Volume 9, Issue 1, 2015 [ARTICLE]

A DECADE OF CRITICAL INFORMATION LITERACY

A review of the literature

Eamon Tewell As information literacy continues in its Long Island University centrality to many academic libraries’ missions, a line of inquiry has developed in response to ACRL’s charge to develop information literate citizens. The literature of critical information literacy questions widely held assumptions about information literacy and considers in what ways librarians may encourage students to engage with and act upon information’s complex and inherently political nature. This review explores the research into critical information literacy, including critical pedagogy and critiques of information literacy, in order to provide an entry point for this emerging approach to information literacy.

24 Tewell, A Decade of Critical Information Literacy Communications in Information Literacy 9(1), 2015

INTRODUCTION substantial amount has been written on topics concerning critical information Since first entering the professional literacy in the past decade, and this body of discourse in the 1970s, the concept of work is likely to hold particular significance information literacy (IL) has created a for librarians seeking to reflect upon or massive amount of discussion regarding its reconsider their approaches to instruction definition and implications for learners and and librarianship in general. Critical librarians in an ever-changing information information literacy is an approach to IL environment. Librarians across the world that acknowledges and emboldens the have quickly adopted various information learner’s agency in the educational process. literacy policies and guidelines, eager to It is a teaching perspective that does not provide students with the training necessary focus on student acquisition of skills, as to access and evaluate information. The information literacy definitions and major transformation that information standards consistently do, and instead literacy has brought to the profession has encourages a critical and discursive not gone unexamined. The literature of approach to information (Simmons, 2005). critical information literacy questions many It is critical information literacy’s intent that widely held assumptions about IL and the students will ultimately “take control of very nature of education in library settings, their lives and their own learning to become broaching such topics as the impossibility of active agents, asking and answering pedagogical neutrality and the questions that matter to them and to the incompatibility of skills-based instruction world around them” (Elmborg, 2006, p. with student engagement in the learning 193). In these ways critical IL has a great process. Critical information literacy deal to offer librarians interested in considers in what ways librarians may developing a deeper engagement with their encourage students to engage with and act work and its implications, as well as the upon the power structures underpinning potential to shift the focus of information information’s production and dissemination. literacy instruction to an authentically It is this critical appraisal of information student-centered mode. literacy’s conventions and norms—from a lack of involvement with the sociopolitical Opposed to the increasingly corporatized dynamics that shape student learning and operation of higher education institutions, scholarly information to the notion that IL is critical information literacy provides a an educational obstacle that can be useful perspective with which to interrogate conquered—that in part distinguishes and contend with this job- and skills-based critical information literacy from traditional schooling and argues that education should conceptions of IL and makes it an important fulfill a purpose other than that of creating perspective to consider. efficient workers. Educators have a responsibility to students to ensure that they This article reviews the literature on critical can interact with complicated issues, and information literacy, including the main critical information literacy and critical tenets of critical pedagogy and critical pedagogy equip librarians to meet this approaches to information literacy. A challenge. Critical IL ultimately helps the

[ARTICLE] 25 Tewell, A Decade of Critical Information Literacy Communications in Information Literacy 9(1), 2015 profession to question and resist the about, negotiating, and transforming the damaging effects of capital-centered relationship among classroom teaching, the education on learners, teachers, and society, production of knowledge, the institutional and encourages librarians to develop an structures of the school, and the social and information literacy theory and practice that material relationships of the wider recognizes students’ personal agency and community” (2005, p. 26). One issue of attempts to create positive personal and keen interest to critical pedagogy that is social change. central to the core tenets of librarianship, in particular that of information access and The intent of this review is not to normalize retrieval, is the construction of knowledge, the discourse of critical information literacy, including how and why the dominant but to instead draw attention to the many culture reinforces certain discourses and thought-provoking works within this body marginalizes others. Jonathan Cope suggests of literature and provide a starting point for that “one of the key insights of critical librarians interested in critical approaches to pedagogy is that there is no such thing as an information literacy pedagogy. While this ‘apolitical’ educational exchange” (2010, p. review seeks to appraise the topic 24). Critical pedagogy is in essence a comprehensively, some sources determined project that positions education as a catalyst to be outside the scope of critical IL, such as for social justice, and no writer better those applying non-critical theoretical communicates this goal than Paulo Freire. frameworks to information literacy, were not reviewed. It is possible that the author Freire, a radical Brazilian educator, is did not discover all pertinent resources, thus widely credited with sparking the critical resulting in their inadvertent omission. A pedagogy movement with his foundational majority of the sources are positioned within work Pedagogy of the Oppressed, first higher education, which for the purposes of published in 1968. Freire powerfully this article is the assumed environment describes the societal justification of authors are basing their work with the oppression, the “banking” concept of exception of the critical pedagogy section. education, and the importance of dialogue As the basis for much of critical information and “generative themes” in creating literacy, critical pedagogy and its empowering educational opportunities. In inspirational texts will serve as a place to describing the banking concept, Freire begin. states:

CRITICAL PEDAGOGY Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are While there is no one singular critical the depositories and the teacher is pedagogy, the scholarship related to this the depositor. Instead of educational theory and framework contains communicating, the teacher issues themes that contribute to a definition. Joan communiqués and makes deposits in Wink offers these words towards locating which the students patiently receive, critical pedagogy’s primary concerns: memorize, and repeat…the scope of “Critical pedagogy is a way of thinking action allowed to the students

