Information Literacy Commons^™

Critical Information Literacy In Higher Education: An Evolution In Theory, Practice, And Assessment, Dan Williford

Communications in Information Literacy

This article offers a critical synthesis of scholarship on critical information literacy (CIL) in higher education from 2015 to 2026, extending and recalibrating prior longitudinal reviews to account for post-2020 theoretical, political, and technological shifts. Drawing on a corpus of 48 peer-reviewed publications published between 2020 and 2026, the study employs thematic cluster analysis—building on Tewell’s four-domain framework—to examine developments in theory, pedagogy, digital and political engagement, reflexive critique, and assessment. Rather than treating critical information literacy as a settled framework, this review positions it as an evolving and contested practice shaped by the political economy of higher education. It …

Information Literacy Tutorials For High Enrollment Courses: An Iterative Design-Based Approach, Kimberly Casey, Rebekah Heleen

Communications in Information Literacy

The purpose of this paper is to provide academic librarians practical guidance on how to provide information literacy support to high enrollment, general education courses. It includes a detailed description and analysis of our approach and findings throughout the project, as well as reflections and lessons learned. The project team developed asynchronous information literacy tutorials for first-year students at the University of Arkansas, utilizing a flipped classroom approach, to address challenges in delivering personalized instruction to high-enrollment courses. Collaborating with program directors, the team created online tutorials embedded with feedback surveys, which collected nearly 2,000 student responses. We also surveyed …

Review Of Instructional Design For Teaching Information Literacy Online: A Student-Centered Approach, By J. Mattson, D. Lemmons, V. Linsinbigler, And C. Lowder, Kendall Morgan

Communications in Information Literacy

Review of Mattson, J., Lemmons, D., Linsinbigler, V., & Lowder, C. (2025). Instructional design for teaching information literacy online: A student-centered approach. Association of College and Research Libraries.

December 2025 Table Of Contents Newsletter - First Year Students & Library Instruction, Tiffany Hebb

Table of Contents Newsletter

College libraries (and their websites and resources) are larger and more complicated to navigate than most high school library media centers. Students are facing many new things when they get to DePauw; using the library shouldn’t be a barrier to their acclimation and success. So we prioritize getting the students in early - working with orientation leaders to have students explore the physical space before classes start, so that they know they’re welcome and there are people and services here to help them. Learn more about our library instruction engagement with FYS in this month's newsletter.

The Library Instructor As Learner: A Survey Of Reflective Teaching Practices In Us Academic Libraries, Alicia G. Vaandering, Amanda Crego-Emley

Communications in Information Literacy

Reflective practice provides library workers with a critical opportunity to examine professional experiences, question assumptions and approaches, explore new perspectives, and develop innovative solutions to existing problems. When applied to instruction as reflective teaching, this practice better situates library instructors to meet the evolving needs of twenty-first-century library users. This research study explores how library workers engage with reflective teaching in academic libraries across the United States. A survey was distributed to academic library communities, and a total of 153 responses were collected. While 92% of respondents reported participating in reflective teaching practice in a variety of instructional contexts, results …

A Faculty Workshop On Developing Students As Discipline-Situated Researchers, William Badke, Elizabeth Kreiter, Qinqin Zhang

Communications in Information Literacy

The reference librarians of Trinity Western University have a strong mission-driven commitment to teach information literacy, but there is a significant contrast between the amount of instruction they can provide and the demanding task of developing all students as skilled researchers. The growing teach-the-teacher model suggested an option to enlist faculty in providing a larger portion of information literacy instruction themselves. With strong support from academic administration, three librarians devised an initial faculty workshop as part of the university’s faculty professional development series, followed by four detailed weekly sessions. They based their activities on several factors: first, faculty members would …

Doing Things With Metaphors: Mobilizing Cultural Humility From The Guest Perspective As Antiracist Pedagogy, Carol A. Leibiger, Alan W. Aldrich

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Information Literacy Class As Theatrical Performance: A Qualitative Study Of Academic Librarians’ Understanding Of Their Teacher Identity, Mark Aaron Polger

