This paper seeks to offer a rationale and practical suggestions for the integration of visual literacy instruction and information literacy instruction practice and theory.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to offer a rationale and practical suggestions for the integration of visual literacy instruction and information literacy instruction practice and theory.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper aligns visual literacy and information literacy competency standards, revealing connections and opportunities for practical integration during library instruction and traditional classroom instruction.
Findings
On analysis of 11 visual literacy competencies, three exhibit a strong relationship with the ACRL's Information Literacy Competency Standards.
Practical implications
The paper provides guidelines for teaching and learning scenarios that may be used in a library instruction session or as part of a course curriculum.
Originality/value
The paper advocates the alignment of visual literacy and information literacy competencies as a method for connecting multiple literacies in information literacy instruction.
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This paper offers definitions and application scenarios for three interdisciplinary heuristics designed to encourage a more holistic view of texts with the objective of raising…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper offers definitions and application scenarios for three interdisciplinary heuristics designed to encourage a more holistic view of texts with the objective of raising awareness and enhancing the information literacy of student researchers.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on the thesis that visual texts and images should be considered in information literacy theory and practice, a selection of three visual heuristics found to be useful in instruction session situations are explained and described in a practical teaching situation.
Findings
These three heuristics can be used in a number of ways for different audiences to encourage critical thinking about the context, components, and the communication process involved in presenting texts used by students (from books, to journal and newspaper articles, and web sites).
Research limitations/implications
There are other useful heuristics that have not been considered within the scope of this study. Other readers and researchers may locate and discuss other means by which these ends can be achieved.
Originality/value
A number of texts in the professional literature have discussed whether or not visual literacy and images should be considerations for information literacy advocates. Few have offered specific interdisciplinary examples that might be used to experiment with or achieve such an aim.
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The ACRL Competency Standards related to learners' values and value systems has not been interrogated in relation to information literacy theory or practice. This paper aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
The ACRL Competency Standards related to learners' values and value systems has not been interrogated in relation to information literacy theory or practice. This paper aims to analyze the inclusion of values in these and other guidelines and seeks evidence of the development of this topic in the literature.
Design/methodology/approach
A comparative review of information literacy standards related to values/value systems was conducted. An analysis of the literature engaging issues related to personal or community values related to information was completed. Suggestions for continued work were based on these findings.
Findings
Competency standards related to values/value systems are out of place in guidelines designed to assist in the assessment of information literacy instruction. Instead, it is more likely that information literacy development is a form of values education.
Research limitations/implications
Further research is needed to locate specific personal and community values related to information literacy. This research should begin with information‐related values of student communities, professional organizations and other groups.
Practical implications
Readers will develop a greater understanding of professional and personal values in relation to information literacy and the standards designed to help librarians and others.
Originality/value
This paper establishes a basis for a comparative analysis of information literacy standards drafted by different groups. The discussion on the place and purpose of values‐related objectives in the 2000 ACRL Competency Standards and a review of the literature on this topic are unique to this paper.
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Benjamin R. Harris and Michelle S. Millet
The purpose of this paper is to critique the current wave of naming cultures in information literacy practice, the relationship between information literacy, literacy theory, and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to critique the current wave of naming cultures in information literacy practice, the relationship between information literacy, literacy theory, and fluency theory, and suggests alternative conceptualizations for information seeking behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
After conducting literature and website reviews, a survey was posted on the Survey Monkey commercial site and librarians were invited to participate. The resulting analysis offers a synthesis of the literature and survey statistics.
Findings
Fewer programs than expected use “information fluency” as the defining factor in their library instruction programs. However, responses to the survey were useful in thinking about ways to retain a focus on information literacy theory in light of alternate naming conventions.
Research limitations/implications
With over 200 respondents, the quantitative research component is healthy though clearly not exhaustive. Future researchers may wish to focus their quantitative research on specific locations or types of libraries.
Originality/value
While a number of writers have presented practical and theoretical work related to information fluency, few authors chose to question the existence of fluency standards or the assessment of these standards. In addition, the researchers respond to concerns about linear and hierarchical constructions of literacy by offering an alternate model.
