The Journal of Information Literacy (JIL) publishes innovative and challenging research articles and project reports that push the boundaries of information literacy thinking in theory, practice and method, and which aim to develop deep and critical understandings of the role, contribution and impact of information literacies in everyday health, education and workplace contexts. Articles within JIL are from both internationally renowned authors and library professionals who teach or undertake research into information literacy. JIL is published twice a year in December and June. Additional special themed issues are also possible and the editor welcomes suggestions. Please see our About page for specific information about the scope of the journal and our journal policies.
The revised CILIP definition of information literacy
Copyright (c) 2018 Jane Secker https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Four new associate editors walk into a journal…
Copyright (c) 2026 Alison Hicks, Yvonne Eadon, Charlotte M. H. Im, Yucong Lao, Sarah McNicol https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Practices of ambiguity: becoming “information literate” in two Norwegian schools
The purpose of this study is to examine the establishment of information literacy (IL) practices among secondary school pupils aged 14 to16 (grades 9-10) in two Norwegian schools. In Norway, a new curriculum introduced in 2006 emphasised digital skills, aiming to develop IL relating to digital texts in particular. Despite the fact that an ambitious national curriculum has been in place for quite some time, not much is known about how this works in practice in the subject group of this study. The main purpose of this article is to identify the kind of IL practices that have been established and how the pupils experience and reproduce these practices. It seems that the pupils become information literate but not to the extent the curriculum anticipates. The study used mixed methods in order to reveal general trends and to explore certain issues in more depth. The material consists of data from a questionnaire and interviews. The study has a sociocultural perspective as its theoretical point of departure, resting on an understanding of how IL practices in school are formed through interaction and/or the lack of interaction between pupils and their teachers. Without interaction guiding the pupils, their IL practices are at the risk of becoming practices of ambiguity. The implications of this study is that one must go beyond national curricula and examine the way IL or digital literacy is actually performed in schools in order to understand how these practices are shaped.
Research articles (peer-reviewed articles)
Copyright (c) 2014 Margrethe B. Søvik https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Professional self efficacy and role perception of school librarians and their impact on the development of students' information literacy: an evidence based study
The current study evaluated the degree to which school librarians are involved in two different dimensions of their work that directly relate to developing information literacy (IL): (1) providing students with basic and advanced reference work services (RWS); and (2) assisting students at different stages of their research process assignments, as defined by the Big6 model. In addition, to examine factors that may affect the degree of involvement in these two dimensions, the professional self-efficacy of the librarians and their perceptions of their role within the school community were assessed. Data was collected from 71 Israeli school librarians through online questionnaires and analysed quantitatively. This analysis reveals that school librarians provide primarily basic RWS, which require a low degree of professional and technological skills and little collaboration with school teachers. Similarly, school librarians are mainly involved with two specific stages of the students’ research processes, namely, the seeking and evaluation of information, which again reflect a low degree of IL training. The degree of involvement of librarians in these dimensions of their work is significantly and positively correlated with (a) the perception of the librarians of their own self-learning ability and professional updating level; and (b) their perceptions of their role as co-teachers or leaders within the school community. These findings should increase the awareness of the IL community to the work of school librarians, to their role in shaping information-related processes in young students, and to possible means of achieving these goals.
Copyright (c) 2014 Ruth Ash-Argyle, Snunith Shoham https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
An examination of information literacy instruction on the information seeking skills of primary school children in Jamaica: an experiment using grade six students
This article outlines an assessment of the impact of information literacy (IL) instruction on grade six students’ information-seeking skills. It was the view of the researcher that if students were actively taught IL at the early stages of their natural and cognitive development, they would acquire skills that would not only be fruitful but life-changing. The quasi-experimental method was used in carrying out this research. The findings presented were those of a pre-test and then a post-test done after intense IL instructions were given to grade six students (children aged 11-12 years). The results showed that there were marked improvements in the quasi-experimental group’s use of reference resources and in their overall research skills. The recommendation is made that greater emphasis should be placed on IL instruction at the primary level in Jamaica in order for students to be more efficient information-seekers as they move up the education system within the country.