[ARTICLE] 26 Tewell, A Decade of Critical Information Literacy Communications in Information Literacy 9(1), 2015

extends only so far as receiving, considering the many applications of filing, and storing the deposits. Giroux’s work to libraries, in particular the (2000, p. 72). recognition of higher education and libraries as sites of cultural struggle and what Giroux In order to move away from the traditional terms “the war against youth” (2004, p. 68). banking system educators must create opportunities for students to engage in For an introduction to the wider field of dialogic co-investigations alongside the critical pedagogy, a variety of excellent teacher, and study problems identified by works exist. bell hooks’ collection of essays and of consequence to the learners (2000, p. Teaching to Transgress (1994) is a text of 81). Freire ignited a great deal of dialogue key importance to the development of and thinking on the part of educators across critical pedagogy, as is Peter McLaren’s the world, with one of the most prominent Life in Schools (1989). hooks reflects on authors following Freire’s message of “education as the practice of freedom” (p. education’s liberatory potential being Henry 207) from a personal perspective, and Giroux. discusses building a sense of community in classrooms, the importance of recognizing Over the span of dozens of books Giroux each student’s individual voice, and feminist has considered the nature of power, pedagogy, among many other topics. Ira education, and social change. Giroux claims Shor’s When Students Have Power (1996) that institutional power in the educational describes the “Siberian Syndrome,” based realm has the potential for both oppression on the author’s observation of students’ and positive transformation. Critical “learned habit of automatically filling the pedagogy therefore “draws attention to distant corners [of the classroom] first, questions concerning who has control over representing their subordinate and alienated the conditions for the production of position” (p. 12). Shor uses the extended knowledge, values, and skills, and it metaphor of Siberian Syndrome to illustrate illuminates how knowledge, identities, and power relations in higher education while authority are constructed” (qtd. in Barroso detailing his semester-long experiment of Tristan, 2013). One major theme in attempting to cede complete control of a Giroux’s work is the necessity of educators class to students. Joan Wink (2005) takes a defining themselves as intellectuals who act practitioner-oriented approach to critical to undo oppressive structures (1988). Along pedagogy and uses her own experience to with Freire, Giroux sees hope as essential to encourage readers to reflect on their the project of critical pedagogy, which practice, making this title particularly “should center around generating valuable for educators interested in learning knowledge that presents concrete how critical pedagogy applies directly to possibilities for empowering people” (1997, their day-to-day teaching. Other p. 108). This language of possibility recommended introductions to critical combined with the centrality of the student pedagogy include The Critical Pedagogy experience, as opposed to solely a language Reader (Darder, Baltodano, and Torres, of critique, is of major significance. Ryan 2003), a collection of essays central to the Gage’s review will interest those development of critical pedagogy arranged

[ARTICLE] 27 Tewell, A Decade of Critical Information Literacy Communications in Information Literacy 9(1), 2015 by issues such as language and literacy, theoretical framework. O’Connor’s work is class, racism, and gender, as well as particularly significant in its consideration Kincheloe’s Critical Pedagogy Primer of information literacy’s functionalist (2004), an accessible introduction to critical assumptions regarding education’s purpose, pedagogical stances regarding classrooms, which place too great an emphasis on research, and cognition. workplace preparedness and the relationship between education and upward mobility CRITIQUES OF INFORMATION (2009, pp. 83-4). O’Connor suggests possibilities for reconceptualizing LITERACY contradictory definitions of IL using Radical

Information literacy and the ACRL Democratic Theory and drawing upon the Information Literacy Competency Standards work of critical pedagogues such as Paolo for Higher Education have each been the Freire and Peter McLaren as well as critical subject of significant analysis and criticism LIS theorists such as James Elmborg and Christine Pawley (pp. 85-7). from LIS researchers and practitioners. A selection of scholarship critiquing the concept of information literacy and/or the Other researchers have scrutinized ACRL Standards provides the context traditional notions of IL through analysis of necessary for introducing critical the term “information literacy” and the information literacy. Stephen Foster (1993) suppositions it represents. Taking issue with and Lisa O’Connor (2006, 2009) interrogate IL’s “contradictory coupling” of control and the rhetoric and very foundation of democratic empowerment embodied by the information literacy, both voicing concerns words “information” and “literacy,” Pawley that IL has been developed and adopted as a (2003) sees the freedom/control dichotomy means of professional legitimization. In inherent in IL as producing a creative tension that can be productively utilized by Foster’s brief but effective appraisal, IL is “an exercise in public relations” and “an librarians in their research and practice. effort to deny the ancillary status of Pawley recommends that librarians pay librarianship by inventing a social malady acute attention to language use and its with which librarians as ‘information political consequences, and that information professionals’ are uniquely qualified to literacy courses recognize and teach the deal” (p. 346), thereby legitimizing the complications inherent in information profession in a time of alleged crisis. In access and use. Edward Owusu-Ansah, also particular Foster takes issue with the examining the profession’s construction of expectations of what an information literate the concept of IL by considering the individual is to be able to do, including such implications of joining two ideologically contextually-divested demands as to know loaded terms, reviews the “semantic “how information is organized” (p. 346). manipulation” involved in the merging of O’Connor expands greatly on Foster’s the words into a label and advocates that initial critique to rigorously examine the librarians “concede the existence of a assumptions underpinning information crystallized definition of information literacy and argue for a recontextualization literacy” (2003, p. 227). of IL’s liberatory claims using a consistent

[ARTICLE] 28 Tewell, A Decade of Critical Information Literacy Communications in Information Literacy 9(1), 2015

The profession’s tendency to narrowly and found an orientation concerning information mechanistically define information literacy processing, but not empowered or socially and the ways it may be developed has also conscious interactions with information. been remarked upon. Dane Ward (2006) Jacobs and Berg (2011) argue for the suggests that information literacy should benefits of the often-overlooked ALA Core and does have aims that surpass critical Values of Librarianship statement in thinking and encompass lifelong learning, guiding IL policy and practice, and propose arguing that librarians must work with appreciative inquiry and critical pedagogy others to “help students become transformed as constructive pedagogical methods for so that they might transform the world” (p. achieving this aim. Susanna Cowan (2013) 402). Jack Andersen (2006) also sees IL as makes the case that information literacy has transpiring in a social context, making the been effectively institutionalized, has served claim that information seeking is a its purpose in creating programmatic aims sociopolitical skill and considering a for librarians, and is no longer necessary in potential basis of information literacy its current state, particularly in the form of located in composition studies and any policy maintained by the profession. Habermas’s theory of the public sphere. Jeff While librarians should still seek to achieve Lilburn (2007) and Maura Seale (2010), these goals, Cowan asserts, we need not do among others discussed later in this review, so using the same model and should seek to criticize the ACRL Standards for an transfer “ownership” to other members of insufficient consideration of the political our communities such as disciplinary milieu in which knowledge is created. In faculty. Most recently, Emily Drabinski particular, Lilburn uses the example of a (2014) offers kairos, the Greek idea of news network devoted to challenging the qualitative time, as a means of status quo to discuss the Standards and the understanding the contextually embedded profession’s potential for fostering active nature of teaching and directing attention citizenship. Seale details the many political away from the notion of universal standards, shortcomings of the Standards and thus avoiding the “Procrustean bed” of describes how user-generated content in information literacy directives described by information literacy instruction can Pawley (2003). This conceptual shift gives incorporate marginalized voices and instructors an ability to focus their attention challenge dominant forms of knowledge on learning transpiring in their local, production and discourse. inherently unique classroom environments as it occurs. Others have studied the nature of information literacy policies, the necessity Cushla Kapitzke’s seminal 2003 paper of leaving information literacy behind, and applies a poststructuralist critique to IL and directing one’s practice away from finds its linear and hierarchical approach to standards of any type and towards the learning to be inadequate. Kapitzke calls for learning occurring within a given time and a transformative information literacy in place. One such study is Andrew which ideology and the socially constructed Whitworth’s 2011 content analysis of an nature of information is addressed. This international sample of IL policies that critical approach to information literacy

