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Charleston Library Conference

Reconsidering

Audrey Powers University of South Florida, [email protected]

Marc Powers University of South Florida, [email protected]

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Audrey Powers and Marc Powers, "Reconsidering Literacy" (2019). Proceedings of the Charleston Library Conference. http://dx.doi.org/10.5703/1288284317184

This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact [email protected] for additional information. Reconsidering Literacy

Audrey Powers, University of South Florida, [email protected] Marc Powers, University of South Florida, [email protected]

Abstract Literacy, untl recently, was defned as the ability to read printed text and to understand the nuances of both the form and content of that printed text. More recently there has been a focus on subsets of literacy—, , , , and so on—that recognizes the means of communicatng ideas and facts are not limited to the printed text and that there are multple means which may be more powerful ways of commu- nicatng in our world. In recent years, higher educaton has been redefning what it means to be educated—from a focus on specifc bodies of knowledge, or disciplines, to a focus on developing and mastering skills for varying modes of inquiry.

Simultaneously, there has been a growing focus on expanding how students and faculty communicate knowledge— what was once strictly the term paper approach is being replaced by the oral presentaton, the poster session, or the artstc response.

In a world where ideas are more readily communicated via social media such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twiter, the ability to accurately assess additonal modes of communicaton is critcal.

This paper will explore diferent subsets of literacy, describe a method for developing mastery of those in higher educaton, and advocate for academic library professionals to become specialists focused on literacies as much as, if not more than, on content.

Introducton While the percentages may not be accurate, the infuence of voice and movement are accepted as The traditonal defniton of literacy according to the playing a signifcant role in our understanding of Oxford English Dictonary is the quality, conditon, or meaning and emoton. The contnued use of the for- state of being literate; the ability to read and write mula, which has been discredited by researchers, is (htps://www.oed.com/view/Entry/109054 due to its popular use by public speaking trainers and ?redirectedFrom=literacy&). In 2003 UNESCO began actng coaches. Anecdotally, this is a constant point to promote literacy as a human right. Their defniton of contenton with graduate students in English liter- of literacy is the “ability to identfy, understand, ature who complain, partcularly in performances of interpret, create, communicate, and compute, using Shakespeare, that the actors are always interpretng printed and writen materials associated with varying instead of playing the role as writen. The actors typi- contexts. Literacy involves a contnuum of learning in cally respond that that is impossible; that they are enabling individuals to achieve their goal, to develop playing it as writen, but with their voices and their their knowledge and potental, and to partcipate bodies, which make-s it an interpretaton. fully in their community and wider society” (htps:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy). Today we communicate in many diferent ways. Ideas are communicated via YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Literacy according to both defnitons is based on the LinkedIn, SnapChat, Tumblr, Reddit, Quara, TikTok, post–printng press assumpton that the best means Vimeo, and Twiter. Social media includes social net- of disseminatng informaton and ideas was through working sites, social review sites, image sharing sites, writen text; however, a popular formula for oral video hostng sites, community blogs, and informa- communicaton atributed to Albert Mehrabian pro- ton exchange sites. As a result, the ability to assess poses that our understanding of meaning and emo- various modes of communicaton is important. ton is based only 7% on the text, 38% on the tone and music of the voice, and 55% on body language The defniton for literacy in the new millennium (htps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Mehrabian). should be about how humans process and evaluate

310 Library Services Copyright of this contributon remains in the name of the author(s) htps://doi.org/10.5703/1288284317184 informaton from multple contexts, not only print achievement of student learning outcomes. The materials, and the mastery of multple literacies is Associaton of American Colleges & Universites has crucial. The current focus is on the ability to under- developed extensive value rubrics (htps://www.aacu stand and accurately interpret graphs and charts, .org/value‐ rubrics) primarily for knowledge‐ based photographs, and other visual media. This has led to skills, and also includes a few literacies, although it is the development of subsets of literacy such as data interestng to note that the focus of the outcomes for literacy, , numeracy, media literacy, the literacies is on the demonstraton of skills rather informaton literacy, , and visual than the development of conceptual understanding literacy. However, there is an equally signifcant need (htps://www.aacu.org/value/rubrics/inquiry‐analysis). to be able to interpret how sound, movement, and space are utlized in the communicaton of ideas. The teaching of literacies should emphasize the development of more profound informaton gather- Higher educaton is in the process of being rede- ing and understanding techniques. As with textual signed from focusing on specifc bodies of knowledge literacy, in all literacies, the ability “to read” and “to or disciplines to mastering skills associated with write” are intricately connected. Traditonally, across varying modes of inquiry. For example: all disciplines, textual literacy has been a common thread, and to a varying degree, each discipline • Expanding the ability to communicate includes additonal literacies. knowledge from traditonal term papers to oral presentatons, poster sessions, YouTube Beyond the literacies previously noted, there are videos, and artstc responses many others being promoted today, such as:

