The ACRL Framework adopted in January 2016 provides an expanded definition of information literacy as a “set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning."
ACRL doesn’t prescribe how institutions should use the Framework but encourages institutions to deploy the frames in ways that best suit their situations. Thus, the framework opens ways in which librarians can partner with faculty to connect information literacy to student success initiatives, redesign instruction sessions, assignments, courses, and even curricula, and play an active role in enhancing student learning.
The Framework is organized into six frames, each consisting of a concept central to information literacy, a set of knowledge practices, and a set of dispositions. The six concepts that anchor the frames are presented alphabetically:
For information on how the Framework builds on the Standards and yet is different from the Standards, please view this alignment chart.
| Bibliographic/Library Instruction | Information Literacy | |
| Responsibility/Control | Librarian-controlled | Collaborative responsibility |
| Relation to curriculum | External/tangential | Integral |
| Placement in curriculum | Isolated learning episodes (one-shot, workshop) | Embedded, curriculum-integrated, competency requirement |
| Content focus | Tools, search interfaces | Overarching concepts, critical thinking processes, thinking standards |
| Teaching methods | Lecture-based, didactic | Learning communities, library faculty and disciplinary faculty act as guides |
| Learning transfer | Limited to skills | Internal motivation, deeper grasp of concepts, multiple opportunities |
| Assessment | Skills-based evaluations | Competency-based, outcomes-based |
| Relationship to place | Focus on specific libraries | Focus on unbounded universe of information |
| Role of technology | Limited, used in inflexible ways | Expanded role, variety of technologies selected to match instructional situations |
Courtesy: Carnegie Mellon University Libraries. Created by Craig Gibson, Associate University Librarian for Public Services at George Mason University, and Karen Williams, Digital Library Initiatives Team Leader, University of Arizona for the Immersion Program at ACRL/Institute for Information Literacy and Copyright held by ALA.