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Anne Jumonville Graf and Benjamin R. Harris
Librarians engage in assessment for several purposes, such as to improve teaching and learning, or to report institutional value. In turn, these assessments shape our perspectives…
Abstract
Purpose
Librarians engage in assessment for several purposes, such as to improve teaching and learning, or to report institutional value. In turn, these assessments shape our perspectives and priorities. How can we participate critically in the assessment of information literacy instruction and library programming while broadening our view and making room for questions about what we do? This paper aims to explore self-reflection as a method for building on existing assessment practices with a critical consciousness.
Design/methodology/approach
In tracing the trajectory of assessment and reflective practice in library literature, the authors conducted a selective literature review and analyzed the potential impact of incorporating librarian self-reflection into assessment practices, particularly for instructional services. The authors’ experiences with strategies informed by these conversations were also described.
Findings
Self-reflection has typically been used to improve teaching or as a method of assessing student learning. However, it can also be used to develop a critical awareness of what one accomplishes through the act of assessing. The authors develop and present self-reflective strategies and discuss their benefits and limitations.
Practical implications
An extensive list of strategies was developed to illustrate practical examples of a reflective approach to assessment.
Originality/value
Although librarians have used reflection as a type of assessment strategy, self-reflection has not been viewed as a method for evaluating other assessment techniques. Librarians interested in exploring reflective practice and thinking critically about assessment will find strategies and suggestions for doing so.
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This chapter investigates the nature of the transformation of macroeconomics by focusing on the impact of the Great Depression on economic doctrines. There is no doubt that the…
Abstract
This chapter investigates the nature of the transformation of macroeconomics by focusing on the impact of the Great Depression on economic doctrines. There is no doubt that the Great Depression exerted an enormous influence on economic thought, but the exact nature of its impact should be examined more carefully. In this chapter, I examine the transformation from a perspective which emphasizes the interaction between economic ideas and economic events, and the interaction between theory and policy rather than the development of economic theory. More specifically, I examine the evolution of what became known as macroeconomics after the Depression in terms of an ongoing debate among the “stabilizers” and their critics. I further suggest using four perspectives, or schools of thought, as measures to locate the evolution and transformation; the gold standard mentality, liquidationism, the Treasury view, and the real-bills doctrine. By highlighting these four economic ideas, I argue that what happened during the Great Depression was the retreat of the gold standard mentality, the complete demise of liquidationism and the Treasury view, and the strange survival of the real-bills doctrine. Each of those transformations happened not in response to internal debates in the discipline, but in response to government policies and real-world events.
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Sara Shostak and Jason Beckfield
This chapter compares interdisciplinary research that engages genomic science from economics, political science, and sociology. It describes, compares, and evaluates concepts and…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter compares interdisciplinary research that engages genomic science from economics, political science, and sociology. It describes, compares, and evaluates concepts and research findings from new and rapidly developing research fields, and develops a conceptual taxonomy of the social environment.
Methodology/approach
A selection of programmatic and empirical articles, published mostly since 2008 in leading economics, political science, and sociology journals, were analyzed according to (a) the relationship they pose between their discipline and genomic science, (b) the specific empirical contributions they make to disciplinary research questions, and (c) their conceptualization of the “social environment” as it informs the central problematique of current inquiry: gene-environment interaction.
Findings
While all three of the social science disciplines reviewed engage genomic science, economics and political science tend to engage genomics on its own terms, and develop genomic explanations of economic and political behavior. In contrast, sociologists develop arguments that for genomic science to advance, the “environment” in gene-environment interaction needs better theorization and measurement. We develop an approach to the environment that treats it as a set of measurable institutional (rule-like) arrangements, which take the forms of neighborhoods, families, schools, nations, states, and cultures.
Research/implications
Interdisciplinary research that combines insights from the social sciences and genomic science should develop and apply a richer array of concepts and measures if gene-environment research – including epigenetics – is to advance.
Originality/value
This chapter provides a critical review and redirection of three rapidly developing areas of interdisciplinary research on gene-environment interaction and epigenetics.
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Sidney E. Harris and Joseph L. Katz
Examines the usefulness of two information technology (IT)managerial control measures in the insurance industry – the ratiosof IT expense to premium income and total operating…
Abstract
Examines the usefulness of two information technology (IT) managerial control measures in the insurance industry – the ratios of IT expense to premium income and total operating expense. Demonstrates the use of the ratios as predictors to differentiate organisational performance. Concludes that the predictive ability of the models can be used to identify areas where firms may be weak.