• Developing job skills • • Expanding practce‐based learning and with • Geoliteracy that the growth of badging • Science literacy • Assessing the value of a degree program based on the average income of graduates • Statstcal literacy • Developing interdisciplinary or mult‐ • Emotonal literacy disciplinary degrees and certfcates to • address current trends in the job market • Gender literacy • Reconsidering the value of the humanites and arts in higher educaton (the STEM vs. • Civic literacy STEAM argument) The primary purpose of this paper is to promote The curricula in most disciplines have been rede- the four literacies that predate text as a means of signed to address these concerns. As a result, general communicatng ideas: visual literacy, aural literacy, educaton curricula and assessment are now focus- kinesthetc literacy, and spatal literacy. ing less on the traditonal liberal arts content‐ by‐ discipline approach and more on the development of Visual Literacy knowledge‐based skills. Visual literacy is the ability to interpret, negotate, For academic librarians, the questons become: Do and make meaning from informaton presented in our collectons support the new paradigm? What the form of an image, extending the meaning of liter- should our focus be? Should we be focused on the acy, which commonly signifes interpretaton of writ- mastery of content, the mastery of knowledge‐based ten or print text. Visual literacy is based on the idea skills, or the mastery of literacies? that pictures and their meaning can be “read” and understood. The basic objectve elements are line, In an age where interdisciplinary study is growing, shape, form, value, space, texture, color, composi- mastery of multple literacies in multple contexts ton, and perspectve. The subjectve elements have is crucial. Knowledge‐based skills center on devel- to do with interpretatons of the subject mater, the oping the ability to employ a variety of methods, context in which the image is seen, and the viewer’s and demonstratng that through the successful emotonal state and depth of knowledge.

Charleston Conference Proceedings 2019 311 The introducton to ACRL’s (Associaton of College and Research Libraries) Visual Literacy Standards for Higher Educaton states,

the importance of images and visual media in contemporary culture is changing what it means to be literate in the 21st century. Today’s society is highly visual, and visual imagery is no longer supplemental to other forms of informaton. New digital technologies have made it possible for almost anyone to create and share visual media. Yet the pervasiveness of images and visual media does not necessarily mean that individuals are able to critcally view, use, and produce visual content. Individuals must develop these essental skills in order to engage capa- bly in a visually oriented society. Visual literacy empowers individuals to partcipate fully in a visual culture. (Hatwig, 2011)

In Beautful Evidence, Edward Tufe (2006) noted the importance of putng visual elements in context. For example, in 1953 when James D. Watson and Francis Crick identfed the structure of DNA (Figure 1), they constructed a model that included a label with a scale of 0–10 angstroms. An angstrom is a unit of length used to express wavelengths and interatomic distances.

Explanatory images accompanied by a measurement scale assist with the understanding of the image and turns a piece of visual informaton into evidence. Figure 1. DNA model. James D. Watson, The Double In contrast, an image viewed on social media that Helix (New York, 1968). was taken with a laser‐ scanning microscope by Igor Siwanowicz (2016) shows the details of a diving bee- • Loudness tle’s foot (Figure 2). While most striking are color and line, all of the elements of visual literacy are repre- • Melody (the linear succession of tones) sented in this image (color, form, line, shape, space, • Rhythm (the recurring patern / beat) texture, and value). However, a measurement scale was not given for this image. A beetle’s foot is 20 And also through subjectve elements: micrometers, which is equivalent to the diameter of a human hair (17–181 micrometers). A label showing • Performatve features (who is performing, a measurement scale would have been helpful as in what is their level of virtuosity, range, and the image in Figure 1. emotonal connecton to the material?)

Aural Literacy • Listener features (what their emotonal state is at the tme of hearing, their intellect Aural literacy focuses on the language of sound, which as well as their foreknowledge of what they conveys emotonal, cultural, and intellectual meaning are hearing, and their expectatons) through objectve, structural features such as: • Contextual features (of tme, place, and circumstance, which express cultural, social, • Tempo and historical ideas, as well as external • Mode or scale events).

