The document discusses new standards for information literacy, particularly in the context of higher education, highlighting a refreshed definition that emphasizes integrated abilities in discovering and utilizing information. It introduces the concept of threshold concepts, which aim to enhance understanding and facilitate discussions among educators about the evolving roles of librarians and educators in teaching information literacy. Additionally, it explores the implications of metaliteracy, which encourages adapting literacy practices to accommodate emerging technologies and collaborative environments.

1. N E W S TA N D A R D S F O R N E W M O D A L I T I E S
INFORMATION LITERACY, LIBRARIES,
AND VIRTUAL SCHOOLS:
Alex Hodges, American University
Marilyn Ochoa, SUNY-Oswego
March 4, 2015

2. INFORMATION LITERACY DEFINED
A new definition
Information literacy is the set of integrated abilities encompassing
the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how
information is produced and valued, and the use of information in
creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities
of learning. (ACRL, 2015)

3. FRAMEWORK FOR INFORMATION LITERACY
FOR HIGHER EDUCATION (2015)
• Filed as a new document within the constellation of information
literacy documents
• Shifting understanding of information literacy to focus on
knowledge practices and research dispositions
• Use of new media to complete research tasks and to track
metacognition

4. THRESHOLD CONCEPTS
The six frames, each contains a set of knowledge practices and
dispositions:
• Authority is constructed and contextual
• Information creation as a process
• Information has value
• Research as inquiry
• Scholarship as conversation
• Searching as strategic exploration

5. THRESHOLD CONCEPTS (CONT.)
Analogy: Passing through a bottleneck
https://fenestraz.wordpress.com/2014/01/13/champagne-bottle/

6. THRESHOLD CONCEPTS (CONT.)
Help learners or researchers bound beyond the “bottlenecks of understanding”
Move the learners across a discipline’s main ideals that must be mastered in early
introductory phases
For the sake of IL, the threshold concepts aim to--
Transform understanding
Integrate various networked concepts
Make irreversible the learning of deeper features of the information ecosystem
Address troublesome, difficult, or counterintuitive aspects

7. METALITERACY
“builds upon information literacy’s traditional core components by emphasizing new
roles and responsibilities brought about by emerging technologies and
collaborative communities” (Mackey & Jacobson, 2014)
Consequential for SITE members or participants. This area of investigation, in terms
of IL, offers an ever-growing research terrain of inquiry, production, and responsibility
for teacher educators, researchers, librarians, and media specialists.

8. QUESTIONS
1) In what ways can the threshold concepts help us generate conversations with
other school colleagues who are also stakeholders in information literacy
learning?
2) How must teacher educators prepare teacher candidates to work with this
framework in face-to-face and virtual environments? Should the preparation be
different? Why or why not?
3) What should librarians and media/teacher educators do to work across
boundaries of PK-12 and higher education?

9. REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING
Association of College & Research Libraries. (2015). Framework for Information Literacy for Higher
Education. Association of College & Research Libraries. Retrieved from
http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework
Mackey, T. P., & Jacobson, T. (2014). Metaliteracy : reinventing information literacy to empower learners.
Chicago: ALA Neal-Schuman, an imprint of the American Library Association.
Mackey, T. P., & Jacobson, T. E. (2011). Reframing Information Literacy as a Metaliteracy. College &
Research Libraries, 72(1), 62–78. doi:10.5860/crl-76r1
Townsend, L., Brunetti, K., & Hofer, A. R. (2011). Threshold concepts and information literacy. Portal:
Libraries and the Academy, 11(3), 853–869.