ARLIS/NA 48th Annual Conference

One of the greatest and most intriguing challenges information literacy instructors face is the task of imparting a deep and nuanced understanding of the information ecosystem to students in a limited time frame, and often in a context in which straightforward checklist definitions are expected. Art information professionals often face the additional challenges of working with a layer of discipline-specific concepts, issues, and practices, such as artists’ files and catalogues raisonnés. Since its formal adoption in 2016, the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education has provided a more organic approach to information literacy, reconceptualizing the research and information creation process as one based on interconnected concepts and dispositions rather than a specific list of skills. Instead of outlining specific skills and outcomes, the ACRL Framework provides flexibility for discipline-specific needs. However, developing discipline-specific learning objects and outcomes by oneself and in the absence of a simple “checklist” can prove challenging, as can the task of applying the Framework to research within a specific discipline.

In this session, participants will work together to contextualize the framework in art. First, they will be briefly introduced to a sampling of projects in which their peers have successfully integrated the Frames into their instruction practice, and then work to generate a full complement of Framework-specific plans. Working in facilitated groups, attendees will first identify specific ways in which their assigned Frame connects to the field of art and art history, and then produce a learning activity to help guide students through the Frame. At the end of the session, each group will present out to the others on their work, providing all attendees with a path forward for teaching each of the six Frames in their own classrooms.