Alan Carbery, the CILIP Information Literacy Group’s International (US) Representative, updates us on developments with the ACRL Information literacy Framework for Higher Education.
During the recent American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter meeting in Chicago, the Board of Directors of the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) voted to formally accept the new ACRL Information literacy Framework for Higher Education. The Framework was devised after the ACRL Board approved a unanimous recommendation to significantly revise the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, adopted in 2000.
A task force, co-chaired by Trudi Jacobson and Craig Gibson, collaborated to create the proposed Framework, and after three drafts that underwent a public comment process, the taskforce presented the Framework to the ACRL board with the recommendation that the Board of Directors approve the Framework, sunset the 2000 Competency Standards and charge a new Task Force with managing the transitioning from the Standards to the Framework.
According to the Board:
“The board voted to recognize the excellent work of the task force in producing a document that will forge new directions in information literacy research and practice, and, in accordance with parliamentary procedure, we took the official action of ‘filing’ the Framework document in order to foster its intended flexibility and potential.”
The Board, however, deferred the option to sunset the Standards, opting for a “wait and see” approach as practitioners begin to engage with the Framework. ACRL has appointed a Visiting Program Officer for Information Literacy to develop resources to assist ACRL members use the framework.
The Framework is organised into six frames, containing a central concept central to information literacy, as well as a set of knowledge practices and dispositions for each frame.
More information on the ACRL Information Literacy Framework for Higher Education