Copyright (c) 2014 Kerry-Ann Rodney-Wellington https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Copyright (c) 2026 Tom Cross https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
LILAC 2026: Community, creativity and criticality
Copyright (c) 2026 Jane Pothecary https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Articulating generative AI information literacy competencies
Responding to the rapid rise of generative AI (GenAI) use in academic research, this project addresses the growing need for GenAI literacy in higher education by articulating a set of core GenAI information literacy (IL) competencies aligned with the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (2015). The project drew on a targeted review of emerging GenAI literacy scholarship, mapping identified competencies to the Framework and refining them through iterative synthesis supported by ChatGPT-assisted prompting and human evaluation. Human oversight and disciplinary judgment remained central throughout the process. The resulting ACRL-aligned competency model situates GenAI literacy within established IL principles, providing a foundation for instruction, consultations, and campus-wide GenAI literacy initiatives. The article also discusses early implementations of the competencies at Georgetown University through a train-the-trainer initiative, course-integrated instruction, and workshops.
Copyright (c) 2026 Ladislava Khailova, Melissa Netzband Wathen , Melissa Jones https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Book Review of Taylor, N. G. and Jaeger, P. T. 2022. Foundations of information literacy.
Book reviews (and reviews of other relevant literature)
Copyright (c) 2026 Ronan Madden https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Book Review of Merga, M. K. 2022. School libraries supporting literacy and wellbeing.
School Libraries Supporting Literacy and Wellbeing (Merga, 2022) offers a timely and persuasive examination of the contribution of school library professionals to students' literacy development and holistic wellbeing. At a point when schools are navigating heightened accountability pressures alongside growing concern for young people's mental health, the text positions the school library as both pedagogical partner and pastoral space. This book will be of clear interest to practitioners, school leaders and researchers concerned with evidence-informed library practice.
Copyright (c) 2026 Cathal Coyle https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Guided inquiry design for online information literacy media
Purpose To examine how academic librarians in Indonesia design online information literacy (IL) instructional media, focusing on their design workflows, the competencies they draw on, and the contextual constraints they navigate when integrating instruction and technology in post-pandemic digital environments. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative descriptive study used an asynchronous qualitative instrument with purposive, criteria-based sampling (academic librarians with ≥1 year of experience who had created online IL media within the past two years). Eighteen librarians from multiple regions participated. Respondents provided narrative accounts and shared examples of their online IL media; follow-up clarifications were conducted via email and WhatsApp. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis and organised through Guided Inquiry Design (GID) as the primary analytic lens. Findings Librarians describe a recurring workflow that enacts GID as a production-centric loop rather than a fully balanced, sequential cycle. All GID phases are present, but work clusters heavily in Gather-Create-Share (media production and dissemination), while Open/Immerse, Explore/Identify, and Evaluate are compressed, informal, and often under-documented. A phase-structured competency ecosystem underpins this loop, with competencies distributed across phases: instructional awareness and user-needs sensing; media and interaction design; information architecture and copywriting; platform operations; and basic analytics, supported by cross-cutting soft skills. These patterns are shaped by structural pressures, including limited time and staffing, multiple role responsibilities, uneven infrastructures, and visibility demands driven by social media metrics, which collectively push librarians toward rapid, output-focused workflows and lightweight, engagement-based evaluation. Practical implications The study suggests practical levers for strengthening online IL media design in academic libraries, including lightweight planning tools aligned with GID phases, targeted micro-trainings in instructional and evaluative design, simple enhancements to evaluation (e.g. brief checks, user polls, and feedback prompts), cross-functional collaboration, and the development of reusable digital assets. The proposed model can serve as a diagnostic tool for libraries to reflect on where competencies and resources are concentrated and where planning or evaluation phases may need reinforcement. Originality/value This study provides one of the first qualitative accounts of online IL media design from Indonesian academic librarians and extends the IL and GID literature by theorising a production-centric adaptation of GID, articulating a phase-structured competency ecosystem, and framing the contextual constraints of IL media work as structural pressures. It offers a context-sensitive explanation of how inquiry-based instructional frameworks are operationalised in resource-variable academic library environments in Southeast Asia. Limitations The study draws on a small purposive sample and self-reported accounts supplemented by artefacts, without direct observation or student outcome measures. Future research should incorporate ethnographic or longitudinal data, learner analytics or assessments, and broader or comparative samples to examine the transferability and boundary conditions of the production-centric GID loop in other institutional and regional contexts.
