Engaging with the ACRL Framework

Exploring the core concepts for information literacy education can help your library build a sustainable foundation of critical thinking for your students. The ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education - with its emphasis on self-reflective and lifelong learning and on conceptual understandings about information, research, and scholarship and encouraging - has prompted many librarians to consider their teaching practices from fresh angles, as they explore their evolving instructional roles within and beyond the library classroom. The Framework’s vision of information literacy education as a shared responsibility of all educators suggests both opportunities and challenges for teaching librarians, as we expand pedagogical approaches and partnerships. This workshop supports librarians in engaging more deeply with the Framework and exploring ways that it may help to enrich their individual teaching practices, as well as their local instruction programs and institutions.

Throughout this workshop participants will explore concepts and pedagogical approaches outlined in the Framework and their significance to their own instructional work. Attendees will apply their learning and reflection to creating instruction plans for their local contexts and considering possibilities for growing teaching partnerships.

Jenny Dale is the Information Literacy Coordinator at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro's University Libraries, where she oversees the First-Year Instruction Program, coordinates information literacy assessment, and provides professional development training for librarian and teaching faculty colleagues. Jenny also collaborates with students and faculty in the departments of Communication Studies, English, Media Studies, and Women's and Gender Studies in her role as a liaison librarian. She holds a Master of Science in Library Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Learn more about Jenny in her ACRL Member of the Week profile on ACRL Insider.

Kate L. Ganski is Assistant Director of Libraries for User Services at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, where she is responsible for casting the vision and developing goals and metrics for library services contributing to the campus goals of graduating successful students, producing excellent research, and engaging the community. She also coordinates the information literacy instruction program, which includes training and professional development for librarians and interns. Kate holds a Master’s in Library Science from Southern Connecticut State University. Learn more about Kate in her ACRL Member of the Week profile on ACRL Insider.

Samantha Godbey is Education Librarian at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she is liaison to the College of Education and Department of Psychology. In this role, she has worked directly with faculty to integrate research-based assignments and information literacy concepts into their courses. Samantha’s research focuses on the Framework as well as information literacy instruction and assessment, and she is co-editor of Disciplinary Applications of Information Literacy Threshold Concepts (ACRL, 2017). She holds a Master of Library and Information Science from San Jose State University and a Master of Arts in Education from the University of California at Berkeley. Learn more about Samantha in her ACRL Member of the Week profile on ACRL Insider.

Brittney Johnson is the Library Curriculum and Instruction Developer at St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas, where she develops (and teaches) programmatic curriculum for information literacy that integrates into the general education curriculum, as well as research- and writing-centric courses. In previous work at Texas State University, she developed curriculum for and coordinated a digital literacy micro-credentialing program that was embedded within the library's technology spaces. Brittney also teaches in higher education, both online and face-to-face, and most recently has taught introduction to education and senior-level capstone courses. Brittney holds a Master of Science in Cognitive Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Master in the Art of Teaching in Education from the University of Alaska - Southeast and is working on her doctorate in Curriculum, Instruction, and the Science of Learning at University at Buffalo. Along with Andrea Baer and Lindsay Matts-Benson, Brittney co-designed this workshop curriculum. Learn more about Brittney in her ACRL Member of the Week profile on ACRL Insider.

Lindsay Matts-Benson is the Teaching and Learning Program Lead for the University of Minnesota Libraries in Minneapolis where she collaborates and consults with librarians and library staff on enhancing their teaching practices - both in-person and online and developing strategy, programs and partnerships around campus to further the Libraries impact on student learning. Lindsay has designed online learning modules and developed semester-long courses ranging from insurance law and trial advocacy skills to library research skills and job searching using library databases. Lindsay holds a Master of Arts in Learning Technology with a certificate in e-learning from the University of St. Thomas, and a Master's in Library and Information Science from Dominican University in River Forest, IL. Along with Andrea Baer and Brittney Johnson, Lindsay co-designed this workshop curriculum. Learn more about Lindsay in her ACRL Member of the Week profile on ACRL Insider.

Kim Pittman is the Information Literacy and Assessment Librarian at the University of Minnesota Duluth, where she coordinates the library’s instruction program, leads assessment efforts, and teaches a first-year seminar course. She is a founding member of the Lake Superior Libraries Symposium Steering Committee and co-founder of the Minnesota Library Association Instruction Roundtable (IRT). With IRT co-chairs Amy Mars and Trent Brager, Kim helped develop the 23 Framework Things online program. She participated in ACRL’s Assessment in Action program in 2015-16, leading a Framework-inspired project investigating student persistence in the research process. She holds a Master’s in Library and Information Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Learn more about Kim in her ACRL Member of the Week profile on ACRL Insider.