POST: Collections as Data & Information Literacy

John Russell (Penn State University, and dh+lib contributing editor) and Allyssa Bruce (Kansas State University) explore the intersection of library collections and information literacy in a guest post for the Collections as Data project.

In “Collections as Data & Information Literacy,” Russell and Bruce approach the Santa Barbara Statement on Collections as Data from the perspective of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, focusing on the Authority is Constructed and Contextual frame:

The Santa Barbara Statement calls for a rethinking of data documentation, turning our README files and codebooks into sites where provenance, ethics, and, we contend, information literacy can intersect (principles 3, 4, and 6). When we make our ethical commitments visible through documentation, we are allowing users to better assess both how authority can be constructed as well as how these collections obscure or incorporate other viewpoints and voices.

While this post addresses the connection between library digital collections and information literacy, Russell examines related issues in “Beyond Buttonology: Digital Humanities, Digital Pedagogy, and Information Literacy,” a recent College & Research Libraries News article co-authored with Merinda Kaye Hensley (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).