Dave Harmeyer and Janice J. Baskin. Implementing the Information Literacy Framework: A Practical Guide for Librarians. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2018. 279p. Paper, $65.00 (ISBN 978-1-5381-0757-7). LC 2017048324.

Abstract

In 2015 the Association of College & Research Libraries’ Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education replaced the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education , the latter document being rescinded by ACRL. With the removal of the Standards from the ACRL website entirely, the decisive nature of this change has had profound effects on the teaching of information literacy in academic libraries. Gone were the Standards with their clear statements about what an information-literate student will be capable of accomplishing. In their place the Framework provided six now-familiar threshold concepts called “frames,” introducing new levels of flexibility and adaptability to information literacy education. However, the Framework does not recommend best practices or guidelines for teaching these frames. The utility of the information literacy frames clearly extends beyond the “walls” of the library to the classroom, where teaching faculty may find the concepts have a natural fit within their subject curriculum. What should be the nature of librarians’ collaborations with faculty? Dave Harmeyer and Janice J. Baskin’s book aims to provide practical assistance to librarians and classroom faculty in using the Framework to collaborate in teaching students to think conceptually about information literacy, as well as having the intellectual tools to learn new information literacy skills throughout their lives. The authors use their experiences as an academic librarian and a professor of English to describe how the Framework can be addressed from both library and classroom perspectives.