petit and Sara Thompson that reflects on the history of the Library Instruction West conference, the current group of presenters and their research interests, and plans for future conferences.

Still Relevant After All These Years, Eleanor Mitchell, Sarah Barbara Watstein

Library Instruction West 2014

A brief editorial that provides background and introductions to the collection of papers that comprise this special issue of Reference Services Review.

Production And Consumption: A Closer Look At Adult Digital Literacy Acquisition, Gloria Jacobs, Jill Castek, Drew Pizzolato, Stephen Reder, Kimberly D. Pendell

Presentations and Publications

In this column, the authors discuss emerging research in the field of adult digital literacy acquisition. The authors argue that the field of adult digital literacy acquisition has been under researched, especially in relation to multiliteracies and multimodal literacy practices. Data emerging from a large scale mixed methods study of adults engaged with Learner Web, a selfaccess online learning system, indicate that opportunities to engage in tutor-facilitated digital literacy acquisition, among populations that have been historically left out of the digital revolution, has the potential to change lives. Additionally, the research provides insights into the shifts learners undergo as they …

Time For A Paradigm Shift: The New Acrl Information Literacy Competency Standards For Higher Education, Marcus Banks

Communications in Information Literacy

Academic librarians should expand our understanding of what counts as an authoritative resource, and be unafraid to challenge long-established wisdom in this domain. Wikipedia is far from perfect, but neither is the Encyclopedia Britannica. Wikipedia is updated daily, while the Britannica is no longer printed. If we cling to the Britannica as a symbol of authoritativeness, we will become obsolete ourselves. One way to prevent this fate is to reframe our collective thinking. In 2014 the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) will issue a revised version of the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. The task force …

Reflecting On This Issue, Robert Schroeder

Communications in Information Literacy

Introduction to this special issue, Reflecting on the Standards.

Rethinking The 2000 Acrl Standards: Some Things To Consider, Carol C. Kuhlthau

Communications in Information Literacy

I propose three "rethinks" to consider in recasting the ACRL Standards for information literacy for the coming decades. First, rethink the concept of information need. Second, rethink the notion that information literacy is composed of a set of abilities for "extracting information." Third, rethink the holistic process of learning from a variety of sources of information that is central to information literacy. The necessity for these "rethinks" are grounded in my extensive studies of students' experience in the information search process that reveal an evolving, dynamic, holistic process incorporating a series of feelings (affective), thoughts (cognitive) and actions (physical) as …

Refreshing Information Literacy: Learning From Recent British Information Literacy Models, Justine Martin

Communications in Information Literacy

Models play an important role in helping practitioners implement and promote information literacy. Over time models can lose relevance with the advances in technology, society, and learning theory. Practitioners and scholars often call for adaptations or transformations of these frameworks to articulate the learning needs in information literacy development. This study analyzes four recently published models from the United Kingdom. The initial findings were presented in a report for an ACRL taskforce reviewing the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. This article presents complementary, yet distinct findings from the same dataset that focus on reoccurring themes for information literacy …

Minding The Gaps: Exploring The Space Between Vision And Assessment In Information Literacy Work, Heidi L.M. Jacobs

Communications in Information Literacy

The current "ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standard Review Task Force" presents information literacy practitioners with an engaging intellectual endeavor: how might these standards be revised, rethought, re-envisioned? Regardless of what the review yields, the process is an excellent opportunity for us to think broadly and creatively about the Standards and to remember that they are not a fixed set of rules but a malleable and evolving document. Asking questions about the practical, pedagogical, and theoretical implications of the Standards and considering alternative approaches will yield engaging, fruitful, and necessary conversations not only about the teaching of information literacy but about …

The New Acrl Information Literacy Competency Standards: Revising Reception, Benjamin R. Harris

Communications in Information Literacy

The publication of educational standards inspires a variety of responses---from wholesale acceptance and deployment to criticism and blame. The author of this paper contends that the revision of the ACRL's Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education must be accompanied by a critical, conscious, and conscientious reception by librarians and information literacy advocates.

Affective Learning And Personal Information Management: Essential Components Of Information Literacy, Ellysa Stern Cahoy

Communications in Information Literacy

No abstract provided.