[ARTICLE] 29 Tewell, A Decade of Critical Information Literacy Communications in Information Literacy 9(1), 2015 therefore encourages students to “analyze Numerous scholars, including Olson (2007), the social and political ideologies embedded Roberto (2008), Drabinski (2013), Lember within the economies of ideas and et al. (2013), and Billey et al. (2014) have information” (2003, p. 49). It is from this addressed cataloging and classification from point that much of the literature on critical queer, feminist, and radical perspectives, information literacy has developed and with queer theory proving to be a continues to expand. compelling and particularly useful framework for “rethinking the stable, fixed CRITICAL INFORMATION categories and systems of naming that characterize library knowledge organization LITERACY THEORY & RESEARCH schemes” (Drabinski, p. 96). Radical

The scholarly texts of critical information Cataloging: Essays at the Front, a literacy take many forms, from case studies collection of essays edited by K.R. Roberto, to theoretical works. This portion of the addresses a wide range of practices within the library, with several authors taking issue review will discuss those writings which emphasize the theoretical component of with the Library of Congress Subject critical IL, whether towards its own end or Headings (LCSH) reinforcement of the to inform practice. It should be noted that status quo and proposing techniques to information literacy and library instruction improve upon existing classification are not the only subjects of critical systems. Considering the failings of examination in libraries. A small selection classification systems and the fact that a of works outside the higher education “corrected” version can never be achieved information literacy sphere includes two despite librarians’ efforts, Drabinski (2013) volumes edited by Gloria Leckie and John encourages a shift in responsibility from Buschman; one collection of essays applies catalogers to public services librarians, who are experienced in engaging students a wide range of theorists’ work to LIS and concepts central to the field (2010), and one dialogically. Lember et al. (2013) touch analyzes the assumptions behind and use of upon radical cataloging and zine libraries as information technology in librarianship well as gender discrimination and (2009). The former title, Critical Theory for heteronormativity in LCSH. Billey, Library and Information Science, is a key Drabinski, and Roberto’s (2014) analysis of text in applying critical theory to libraries. RDA rule 9.7, which requires the recording Each chapter introduces a theorist, his or her of an author’s gender using binary labels theoretical stance(s), and the theory’s (male, female, or not known) when potential implications for the field of cataloging a work, contests the necessity of librarianship. Additional notable works including gender as a descriptive attribute in applying critical theory to libraries are authority records and recommends that the Pawley’s view of the LIS curriculum rule and section in question be withdrawn. through the lens of class (1998), Keilty and Dean’s Feminist and Queer Information Reference services have also been Studies Reader (2013), and Rachel Hall’s considered from critical stances, as in James appeal for critical information literacy in the Elmborg’s (2002) call for pedagogy to guide public library environment (2010). reference, John Doherty’s (2005)

[ARTICLE] 30 Tewell, A Decade of Critical Information Literacy Communications in Information Literacy 9(1), 2015 application of Freire’s theories to reference honestly align themselves with the (particularly in light of reference services democratic values they often invoke” (p. moving increasingly online), Melissa 193). Other writings of Elmborg’s consider Morrone and Lia Friedman’s (2009) the importance of moving beyond the discussion of Radical Reference (a traditional bibliographic narrative and collective devoted to socially responsible casting critical information literacy as the librarianship), and Kate Adler’s (2013) profession’s new narrative (2010), present deployment of critical dialogue in reference the significance of “contact zone” theory to interactions reframes the traditional libraries—including recognizing the library reference interview with the intent of as a site of cultural clashes (2006)—and fostering “purpose-centered education.” negotiate the complexities of defining Each work will be of interest to public critical information literacy (2012). service librarians seeking to integrate a more critical and reflective approach into LIS researchers took up Elmborg’s appeal the provision of reference services. Elmborg for critical information literacy in various (2002) in particular makes a strong ways. Heidi Jacobs follows Elmborg’s 2006 argument for reference as more than article with a resonant call for the “need to question-answering. Noting the lack of foster critical, reflective habits of mind discussion around how one is able to “teach regarding pedagogical praxis within well” despite the longstanding ourselves, our libraries, and our acknowledgement of reference as a form of campuses” (2008, p. 256). Like Elmborg, teaching, Elmborg proposes the use of Jacobs sees useful connections between constructivist learning theory and a shared information literacy and the field of teaching-oriented vocabulary to improve the Composition and Rhetoric, including quality and relevance of reference services. thinking and theorizing about our work in a wider context. Jacobs argues for a broader, Though introduced in years prior, critical theoretically informed conception of information literacy greatly increased in “pedagogy” beyond simply teaching visibility with James Elmborg’s highly information literacy sessions that addresses influential article, “Critical Information the many sites that our interactions take Literacy: Implications for Instructional place, and offers Freire’s strategy of Practice” (2006). Contemplating Freire’s problem-posing, in particular the arguments against the banking model of engagement of creative and reflective education Elmborg states, “a critical dialogue, as a starting point. John Doherty approach to information literacy (2007) follows Elmborg to propose that development means changing the view of information literacy should be informed by education as the transfer of information or critical pedagogy. In his article Doherty ‘getting the right knowledge into students’ provides concrete examples of the heads’ to an awareness of each person’s shortcomings of the ACRL Standards in agency and ability to make meaning within practice and considers the consequences this the library setting” (2006, p. 194). When put shift to critical information literacy might into action critical information literacy entail, including a redefining of librarians’ “provides a way for libraries to…more roles as educators as opposed to service

