Applying a Critical Pedagogical Perspective to Information Literacy Standards

From Standards to Frameworks for IL: How the ACRL Framework Addresses Critiques of the Standards

“…From this perspective, authority does not inhere in a text but, rather, "is constructed in that various communities may recognize different types of authority." 28 Even within those communities, however, it is possible to question this constructed authority. This Frame specifies that students should "respect the expertise that authority represents while remaining skeptical of the systems which have elevated that authority and the information created by it."…”

Critical connections: personal learning environments and information literacy

“…In terms of the LMS, educators commonly criticise the closed and hierarchical structure that privileges an institutionally managed and teacher-driven approach to learning (Dalsgaard 2006;Johnson et al 2006;Littlejohn 2011;Mott 2010;Mott and Wiley 2013). In the case of the IL Standards, educators censure the way that the standards reduce information seeking and interaction to linear and simplistic steps without acknowledging the learner's active role in diverse contexts within the knowledge economy (Coonan 2011;Elmborg 2006;Jacobs 2008;Kapitzke 2003;Luke and Kapitzke 1999;Swanson 2005;Tuominen, Savolainen, and Talja 2005). Accordingly, both the LMS and the IL Standards are increasingly seen as being in conflict with the learner-centred, active and reflective approaches to learning that are necessary for complex digital information landscapes.…”

“Why Does Google Scholar Sometimes Ask for Money?” Engaging Science Students in Scholarly Communication and the Economics of Information

“…As a result, our instruction can become procedural-more training than teaching. Over the last decade, several insightful librarians have advocated for a more "critical" approach to information literacy that pushes beyond an emphasis on teaching processes alone (Elmborg, 2006;Fister, 2006;Pawley, 2003;Swanson, 2004aSwanson, , 2004b. 7 Proponents of critical information literacy caution that, although standards such as the Association of College and Research Libraries's Information Literacy Competency Standards can help librarians and other educators outline the research process, these standards and performance measures may lead to an excessive focus on teaching skills related to finding, accessing, and evaluating information at the expense of providing insight into how information is intimately tied to the social contexts in which it is created and used.…”

“…Although centering information literacy around search and evaluation skills remains common, a movement towards "critical information literacy" has begun to emerge. Proponents of critical information literacy advocate teaching how "'information' is a social construct created with specific purposes" (Swanson, 2004a) and "highlighting, in addition to the tools and skills metaphor, the importance of learning about context and content in understanding how information 'works'" (Pawley, 2003).…”