312 Library Services v,hat's on your 111i11d, Harris-th, lan:ua:1 ofdanu has alf/Jays ,ludrd 1111. •

Figure 3. New Yorker cartoon by Robert Mankof. Pub- lished January 14, 1991.

These elements were codifed in the 1930s as a means of notatng dance, but also were used in facto- ries to match a worker’s natural movement quality to Figure 2. Acilius diving beetle male front tarsus (foot) the eforts required for specifc physical tasks. Later 100x. Photograph by Ignor Siwanowicz, 2016. actors employed Rudolf Laban’s eforts to establish physicalizaton and vocalizaton of characters (speak- ing is a physical acton; what is heard is aural). When the movie Jaws was released in 1975, the Choreographers also employ linear sequence and simple two‐ note motf at the beginning created a rhythm as objectve elements. The same subjectve sense of danger, and its increase in tempo estab- elements in aural literacy apply to kinesthetc liter- lished a sense of impending doom, all before the acy—performatve, listener (viewer), and contextual shark was seen for the frst tme. That hauntng features. Choreography is an intentonal actvity music was subliminally heard by beachgoers that (intentonal defned as “with meaning”); it results in summer who stayed out of the water in droves while meaningful movement that is capable of communi- scanning the horizon for a fn. Thirty years later, catng life issues. Jaws composer John Williams was conductng the Boston Pops, cued the bassoon, and when the two‐ Revelatons, a dance choreographed by Alvin Ailey, note motf was heard, there was a growing ripple premiered 60 years ago, (htps://www.youtube.com of laughter in the audience; listener and contextual /watch?v=tNqaixKbrjs), and included aural, visual, features had transformed the meaning of the motf. and kinesthetc elements from the preceding 200 years of American history. It remains contextually Kinesthetc Literacy relevant in Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre’s repertoire today and epitomizes the African Ameri- As the cartoon in Figure 3 clearly communicates, can experience. kinesthetc literacy may be one of the more difcult to understand. Kinesthetc literacy focuses on the language of movement, which conveys emotonal, Spatal Literacy cultural and intellectual meaning through objectve, The Seatle Public Library’s Central Library (Figure 4) structural elements: is a 363,000‐square ‐feet, 11‐story glass and steel structure in downtown Seatle. It can house 1.5 mil- • Weight lion resources and has 400 computers. Over 2 million • Time people visited the frst year. • Space In the process of its design, the library leadership • Flow and architects considered many elements. How does

Charleston Conference Proceedings 2019 313 Figure 4. Images of the Seatle Public Library available in C is for Crank (blog) and Friends of the Seatle Public Library Blog. space syntax, or the spatal confguraton, afect a feld of study. Theater, for example, typically employs person’s aesthetc and emotonal appraisal? Space seven literacies: syntax quantfes inhabited space by exploring spatal confguraton and social meaning, and is a good • Textual (the old‐ school literacy) predictor of human paterns of movement (Kuliga, • The four literacies essental to Dalton, & Hölscher, 2013). communicaton: How was wayfnding in the new library studied? ◦ Visual Does wayfnding mater? ◦ Aural In this case, partcipants were asked to choose adjec- ◦ Spatal tves that described their aesthetc and emotonal ◦ Kinesthetc experience. Adjectves such as impressive, creatve, stmulatng, and innovatve were used to describe • Two additonal literacies that are currently their experience, but some people said it was incon- being proposed: sistent, overwhelming, frustratng, intmidatng, and ◦ Historical stressful (Kuliga et al., 2013, pp. 77:8–77:9). ◦ Cultural There are multple variables to be considered for spatal literacy, again, both objectve and subjectve: The more each of these are developed, the more profound the understanding of the meaning is on • Cultural and social meaning an intellectual, spiritual, and emotonal level. The diference in understanding the meaning of any work • Human and environmental interacton of art and the ability to discuss or communicate that • Selecton and arrangement of environmen- is based on what literacies have been developed. tal characteristcs Are these relevant to other disciplines and are they relevant to everyday life? Probably. • Complexity • Legibility and coherence (order, orga- We are bombarded by informaton in all fve of these nizaton, and mystery—a sense of the forms of communicaton and we are afected by unexpected) them, but on a conscious level can it be discerned how and why that informaton is afectng us, or is

Transliteracy the efect only subliminal? refers to a collecton of literacies that In the 1950s Howard Johnson’s restaurants with their become interconnected and virtually inseparable in a distnctve orange roofs sprang up everywhere, and

