Despite a heightened focus on information literacy, students and adults alike struggle to assess online information. In this article, the authors argue that the K–12 information literacy curriculum needs to focus on supporting students to develop identities as expert information seekers to address complex and mutable modern literacy needs. The authors explore commonalities and themes within three different expert information‐seeking professions: academic librarians, journalists, and nonfiction children's book authors. From semistructured interviews emerged distinct themes of doing, knowing, and being that expert information seekers employed when encountering information. The authors believe that these identity practices could form the basis of an information‐seeking curriculum that can help address the challenges of the current online information environment.
The authors argue that nonfiction reading and writing instruction in K–12 settings must include authentic opportunities for students to seek information online. To that end, the authors provide two frameworks for thinking about information acquisition in the 21st century. The first, the intentional and incidental information continuum, describes how adults encounter information. On one end is the information that adults actively seek, often by going online; on the other is information that is encountered passively. In between is information that could be considered semi‐incidental: The specific information is not actively sought, but the source was accessed purposefully. The second framework, a graphic for thinking about why adults actively seek information, proposes that searches should be thought of in terms of the seeker's education or preparation and the importance of the search. The authors contend that these frameworks can be used to rethink nonfiction reading and writing instruction.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.