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Information Literacy

An information literate individual is able to: Determine the extent of information needed; Access needed information; Evaluate information critically; Incorporate selected information into knowledge base; Use information ethically and legally. (ACRL 2009)

Information Literacy

Information Literacy model

ACRL Framework

All Academic Librarians are guided by the ACRL Framework

  • Authority is constructed and contextual
  • Information creation as a process
  • Information has value
  • Research as Inquiry
  • Scholarship as Conversation
  • Searching as Strategic exploration

Information literacy as a Learning outcome

Washburn has Five University Student Learning Outcomes or USLO’s:

  1. Critical and Creative Thinking (CCT),
  2. Communication (COM), Global Citizenship,
  3. Ethics and Diversity (GED),
  4. Information Literacy and Technology (ILT),
  5. Quantitative and Scientific Reasoning (QSR).

Library Instruction

Faculty may schedule library instruction sessions for their classes. Library Faculty will collaborate with Teaching Faculty to determine what specific information students need to complete research assignments. Explore the common topics listed below. 

The instruction sessions, while usually taught in the Libraries' information literacy suite(ILS), may also be scheduled in a departmental mediated classroom. In the ILS, the learning opportunities are "hands-on" sessions that encourage students to learn about and feel comfortable with the Libraries' resources while performing actual tasks. Students are introduced to research strategies, learn how to use the Libraries' resources to enhance results, evaluate the results, and use them ethically.  


Topics include:

  1. University Library Tour
  2. Search Strategy Techniques
  3. Locating Articles from a Citation
  4. Library Catalog
  5. Academic OneFile (General Database)
  6. Subject Specific Databases
  7. Interlibrary Loan
  8. Scholarly v. Popular Publications
  9. Evaluating Sources
  10. Citing Sources
  11. Ethical Use of Information

ACRL and Librarians

ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (2015), states:

Students have a greater role and responsibility in creating new knowledge, in understanding the contours and the changing dynamics of the world of information, and in using information, data, and scholarship ethically. Teaching faculty have a greater responsibility in designing curricula and assignments that foster enhanced engagement with the core ideas about information and scholarship within their disciplines. Librarians have a greater responsibility in identifying core ideas within their own knowledge domain that can extend learning for students, in creating a new cohesive curriculum for information literacy, and in collaborating more extensively with faculty.