General Education Program Learning Outcome II - Information Literacy

In 2000, the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) released Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education.  The standards stated that: 

An information literate individual is able to:

• Determine the extent of information needed
• Access the needed information effectively and efficiently
• Evaluate information and its sources critically
• Incorporate selected information into one’s knowledge base
• Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose
• Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information, and access and use information ethically and legally

In 2015, ACRL revised these standards into the new Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education to update the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education so they reflect the current thinking on such things as the creation and dissemination of knowledge, the changing global higher education and learning environment, the shift from information literacy to information fluency, and the expanding definition of information literacy to include multiple literacies, for example, transliteracy, media literacy, digital literacy, etc.

The Framework is organized into six frames, each consisting of a concept central to information literacy, a set of knowledge practices, and a set of dispositions. The six concepts that anchor the frames are:

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

The new Framework does not necessarily replace the older Standards, but can work alongside them. The concepts of both the Standards and Framework are the guiding principles for Information Literacy instruction at Walsh University.  

Note: On February 2, 2015, at the 2015 ALA Midwinter Meeting, the ACRL Board took the official action of ‘filing’ the Framework document, in accordance with parliamentary procedure. This allows it to be changed without needing Board approval, in order to foster its intended flexibility and development.

Source:Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education

The six frames:

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

• Investigate the threshold concepts in your discipline and how they relate to the information skills that students should know.
• Partner with your Librarians and Instructional Technology department to develop new kinds of multimedia assignments for courses.
• Help students view themselves as information producers. 
• Consider integrating the information attitudes and behaviors into your own course and content area.

Source: Implementing the Framework