Introduction to the Framework
The following is from the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) regarding their Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education:
This Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (Framework) grows out of a belief that information literacy as an educational reform movement will realize its potential only through a richer, more complex set of core ideas. During the fifteen years since the publication of the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education,1 academic librarians and their partners in higher education associations have developed learning outcomes, tools, and resources that some institutions have deployed to infuse information literacy concepts and skills into their curricula. The Framework offered here is called a framework intentionally because it is based on a cluster of interconnected core concepts, with flexible options for implementation, rather than on a set of standards or learning outcomes, or any prescriptive enumeration of skills. At the heart of this Framework are conceptual understandings that organize many other concepts and ideas about information, research, and scholarship into a coherent whole.
The Framework provided is meant to help institutions determine what aspects of information literacy is crucial for their institution. Every institution serves a different body of students. That is why the ACRL came up with a Framework of six principles that a information literate student should posses once they graduate college. This allows institutions to decide on the importance of each frame in relation to the student body they serve. Institutions may focus more on the information has value frame over scholarship as conversation frame if it is not a big research university for example. Each framework should be touched upon though by the time a student graduates college.
The Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) is the academic division of the American Library Association (ALA). The division was founded in 1940 as an organization specializing in the area of academic librarians. This association provides guidance to all academic libraries via professional development, tools for academic librarians, and publications on the latest trends in academic libraries. This organization has over 10,000 active members, 630 organizational members, and 18 corporate members as of 2018. ACRL holds a biannual conference where members can meet and discuss topics of interest. The ACRL main office is located in Chicago, Illinois.
The Six Frames of Information Literacy
Frame 1: Authority is Constructed and Contextual
Frame 2: Information Creation as a Process
Frame 3: Information Has Value
Frame 4: Research As Inquiry
Frame 5: Scholarship as a Conversation
Frame 6: Searching as Strategic Exploration
References
Association of College & Research Libraries. (n.d.). Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework.
Association of College & Research Libraries. (2021, April 1). ACRL history. http://www.ala.org/acrl/aboutacrl/history/history#:~:text=Founded%20in%201940%2C%20ACRL%20is,libraries%20and%20their%20professional%20staffs.