Teaching Information Literacy Through Short Stories

Teaching Information Literacy through Short Stories examines information literacy themes through 18 short stories. The book provides librarians and instructors a fresh approach to introduce, accompany, and supplement their teaching. The book is divided into six sections corresponding with the six pillars of Association of College and Research Libraries Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. Accompanying each short story are questions to stimulate thought and discussion around various aspects of information and scholarship including authority, process, value, inquiry, conversation, and exploration. Following the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, this book supports the argument that good information literacy instruction is more than teaching students how to find information for their assignments in an expeditious manner. Stories offer a starting place for more complex thinking about the purpose of information literacy and are a wonderful tool to inspire students to acquire the attitudes necessary for broad creative thinking and lifelong intellectual behaviors. The book is designed to be interdisciplinary and useful in any course or workshop introducing and teaching information literacy skills. The stories contained in the book are appropriate for students from high school through university.

"Provides a snapshot of the current state of critical information literacy as it is enacted and understood by academic librarians"--

It’s not hyperbole to conclude that in today’s world, information literacy is essential for survival and success; and also that, if left unchecked, the social consequences of widespread misinformation and information illiteracy will only continue to grow more dire. Thus its study must be at the core of every education. But while many books have been written on information literacy, this text is the first to examine information literacy from a cross-national, cross-cultural, and cross-institutional perspective. From this book, readers will learn about information literacy in a wide variety of contexts, including academic and school libraries, public libraries, special libraries, and archives, through research and literature that has previously been siloed in specialized publications; come to understand why information literacy is not just an issue of information and technology, but also a broader community and societal issue; get an historical overview of advertising, propaganda, disinformation, misinformation, and illiteracy; gain knowledge of both applied strategies for working with individuals and for addressing the issues in community contexts; find methods for combating urgent societal ills caused and exacerbated by misinformation; and get tools and techniques for advocacy, activism, and self-reflection throughout one’s career.

Why do we teach information literacy? This book argues that the main purpose of information literacy teaching in higher education is to enhance student learning. With the impact of new technologies, a proliferation of information sources and a change in the student demography, information literacy has become increasingly important in academia. Also, students that know how to learn have a better chance of adapting their learning strategies to the demands of higher education, and thus completing their degree. The authors discuss the various aspects of how academic integrity and information literacy are linked to learning, and provide examples on how our theories can be put into practice. The book also provides insight on the normative side of higher education, namely academic formation and the personal development process of students. The cognitive aspects of the transition to higher education, including learning strategies and critical thinking, are explored; and finally the book asks how information literacy teaching in higher education might be improved to help students meet contemporary challenges. Presents critical thinking and learning strategies as a basic foundation for information literacy Covers information literacy as a way into deep learning/higher order thinking Provides self-regulation, motivation, and self-respect as tools in learning Emphasizes the interdependence of learning, academic integrity, critical thinking, and information literacy A practical guide to teaching information literacy based on an increased focus on the learning process, an essential for Information literacy graduate students and higher education teaching staff in relevant fields

This engaging handbook gives students and working scientists and engineers the information literacy skills they need to find, evaluate, and use information. Beginning with a strong foundation in the utility, structure, and packaging of information, this useful handbook helps students and working professionals decode real-world information literacy problems. Mary DeJong provides a compelling context and rationale for the skills scientists and engineers need to succeed in challenging careers that rely on the successful discovering and sharing of complex information. Students will appreciate the in-depth information on sources, especially those needed for research assignments, and scientists and engineers who write for publication will benefit from chapters on searching databases and organizing and citing sources. Written with science and engineering students and professionals in mind, this book is thorough, well-paced, engaging, and even funny.

Provides information literacy practitioners with a thorough exploration of how threshold concepts can be applied to information literacy, identifying important elements and connections between each concept, and relating theory to practical methods that can transform how librarians teach. A model that emerged from the Enhancing Teaching-Learning Environments project in Great Britain, threshold concepts are those transformative core ideas and processes in a given discipline that define the ways of thinking and practicing shared by experts. Once a learner grasps a threshold concept, new pathways to understanding and learning are opened up. The authors of this book provide readers with both a substantial introduction to and a working knowledge of this emerging theory and then describe how it can be adapted for local information literacy instruction contexts. Five threshold concepts are presented and covered in depth within the context of how they relate and connect to each other. The chapters offer an in-depth explanation of the threshold concepts model and identify how it relates to various disciplines (and our own discipline, information science) and to the understandings we want our students to acquire. This text will benefit readers in these primary audiences: academic librarians involved with information literacy efforts at their institutions, faculty teaching in higher education, upper-level college administrators involved in academic accreditation, and high school librarians working with college-bound students.

Today’s learners communicate, create, and share information using a range of information technologies such as social media, blogs, microblogs, wikis, mobile devices and apps, virtual worlds, and MOOCs. In Metaliteracy, respected information literacy experts Mackey and Jacobson present a comprehensive structure for information literacy theory that builds on decades of practice while recognizing the knowledge required for an expansive and interactive information environment. The concept of metaliteracy expands the scope of traditional information skills (determine, access, locate, understand, produce, and use information) to include the collaborative production and sharing of information in participatory digital environments (collaborate, produce, and share) prevalent in today’s world. Combining theory and case studies, the authors Show why media literacy, visual literacy, digital literacy, and a host of other specific literacies are critical for informed citizens in the twenty-first centuryOffer a framework for engaging in today’s information environments as active, selfreflective, and critical contributors to these collaborative spacesConnect metaliteracy to such topics as metadata, the Semantic Web, metacognition, open education, distance learning, and digital storytellingThis cutting-edge approach to information literacy will help your students grasp an understanding of the critical thinking and reflection required to engage in technology spaces as savvy producers, collaborators, and sharers.

Learn how to successfully employ practical techniques that infuse information literacy instruction with humor. How can humor be applied by academic librarians to better teach information literacy? And why is humor such an effective teaching tool? This book provides a cross-disciplinary review of the literature regarding use of humor in tertiary education settings, and specifically in library science; explains its effectiveness for capturing and maintaining student attention when covering necessary subjects; and presents the invaluable personal experiences of instruction librarians across North America who regularly use humor in the classroom. Humor and Information Literacy: Practical Techniques for Library Instruction addresses the subject in both a scholarly and a practical manner. The first section of the book contains original multi-disciplinary essays covering humor in the fields of communication theory, education, library science, psychology, and even stand-up comedy. The second section documents practical techniques that practicing librarians use to teach information literacy with humor, accompanied by commentary by the authors.

This volume, edited by Grace Veach, explores leading approaches to foregrounding information literacy in first-year college writing courses. Chapters describe cross-disciplinary efforts underway across higher education, as well as innovative approaches of both writing professors and librarians in the classroom. This seminal work unpacks the disciplinary implications for information literacy and writing studies as they encounter one another in theory and practice, during a time when "fact" or "truth" is less important than fitting a predetermined message. Topics include reading and writing through the lens of information literacy, curriculum design, specific writing tasks, transfer, and assessment.

Attempts to cover all aspects of information literacy, from the origins of the concept to its economic and political importance.