Proposing A Metaliteracy Model To Redefine Information Literacy, Trudi E. Jacobson, Thomas P. Mackey

Communications in Information Literacy

Metaliteracy is envisioned as a comprehensive model for information literacy to advance critical thinking and reflection in social media, open learning settings, and online communities. At this critical time in higher education, an expansion of the original definition of information literacy is required to include the interactive production and sharing of original and repurposed digital materials. Metaliteracy provides an overarching and unifying framework that builds on the core information literacy competencies while addressing the revolutionary changes in how learners communicate, create, and distribute information in participatory environments. Central to the metaliteracy model is a metacognitive component that encourages learners to …

A Reconsideration Of Information Literacy, Stanley J. Wilder

Communications in Information Literacy

This article is a reflection on the author's 2005 Chronicle of Higher Education article "Information Literacy Makes All the Wrong Assumptions." In it, the author argues that while library instruction is properly grounded in disciplinary norms, information literacy serves a vital institutional obligation as a means of assessing student learning. The content of library instruction thus serves the University's "vertical" disciplinary agendas, while information literacy serves its "horizontal" institution-wide agenda.

Marketing Information Literacy, Maura Seale

Communications in Information Literacy

No abstract provided.

Moving Forward: A Discussion On The Revision Of The Acrl Information Literacy Standards For Higher Education, Ellysa Stern Cahoy, Craig Gibson, Trudi E. Jacobson

Communications in Information Literacy

Abstract: The first PA Forward Information Literacy Summit was held in State College at the Pennsylvania State University, University Park campus, on Wednesday, July 24, 2013. This summit brought together K-12 and academic librarians from Pennsylvania to discuss current issues in information literacy. This text is a transcript of a discussion between Ellysa Cahoy, past chair of the of the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards Committee, and the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards Review Task Force, and Craig Gibson and Trudi Jacobson who are currently co-chairs of the ACRL Information Literacy Standards Revision Task Force. This Task Force is charged …

Info Lit 2.0 Or Deja Vu?, Patricia Anne Iannuzzi

Communications in Information Literacy

In 1999, ACRL convened a national task force to draft Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. ACRL has recently launched a revision to those standards. The original standards were influential because they helped advance a national need in higher education at the time: a shift to outcomes based learning. Fourteen years later, information literacy stands alongside oral and written communication, critical thinking and ethical reasoning as learning outcomes broadly acknowledged as needing to be integrated, with disciplinary content, into the curriculum. This author believes that, in contrast to the first process, the current recommendations for revision are focused on …

How Aasl Learning Standards Inform Acrl Information Literacy Standards, Lesley S. J. Farmer

Communications in Information Literacy

ACRL and other academic librarians are currently re-examining the tough questions of learning, literacy, and education -- and the librarians' role in addressing these issues. They can use AASL's learning standards as one springboard for thought, particularly in terms of articulating learning. The result is a developmentally appropriate set of standards that reflects lifelong engagement with, and creation of, recorded information.

Transforming Information Literacy In The Sciences Through The Lens Of E-Science, Elizabeth Berman

Communications in Information Literacy

In 2011, the ACRL Science & Technology Section (STS) completed its five-year review of the Information Literacy Standards for Science and Engineering/Technology. Predicated by the evolving nature of scholarship and research in the sciences, the reviewing task force strongly recommended that the standards be revised. This paper considers the broad recommendations of the task force, using the framework of e-Science – team-based, data-driven science – to address areas of necessary transformation in information literacy: an advanced team-based model that crosses disciplinary boundaries; a recognition that individuals and groups not only consume information, but also produce it; and stronger interplay between …

A Threshold Concepts Approach To The Standards Revision, Amy R. Hofer, Korey Brunetti, Lori Townsend

Communications in Information Literacy

This article describes how threshold concepts can inform the revision of ACRL's Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education.

Information Literacy And Digital Literacy: Competing Or Complementary?, Rosanne Marie Cordell

Communications in Information Literacy

Digital Literacy is a more recent term than Information Literacy and is used for multiple categories of library users in multiple types of libraries. Determining the relationship between Information Literacy and Digital Literacy is essential before revision of the Information Literacy Standards can proceed.

