New Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education

Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) has completed the final document of a new Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education.  The task force will submit it to ACRL’s board of directors at its October meeting. This new framework addresses the many changed that have occurred since since ACRL formally adopted the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education in 2000.

The standards from 2000 often remained a stand-alone process taught by librarians and students were left to their own devices as to how to apply what they’d learned to the subjects they were studying. The older  “checklist approach” to information literacy teaching has been replaced by a new framework designed to integrate information literacy training into the fabric of educating students to be critical thinker

Embedding cognitive, affective, and behavioral learning domains within information literacy teaching is essential. The new framework seeks to address the interconnected nature of a student’s abilities, moving away from the hierarchical and formulaic approach of the current standards.

Barbie E. Keiser  examines the new Framework in more detail at Reimagining Information Literacy Competencies.