Copyright (c) 2026 Nove E Variant Anna, Miyarso Dwi Ajie, Piyapat Jarusawat, Yollanda Nundy Alshafa https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
This project report looks at the pedagogic identity of health librarians in the UK, predominantly National Health Service staff, and related challenges they face. Through an online workshop and a follow-up survey, the authors investigated how health librarians perceive themselves as teachers, the challenges they face when teaching healthcare staff, and what support they need. The findings reveal a multifaceted identity, with ‘trainer’ being the most common descriptor, followed by ‘facilitator’, with ‘teacher’ being the least common descriptor, though many librarians selected multiple identities. Key challenges faced were time, technology, practicalities, skills, and engagement. The study highlights the need for more professional development opportunities focused on pedagogic skills, particularly around confidence-building, teaching critical appraisal and statistics, and creating engaging learning environments.
Copyright (c) 2026 Katie Smith, Jessica Waite https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Adding a simple log to in-text citations to strengthen information literacy and argumentation while blocking casual misuse of generative AI
This report describes an intervention that required students to submit a structured log demonstrating engagement with the literature alongside a required report to strengthen information literacy, reinforce argumentation skills and limit the ease of misuse of generative AI. The intervention was deployed in a class of 120 interdisciplinary MSc students in the environmental sciences. It required students to (1) examine how citations function in argument, (2) practice source evaluation using a stepwise protocol, and (3) submit a supplemental citation log. Supporting instructional materials addressed the conceptual foundations of citation as argument infrastructure, introduced a tiered model of justification for research decisions, and provided classroom exercises to build relevant skills. All student groups produced citation logs that demonstrated engagement with source material, though most submissions contained minor formatting and file-handling inconsistencies that impeded automated validation. Instructors observed that this requirement did not pose unusual difficulty and open student evaluation comments did not single out the new expectations. The pilot suggests that these additions are workable, that they make students’ engagement with the literature more transparent and that they may constrain casual misuse of generative AI. Looking forward, clearer instructions and in-class guidance will be needed to reduce avoidable submission errors and support efficient assessment.
Copyright (c) 2026 Peter Tamas, Leonie Kamminga https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Information and digital literacy at school
The BRIDGE project (Information and Digital Literacy at School: A Bridge to Support Critical Thinking and Equality Values for Primary Education Using Children’s Literature and Transmedia) addresses the urgent need for structured information and digital literacy education in primary schools. In an era of increasing dis/misinformation, polarisation, and threats to democratic values, young learners are particularly vulnerable to manipulative online content, hate speech and algorithm-driven bias. Despite the recognised importance of critical literacy skills, primary education curricula across Europe exhibit significant gaps in embedding information, digital, and media literacy in a way that is pedagogically sound and transferable across diverse educational contexts. Since the COVID-19 pandemic these challenges have been further exacerbated, accelerating digitalisation while exposing the digital divide. In response, the BRIDGE project (developed through a transnational Erasmus+ KA2 partnership across six countries: Spain, Turkey, Italy, Finland, Greece, and the United Kingdom) proposes an innovative framework to embed information and digital literacy within the primary education curriculum through children’s literature and transmedia, and dialogic reading strategies. This article presents the project’s conceptual framework and the diagnosis on the strategies developed in the project countries in order to promote information and digital literacy in primary education, together with the project’s practical outcomes (open access portal and training suggestions), emphasising its relevance for primary educators, school librarians, and policymakers. The BRIDGE project intends to contribute to both academic discourse and practical education reform, offering evidence-based recommendations for integrating information and digital literacy into primary education. For school librarians, the project provides tools to reposition libraries as active learning spaces, encouraging ethical information use and digital resilience in young learners. BRIDGE may serve as a model for addressing contemporary socio-political challenges, helping future citizens navigate and critically engage with an increasingly complex information landscape.
Copyright (c) 2026 Dora Sales, Christina Banou, Mara Morelli, Anna Antoniazzi, İpek Şencan, Serap Kurbanoğlu, Heidi Enwald, Noora Hirvonen, Stéphane Goldstein, Sarah Pavey, Konstantina Martzoukou, Petros Kostagiolas https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Critical thinking, disillusion, and dissent
This study explores information literacy within a community organized around contested beliefs, challenging the assumption that information literacy reduces susceptibility to misinformation. It assumes a sociocultural perspective on information literacy, conceptualising information literacy practices as shaped by and taking place within intersubjectively created information landscapes imbued with values, beliefs, and practices that determine what is considered appropriate engagement with information. Employing reflexive thematic analysis to qualitatively analyse social media content (text and images) published by a Swedish network of nurses active in the COVID-19 dissent milieu, the study finds that critical engagement with information is central for shaping the network’s information landscape. The types of interrogative questions often found in guides or frameworks for critical thinking and source criticism are shown to be part of how information is approached and evaluated within the landscape. Furthermore, within the network’s information landscape, critical thinking is expressed as a moral good and is encouraged both as an approach to truth and as a morally good act. Following this, the study suggests that in this information landscape, belief in contested knowledge may be an effect of information literacy practices rather than a lack of them. The study contributes to the discussion on the role of information literacy as a solution for misinformation belief, showing how IL practices can function to sustain, rather than diminish, belief in contested knowledge.
