










































Christian Worldview in Academic Information Literacy Instruction


35

PAPERS

Christian Worldview in Academic 
Information Literacy Instruction
Survey Results and Discussion
Lauren M. Young, Librarian and Instruction Coordinator, Reference and Re-
search Services, Samford University

ABSTRACT This paper compiles responses and provides analysis for a 
survey on librarians’ efforts in and opinions about the integration of faith 
into information literacy instruction. Additionally, it introduces information 
literacy faith integration efforts at the presenter’s institution. Attendees at 
the presentation were invited to discuss theories informing this approach 
to information literacy instruction and to share their views on, approaches 
to, and experiences with faith integration in information literacy at their 
institutions.

INTRODUCTION

Information literacy is defined by the American Library Associa-
tion’s (ALA) college division, the Association of College & Research 
Libraries (ACRL), as “the set of integrated abilities encompassing 
the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how 
information is produced and valued, and the use of information in 
creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities 
of learning” (American Library Association 2015, 8). 



36  ATLA 2023 PROCEEDINGS

The scholarly literature offers guidance on teaching students to 
think about information in higher education classrooms (e.g., Matt-
son and Oberlies 2018; Young and Hinton 2019), and on incorporat-
ing Christian principles across academic disciplines (e.g., Dockery 
2012; Smith and Smith 2011). The question posed across this author’s 
scholarly efforts involves the intersection of the two pedagogical dis-
cussions: How can Christian educators equip students to navigate 
the information ecosystem of a fallen world with a Christ-centered 
perspective? (Young 2023). Finding little on this topic in the scholar-
ly literature, a proposal was submitted into the canon and a survey 
was designed to query the librarians involved in this work across 
the nation. 

METHODOLOGY

A visual synthesis of the ACRL Framework and the Council for Chris-
tian Colleges and Universities’ (CCCU) three educational commit-
ments (Council for Christian Colleges and Universities n.d.) was pre-
sented via poster at Atla Annual 2022. The call for proposals queried 
if an interactive element would be included, and as this poster was 
going to be presented virtually if accepted, an online survey was 
proposed. Following acceptance for the poster session, a survey de-
veloped on the Qualtrics platform entitled “Information Literacy at 
Christian Colleges and Universities (Survey)” was submitted to the 
Samford University Internal Review Board (IRB) for review in April 
2022. The IRB approved the survey as exempt, and the survey was 
linked anonymously in the poster via QR code.  No identifying meta-
data was collected on responses and respondents were instructed 
to feel free to opt out of any question they did not wish to answer. 

Poster session participants were invited to share their efforts 
in and thoughts on the integration of faith into information. A QR 
code was provided to complete the survey, and the survey was also 
disseminated to Atla and ACL listservs and at the author’s academ-
ic library. The survey posed demographic questions, institutional 
questions, and programmatic and theoretical information literacy 
instruction questions.

 The survey was open for approximately one month in Sum-
mer 2022. A total of 86 respondents completed questions on the sur-
vey. Results have been tabulated on the Qualtrics platform and are 
detailed below.



PAPERS  37

RESULT

A total of 86 respondents completed the survey. The survey first que-
ried demographic characteristics. The standard demographic block 
in Qualtrics was selected and respondents were welcomed to opt out 
of any question they did not choose to answer. 

On question 1 regarding age, 87% (75/86) of respondents opted in. 
This question was selected from the Qualtrics demographic block for 
general interest purposes regarding the age ranges of librarians par-
ticipating in Christian librarian listservs. Should a respondent have 
selected the Under 18 category, their response was to be deselected 
from the dataset to protect minors as is required under [author’s 
state/blinded] state law. Responses followed a traditional bell curve, 
with roughly 10% on the younger end of the spectrum, one third of 
respondents falling within the 45–54 age bracket, and 24 represent-
ing the down-curve ranges of 55–64, 65–74, and 75–84.

On question 2 regarding race, 86% (74/86) of respondents opted in. 
This question was selected from the Qualtrics demographic block for 
general interest purposes regarding the self-identified races of librar-
ians participating in Christian librarian listservs. The overwhelming 
majority of respondents selected “white” (96%).

Question 3 queried location of respondent’s institution. Regions 
were based in the continental United States, with additional options 
for Hawaii, Alaska, and outside of the US. 84% (72/86) of respondents 
opted in on this question. Leading regions selected included the Mid-
west (35%) and the Southeast (29%). There were no respondents from 
Hawaii or Alaska, but 7% of respondents indicated institutional lo-
cations outside of the US.

