At the Threshold: Information Literacy, the University Graduate, and Librarian-Faculty Collaboration

Abstract

Conference participants were invited to explore Information Literacy (IL) as an essential attribute of the university graduate. As a report of the experience, this paper begins with a brief review of recent literature, and then describes the conference session in five sections. In the first section, we define IL, and ask the following: “What skills and abilities characterize the information literate graduate, and how do you help your students acquire them?” In the second section, we define Threshold Concepts (TCs), and then introduce the TCs from the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education in the third section. The fourth section synthesizes definitions from the first three sections and describes scenarios students might encounter after graduation. Participants were invited to consider the scenarios in light of IL and the six ACRL Threshold Concepts. In the final section, participants were asked: “Which of the ACRL Threshold Concepts resonate most with you in your instructional practice, and why?” The paper concludes with some observations on the effectiveness of such a session for communicating with faculty about the new ACRL Framework.