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ACRL Framework for Information Literacy Toolkit

This module should help set an agenda for how you can articulate the value of engagement with the Framework and identify support for this work within the library and across the campus.

Essential Questions

  • How do we start the process of deep engagement with the Framework individually and within a community of practice?

  • How do we articulate the value of this process to colleagues and administrators within our institutions?

Learning Outcomes 

By engaging with this module and its content, you will:

  1. Develop a strategy for ongoing engagement with the Framework in order to integrate the Framework into your own practice, improve instruction, and enhance the information literacy program.

  2. Identify allies within the library in order to develop a community of practice around the Framework.

  3. Articulate the value of engaging with the Framework in order to motivate administrative support for ongoing professional development.

Read through the Framework's Appendix 1: Implementing the Framework, which offers strategies to librarians, as well as faculty and administrators, for implementing the Framework. Use the following questions to start thinking about how these strategies might work in your particular context.

  • What suggestions resonate most with you and seem applicable to your instruction program?
  • What opportunities exist for sharing these suggestions with your colleagues within and outside of the library?

 The questions below can be used for self-reflection or to guide a group discussion.

  1. Who are your information literacy allies within the library? In the larger campus community?

  2. What supports exist on your campus to encourage librarians, faculty, and administrators to engage with the Framework?

  3. What needs to change on your campus for librarians, faculty, and administrators to fully engage with the Framework?

  4. How might a reflective practice impact your engagement with the Framework?

  5. How might a learning community or communities of practice impact your engagement with the Framework?

1. Create a schedule for reading the Framework, individually or with colleagues in your library. This may include blocking time off on your calendar, identifying opportunities in your work day to read the Framework in smaller portions, or other time management activities. If needed, draft a brief justification to your supervisors for protecting time to read and engage the Framework.

2. Review how other campuses have begun to engage with the Framework for inspiration and work to build on. 

Questions for reflection and discussion:

  • How does each institution present the Framework to students and faculty?
  • What language is borrowed directly from the Framework and what language has been changed to create learning outcomes or explanations of the frames?
  • What might resonate for students and faculty at your institution?
  • What approaches might work for your information literacy program? Do you find learning outcomes and assignments that might apply in your context?

Some examples:

Reflective practice

Reflective practice involves the process of continuous critical reflection to foster self-learning and to improve subsequent practices. In higher education, it involves taking time to think and reflect on teaching and learning for evaluative purposes and to improve future teaching.

Learning communities and communities of practice

Learning communities and communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.

Appendix 1: Implementing the Framework: Suggestions on how to use the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. (2015, 2016). Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframeworkapps

Drabinski, E. (2016). Turning inward: Reading the Framework through the six frames. College & Research Libraries News, 77(8), 382-384. Retrieved from http://crln.acrl.org/index.php/crlnews/article/view/9537/10862

Goosney, J., Smith, B. & Gordon, S. (2014). Reflective peer mentoring: Evolution of a professional development program for academic librarians. Partnership, 9(1). Retrieved from https://journal.lib.uoguelph.ca/index.php/perj/article/view/2966#.WOvknjV3FBo

Hess, A. N. (2015). Equipping academic librarians to integrate the Framework into instructional practices: A theoretical approach. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 41(6), 771-776.