Question 4 queried the type of institution at which respondents 
worked, and  87% (75/86) of respondents opted in. Skip logic was 
incorporated on this question; if respondents selected “I am not af-
filiated with an academic institution of higher learning” (n=1), they 
were taken to question 14. Leading institution type, with one third 
of respondents selecting it, was 4-year through Ph.D. or professional 
doctorate.

Question 5 queried respondent’s role at their institution; 92% 
(78/85 after one participant was redirected via skip logic) opted into 
this question: 65% reported being library faculty; 19%, library staff. 
This distinction is only minimally meaningful due to the varying 
faculty status of librarians across institutions, with many degreed 
librarians holding the role of staff.



38  ATLA 2023 PROCEEDINGS

Question 6 queried whether the respondent’s institution had a re-
ligious affiliation. Of the 85% (72/85) of respondents, 97% indicated 
yes. Skip logic was incorporated on this question; if respondents se-
lected “no” (n=2), they were taken to question 14. 

For respondents who indicated a religious affiliation, Question 7 
queried denominational affiliation: 84% (72/83 after two participants 
were redirected via skip logic) of respondents opted in on this ques-
tion. Nearly a quarter of respondents (24%) indicated Baptist, but a 
decisive majority (59%) indicated “Other.” A response box correlated 
to a response of “other” was not offered, which is now recognized as 
a weakness in this study’s design. 

Question 8 queried respondents’ institutions’ membership in the 
CCCU. 84% (70/83) of respondents opted in on question 8. This ques-
tion was designed to gauge both institutional membership in CCCU 
and librarian familiarity with CCCU membership. Approximately 
40% indicated that their institution was a CCCU member. Approxi-
mately 30% responded “no” or “I am not sure.”

Question 9 queried whether respondents’ institutions ascribe to 
a Christian-centered mission, set of values, or student learning out-
comes. 84% (70/83) of respondents opted in on question 9, and all 
respondents indicated “yes.”

Question 10 queried offering of/format of information literacy 
instruction at respondents’ institutions. 78% (65/83) of respondents 
opted in on question 10. Of these respondents, 94% indicated that 
their library offered information literacy in both class-based and in-
dividual formats: 2% indicated only class-based, and 5% indicated 
only individual consults. None of the respondents indicated that li-
brary instruction was not offered at their institution.

Question 11 queried the information literacy standards with 
which respondents’ institutions align; 83% (69/83) of respondents 
opted in on question 11. This question was designed to gauge the 
theoretical framework upon which respondents’ libraries base li-
brary instruction. The ACRL has offered in the twenty-first century 
two theoretical/practical models for information literacy instruction 
at the higher education level, the Information Literacy Competency 
Standards for Higher Education adopted in 2000, and the Frame-
work for Information Literacy for Higher Education adopted in 
2016: 17% of respondents indicated institutional library alignment 
with the Standards, 52% indicated alignment with the Framework, 



PAPERS  39

15% indicated alignment with another standard, and 16% indicated 
they did not know.

Question 12 hearkened back to question 9, which queried if re-
spondents’ institutions ascribe to a Christian-centered mission, set 
of values, or student learning outcomes. Question 12 asked for re-
spondents who responded yes to indicate if the Christian mission 
is incorporated into library instruction or information literacy dis-
cussions. Respondents were instructed to select all that apply from 
four options: “yes, programmatic;” “yes, individual incorporation;” 
“no;” and “I am not sure.” A nearly even number of respondents in-
dicated programmatic and individual incorporation (34 and 35 re-
spondents, respectively). Six respondents indicated that Christian 
themes are not incorporated or are not welcome, and five indicated 
they were not sure.

Question 13 asked participants to expand in short answer for-
mat on their institutional library’s library instruction as it related to 
Christian world view. Twenty-nine respondents provided feedback. 

Question 14 queried librarians regarding the theoretical intersec-
tions between the three CCCU institutional commitments and the 
six ACRL Frames. Participants were asked to rank the difficulty of 
integration of the educational commitments with the information 
literacy frames, with 1 being the most difficult and 3 being the least 
difficult. This was the skip destination question for the two questions 
above incorporating skip logic (questions 4 and 6).

Respondents deemed the most difficult integration to be between 
the ACRL Framework and the CCCU commitment “Vocation as Gos-
pel vehicle.” The CCCU educational commitment that was ranked as 
second hardest to integrate was “Moral and spiritual formation of 
students.” The commitment deemed the least difficult integrate was 
“Spiritual truth throughout the academic enterprise.”