314 Library Services were recognized by travelers as a place to eat with a • Overall compositon known menu and known quality. Subliminally, orange ◦ Main framework/fow equaled trustworthy food. As fast‐food places— McDonald’s, Burger King, Hardee’s—took over, they ◦ Main components incorporated both yellow and red in their signs (the two colors that combine to make orange, put ◦ Research methodology (e.g., concep- together fast for your convenience) with the added tual, feld‐ based, case studies, etc.) subliminal efect that people get hungry when they • Presentaton tools see those colors together. ◦ Statstcal data Interdisciplinary Literacies ◦ Diagrams How are interdisciplinary literacies going to be imple- ◦ Storytelling (e.g., review, narratve, mented in our informaton literacy curricula? rhetorical, visualized, etc.) (Sakai, 2019)

Several years ago, faculty members from various For the second actvity, students completed Data- units on the University of South Florida campus part- base Searching Worksheets for their research topics, nered with the Honors College to devise a curriculum which included: for all freshmen in the required Acquisiton of Knowl- edge course. A variety of studios were developed: • Identfying keywords a Percepton Studio, a Performance Studio, and an • Writng a search statement using Boolean Informaton Studio. Other studios have subsequently logic been added: a Self and Community Interpretaton Studio, a Public Discourse Studio, and an Emoton • Determining databases to search in based and Empathy Studio assignment. on the disciplines of their research topics

The Informaton Studio includes online modules The students were asked to look for scholarly artcles and learning actvites prior to class, which teach with embedded visuals that told their research story students to navigate the website, fnd their librarian, and supported their research topics. Ideally, in the locate subject guides, and identfy scholarly artcles. future students will locate scholarly artcles and then However, now the proposal is to partner with teach- create their own original visuals to support their ing faculty to develop curricula and co‐ teach infor- research. maton literacy in conjuncton with other literacies. In this context, teaching informaton literacy and From Teaching Informaton Literacy visual literacy during the in‐ class Informaton Studio to Teaching Literacies to a cohort of medical humanites students was feasible. Afer reviewing rudimentary informaton How do academic libraries move from teaching infor- about conductng a literature review, two hands‐ on maton literacy to teaching literacies? How should actvites took place that were collaboratvely devel- our collectons support teaching literacies? oped with the Acquisiton of Knowledge Medical Humanites instructors and the librarian. An artcle One of the strategic directons in the University of analysis through visual observaton of nine scholarly South Florida Tampa Library is to incorporate addi- artcles from a variety of disciplines was undertaken tonal literacies into the informaton literacy curricula and discussed. Students were asked to consider: and increase the reach of our instructonal eforts. The intent is to work with faculty and other campus • Types of artcles partners to expand the focus of informaton literacy instructon to include other visual, data, quanttatve, ◦ Discipline(s) and media literacies within the ACRL framework using a ◦ Research/project types (e.g., variety of platorms (online, video, and face‐ to‐ face) to theor etcal vs. empirical) reach a wider undergraduate populaton (Nash, 2019). ◦ Style of writng The proposal is for librarians to co‐ teach with instruc- ◦ Overall outcomes (e.g., qualitatve vs. tors in other disciplines in a 1.5‐ hour literacy work- quanttatve) shop. Students would complete a quiz and a project

Charleston Conference Proceedings 2019 315 Database Searching Worksheets Start Your Research Here

Do this before you start your research Brainstorm with yourself Identfy potental research topics Write down relevant words, acronyms, and synonyms Defne concepts using keywords Identfy keywords in the literature

Develop a research statement Draf a concise sentence describing your research topic. Convert your research statement into a search statement.

Example: Does music afect cogniton in children or adolescents, but not adults?

Highlight the terms you will want to use in your search: Example: Does music afect cogniton in children or adolescents, but not in adults? Write-- a search statement: Example: (Music AND cogniton) AND (children OR adolescents) NOT (adults)

Test your search Determine if your search results are accurate Narrow or broaden your search Use a Thesaurus or Subject Terms to identfy the appropriate words to use in that database Try diferent concepts, ideas, search terms, and databases

Other Use the HELP feature in the databases Use the references in good artcles you found to locate other artcles that this author used Use the Cited Bys to fnd other artcles that cited this author

Boolean Operators

______

AND Music AND Cogniton - (contnued)

316 Library Services AND fnds all artcles about “Music” and all artcles about “Cogniton.” The results give you only artcles about music and cogniton. AND narrows your search.

