Information Literacy Outcomes

  • Critique and evaluate information to contribute to the construction of knowledge and make it stronger. (Aligned to Integrative Learning Outcomes: Critical Reflection, Valuing, Expression)
  • Apply research methods and strategies that are appropriate for the need, context, and type of inquiry. (Aligned to Integrative Learning Outcomes: Critical Reflection, Valuing)
  • Determine attributes of authoritative information for different needs, with the understanding that context plays a role. (Aligned to Integrative Learning Outcomes: Valuing, Critical Reflection)
  • Identify how scholarly publication practices provide and/or hinder access to scholarly information, and why some groups/individuals may be underrepresented or systematically marginalized within the systems that produce and disseminate information. (Aligned to Integrative Learning Outcomes: Valuing, Critical Reflection)

Rationale for Learning Outcomes

In developing these information literacy outcomes, the librarians drew from the existing PLU Integrative Learning Outcomes (ILOs) as well as ACRL’s Framework for Information Literacy. The Framework “envisions information literacy as extending the arc of learning throughout students’ academic careers and as converging with other academic and social learning goals.” In its vision of information literacy, the Framework affirms the students’ responsibilities in “the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced in valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of practice.” What results, then, is a view of information literacy that moves away from skills and into habits of mind that are reinforced throughout the students’ educational experiences.

The outcomes as stated above stem from work done at the University of Arizona Libraries, where the librarians worked with faculty to develop a full set of information literacy outcomes. In addition to this, intentional connections were made to the “Valuing” Integrative Learning Outcome, which was missing from previous information literacy learning outcomes. Given the ongoing work at the library in regards to information literacy, archives, and special collections, this connection is significant and warrants additional emphasis.

Last modified: August 25, 2020