Copyright (c) 2026 Madelene Logren https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Digital literacy challenges in higher education
This study focuses on Mexican university students and their perceptions about their information literacy (IL) related practices as they face the persistent challenge of digital disinformation. The analysis highlights deficiencies in essential critical information competencies and the lack of pedagogical action within higher education with respect to the integration of IL into the curriculum. Following a qualitative approach, the research collected feedback from students who participated in a short instructional intervention. All the findings point to a strong tendency to draw on ‘digital intuition’ as opposed to a defined set of criteria and limited tools to corroborate information. The results argue that IL is essential for informed and responsible actions and should be integrated horizontally in all components of the curriculum. In the context of digital disinformation, the paper concludes with suggestions for using sustainable methods to teach IL in the form of IL integration into educational programmes.
Copyright (c) 2026 José G Casas-Puente https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Copyright (c) 2025 Alison Hicks https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
As academic libraries approach the limits of what can be achieved through single class sessions and individual student consultations, innovative strategies are needed to deepen and sustain library integration in course curriculum. This project report explores one academic library’s use of librarian-led faculty development programming to extend instructional impact and increase engagement with library resources. Drawing on participant feedback, the authors highlight how collaborative assignment design offers a strategic and scalable approach to achieving teaching and learning priorities. The findings underscore the value of library-led faculty development, the role of financial incentives in motivating faculty participation, and a strong interest among instructors for increasing engagement with librarians.
Copyright (c) 2026 Nathaniel King, Alena Manjuck, Yvonne Tran https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Disinformation, amplified on digital platforms, disproportionately impacts young people and those oppressed by their gender identity, who end up being more vulnerable to the phenomenon. Given this context and based on the perceptions of young people living in Salvador (Bahia) and Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul), two Brazilian capitals, this article aims to investigate the relationship between disinformation and gender. This is a basic study with a qualitative approach and exploratory intent. A bibliographical study was conducted covering the period 2016 to 2025 in the main database of Information Science in Brazil (BRAPCI), and empirical research data collected from young people from both cities was analysed. The results highlight hate speech as the most cited problem among young people, with a higher prevalence among girls and non-binary individuals. There is also variation in the intensity of self-reported impacts, with boys reporting milder impacts, followed by girls and, finally, non-binary people, who report more severe impacts. The findings reinforce the importance of promoting information literacy (IL) and media education in Brazil.
Copyright (c) 2026 Daniela Silva, Ana Cristina Prates, Josiene da Silva Niesciur https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
The anatomy of collaborative open-source software development
Knowledge work is comprised of specialists who collaborate by exchanging expertise and skills to produce products and services; this is exactly what happens in open-source software development communities, albeit in a virtual and globally distributed manner. In this study, we examine two large and well-known open-source communities, specifically OpenStack and Automotive Grade Linux. More specifically, we take the theoretical notion of information literacy (IL) practice to analyse the day-to-day information-intensive activities of those communities. We collect and analyse naturally occurring publicly available digital trace data derived from the projects from an IL perspective. We report a set of ten information-intensive activities that are presented to an audience interested in IL and digital work, but not necessarily in software development. These ten activities are branching, committing, fetching, pushing, merging, reviewing, continuously integrating, gating, release management, and announcing — that collectively constitute the developers' information practice. While most of the reported information activities cannot be carried out in non-digital environments, the increasing trend towards the digitalisation of work reiterates the importance of studying the production and knowledge management practices in digital work.
Copyright (c) 2026 Renesa Tamannum, José Apolinário Teixeira , Gunilla Widén https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Book review of DeJong, M. 2024. Information literacy for science and engineering students: Concepts and skills.
Copyright (c) 2025 Joanna Blair https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Book review of Whitworth, A. 2020. Mapping information landscapes: New methods for exploring the development and teaching of information literacy.