OR Children OR Adolescents

OR fnds all artcles about “Children”- and all artcles about “Adolescents.” The results will give you all artcles about both children and adolescents. OR expands your search.

NOT (Children OR Adolescents) NOT Adults

NOT fnds all artcles about “Children OR Adolescents,” but eliminates artcles about “Adults.” NOT narrows your search.

DATABASE SEARCHING WORKSHEET • Briefy describe your research topic.

• List several keywords that defne your topic. Include words, phrases, acronyms, and or synonyms.

• Boolean operators are used to combine search terms. Using the keywords that you identfed, write a search statement that defnes your research topic.

AND OR NOT music AND cogniton

children OR adolescents

NOT adults

• List the databases that may have the informaton you are looking for.

• Search the databases you identfed. Write down the names of the databases searched, the terms you used, and the number of relevant citatons and/or artcles you retrieved.

Figure 5. Images from a worksheet explaining database searching. (Audrey Powers, 2019.)

Charleston Conference Proceedings 2019 317 to earn an Open Badge in Badgr. The Literacy badg- communicaton literacies, and to develop collec- ing program would have common themes threaded tons of both textual and nontextual items that throughout the literacies and a student could select support and expand the understanding of those multple literacies to earn badges. Partnering with literacies. What resources need to be available? instructors who employ various literacies in their What should the library collecton look like? How courses, a badge would be earned when the student do we teach students to use them and who should has taken the workshop and one of the courses be teaching them? employing that literacy is completed. Encouraging students to explore multple literacies would enable The next stage of this plan, to teach students to be a student to earn a Multliteracy Badge. multliterate or transliterate, will require a thorough exploraton of the structure and purpose of the Conclusion academic library. This is an exploraton into what may result in a radical paradigm shif in the way we We have recognized and ratonalized the necessity educate students in the process of acquiring, evaluat- of developing a method to teach the pretextual ing, and using informaton.

References Albert Mehrabian. (2019, November). In Wikipedia. htps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Mehrabian

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. (1960, 2016). Revelatons [Video]. YouTube. htps://www.youtube.com/watch ?v=tNqaixKbrjs

Associaton of American Colleges & Universites (AAC&U). Inquiry and analysis VALUE rubric. Retrieved November 22, 2019, from htps://www.aacu.org/value/rubrics/inquiry‐ analysis

C Is for Crank [Blog] and Friends of the Seatle Public Library Blog. Retrieved October 20, 2019 from htps://thecis forcrank.com/ and htp://architectuul.com/architecture/view_image/seatle‐public‐library/1109

Colossal. Retrieved October 12, 2019, from htps://www.thisiscolossal.com/2016/10/insect‐microscopy‐igor ‐siwanowicz/

Hatwig, D., Burgess, J., Bussert, K., & Medaille, A. (2011, October). ACRL visual literacy competency standards for higher educaton. htp://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/visualliteracy

Kuliga, S., Dalton, R. C., & Hölscher, C. (2013). Aesthetc and emotonal appraisal of the Seatle Public Library and its relaton to spatal confguraton. In Koo Shin (Ed.), Space Syntax Symposium 9th: Proceedings of 9th Inter- natonal Space Symposium, 77:1–77:17. Seoul: Sejong University Press.

Laban, R., & F. C. Lawrence, F. C. (1974). Efort.

Mankof, R. (1991, January 14). The New Yorker Magazine. Retrieved October 12, 2019 from htps://cartoonbank .com/

OED Online. (2019, September). Literacy [Webpage]. Oxford University Press. Retrieved November 22, 2019, from htps://www.oed.com/view/Entry/109054?redirectedFrom=literacy&

Powers, A. (2019). Database searching worksheets. Informaton Literacy class handouts.

Siwanowicz, I. (2016). The extraordinary details of tny creatures captured with a laser‐ scanning microscope [Photo- graph], 100x. Colossal. htps://www.thisiscolossal.com/2016/10/insect‐microscopy‐igor‐siwanowicz/.

Tufe, E. R. (2006). DNA model: James D. Watson, The Double Helix. In E. R. Tufe, Beautful Evidence. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press.

318 Library Services Wikipedia. (2019, November). Literacy [Webpage]. htps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy

Watson, J. D. (2006). DNA model. In E. R. Tufe, Beautful Evidence. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press.

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