[ARTICLE] 31 Tewell, A Decade of Critical Information Literacy Communications in Information Literacy 9(1), 2015 providers and a potential de-emphasis of the course instructors with limited roles in library as a resource. guiding the academy, has resulted in libraries’ current financial crises. In Accardi, Drabinski and Kumbier’s pivotal response to the endless funding spent on the collection Critical Library Instruction “temporary rental of information” from (2010) is a major foundation of the critical subscription resources and cooperating with IL literature. The volume contains chapters a broken scholarly publication system, on a range of topics that speak to the Fister calls for a “Liberation Bibliography,” theories and methods of critical pedagogy a manifesto for change to challenge this and information literacy instruction, from exploitative situation (p. 88). Nicholson the editors’ useful framing of the book in advocates a critical reexamination of relation to praxis to Eisenhower and Smith’s information literacy within the skills-driven contestation of the idea that critical library neoliberal agenda. Nicholson expands on instruction is even possible under the the work done by Kapitzke and Seale and extensive corporatization of higher proposes Multiliteracies, a theory focusing education (2010). The result is an upon “discourse, literacy, and informative investigation into the socioeconomic and cultural forces,” as a significance of critical pedagogy to library way to rethink IL within the corporatized settings and how it might be attempted in academy and contend with globalization and the library classroom. Gregory and Higgins’ fast capitalism (2014, p. 4). Stuart Lawson, excellent Information Literacy and Social Kevin Sanders, and Lauren Smith (2015) Justice: Radical Professional Praxis (2013) examine the commodification of scholarly similarly touches upon concepts key to communication and advocate critical understanding critical approaches to information literacy as a means to information literacy. A monograph inspired interrogate and challenge prevailing modes by the educators and theorists Paulo Freire of thinking about and understanding and Henry Giroux, as noted in the foreword, information, identifying Fister’s Liberation the chapters are grouped under four Bibliography as one possibility for sections: Information Literacy in the Service reclaiming scholarship and eschewing its of Neoliberalism; Challenging Authority; commodification. Lauren Smith (2013) uses Liberatory Praxis; and Community critical pedagogy and the works of Giroux Engagement. to evaluate critical information literacy’s potential for the realization of personal Barbara Fister (2010), Karen Nicholson political agency, in particular how it may (2014), and Stuart Lawson, Kevin Sanders, benefit the critical abilities of high school and Lauren Smith (2015) identify students in relation to politics. This neoliberalism’s force in academe as ethnographic research examining young necessitating professional response. Fister’s people’s political beliefs and the ways in “Librarian’s Manifesto for Change” which critical IL might contribute to the observes that the commodification of higher democratic goals of LIS provides a valuable education, including the university’s and unique perspective in the literature. increasing tendency to treat students as customers and faculty as easily-replaced In regards to feminist pedagogy—an

[ARTICLE] 32 Tewell, A Decade of Critical Information Literacy Communications in Information Literacy 9(1), 2015 educational approach related to critical Andrew Whitworth draws upon critical pedagogy and rooted in feminist theory— social science theorists, in particular Maria T. Accardi’s excellent 2013 book Habermas and Bakhtin, to advocate for a Feminist Pedagogy for Library Instruction focus on knowledge production in IL considers salient themes such as the education (2006) and to argue that “classroom as a collaborative, democratic, information literacy’s revolutionary transformative site, consciousness raising potential was coopted early in its about sexism and oppression, and the value development because of its of personal testimony and lived experience institutionalization in the exclusionary and as valid ways of knowing” (p. 35), all of centralized educational system (2014). which are used to inform library instruction. For librarians seeking an introduction to CRITICAL INFORMATION feminist theories and practices to apply to LITERACY IN PRACTICE their teaching, the book is a highly beneficial source. Gina Schlesselman- Significant overlap exists in the critical Tarango (2014) employs critical information information literacy literature in regards to literacy and feminist pedagogy, including theory and practice, and appropriately so, as Accardi’s book, as frameworks to propose a critical pedagogy calls for the continual cyberfeminist approach to instruction, one reciprocity of both theory and practice to that encourages students to interrogate form praxis. The following works have been dominant paradigms as reflected in the identified as containing a strong practice digital world. component and are in some respect based in day-to-day classroom work, whether Other scholars have taken different reporting on a case study or presenting approaches to critical information literacy specific teaching strategies. Early in critical through the application of genre or critical information literacy’s development Troy social science theories. Karen Strege (1996) Swanson offered a model for instruction discusses Freire, Giroux, and Habermas and based on Kapitzke’s appeal for a critical IL, uses a critical action model to consider how in particular that of reframing “conventional critical pedagogy might improve librarians’ notions of text, knowledge, and instructional practices, finding that authority” (2004, pp. 259-60). Swanson community college students responded bases his example of critical IL instruction positively to a critical pedagogy approach in a course-integrated first-year composition but lacked interest in library research course at a community college (2004) in despite selecting topics of personal which students discuss source evaluation relevance. Critical IL informed by the and types of information sources in small concepts of genre theory is proposed by groups; this is a practice modeled after the Michele Holschuh Simmons (2005) as a problem-posing method advocated by Paulo means to help students simultaneously Freire and Ira Shor, and draws upon Karen recognize the contested nature of Strege’s work in a critique of the ACRL information and adapt to the discourse of Standards and reflection on what critical their chosen discipline, and, moreover, that pedagogy in the context of information librarians are uniquely positioned to do so. literacy would entail (2005).

