Information literacy in the United States: Contemporary transformations and controversies

Abstract

While acknowledging that efforts in information literacy are a global, the paper concentrates on information literacy efforts in the USA. The American Library Association (ALA) issued in year 2000 a set of standards that provided a framework for assessing the information literate individual. By 2013 it was realized that many changes require an update and even new approaches to information literacy. At the start of 2014 ALA proposed an initial draft of a new framework for information literacy for higher education. A new definition of information literacy was offered, together with a new framework based on threshold concepts– critically reviewed in the paper. During 2014 several public debates were conducted; the new framework is scheduled to be finalized in 2015. The paper summarizes these debates, with particular emphasis of description and critiques of threshold concept, which is at the core of the new framework.