This Framework envisions information literacy as extending the arc of learning throughout students’ academic careers and as converging with other academic and social learning goals, an expanded definition of information literacy is offered here to emphasize dynamism, flexibility, individual growth, and community learning:
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.
The Framework opens the way for librarians, faculty, and other institutional partners to redesign instruction sessions, assignments, courses, and even curricula; to connect information literacy with student success initiatives; to collaborate on pedagogical research and involve students themselves in that research; and to create wider conversations about student learning, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and the assessment of learning on local campuses and beyond.
Information resources reflect their creators’ expertise and credibility, and are evaluated based on the information need and the context in which the information will be used. Authority is constructed in that various communities may recognize different types of authority. It is contextual in that the information need may help to determine the level of authority required (ACRL 2015).
Learners who are developing their information literate abilities:
Learners who are developing their information literate abilities
Information in any format is produced to convey a message and is shared via a selected delivery method. The iterative processes of researching, creating, revising, and disseminating information vary, and the resulting product reflects these differences.
Learners who are developing their information literate abilities
Learners who are developing their information literate abilities
Information possesses several dimensions of value, including as a commodity, as a means of education, as a means to influence, and as a means of negotiating and understanding the world. Legal and socioeconomic interests influence information production and dissemination.
Learners who are developing their information literate abilities
Learners who are developing their information literate abilities
Research is iterative and depends upon asking increasingly complex or new questions whose answers in turn develop additional questions or lines of inquiry in any field.
Learners who are developing their information literate abilities
Learners who are developing their information literate abilities
Communities of scholars, researchers, or professionals engage in sustained discourse with new insights and discoveries occurring over time as a result of varied perspectives and interpretations.
Learners who are developing their information literate abilities
Learners who are developing their information literate abilities
Searching for information is often nonlinear and iterative, requiring the evaluation of a range of information sources and the mental flexibility to pursue alternate avenues as new understanding develops.
Learners who are developing their information literate abilities
Learners who are developing their information literate abilities
Association of College & Research Libraries. (2015, February 9). Framework for information literacy for higher education. American Library Association. http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework
Banner created using Canva's Magic Media AI Image Generator with prompt: students using laptop with AI generated content (February 9, 2024).
OpenAI. (2024). ChatGPT 3.5 [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com
Professors have requested an introduction to ChatGPT as a research resource and/or research starter during library instruction sessions. Two library guide examples are detailed below, and are included in the drop-down menu for this page.
Each library session presented a short introduction to ChatGPT and included definitions, options for use, and academic integrity reminders. Professors provided research topics specific to an assignment or project. Prompts were generated prior to the session, reviewed and expanded as needed, and ChatGPT transcripts are included on each guide.
Many of the ACRL Framework standards, knowledge practices, and dispositions, can be applied to the use of generative AI as a research tool in library instruction sessions.
Meet with your instruction librarian; we will be happy to work with you to determine what Generative AI tools, including ChatGPT, may be best suited for your student's assignment or project.
The following three prompts were submitted to ChatGPT in the order presented.
(1) How does the use of chatgpt in library instruction, as a research resource, or as a research starter, support the knowledge practices and dispositions of ACRL's Framework for information literacy for higher education?
(2) Can you further differentiate between knowledge practices and dispositions expected of learners who are developing information literate abilities for each framework standard?
(3) Which of the aforementioned knowledge practices and dispositions from the ACRL Framework would be best suited for instruction for first time researchers? how would chatgpt support initial library database searches?
ACRL's Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.