Trent Brager, University of St. Thomas, Amy Mars, St. Catherine University, & Kim Pittman, University of Minnesota Duluth

The Humanities Librarian’s Guide to the ACRL Framework

Hello!

Amy Mars

St. Catherine University

Trent Brager

University of St. Thomas

Kim Pittman

University of Minnesota Duluth

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Because it’s mostly harmless...

Image courtesy of Penguin Random House https://images.penguinrandomhouse.com/cover/9781400052929

Today’s Session:

• Overview of the Framework
• Tour of 23 Framework Things
• Examples of the Framework in the humanities
• Discussion: Forming communities of practice around the Framework
• Questions?

Poll

What area(s) are you liaison to?

What is your comfort level with the Framework ?

1 = first date

5 = BFFs

Frames, Knowledge Practices, & Dispositions

Metaliteracy

Jacobson, Trudi. E. and Thomas P. Mackey, eds. Metaliteracy in Practice. Chicago: Neal-Schuman, 2017.

Image credit: Mackey & Jacobson

Threshold Concepts

Meyer, Jan H. F., Ray Land, and Caroline Baillie, eds.Threshold concepts and transformational learning. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2010.

Image credit: Amy Mars

Understanding by design

Wiggins, Grant and Jay McTighe. Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2005.

Backward Design Process by Wiggins & McTighe

Understanding by design

Image credit: Oakleaf et al.

Standards

Framework

Foasberg, N. M. (2015). From Standards to Frameworks for IL: How the ACRL Framework Addresses Critiques of the Standards. portal: Libraries and the Academy, 15(4), 699-717.

• Information is a commodity external to students
• Students are passive consumers of information
• Value of information is evaluated using binary guidelines
• Research process is a generic series of discrete steps applicable to all disciplines
• Acknowledges the behavioral and cognitive dimensions of learning

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• Information is constructed through social interaction
• Students create, critique, and construct meaning from information
• Value of information is determined by context
• Research process is messy and differs based on disciplinary

context

• Acknowledges behavioral, cognitive, affective, and metacognitive dimensions of learning

Flexible Options for Implementation

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Neither the knowledge practices nor the dispositions that support each concept are intended to prescribe what local institutions should do in using the Framework; each library and its partners on campus will need to deploy these frames to best fit their own situation...

ACRL encourages information literacy librarians to be imaginative and innovative in implementing the Framework in their institution.

http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework (Emphasis added)

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So what’s the deal with these 23 Framework Things?

Identifying Threshold Concepts in the Disciplines

Adler-Kassner, Linda, and Elizabeth A. Wardle. Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies. 2016. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/993647424

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Johnson, Brittney, and I. Moriah McCracken. "Reading for Integration, Identifying Complementary Threshold Concepts: The ACRL Framework in Conversation with Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies." Communications in Information Literacy 10.2 (2016): 178.

Digital Humanities

Special issue: The Digital Humanities: Implications for Librarians, Libraries, and Librarianship

Russell, John E. and Merinda Kaye Hensley. "Beyond Buttonology: Digital Humanities, Digital Pedagogy, and the ACRL Framework." College & Research Libraries News 78.11 (2017): 588-591.

Project CORA Examples

Scholarly Articles: Reading for Understanding

Making Sense of Scholarly Journal Abstracts

Ralston, Sarah. "Scholarly Articles: Reading for Understanding." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2017. https://www.projectcora.org/assignment/scholarly-articles-reading-understanding

Isbell, Dennis. "Making Sense of Scholarly Journal Abstracts." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2016. https://www.projectcora.org/assignment/making-sense-scholarly-journal-abstracts

Art & Music Examples

Garcia, Larissa, and Jessica Labatte. "Threshold Concepts as Metaphors for the Creative Process: Adapting the Framework for Information Literacy to Studio Art Classes." Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America 34.2 (2015): 235-248.

Conor, Erin. "Engaging Students in Disciplinary Practices: Music Information literacy and the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education." Notes 73.1 (2016): 9-21.

History & Primary Source Examples

Godbey, Samantha, Susan Beth Wainscott, and Xan Goodman, eds. Disciplinary applications of information literacy threshold concepts. Chicago: Association of College & Research Libraries, 2017.

Discussion

How would you adapt one of these examples at your institution? What examples do you have?

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What is a community of practice?

Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.

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-Etienne & Beverly Wenger-Trayner

Domain

Community

Practice

Image: UMD Quidditch Club

Community of practice examples

Photo: https://flic.kr/p/LmQRBc

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Photo: https://twitter.com/editorex/status/857993469486387200

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Discussion

What communities of practice do you participate in that would help you learn more about the Framework?

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Questions?

Amy Mars

anmars@stkate.edu

Trent Brager

tjbrager@stthomas.edu

Kim Pittman

kpittman@d.umn.edu