Teaching information literacy within a relational frame:

the Media and Information Literacy course at Manchester

Abstract

Bruce, Edwards and Lupton (2007) define the “relational frame” of information literacy (IL) education as one within which all other frames can be integrated, from the “content” and “competency” frames which are based on objective measures, through learning-based frames which are subjective, to an intersubjective, social impact frame. Put more simply, they propose that IL education and application can and should vary in form depending on the context. Through analysis of the critical and social theory which supports Bruce et al’s ideas, and through a brief case study of a postgraduate course built from these theories, this paper proposes that the relational frame of IL can, and should, be applied to the teaching of “multiliteracies”. If relational IL education means, for example, that students should experience variation in their approach to information searching and evaluation, then this implies they must be able to understand underlying value systems which provoke such searches, like environmentalism or religion. The relational frame of IL therefore serves as a bridge between IL and multiliteracies.