Publications and Research

This qualitative study examines how academic librarians understand, conceptualize, and describe their teacher identity. The role of the academic librarian has greatly changed due to the advent of information technology. Traditionally, they were generalists, who were responsible for selecting and maintaining library collections. Academic librarian roles have evolved into web developers, information literacy (IL) instructors, emerging technology innovators, marketing and outreach coordinators, open education resources (OER) advocates, and scholarly communication experts. This research investigates the academic librarian as teacher phenomenon, how they describe their professional identity as teachers, the skills, knowledge, and competencies they teach, and their beliefs of how …

Teaching And Collecting Technical Standards: A Handbook For Librarians And Educators, Chelsea Leachman, Erin M. Rowley, Margaret Phillips, Daniela Solomon

Purdue Information Literacy Handbooks

Technical standards are a vital source of information for providing guidelines during the design, manufacture, testing, and use of whole products, materials, and components. To prepare students—especially engineering students—for the workforce, universities are increasing the use of standards within the curriculum. Employers believe it is important for recent university graduates to be familiar with standards. Despite the critical role standards play within academia and the workforce, little information is available on the development of standards information literacy, which includes the ability to understand the standardization process; identify types of standards; and locate, evaluate, and use standards effectively.

Libraries and librarians …

Applying Acrl’S Framework “Scholarship As Conversation” To Teach Undergraduates Article Anatomy Through Active Learning, Jessica Varsa, Justin B. Ingels

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

In Fall of 2022, UGA Libraries Faculty conducted IL instruction for hundreds of undergraduate First-Year Odyssey students. As part of this required course, library faculty are faced with the challenge of conducting workshop-style instruction through a one-shot format, focusing on both integral library skills and how to interpret a research article. R&I Librarian, Jessica Varsa worked with Dr. Justin Ingels, Public Health faculty, to develop a lesson plan on reviewing and interpreting academic journal articles through the lens of the ACRL’s’ Framework that embraces active learning strategies.

This presentation will provide a critical reflection about active learning techniques used in …

As You Like It: Building, Executing, And Assessing An Adaptable Library Instruction Program For First-Year Experience Courses, Joy I. Hansen

Communications in Information Literacy

Providing targeted experiences for first-year students both inside and outside the classroom is essential for building connections and creating a foundation for skill development necessary for academic success. Many first-year programs include a standalone course for incoming students or specific content weaved into existing course offerings. Information literacy skill-building holds an important place in these efforts; therefore, instruction librarians are provided additional opportunities to collaborate with faculty and reach students. Depending upon the size of the institution, however, the sheer number of first-year courses combined with shrinking library staff pose challenges. This Innovative Practices article is one library’s experience with …

Teaching And Assessment Of Metacognition In The Information Literacy Classroom, Erin J. Mccoy

Communications in Information Literacy

Information literacy and metacognition have long histories of addressing the same concerns: how people think about and evaluate what they have learned. By exploring research from the library science and cognitive psychology fields, this article highlights how these two concepts are related and how that relationship can be made more explicit in the way librarians talk about and teach information literacy.

Meet Students Where They Are: Centering Wikipedia In The Classroom, Diana E. Park, Laurie M. Bridges

Communications in Information Literacy

There is a common classroom refrain, “Don’t use Wikipedia; it’s unreliable.” Unfortunately, this simple dismissal of the world’s largest repository of information fails to engage students in a critical conversation about how knowledge within Wikipedia is constructed and shared. Wikipedia is available in almost 300 languages, it is the top result in most Google searches, and it provides free, well-sourced, information to millions of people every day. However, despite these positives, there is uneven geographic, historical, and cultural representation; there are well-known information gaps related to women, gender, and sexual identity; and the majority of Wikipedia editors are white, …

Building A Culture Of Collaboration And Shared Responsibility For Educational Equity Work Through An Inclusive Teaching Community Of Practice, Francesca Marineo, Chelsea Heinbach, Rosan Mitola

Collaborative Librarianship

For libraries to be equitable spaces as educational institutions and places of employment, it is necessary that educational equity be a shared, collaborative goal. Unfortunately, equity and inclusion work in libraries has historically been an individual pursuit that falls disproportionately on the shoulders of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) library workers. Communities of practice employ social learning principles to facilitate praxis and offer opportunities to develop shared goals, language, and responsibility. This article explores how we developed and implemented an inclusive teaching community of practice with members of our instruction department in order to foster a culture of …