Giving Games The Old College Try, Amy R. Hofer

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

Based on evidence that games might help students get more engaged in my online class, I decided to overcome my skepticism and road-test two information literacy games. First I tried BiblioBouts, which uses the online citation management tool Zotero to integrate gaming into a research paper assignment that is already part of the course syllabus. Students have to set up Zotero accounts and log into the game’s online platform to play and see their scoreboard; the technology requirements were too much for my class and the experiment didn’t feel successful. The following year I tried a comparatively low-tech game that …

Demonstrating Leadership In Open Access, Robert Schroeder, Stewart Brower, Christopher V. Hollister

Communications in Information Literacy

The editors of CIL comment on the recent news that the editor and the editorial board of another library science journal have resigned in protest over their publisher's policies on authors' rights. The CIL editors put forth this event as an important demonstration of leadership in the open access movement, and they challenge the CIL readership to follow suit by adopting additional professional practices in support of open access.

Special Collections, Primary Resources, And Information Literacy Pedagogy, Melissa A. Hubbard, Megan C. Lotts

Communications in Information Literacy

Literature suggests that teaching Information Literacy (IL) as an intellectual framework, rather than a set of computer-based tools, can be challenging for numerous reasons. At the same time, other articles describe the unique value of using hands-on investigations of special collections materials to facilitate the development of critical thinking skills and IL in discipline-specific contexts for upper-level students. This article reports on a collaboration between an IL instructor and a special collections librarian to create a hands-on special collections experience for entry-level IL students. We found that exposing these students to these materials can improve their IL and research skills. …

Cultural Shifts: Putting Critical Information Literacy Into Practice, Alison Hicks

Communications in Information Literacy

This paper uses the example of foreign languages to explore the integration of critical information literacy into the curriculum of various disciplines. By closely examining the practices and values inherent in the foreign language information environment, the paper suggests that a critical vision of information literacy provides the most appropriate approach to help meet campus goals of educating students for transcultural competence. As such, the paper provides an example of the process and role of the librarian in integrating critical information literacy into disciplinary fields and proposes that this approach could be effective in global learning initiatives.

Promising Practices In Instruction Of Discovery Tools, Stefanie Buck, Christina Steffy

Communications in Information Literacy

Libraries are continually changing to meet the needs of users; this includes implementing discovery tools, also referred to as web-scale discovery tools, to make searching library resources easier. Because these tools are so new, it is difficult to establish definitive best practices for teaching these tools; however, promising practices are emerging. A promising practice is "a program, activity, or strategy" that shows early promise for being effective in the long term and generalizable across institutions (Dare Mighty Things, n.d.). The researchers used three methods to develop a list of promising practices for teaching discovery tools— a review of the current …

Keeping Pace With Information Literacy Instruction For The Real World: When Will Mls Programs Wake Up And Smell The Lilacs?, Kimberly Davies-Hoffman, Barbara Alvarez, Michelle Costello, Debby Emerson

Communications in Information Literacy

For over thirty years, numerous studies have discussed the contradiction between the growing importance of information literacy instruction to the Library's core mission and lack of pedagogical training for new librarians. This article reviews the more recent contributions on the topic, presents a survey of New York State MLS curricula and describes initiatives of pedagogy training offered in that region outside of MLS programs. The authors focus on the Library Instruction Leadership Academy (LILAC), an innovative, semester-long training program created in Western New York State to offer instruction in the pedagogical foundation and practical experience essential for teaching information literacy …

Teaching Web Evaluation: A Cognitive Development Approach, Candice Benjes-Small, Alyssa Archer, Katelyn Tucker, Lisa Vassady, Jennifer Resor Whicker

Communications in Information Literacy

Web evaluation has been a standard information literacy offering for years and has always been a challenging topic for instruction librarians. Over time, the authors had tried a myriad of strategies to teach freshmen how to assess the credibility of Web sites but felt the efforts were insufficient. By familiarizing themselves with the cognitive development research, they were able to effectively revamp Web evaluation instruction to improve student learning. This article discusses the problems of traditional methods, such as checklists; summarizes the cognitive development research, particularly in regards to its relationship to the ACRL Information Literacy Standards; and details the …