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Information Literacy Toolkit

Information Literacy Toolkit for Faculty

Definitions and Standards

Authority Is Constructed and Contextual, Information Creation as a Process, Information Has Value, Research as Inquiry, Scholarship as Conversation, Searching at Strategic ExplorationACRL Framework

The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) adopted the Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education in 2016. The Framework defines information literacy as follows:

Information literacy is the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning.

Instead of fixed standards or outcomes, the framework is organized around six core concepts, with associated knowledge practices and dispositions:

  • Authority Is Constructed and Contextual
  • Information Creation as a Process
  • Information Has Value
  • Research as Inquiry
  • Scholarship as Conversation
  • Searching as Strategic Exploration

Resources related to the Framework

ACRL Standards

Prior to the Framework, ACRL approved its Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education in 2000, with this definition:

Information literacy is a set of abilities requiring individuals to “recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.”

The standards state the the information literate student:

  • determines the nature and extent of the information needed.
  • accesses needed information effectively and efficiently.
  • evaluates information and its sources critically and incorporates selected information into his or her knowledge base and value system.
  • uses information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose.
  • understands many of the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information and accesses and uses information ethically and legally.

The Standards are superseded by the Framework, but can still be useful. For example, they serve as the basis for the AAC&U VALUE Rubric for Information Literacy.

UNESCO

UNESCO's Information for All Programme states that:

Information literacy empowers people in all walks of life to seek, evaluate, use and create information effectively to achieve their personal, social, occupational and educational goals. Information-literate people are able to access information about their health, their environment, their education and work, and to make critical decisions about their lives. 

Critical Information Literacy

In The International Encyclopedia of Media Literacy, Emily Drabinski and Eamon Tewell define Critical Information Literacy:

Critical information literacy (CIL) is a theory and practice that considers the sociopolitical dimensions of information and production of knowledge, and critiques the ways in which systems of power shape the creation, distribution, and reception of information. CIL acknowledges that libraries are not and cannot be neutral actors, and embraces the potential of libraries as catalysts for social change.

For more, see Two Decades of Critical Information Literacy.

More models

  • Information Literacy in the Disciplines -  ACRL's Instruction Section provides "links and citations to information literacy standards and curricula developed by accrediting agencies, professional associations, and institutions of higher education."
  • Definitions & models - A UK-centric list from the Information Literacy Group of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP).

Related literacies

Many other literacies are related to and overlapping with the concepts of critical thinking and information resources.

  • Media literacy 
  • Digital literacy
  • data/numeric literacy
  • AI Literacy 
  • more...