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Learn more about information literacy for students
- Association of College & Research Libraries. (2019). Characteristics of Programs of Information Literacy that Illustrate Best Practices: A Guideline. https://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/characteristics
- This document articulates elements of exemplary information literacy programs for undergraduate students at two- and four-year institutions.
- Breakstone, J., Smith, M., Wineburg, S., Rapaport, A., Carle, J., Garland, M., & Saavedra, A. (2019). Students' Civic Online Reasoning: A national portrait. Stanford History Education Group.
This study focuses on students' ability to evaluate online sources and information, and emphasizes the critical nature of this skill set for members of a functioning democracy. TL;DR: In their words, "Nearly all students floundered."
- Bull, A.C., MacMillan, M., & Head, A. (2021). "Dismantling the Evaluation Framework." In the Library with the Lead Pipe. N.P.
It used to be that we had to go searching for information; now information is pushed to us by algorithms. This article addresses the need to adapt how we teach students to evaluate information resources to this changing environment. Evaluation of sources in the modern age needs to be proactive rather than reactive.
- DeJong, M. (2022). Systemic Problems with Information Literacy Training [Webinar]. Niche Academy. https://www.nicheacademy.com/blog/systemic-problems-with-information-literacy-training
Addresses issues like student motivation to learn information literacy skills, poorly designed research assignments, lack of standardized vocabulary when faculty discuss information literacy, and the need for more instruction time to be spent on information literacy skills.
- Dixon, J.A. (2017). "First Impressions." Library Journal, 142(8), 32.
First-year college and university students enter with widely varying levels of information literacy, particularly in light of the funding crisis that has left so many K–12 public schools without functioning school libraries and trained school librarians/media specialists. Library Journal set out to understand what information literacy instruction entering students need, what they’re getting, and what impact it has on their experience as first-year students.
- Head, A.J. (2012). Learning the ropes: How freshmen conduct course research once they enter college, Project Information Literacy Research Institute.
The Google-centric search skills that freshmen bring from high school only get them so far with finding and using trusted sources they need for fulfilling college research assignments. Moreover, many freshmen appeared to be unfamiliar with how academic libraries—and the vast array of digital resources they provide—can best meet their needs. Included are recommendations for how campus-wide stakeholders—librarians, faculty, and administrators—can work together when instructing freshmen to be better researchers.
- Hodge, M.L. (2022). "First-generation students and the first-year transition: State of the literature and implications for library researchers." The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 48(4), np. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2022.102554.
This article critiques the current state of the library literature on first-year first-generation students, identifies critical areas for further study, and explains the utility of academic capital and library anxiety as theoretical frameworks to inform future research on first-generation students and first-year students, respectively.
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News Literacy Project. (2024). News Literacy in America: A survey of teen information attitudes, habits and skills (2024). https://newslit.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/NLP-Teen-Survey-Report-2024.pdf
The News Literacy Project is a nonpartisan nonprofit seeking to educate all students in news literacy before high school graduation. Their 2024 survey illuminates student attitudes and experiences around news literacy.
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Pagowsky, N. (2021). "The Contested One-Shot: Deconstructing Power Structures to Imagine New Futures." College & Research Libraries, 82(3), 300-309.
Discusses one-shot library instruction in the context of effective teaching practices; assessment; and power structures related to care-work and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI). The hope is to expand our pedagogical imagination through questioning what appear to be common-sense practices in order to create better systems and structures.