[ARTICLE] 33 Tewell, A Decade of Critical Information Literacy Communications in Information Literacy 9(1), 2015

Others have spoken to the application of moment for instruction librarians, and critical information literacy concepts in Drabinski offers critical pedagogy in order credit bearing courses (Beilin & Leonard, to “transform users’ relationships to these 2013; Broidy, 2007; Doherty & Ketchner, systems” (p. 203). Robert Detmering (2010) 2005; Whitworth, 2009), with each detailing notes the work of Jacobs and encourages the the rationale for such a pedagogy as well as use of popular film texts to situate the content addressed in class. These case political nature of information use, access, studies address practical considerations and evaluation within both semester-long involved in developing and implementing and one-shot instruction sessions. Michelle critical IL approaches in library instruction. Dunaway (2011) speaks to the roles of Beilin and Leonard’s (2013) three-credit emerging technologies and user-generated course integrates library skills into all content in posing questions of authority in aspects of the research and writing process IL instruction, given these technologies’ rather than compartmentalizing these basis in the user’s creation of and control of activities, with critical information literacy information. Actively teaching the serving as the course’s organizing principle. economic aspects of information and Broidy (2007) reconceptualizes a credit scholarly communication processes in a course from one that emphasizes tools that credit-bearing course for upper-level “encouraged students to commodify undergraduate science majors, Scott Warren information without stopping to consider the and Kim Duckett (2010) detail instructional political ramifications of facts on a page” (p. strategies from initiating a class dialogue on 495) into one that critically examined how Google and Google Scholar monetize “Gender and the Politics of Information.” information to playing a “The Price is Doherty and Ketchner’s (2005) seminar for Right” game wherein students guess the first-year undergraduates and Whitworth’s yearly subscription cost of individual (2009) move from the “one size fits all” journals and thus learn about the business of approach to IL education to encouraging scholarly communication. Finally, Amy postgraduate students towards a nuanced Mark (2011) draws upon Freire and understanding of different types of literacy Elmborg to argue that the privileging of provide additional illustrations of critical peer-reviewed works by teaching faculty information literacy in practice in the higher and librarians is to the detriment of education classroom. students’ intellectual growth.

Different methods and techniques that can Critical IL models as applied to various be implemented in critically conscious subject matter are considered by Claudia classrooms have been discussed. Drabinski Dold (2014) within the behavioral health (2008) recommends drawing students’ sciences and as a catalyst for encouraging attention to the ways in which in transdisciplinary learning, Kathleen classification systems such as Library of Fountain’s (2013) setting of a women’s Congress subject headings reinforce health interest group, Alison Hicks (2013) dominant culture. Library classifications in foreign language education, and Michelle systems’ reification of power structures and Reale (2012) and Heidi Jacobs (2014) in hierarchies provide an opportune teachable literature. Dold (2014) considers the ways in

[ARTICLE] 34 Tewell, A Decade of Critical Information Literacy Communications in Information Literacy 9(1), 2015 which critical IL recognizes how a engage in culturally relevant instruction. discipline’s cultural identity and shared Morrison’s research investigates the role of understandings are socially constructed, and culture in the information seeking behaviors she provides a hypothetical example of how among three Hispanic college students, and students in three behavioral health fields applies concepts from critical race theory to would benefit from critical information data collected from student interviews and literacy’s cross-disciplinary approach to observations. Beth McDonough’s (2014) information. Fountain (2013) bases her dissertation uses an interpretive synthesis study outside of academe, serving as an methodology to draw practice implications intern for a national women’s health interest from select critical pedagogy and group based in Washington, DC for six information literacy texts. McDonough months and observing the organization’s distinguishes the primary differences information needs and responses to outside between traditional and critical forms of inquiries. The use of critical IL within information literacy and describes foreign language education is the subject of characteristics of critical IL instruction as Hicks’ (2013) exceptional article, with the gathered from the literature in regards to author suggesting that the best way for pedagogy, instructional design, and class students to be educated in transcultural content. These characteristics include competence is through a critical information critical IL librarians embracing new roles literacy model. Reale (2012) provides a for themselves and students; designing personal account of collaborating with a instruction that is meaningful to students; disciplinary faculty member to employ and teaching about all types of information. critical IL in instruction sessions for an Each of these major themes contain several undergraduate English class. Jacobs (2014) subthemes that specify additional patterns takes “literatures in English” as an example regarding critical IL practices as represented of what problem-posing can look like in a in the selected texts. literature class. Using a Freirean line of inquiry, she deftly examines questions of Recent research has expanded beyond the situating information literacy with academic classroom to consider librarian familiarity disciplines. Jacobs makes the important with critical theory and how it informs point that “When we limit the kinds of personal practice. Robert Schroeder and questions we ask our students and ask Christopher Hollister (2014) provide a ourselves about information, about useful and timely examination of the information literacy, about libraries to profession’s engagement with critical things we can count, quantify, or check off theories. Schroeder and Hollister’s survey in a box, we limit the ways in which we can indicates that two-thirds of respondents be informed, critical, and engaged” (p. 203). identified themselves as being familiar with some type of critical theory, while one-third Two practice-oriented dissertations have was unfamiliar with critical theories of any emerged from the literature of critical sort. Because librarians familiar with critical information literacy. Rob Morrison (2009) theory found it to be an important part of examines IL from a cultural perspective to their practice yet few were exposed to these provide advice to practitioners seeking to theories or theorists during their LIS

[ARTICLE] 35 Tewell, A Decade of Critical Information Literacy Communications in Information Literacy 9(1), 2015 programs, the authors suggest that more of critical information literacy and critical theory be incorporated into library librarianship gives no indication of slowing and information science curriculum. its pace, with forthcoming books by Bales Schroeder’s (2014) collection of interviews (2015) and Downey (2016) offering critical Critical Journeys: How 14 Librarians Came perspectives on both academic librarianship to Embrace Critical Practice focuses on and information literacy. interviewees’ personal engagement with critical theory and cultivating practice that Perhaps indicative of critical IL’s influence reflects their critical perspectives. This upon the profession at large, the illuminating and inspiring volume is forthcoming ACRL Framework for noteworthy for its representation of Information Literacy for Higher Education librarians working in a variety of positions, accounts for perspectives far more critical from instruction to administration to than those indicated in the previous archives. In conjunction with the Standards that the task force was charged interviewees, Schroeder offers a personal with revising. Some of the sociocultural and accessible discussion of critical complexities of scholarly information and librarianship as practiced by a group of very research are explicitly addressed, as insightful individuals, each of which have reflected in the Frames “Authority is found value in different types of critical Constructed and Contextual” and theory during their unique personal and “Information Has Value.” Programmatically professional paths. the Framework is far less prescriptive than the Standards as it offers flexibility in its CONCLUSION implementation and encourages latitude for library educators wishing to apply their own In sum, the lessons of critical pedagogy pedagogies, critical or otherwise, to the offer us the possibility of hope and change. unique needs of their setting. While still The library profession can strive to representing a national standard to be recognize education’s potential for social adopted, an imperative that critical change and empower learners to identify information literacy resists, the Framework and act upon oppressive power structures. is a considerable departure from the Critical information literacy, as expressed Standards’ set of regimented learning by its literature, examines the social outcomes and skills that students must meet construction and political dimensions of in order to be deemed “information literate,” information, and problematizes a limited approach to teaching and learning information’s development, use, and which critical IL considers deficient and purposes with the intent of prompting problematic. Joshua Beatty (2014) finds the students to think critically about such forces Framework to be a significant improvement and act upon this knowledge. A number of to the Standards, yet that the document is librarians have engaged with critical still articulated in the rhetoric of information literacy on theoretical and neoliberalism and reinforces the notion that practical levels, and in the process have the way information is produced and created a rich body of work to draw upon as commodified is a natural condition that need educators in library settings. The literature not be challenged. Also evaluating the

