Table Of ContentTEACHING
INFORMATION LITERACY
THRESHOLD
CONCEPTS:
Lesson Plans for Librarians
Edited by
Patricia Bravender
Hazel McClure
Gayle Schaub
Association of College and Research Libraries
A division of the American Library Association
Chicago, Illinois 2015
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences–Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. ∞
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Teaching information literacy threshold concepts : lesson plans for librarians /
edited by Patricia Bravender, Hazel McClure, Gayle Schaub.
pages cm
ISBN 978-0-8389-8771-1 (pbk.) -- ISBN 978-0-8389-8772-8 (pdf) -- ISBN
978-0-8389-8773-5 (epub) -- ISBN 978-0-8389-8774-2 (kindle) 1. Information
literacy--Study and teaching (Higher) 2. Research--Methodology--Study and
teaching (Higher) 3. Communication in learning and scholarship. 4. Library
orientation for college students. I. Bravender, Patricia. II. McClure, Hazel Anne.
III. Schaub, Gayle.
ZA3075.T434 2015
028.7071’173--dc23
2015015254
Copyright ©2015 by The Association of College & Research Libraries, a division
of the American Library Association.
All rights reserved except those which may be granted by Sections 107 and 108 of
the Copyright Revision Act of 1976.
Printed in the United States of America.
18 17 16 15 5 4 3
iv Table of Contents
The Research Discussion ..............................................................48
Charissa Jefferson
Developing a Research Question: Topic Selection ......................50
Kevin Michael Klipfel
The Connection between Personal and Academic Research ......55
Sarah Naumann & Sami Lange
CHAPTER 3. AUTHORITY IS CONSTRUCTED
AND CONTEXTUAL .............................................................................61
Evaluating Information Sources ...................................................64
Robert Farrell
Determining the Relevance and
Reliability of Information Sources ...............................................68
Nancy Fawley
Establishing and Applying Evaluation Criteria ............................72
Steven Hoover
Non-Scholarly Formats as Research Tools ...................................77
Rachel M. Minkin
Scholarly/Non-Scholarly ..............................................................80
Jo Angela Oehrli & Emily Hamstra
CHAPTER 4. INFORMATION CREATION AS A PROCESS ..............85
Using Sources to Support a Claim ................................................87
Dani Brecher
Information Life Cycle ..................................................................92
Toni M. Carter & Todd Aldridge
Tracing Information over Time ....................................................97
Xan Goodman
CHAPTER 5. SEARCHING AS STRATEGIC EXPLORATION ..........103
From Nothing to Something: Transforming the “Failed” Search ...105
Ika Datig
Context through Citation ..........................................................108
Jenny Fielding
Table of Contents v
What is a Database? ...................................................................112
Samantha Godbey, Sue Wainscott, & Xan Goodman
Who Cares? Understanding the
Human Production of Information ...........................................117
Rebecca Kuglitsch
Password: Keyword Edition .......................................................122
Melissa Langridge
Approaching Problems Like a Professional ..............................125
Melissa Mallon
Databases vs. Search Engines Game .........................................128
Elizabeth Martin & Rebecca Daly
Keywording ................................................................................131
Cate Calhoun Oravet
Framing a Topic for Library Research ........................................135
Melissa Browne, Caitlin Plovnick, Cathy Palmer, & Richard Caldwell
Systems of Organization ............................................................139
Pete Ramsey & Stephen “Mike” Kiel
CHAPTER 6. INFORMATION HAS VALUE ......................................143
Gray Areas in Plagiarism Cases ..................................................147
Dr. Smita Avasthi
The Who, What, and Why of the Creative Commons ...............150
Rebecca Bliquez & Jane Van Galen
Plagiarism v. Copyright Infringement.......................................155
Patricia Bravender
Recognizing Plagiarism..............................................................161
Patricia Bravender & Gayle Schaub
Louder than Words: Using Infographics to
Teach the Value of Information and Authority .........................164
Hazel McClure & Christopher Toth
Ethical Use of Information in Presentations.............................171
Debbie Morrow
vi Table of Contents
LESSONS WITH OVERLAPPING INFORMATION LITERACY
THRESHOLD CONCEPTS ...................................................................177
APPENDIX ..............................................................................................179
Lesson Handouts ........................................................................179
ACRL Framework for Information
Literacy for Higher Education....................................................211
RECOMMENDED READING .............................................................241
ABOUT THE EDITORS ........................................................................245
CONTRIBUTORS ..................................................................................247
viii Editors’ Preface
and transformative concepts in information literacy was profoundly mem-
orable for Patricia and clicked immediately with Gayle and Hazel. It was
exactly how we wanted to approach our instruction: focusing on the con-
cepts, the whys of information and research, rather than the hows. Before
we knew anything about the revision of the Association of College and
Research Libraries Information Literacy Standards for Higher Education,1
we began our own process of identifying what we believed to be the thresh-
old concepts in information literacy as a way to better inform our lesson
plan creation and development. Using Meyer and Land’s theory of thresh-
old concepts,2 we examined our university’s Information Literacy Core
Competencies,3 identifying what we saw as the fundamental concepts—the
basic ideas students should understand to be truly information literate—
and finding the ways that the concepts of information literacy resonate
with the skills of information literacy. Our goal at that point was simple.