Systematically Assessing Lms-Embedded Asynchronous Information Literacy Modules For Perceived Impact And Quality At Georgetown’S School Of Continuing Studies Library, Ladislava Khailova, Emily Guhde, Matthew Bernstein

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

For the past five years, librarians at Georgetown’s (GU) School of Continuing Studies (SCS) Library have supplemented their synchronous instructional offerings with in-house video tutorials to cater to the School’s growing online and hybrid student population and to scale up information literacy efforts. The pandemic has accelerated this trend, with the SCS librarians increasingly moving away from viewing their video tutorials as primarily stand-alone digital learning objects and conceiving of them rather as a part of carefully planned out LMS-embedded, discipline-specific modules addressing high-stakes information literacy concepts. This presentation focuses on the effort to systematically assess the perceived quality and …

"Making It Happen": Building Relational Teaching Into The Online World Of Covid-19, Carol A. Leibiger, Alan W. Aldrich

Faculty Publications

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic required shifting information literacy instruction from face-to-face to online formats at the University Libraries of the University of South Dakota. This case study narrates how the instructional team there introduced innovations into a Freshman Writing course that enabled instrumental (that is, goal-oriented) and relational teaching in the online-only environment. The team applied social network theory and a disaster response model to plan and analyze their innovations. The affordances of the Zoom video conferencing platform and the embedded librarian model enabled them to expand their information literacy instruction to include online students for the first …

A Study Of Information Literacy Instruction And Its Impact On Stem Students At Hbcus, Dawn Ventress Kight

Electronic Dissertations and Theses

In today’s complex information environment, students are entering college underprepared and lacking Information Literacy (IL) skills as they matriculate in STEM disciplines. Some universities have not developed effective systematic approaches for IL instructional programs to aid students in developing necessary 21st century IL skills. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate Information Literacy (IL) instruction and the impact it has on student achievement for students majoring in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) disciplines. This qualitative research followed a transcendental phenomenological approach by documenting and giving voice to the lived experiences of participants at HBCUs in a Southern …

“We’Re A Little Different:” Business Information Literacy Perspectives On The Acrl Framework, Amanda B. Click, Claire Walker Wiley, Meggan A. Houlihan

Communications in Information Literacy

The introduction of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education in 2015 inspired many librarians to rethink how they offer information literacy instruction. This multi-method study, using data from a survey and five focus groups, explores the use of the Framework in business information literacy (BIL). The study research questions focus on how librarians engage with the Framework in supporting the information needs of business students. Participants indicate that they make implicit, direct, and institutional use of the Framework. They also use a variety of tools aside from the Framework when designing their BIL instruction. Limitations of …

Review: Games And Gamification In Academic Libraries Edited By Stephanie Crowe And Eva Sclippa, Janna L. Mattson

Communications in Information Literacy

No abstract provided.

A Noteworthy Next Class: Making Learning Objectives Work For You, Amy B. James

Communications in Information Literacy

The creation of learning objectives is often considered imperative for semester-length courses, yet unimportant or irrelevant for information literacy instruction one-shot sessions. However, the Association of College and Research Libraries Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education calls librarians into action by instructing each library and campus to develop learning outcomes in line with the six frames that make sense for their individual communities. By reviewing the recognized taxonomies and selecting one that resonates with their teaching, librarians can follow the principles of backward design developed by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe to create learning objectives that work for their …

Information Literacy Practices And Perceptions Of Community College Librarians In Florida And New York, Heidi Julien, Don Latham, Melissa Gross, Lindsey Moses, Felicia Warren

Communications in Information Literacy

An online survey in Florida and New York of community college librarians with responsibility for information literacy instruction provides a snapshot of instructional objectives and practices, including librarians’ beliefs about students’ information literacy needs, strengths, and weaknesses. Survey results point to the influence of the Association of College and Research Libraries Framework in the community college context, the challenges librarians face as they work to implement it, and their successes in doing so. These data reveal opportunities to support and improve instruction and to prepare future librarians to work successfully in community college contexts.