Copyright (c) 2025 Helen Bond https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Subject librarian reflections on upskilling to support staff and students with systematic reviews
In recent years library staff in the College of Health Science and Society (CHSS) at UWE Bristol have noticed growing demand from students, researchers, and academic staff for support with systematic reviews (SRs). This reflective piece outlines our experiences of how non-health librarians, with no formal SRs training, have met the challenge of supporting our users with SRs. We will focus on the actions we have taken to improve our knowledge and confidence, the challenges we have faced, and we will make recommendations for future career development in this field.
Copyright (c) 2026 Hannah Poore, Philip O'Shaughnessy https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Toward a coherent framework for school-based information literacy
This article presents the findings of a two-round Delphi study exploring expert perspectives on information literacy (IL) in Croatian primary and secondary education. The study examined which IL competencies and pedagogical approaches are considered essential, how school librarians perceive their instructional role, and what systemic challenges influence the implementation of IL. A total of fifteen school librarians participated in the study. In the first round, participants responded to 11 open-ended prompts addressing themes such as teaching strategies, assessment, curriculum integration, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools. In the second round, they evaluated 26 synthesised statements derived from a thematic analysis of the initial responses. The results reveal strong consensus on the need for a developmentally aligned and cross-curricular IL framework, encompassing skills from basic information seeking to independent inquiry and ethical information use. While school librarians are seen as key facilitators of IL, their efforts are often limited by time constraints, insufficient resources, and a lack of formal collaboration with teaching staff. Participants also expressed concern over students’ increasing reliance on generative AI tools, which may impede critical thinking and encourage superficial engagement. The study underscores the need for national IL standards, stronger institutional support for school librarians, and greater attention to the pedagogical and ethical implications of AI in education.
Copyright (c) 2025 Ivana Martinović, PhD https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
In the digital age, the rapid transformation of academic libraries is not merely about adopting new tools and technologies; it represents a shift in responsibility, enabling libraries to extend information literacy (IL) beyond campus boundaries. While public libraries traditionally provide services for underprivileged citizens, this paper examines how academic libraries in India support diverse disadvantaged communities and explores emerging approaches in Greece. By comparing these initiatives, the study highlights potential strategies institutions can adopt to expand their social impact. Today, libraries must move beyond routine operations and engage in social causes. By stepping outside traditional roles, they can meaningfully support marginalised groups, fostering inclusivity and equity. This shift is not only an opportunity but also a responsibility tied to the core values of knowledge access and public service. In India, academic libraries actively promote IL by educating village farmers and remote school students about grassroots challenges. Programmes such as the Village Adoption Programme and Science Outreach initiatives demonstrate direct engagement with rural communities. These efforts help farmers adopt sustainable practices and enable students to explore scientific advancements while promoting open-access resources for students, teachers, and local institutions. The global significance of these initiatives was recognised when presented at the American Library Association (ALA) Conference in Philadelphia, USA, June 2025. In Greece, academic libraries can play a crucial role in advancing IL for marginalised groups by strengthening citizens’ ability to locate, evaluate, and use information effectively. Economic crises and rising living costs have limited access to education and information, creating urgent demand for inclusive IL services. By becoming community hubs, academic libraries can provide free and user-friendly access to vital resources. Overall, this study underscores the transformative role of academic libraries in bridging the digital divide and advancing inclusive IL through cross-national learning and collaboration.
Copyright (c) 2025 Nihar K Patra, Panorea Gaitanou https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Mapping the core dimensions of information literacy in the critical and workplace domain
Despite its transformative promise, information literacy (IL) remains constrained by its narrow locus and siloed nature. This study confronts this by synthesising insights from critical (CIL) and workplace information literacy (WIL) domains, thereby advancing the conceptualisation of the critical workplace information literacy (CWIL) construct. It asks: how is IL conceptualised within these domains and what are its core elements across them? A reflexive thematic analysis of 54 peer-reviewed articles retrieved from Scopus through a PRISMA-informed process was conducted, employing a hybrid deductive-inductive coding strategy, guided by a critical-theoretical framework. Five main themes—core dimensions of IL across CIL and WIL—were constructed: functional skills and competences, cognitive skills and competences, social skills and practices, critical consciousness, and critical-pedagogical approaches. Findings reveal shared and divergent elements of CIL and WIL, confirming persistent silos. Both domains share a common baseline of generic functional skills, critical thinking, and the conception of IL as a socially situated information practice and a way of knowing. They diverge in teleology, with WIL emphasising functional, utilitarian-economistic conceptions, while CIL foregrounds political, emancipatory and critical-pedagogical dimensions. The study unpacks nuanced layers of IL, such as critical action, allowing for their integration into the emerging CWIL construct. Integrating functional and critical dimensions holds potential for advancing IL theory and conceptual coherence and fosters its teleological reconceptualisation as an action literacy capable of driving real-world impact and workplace transformation.
