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Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education

Framework Focus: Value

Framework Focus: Value

Information possesses several dimensions of value, including as a commodity, as a means of education, as a means to influence, and as a means of negotiating and understanding the world. Legal and socioeconomic interests influence information production and dissemination.

Information Has Value

 

Key sentence: The novice learner may struggle to understand the diverse values of information in an environment where "free" information and related services are plentiful and the concept of intellectual property is first encountered through rules of citation or warnings about plagiarism and copyright law. As creators and users of information, experts understand their rights and responsibilities when participating in a community of scholarship.

Knowledge practices:

  1. give credit to the original ideas of others through proper attribution and citation;
  2. understand that intellectual property is an important legal and social construct;
  3. articulate the purpose and distinguishing characteristics of copyright, fair use, open access, and the public domain;
  4. understand why some individuals or groups may be underrepresented or marginalized within information systems;
  5. recognize issues of access or lack of access to information sources;
  6. decide where and how their information is published;
  7. understand how the commodification of personal information and online interactions affects them;
  8. make informed choices regarding their online actions in full awareness of the above issues.

We teach:

  • Understanding the value and purpose of bibliographies and citation formats [major, capstone/graduate]
  • Using citation management tools (such as Mendeley, Zotero, EndNoteWeb) [major, capstone/graduate]
  • Evaluating the value and understanding the implications of open-source versus subscription resources [major, capstone/graduate]
  • Identifying research biases within studies [most courses]

“Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education.” Association of College and Research Libraries, 11 Jan. 2016, http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework. Accessed 21 June 2017.