[ARTICLE] 36 Tewell, A Decade of Critical Information Literacy Communications in Information Literacy 9(1), 2015

Framework from a critical perspective, profession to achieve praxis via the despite some reservations, Ian Beilin (2015) reciprocity of theory, practice and action, argues that the document is amenable to and and to thereby provide educational even encourages the practice of critical IL opportunities with emancipatory instruction, and that ultimately “it is a possibilities for both our students and progressive document, but it will require ourselves. librarians to resist it in order for it to be a radical one.” That the Framework appears REFERENCES to reject North American higher education’s climate of continual standardized Accardi, M. T. (2013). Feminist pedagogy assessment measures by moving away from for library instruction. Sacramento, CA: easily quantifiable outcomes is meaningful, Library Juice Press. for as Jacobs notes, “When we limit [information literacy’s] potentials to Accardi, M. T., Drabinski, E., & Kumbier, outcomes and standards, we run the risk of A. (2010). Critical library instruction: minimizing the complex situatedness of Theories and methods. Duluth, MN: Library information literacy and diminishing – if not Juice Press. negating – its inherent political nature” (2008, p. 258). Adler, K. (2013). Radical purpose: The critical reference dialogue at a progressive One aspect infrequently addressed by urban college. Urban Library Journal, 19 critical IL is the necessity of teachers (1). Retrieved from http://ojs.gc.cuny.edu/ exercising personal control of their index.php/urbanlibrary/article/view/1395 curriculum and classroom time in as much as it is possible. Giroux identifies this need, Andersen, J. (2006). The public sphere and observing that “[teachers] have been discursive activities: Information literacy as reduced to the keeper of methods, sociopolitical skills. Journal of implementers of an audit culture, and Documentation, 62(2), 213–228. doi: removed from assuming autonomy in their 10.1108/00220410610653307 classrooms” (qtd. in Barroso Tristan, 2013). Instead of teaching what others deign Bales, S. (2015). The dialectic of academic appropriate, instruction librarians must seek librarianship: A critical approach. to actualize instruction important to them Sacramento, CA: Litwin Books. and to their students, which is in part to develop praxis, or, “reflection-in- Barroso Tristan, J. M. (2013, February 6). action” (Doherty, 2005). “The real task for Henry Giroux: The necessity of critical libraries in treating information literacy pedagogy in dark times. Retrieved from seriously,” Elmborg insists, “lies not in http://truth-out.org/news/item/14331-a- defining it or describing it, but in critical-interview-with-henry-giroux developing a critical practice of librarianship—a theoretically informed Beatty, J. Locating information literacy praxis” (2006, p. 198). It is the writings, within institutional oppression. In the words, and work of others that helps us as a Library with the Leadpipe, September 24,

[ARTICLE] 37 Tewell, A Decade of Critical Information Literacy Communications in Information Literacy 9(1), 2015

2014. Retrieved from http:// doi: 10.1353/pla.2013.0049 www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2014/ locating-information-literacy-within- Darder, A., Baltodano, M., & Torres, R. D. institutional-oppression (2003). The critical pedagogy reader. New York: Psychology Press. Beilin, I., & Leonard, A. E. (2013). Teaching the skills to question: A credit- Detmering, R. (2010). Exploring the course approach to critical information political dimensions of information literacy literacy. Urban Library Journal, 19(1). through popular film. portal: Libraries and Retrieved from http://ojs.gc.cuny.edu/ the Academy, 10(3), 265–282. doi: 10.1353/ index.php/urbanlibrary/article/view/1397 pla.0.0110

Beilin, I. (2014). Beyond the threshold: Doherty, J., & Ketchner, K. (2005). Conformity, resistance, and the ACRL Empowering the intentional learner: A Information Literacy Framework for Higher critical theory for information literacy Education. In the Library with the Leadpipe, instruction. Library Philosophy and February 25, 2015. Retrieved from http:// Practice. Retrieved from http:// www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2015/ digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/70 beyond-the-threshold-conformity-resistance -and-the-aclr-information-literacy- Doherty, J. (2005). Towards self-reflection framework-for-higher-education in librarianship: What is praxis? Progressive Librarian, (26), 11-17. Retrieved from Billey, A., Drabinski, E., & Roberto, K. R. http://www.progressivelibrariansguild.org/ (2014). What’s gender got to do with it? A PL_Jnl/pdf/PL26_2005_06.pdf critique of RDA 9.7. Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 52(4), 412–421. Doherty, J. (2006). Reference interview or doi: 10.1080/01639374.2014.882465 reference dialogue? Internet Reference Services Quarterly, 11(3), 97–109. doi: Broidy, E. (2008). Gender and the politics 10.1300/J136v11n03_07 of information: Reflections on bringing the library into the classroom. Library Doherty, J. (2007). No shhing: Giving voice Trends, 56(2), 494–508. doi: 10.1353/ to the silenced: An essay in support of lib.2008.0004 critical information literacy. Library Philosophy and Practice. Retrieved from Cope, J. (2010). Information literacy and http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/ social power. In Accardi, M. T., Drabinski, libphilprac/133 E., Kumbier, A. (Eds.), Critical library instruction: Theories and methods (pp. 13– Dold, C. J. (2014). Critical information 27). Duluth, MN: Library Juice Press. literacy: A model for transdisciplinary research in behavioral sciences. The Journal Cowan, S. M. (2014). Information literacy: of Academic Librarianship, 40(2), 179–184. The battle we won that we lost? Portal: doi: 10.1016/j.acalib.2014.03.002 Libraries and the Academy, 14(1), 23–32.

