Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education: ACRL Framework

The six frames:

• Authority is Constructed and Contextual 
• Information Creation as a Process 
• Information has Value 
• Research as Inquiry 
• Scholarship as 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 dept 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

Sources for further reading

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 reflect the changing nature of information and higher education over the last 15 years.  Students are now more involved with creating knowledge and understanding the complexities of information. 

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 Polk State College.  

Source: Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education