Small Teaching: Effective Techniques To Scaffold Student Learning In Information Literacy Instruction Sessions., Omer Farooq

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

Learning scientists have long advocated for using learning techniques that help students achieve their learning outcomes in a variety of different contexts. These strategies include engaging prior knowledge, elaborative interrogation questions, self-explanation, distributed practice, and testing—all of which bring the processes of comprehension, critical thinking, and synthesis to the explicit attention of the learner. However, the use of strategies such as self-explanations, analogies, and elaborative interrogation prompts that enhance learning by facilitating the various stages of the research process is not fully explored in the context of information literacy instruction. This presentation will highlight ways to incorporate specific questioning prompts …

Strum A New Chord: Embracing The Uncomfortable & Switching To Learner-Centered Library Instruction, Courtney Eger, James Benner

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2013

No abstract provided.

What’S Up Doc? Transforming Information Literacy Instruction With Documentary Films, Carrie Dunham-Lagree

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2013

No abstract provided.

First-Generation Students’ Information Literacy In Everyday Contexts, Darren Ilett

University Libraries Publications

Historically, much of the Library and Information Science (LIS) literature on first-generation students (FGS) framed them using deficit thinking, emphasising what they lacked to be successful in higher education. In contrast, recent scholarship has turned to asset-based pedagogies, shifting the focus onto the strengths that FGS bring to college. Further, LIS research on FGS has examined how students engage with information solely in academic contexts, such as completing research papers or navigating higher education procedures. The current study contributes to the discussion of asset-based pedagogies by using a funds of knowledge approach to explore the ways in which FGS at …

Review Of Transforming Information Literacy Instruction: Threshold Concepts In Theory And Practice, Jane Hammons

Communications in Information Literacy

No abstract provided.

Conceptual And Procedural Knowledge: A Framework For Analyzing Point-Of-Need Information Literacy Instruction, Amy Vanscoy

Communications in Information Literacy

The information literacy instruction (ILI) that occurs during a spontaneous information interaction, such as at the reference desk, is not clearly defined and not extensively researched. It differs, however, from classroom ILI, with its lesson plans, carefully considered learning outcomes, and planned learning activities. This paper uses the framework of conceptual and procedural knowledge, drawn from education research, to analyze point-of-need ILI. Digital reference transcripts were analyzed using this framework, and examples of ILI from the transcripts were categorized to make sense of how conceptual and procedural knowledge manifest in point-of-need ILI. This conceptual/procedural focus acknowledges the unique context of …

The Impact Of Information Literacy Instruction On Student Success: A Multi-Institutional Investigation And Analysis, Joni Blake, Melissa Bowles-Terry, N. Shirlene Pearson, Zoltan Szentkiralyi

Central University Libraries Research

The GWLA Student Learning Outcomes task force analyzed the data from over 42,000 first-time, first-year freshmen and over 1700 distinct courses from 12 research institutions to determine the impact(s) of information literacy instruction integrated into course curriculum on several student success measures.

Key findings include:

• Student retention rates are higher for those students whose courses include an information literacy instruction component.
• On average, First-Year GPA for students whose courses included information literacy instruction was higher than the GPA of students whose courses did not.
• Students exposed to library instruction interactions successfully completed 1.8 more credit hours per year than their …

You Have One Hour: Developing A Standardized Library Orientation And Evaluating Student Learning, Elizabeth Brown

Library Scholarship

Library orientations continue to excite, or plague, instruction librarians everywhere. Reaching first year students early can preempt academic heartache and research woes, yet the question of “what students really need” continues to evolve. This article presents a case study of a large-scale implementation of library orientations. The main issue addressed in this article involves a systematic review of students’ post-instruction responses and assessment of their learning. Related elements mentioned in this article include: interdepartmental participation; curriculum design; and instructional technology. While this implementation may not be appropriate for all academic libraries, its components may offer ideas for augmenting existing programs …

Mapping The Association Of College And Research Libraries Information Literacy Framework And Nursing Professional Standards Onto An Assessment Rubric, Gloria Willson, Katelyn Angell

Brooklyn Library Faculty Publications

Objective: The authors developed a rubric for assessing undergraduate nursing research papers for information literacy skills critical to their development as researchers and health professionals.

Methods: We developed a rubric mapping six American Nurses Association professional standards onto six related concepts of the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. We used this rubric to evaluate fifty student research papers and assess inter-rater reliability.

Results: Students tended to score highest on the “Information Has Value” dimension and lowest on the “Scholarship as Conversation” dimension. However, we found a discrepancy between the grading patterns …