[ARTICLE] 38 Tewell, A Decade of Critical Information Literacy Communications in Information Literacy 9(1), 2015

Downey, A. (2016). Critical information Elmborg, James. (2006b). Libraries in the literacy: The state of the field. Sacramento, contact zone: On the creation of educational CA: Litwin Books. space. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 46(1), 56–64. doi: 10.5860/ Drabinski, E. (2008). Teaching the radical rusq.46n1.56 catalog. In Roberto, K. R. (Ed.), Radical cataloging: Essays at the front (pp. 198– Elmborg, James. (2012). Critical 205). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. information literacy: Definitions and challenges. In Wilkinson, C. W., & Bruch, Drabinski, E. (2013). Queering the catalog: C. (Eds). Transforming information literacy Queer theory and the politics of programs: Intersecting frontiers of self, correction. Library Quarterly, 83(2), 94– library culture, and campus community (pp. 111. doi: 10.1086/669547 75–95). Chicago, IL: Association of College & Research Libraries. Drabinski, E. (2014). Toward a Kairos of library instruction. The Journal of Academic Elmborg, Jim. (2010). Literacies, narratives, Librarianship. doi: 10.1016/ and adult learning in libraries. New j.acalib.2014.06.002 Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, (127), 67–76. doi: 10.1002/ Dunaway, M. (2011). Web 2.0 and critical ace.382 information literacy. Public Services Quarterly, 7(3/4), 149–157. doi: Fister, B. (2010). Liberating knowledge: A 10.1080/15228959.2011.622628 librarian’s manifesto for change. Thought & Action, 83–90. Retrieved from http:// Eisenhower, C., & Smith, D. (2010). The www.nea.org/assets/img/ library as “stuck place”: Critical pedagogy PubThoughtAndAction/A10Fister1.pdf in the corporate university. In Accardi, M. T., Drabinski, E., Kumbier, A. (Eds.), Foster, S. (1993). Information literacy: Critical library instruction: Theories and Some misgivings. American Libraries, 24 methods (pp. 305–317). Duluth, MN: (4), 344–46. Retrieved from Library Juice Press. connection.ebscohost.com/c/ articles/9304120464/information-literacy- Elmborg, J. K. (2002). Teaching at the desk: some-misgivings Toward a reference pedagogy. Portal: Libraries and the Academy, 2(3), 455–464. Fountain, K. C. (2013). Critical information doi: 10.1353/pla.2002.0050 literacy beyond the university: Lessons from service in a women’s health interest Elmborg, James. (2006a). Critical group. Behavioral & Social Sciences information literacy: Implications for Librarian, 32(1), 24–45. doi: instructional practice. The Journal of 10.1080/01639269.2013.750200 Academic Librarianship, 32(2), 192–199. doi: 10.1016/j.acalib.2005.12.004 Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed: 30th anniversary edition. New

[ARTICLE] 39 Tewell, A Decade of Critical Information Literacy Communications in Information Literacy 9(1), 2015

York: Bloomsbury Academic. 256–262. doi: 10.1016/j.acalib.2008.03.009

Gage, R. (2004). Henry Giroux’s abandoned Jacobs, H. L., & Berg, S. (2011). generation & critical librarianship: A review Reconnecting information literacy policy article. Progressive Librarian, (23), 65–74. with the core values of Retrieved from http:// librarianship. Library Trends, 60(2), 383– www.progressivelibrariansguild.org/PL_Jnl/ 394. doi: 10.1353/lib.2011.0043 pdf/PL23_spring2004.pdf Jacobs, H. L. (2014). Pedagogies of Giroux, H. A. (1988). Teachers as possibility within the disciplines: Critical intellectuals: Toward a critical pedagogy of information literacy and literatures in learning. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey. English. Communications in Information Literacy, 8(2), 192–207. Retrieved from Giroux, H. A. (1997). Pedagogy and the http://www.comminfolit.org/index.php? politics of hope: Theory, culture, and journal=cil&page=article&op=view&path% schooling: A critical reader. Boulder, CO: 5B%5D=v8i2p192 Westview Press. Kapitzke, C. (2003). (In)formation literacy: Gregory, L., & Higgins, S. A positivist epistemology and a politics of (2013). Information literacy and social (out)formation. Educational Theory, 53(1), justice: Radical professional praxis. 37–53. doi: 10.1111/j.1741- Sacramento, CA: Library Juice Press. 5446.2003.00037.x

Hall, R. (2010). Public praxis: A vision for Keilty, P., & Dean, R. (2013). Feminist and critical information literacy in public queer information studies reader. libraries. Public Library Quarterly, 29(2), Sacramento, CA: Litwin Books. 162–175. doi: 10.1080/01616841003776383 Kincheloe, J. L. (2004). Critical pedagogy Hicks, A. (2013). Cultural shifts: Putting primer. New York: Peter Lang. critical information literacy into practice. Communications in Information Lawson, S., Sanders, K., & Smith, L. Literacy, 7(1), 50–65. Retrieved from http:// (2015). Commodification of the information www.comminfolit.org/index.php? profession: A critique of higher education journal=cil&page=article&op=view&path% under neoliberalism. Journal of 5B%5D=v7i1p50 Librarianship and Scholarly Communication, 3(1), 1–24. doi: hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to transgress: 10.7710/2162-3309.1182 Education as the practice of freedom. New York: Routledge. Leckie, G. J., & Buschman, J. (Eds). (2009). Information technology in Jacobs, H. L. (2008). Information literacy librarianship: New critical approaches. and reflective pedagogical praxis. The Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 34(3),

[ARTICLE] 40 Tewell, A Decade of Critical Information Literacy Communications in Information Literacy 9(1), 2015

