Beyond Information: New Literacies for Instruction Librarians
Type of Presentation
Individual paper/presentation (20 minute presentation)
Target Audience
Higher Education
Location
Room 2005
Proposal
While information literacy remains a useful phrase to define and communicate the work of instruction librarians, the evolving complexity of information sources and ecosystems demands new skills and vocabularies. The proliferating number of terms in the professional literature attests to this fact; web literacy, media literacy, primary-source literacy, critical information literacy, digital literacy, critical digital literacy, and metaliteracy are only some of the alternatives that have emerged. Recent headlines about “fake news” have also lent new urgency to critical source evaluation. Advocating for “critical digital literacy” in a December 2016 piece for Hybrid Pedagogy (“Truthy Lies and Surreal Truths” A Please for Critical Digital Literacies”), Kris Shaffer argues that this set of competencies is “more than traditional information literacy.” He calls for educators and their students to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the ways in which information is produced, consumed, and disseminated online—especially with respect to the “technological, sociological, and psychological implications of connective digital media.”
This presentation will chart the emerging constellation of terms related to information literacy and explore ways in which librarians might revise their own language and learning objectives in response. We will also identify skills and partnerships necessary to implement these curricular changes. Lastly, we will examine the relationship between these emerging literacies and libraries’ current assessment practices, especially those developed in dialogue with ACRL’s Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education and concomitant information literacy “in the disciplines” documents.
Short Description
This presentation will explore the increasing number of terms used in higher education to describe competencies related to information literacy and ask how these emerging concepts might affect instruction librarians’ training, teaching, and assessment practices. The discussion will also examine the role of faculty and staff partnerships in teaching these new and evolving literacies.
Keywords
Library instruction, Teaching partnerships, Digital literacy, Critical information literacy, Assessment
Publication Type and Release Option
Event
Recommended Citation
Mercurio, Jeremiah and Bernstein, Matt, "Beyond Information: New Literacies for Instruction Librarians" (2017). Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy. 46.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gaintlit/2017/2017/46
Beyond Information: New Literacies for Instruction Librarians
Room 2005
While information literacy remains a useful phrase to define and communicate the work of instruction librarians, the evolving complexity of information sources and ecosystems demands new skills and vocabularies. The proliferating number of terms in the professional literature attests to this fact; web literacy, media literacy, primary-source literacy, critical information literacy, digital literacy, critical digital literacy, and metaliteracy are only some of the alternatives that have emerged. Recent headlines about “fake news” have also lent new urgency to critical source evaluation. Advocating for “critical digital literacy” in a December 2016 piece for Hybrid Pedagogy (“Truthy Lies and Surreal Truths” A Please for Critical Digital Literacies”), Kris Shaffer argues that this set of competencies is “more than traditional information literacy.” He calls for educators and their students to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the ways in which information is produced, consumed, and disseminated online—especially with respect to the “technological, sociological, and psychological implications of connective digital media.”
This presentation will chart the emerging constellation of terms related to information literacy and explore ways in which librarians might revise their own language and learning objectives in response. We will also identify skills and partnerships necessary to implement these curricular changes. Lastly, we will examine the relationship between these emerging literacies and libraries’ current assessment practices, especially those developed in dialogue with ACRL’s Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education and concomitant information literacy “in the disciplines” documents.