We wanted to find out what students really need to know so that we could
set about figuring out how best to teach just that.
Along the way in our concept-finding mission, we discovered the work
of Townsend, Hofer and Brunetti.4 We recognized that our ideas looked,
perhaps not so surprisingly, remarkably similar to theirs. For instance, one
threshold concept we identified was that the process of information cre-
ation determines its rank, value, cost, and possible bias. In our findings, we
articulated the importance of the process behind the production and cre-
ation of information over its packaging. Though we didn’t formally name
this concept, we found it aligned with Townsend, Brunetti, and Hofer’s con-
cept, Format as Process.5 It was exciting to have our work confirmed by vir-
tue of its alignment with others’ large scale efforts. The idea that there are
basic concepts that are core to information literacy was reinforced by the
fact that numbers of information professionals were coming separately to
the same conclusions. We recognized the potential value in creating, locat-
ing, and compiling a collection of lesson plans directed at teaching these
concepts. It was clear to us that we weren’t the only ones interested in doing
so. A book of lesson plans created by librarians, for librarians seemed a great
way to share what we were learning and to learn from others.
The release of the draft ACRL Framework for Information Literacy
for Higher Education6 in 2014 introduced threshold concepts to librarians
Editors’ Preface ix
everywhere. We were excited to witness and join in this new conversation
about conceptual information literacy instruction. What we heard from
many was uncertainty about how to teach ideas. The concepts, as laid out
in the Framework, are meant as just that—a conceptual framework. They
require us to come up with ways to communicate them to students. In the
comments of instruction librarians teaching everything from single ses-
sions to semester-long courses, we recognized the need for practical mate-
rials to help transform student understanding. It seemed that we were not
the only ones looking for meaningful information literacy content for our
instruction.
Like the document that preceded it, the Framework and the frames
therein will serve as a guide for academic librarianship and will in future
decades be reevaluated and revised. It is dynamic, a work in progress. The same
is true of threshold concept research and, we hope, the work we have done in
this book. We identified more than six threshold concepts, but we include
and describe in this book only those used in the January 2015 Framework.7
We realize the potential for additional threshold concepts, including but not
limited to information as a human right and every discipline uses a distinct
discourse. It is our intention that instruction librarians use the lessons within
the specific contexts of their own classes. It is our hope that the contributions
of so many librarians contained within these pages offer ideas and inspiration
for others to use, adapt, share, and transform into more ideas for practical
applications of threshold concepts in the classroom.
Many instruction librarians have the good fortune of being able to
learn in a wide variety of ways: from mentors, colleagues in our own librar-
ies and in professional associations, experience, professional development
opportunities, and the scholarship that is currently being contributed to
the field on information literacy threshold concepts. However, some aca-
demic librarians have had little formal education about pedagogy. Finding
ways to impart a set of skills and abilities to students or to facilitate the
understanding of foundational information literacy concepts can seem like
a tall order. Both are necessary yet can be a challenge for librarians who
must enter the classroom and put ideas into practice.
This book, compiled with the insights, wisdom, and dedication of
teaching librarians from a range of institutions, is an effort to contribute to