Leckie, G. J., Given, L. M., & Buschman, J. Retrieved from http:// (Eds.). (2010). Critical theory for library digitalcommons.nl.edu/diss/20 and information science: Exploring the social from across the disciplines. Santa Morrone, M., & Friedman, L. (2009). Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. Radical reference: Socially responsible librarianship collaborating with Lember, H., Lipkin, S., & Lee, R. J. (2013). community. The Reference Librarian, 50(4), Radical cataloging: From words to 371–396. doi: 10.1080/02763870903267952 action. Urban Library Journal, 19(1). Retrieved from http://ojs.gc.cuny.edu/ Nicholson, K. (2014). Information literacy index.php/urbanlibrary/article/view/1396 as a situated practice in the neoliberal university. Proceedings of the Annual Lilburn, J. (2007). Challenging the Conference of the Canadian Association for conditions that make alternatives necessary: Information Science. Retrieved from Librarians, the news media and the http://www.cais-acsi.ca/ojs/index.php/cais/ information literate citizen. Progressive article/view/901 Librarian, (30), 3–17. Retrieved from http:// www.progressivelibrariansguild.org/PL_Jnl/ Olson, H. A. (2007). How we construct pdf/PL30_2007_08.pdf subjects: A feminist analysis. Library Trends, 56(2), 509–541. doi: 10.1353/ Mark, A. E. (2011). Privileging peer review: lib.2008.0007 Implications for undergraduates. Communications in Information Literacy, 5 Owusu-Ansah, E. K. (2003). Information (1), 4–8. Retrieved from http:// literacy and the academic library: A critical www.comminfolit.org/index.php? look at a concept and the controversies journal=cil&page=article&op=view&path% surrounding it. The Journal of Academic 5B%5D=v5i1p4 Librarianship, 29(4), 219–230. doi: 10.1016/S0099-1333(03)00040-5 McDonough, B. A. (2014). Critical information literacy in practice: An O’Connor, L. G. (2006). Librarians’ interpretive synthesis (Doctoral professional struggles in the information Dissertation). Western Carolina University. age: A critical analysis of information Retrieved from http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/ literacy (Doctoral Dissertation). Kent State wcu/listing.aspx?id=15796 University. Retrieved from http:// rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view? McLaren, P. (1989). Life in schools: An acc_num=kent1153761756 introduction to critical pedagogy in the foundations of education. New York: O’Connor, L. G. (2009). Information Longman. literacy as professional legitimation: The quest for a new jurisdiction. Library Morrison, R. (2009). Culturally-relevant Review, 58(7), 493–508. doi: information literacy: A case study (Doctoral 10.1108/00242530910978190 Dissertation). National-Louis University.

[ARTICLE] 41 Tewell, A Decade of Critical Information Literacy Communications in Information Literacy 9(1), 2015

Pawley, C. (1998). Hegemony’s handmaid? Using user-generated content to incorporate The library and information studies critical pedagogy. In Accardi, M. T., curriculum from a class perspective. The Drabinski, E., Kumbier, A. (Eds.), Critical Library Quarterly, 68(2), 123–144. library instruction: Theories and methods Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/ (pp. 221–235). Duluth, MN: Library Juice stable/4309200 Press.

Pawley, C. (2003). Information literacy: A Shor, I. (1996). When students have power: contradictory coupling. The Library Negotiating authority in a critical Quarterly, 73(4), 422–452. Retrieved from pedagogy. Chicago: University of Chicago http://www.jstor.org/stable/4309685 Press.

Reale, M. (2012). Critical pedagogy in the Simmons, M. H. (2005). Librarians as classroom: Library instruction that gives disciplinary discourse mediators: Using voice to students and builds a community of genre theory to move toward critical scholars. Journal of Library Innovation, 3 information literacy. portal: Libraries and (2), 80–88. Retrieved from http:// the Academy, 5(3), 297–311. doi: 10.1353/ www.libraryinnovation.org/article/view/227 pla.2005.0041

Roberto, K. R. (Ed). (2008). Radical Smith, L. (2013). Towards a model of cataloging: Essays at the front. Jefferson, critical information literacy instruction for NC: McFarland & Company. the development of political agency. Journal of Information Literacy, 7 Schlesselman-Tarango, G. (2014). Cyborgs (2), 15–32. doi: 10.11645/7.2.1809 in the academic library: A cyberfeminist approach to information literacy Strege, K. R. (1996). Using critical instruction. Behavioral & Social Sciences pedagogy to improve library instruction Librarian, 33(1), 29–46. doi: (Doctoral Dissertation). Gonzaga 10.1080/01639269.2014.872529 University. Retrieved from http:// www.worldcat.org/title/using-critical- Schroeder, R. (2014). Critical journeys: pedagogy-to-improve-library-instruction/ How 14 librarians came to embrace critical oclc/39119339 practice. Sacramento, CA: Library Juice Press. Swanson, T. A. (2004). A radical step: Implementing a critical information literacy Schroeder, R., & Hollister, C. V. (2014). model. portal: Libraries and the Academy, 4 Librarians’ views on critical theories and (2), 259–273. doi: 10.1353/pla.2004.0038 critical practices. Behavioral & Social Sciences Librarian, 33(2), 91–119. doi: Swanson, T. A. (2005). Applying a critical 10.1080/01639269.2014.912104 pedagogical perspective to information literacy standards. Community & Junior Seale, M. (2010). Information literacy College Libraries, 12(4), 65–77. doi: standards and the politics of production: 10.1300/J107v12n04_08

[ARTICLE] 42 Tewell, A Decade of Critical Information Literacy Communications in Information Literacy 9(1), 2015

Ward, D. (2006). Revisioning information literacy for lifelong meaning. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 32(4), 396–402. doi: 10.1016/j.acalib.2006.03.006

Warren, S., & Duckett, K. (2010). “Why does Google Scholar sometimes ask for money?” Engaging science students in scholarly communication and the economics of information. Journal of Library Administration, 50(4), 349–372. doi: 10.1080/01930821003667021

Whitworth, A. (2006). Communicative competence in the information age: Towards a critical theory of information literacy education. Innovation in Teaching and Learning in Information and Computer Sciences, 5(1), 1–13. doi: 10.11120/ ital.2006.05010007

Whitworth, A. (2009). Teaching information literacy within a relational frame: The media and information literacy course at Manchester. Journal of Information Literacy, 3(2), 25–38. doi: 10.11645/3.2.209

Whitworth, A. (2011). Empowerment or instrumental progressivism?: Analyzing information literacy policies. Library Trends, 60(2), 312–337. doi: 10.1353/ lib.2011.0039

Whitworth, A. (2014). Radical information literacy: Reclaiming the political heart of the IL movement. Waltham, WA: Chandos Publishing.

Wink, J. (2005). Critical pedagogy: Notes from the real world. Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

[ARTICLE] 43