Copyright (c) 2025 Dijana Šobota https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Curriculum mapping for identifying and assessing information literacy teaching in humanities and social sciences libraries
Teaching librarians are regularly tasked with assessing their teaching output and aligning their student learning outcomes to frameworks. Whilst this has been explored extensively in libraries where teams of teaching librarians work together, there has been little exploration for how to assess separate teams working towards the same goals. Previous studies have also mapped teaching against widely used frameworks instead of bespoke institutional information literacy (IL) frameworks. This article outlines how a group of faculty and departmental libraries mapped their teaching to a bespoke IL framework for higher education students. Through doing so, it created a shared understanding of the four competencies included in the framework and identified information practices. These practices were then developed into performance indicators for teaching across libraries and a system was devised for scoring the intensity of the teaching. A set of curriculum matrices and heatmaps were used to explore the scope of teaching delivered and to ensure parity across all student groups. Three core matrices are identified to assess if students receive introductory and advanced tuition across all of the IL framework. The study recommends that curriculum mapping starts with a new interpretation of IL frameworks and that mapping exercises consider how data will be presented during the design stage.
Copyright (c) 2025 Paul Cooke https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Teaching critical information literacy through popular culture
This project report describes a 15-week undergraduate curriculum integrating Critical Information Literacy (CIL) with media studies theory for art and design students. Using multiple adaptations of The Wizard of Oz—Baum’s 1900 novel, the 1939 MGM film, The Wiz (1978), and Wicked (2024)—as primary case studies, the course replaces conventional library-based information literacy (IL) instruction with a critical and culturally engaged approach. Through these familiar texts, students interrogate the authority, bias, and power structures embedded in historical and contemporary information systems. The curriculum introduces theoretical frameworks including encoding/decoding, semiotics, adaptation theory, and algorithmic critique, progressively building students’ capacity to apply complex concepts to both historical and digital contexts. This model has increased engagement among creative students who often resist traditional IL teaching, with evidence of lasting transfer of CIL concepts into creative practice. The approach is adaptable across disciplines and demonstrates the value of popular culture as an accessible yet rigorous site for developing CIL.
Copyright (c) 2025 Daniel Williford https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Reflection as a means to assess information literacy instruction
Teaching is integral to the mission and purpose of academic libraries, but in our institutions and professional organisations, the story of our teaching is often reduced to numbers: How many sessions? How many hours? How many students? Within this framework, quantity dictates success, with more classes, time, and students meaning more impact. Yet as teaching librarians, we know that the story of our work doesn’t begin and end in the classroom. This project report outlines the development of a qualitative, reflection-based evaluative process and toolkit for our Libraries’ instruction programme that centres two critical domains: teacher-librarian self-efficacy and student learning. The implementation of both process and toolkit provides readers a model for examining how well their values align with their own instruction assessment and how to evaluate their teaching programmes in more meaningful ways.
Copyright (c) 2025 Natalia Kapacinskas, Veronica Arellano Douglas, Erica Lopez, Mea Warren https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Promoting reflection by students on their use of information
For many years, information literacy frameworks have encouraged students to evaluate the quality of the material within the sources they access. Much less thought has been given to helping learners at the end of a school assignment to identify the benefits to their project that emerged when they drew upon their selected information. This report presents a two-year study in which two different Sixth Form groups were introduced to two models devised for this purpose. Each was based on well established ideas developed by experts in information behaviour. Many of the students, all of whom were candidates pursuing the Extended Project Qualification, made imaginative use of the models, which proved invaluable in enabling them to satisfy the course’s assessment objective relating to the exploitation of resources. The second framework, derived from research by Dervin and Reinhard, was received particularly enthusiastically, probably because the elements are more easily arranged in a chronological sequence, so enabling the learner to reconstruct the “story” of their research experience. It is, however, difficult to reach unequivocal conclusions about student preferences as each of the two groups was introduced to only one of the two models and the candidates did not have to choose between them.
Copyright (c) 2026 Andrew K. Shenton https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0