The final question in the survey, question 15, asked respondents to 
share in short answer format if they saw a natural pairing between 
library instruction/information literacy discussions and institutional 
Christian missions, values, and goals, and asked for their reasoning; 
42 respondents completed this short answer question.

Analysis of these 42 responses finds 11 out of 43 respondents in-
dicating that there is a possible pairing, qualified by the following 
statements:

• Hard to say, because it is not explicit as such, for the train-
ing could apply to any research. Examples used are usually 
biblical/theological.



40  ATLA 2023 PROCEEDINGS

• I am in the middle. There are some connections in that 
Christians seek the truth but much of the foundational be-
liefs of information literacy do not align with Biblical truths 
at least not the way the majority of people discuss informa-
tion literacy.

• I definitely see a natural pairing. Our institution, however, 
does not subscribe to the CCCU educational commitments, 
so it is an easier “sell” to match the Framework to our Chris-
tian values.

• I’ve never thought about them that way and it’s a little hard 
for me to make the connection without examples, but I 
would love to see those and try to incorporate them.

• It can be done, but I am not sure that it is always “natural.” 
Partly this is due to the tension between time to cover con-
tent and time to connect what we do to Christian-centered 
outcomes of the class or institution. But I think it can be 
done.

• Sometimes. It depends on the topic of research and the indi-
vidual’s faith tradition.

• The CCCU pairing is a bit of a stretch; however I do see how 
IL fits with the academic /scholarly development of our 
students.  And being academically fit provides a vehicle for 
being a light to our world. And we must be ready to be that 
light. 

• This is an interesting framework that I hadn’t considered 
before. I can see the links but it would be useful to have 
concrete examples on how to approach each ACRL concept 
through the lens of the CCCU educational commitments.

• While Biblical truth is taught, it is not adequately backed up 
with outside facts (apologetics). Librarians need to help a 
lot in this area.

• Yes, but I think much of it comes back to epistemology — 
that is, how we see knowledge. There has not been suffi-
cient work in aligning pedagogy with a firm Christian epis-
temological base.  I do feel that the works of Esther Meek 
(“Loving to Know”) provides a foundation for Christian 
epistemology which empowers alignment between a Chris-
tian mission/vision and information literacy.

• Yes, but not in the kind of explicit way that these commit-
ments above would seem to imply. I have worked in more 



PAPERS  41

than one Christian higher Ed institution, and with instruc-
tional sessions almost always being one shots, there wasn’t 
time to develop relationships or to make those connections. 
But we absolutely saw information Literacy as essential for 
our students to be able to go and do the things our institu-
tion as a whole was trying to prepare them for.

One respondent indicated an inability to respond to the question, 
and the remaining 31 respondents indicated a clear, unqualified 
“yes” to the question. Thematic analysis of responses in this subset 
of unqualified yesses revealed the following parallels identified by 
respondents between library instruction/information literacy discus-
sions and institutional Christian missions, values and goals:

• Accuracy and its impact on witness (2)
• Apologetics (1)
• Authority (1)
• Information literacy as foundation for Biblical literacy (1)
• Christ-centeredness/whole person instruction (2)
• Commitment to truth (12)
• Connection to Christian values and attributes (5)
• Diversity of voices (1)
• Ethics (5)
• Ministry of study tradition (1)
• Value of information (1)

DISCUSSION

As “Vocation as Gospel vehicle” was the CCCU commitment deemed 
most difficult to integrate by survey respondents (48%), this integra-
tion offers promise for future research and leadership. More in-depth 
surveying would be a natural next step for advancing this discussion 
as qualitative research would unlock the specific mechanics that re-
spondents perceive as both natural and stymying.

Roughly one third (32%) of respondents who answered the infor-
mation literacy alignment question indicated that their library used 
an instruction standard other than the ACRL Framework. Over half 
of this subset indicated the ACRL Standards, rescinded in 2016 by 
the ALA/ACRL, and the remaining respondents do not align with ei-



42  ATLA 2023 PROCEEDINGS

ther of the ALA/ACRL twenty-first century standards and instead list 
“other.” Continued investigation into this slow adoption rate should 
include a question clarifying what standards comprise the “other” 
responses in this survey. Might our segment of the library profession 
explore an increase in adoption of the ACRL Framework? Are there 
perceived barriers to its adoption specifically at Christian institu-
tions of higher learning?

Additionally, this survey points to progress that can be made in 
increasing awareness of CCCU membership at member institutions. 
Current CCCU library programming is directed at library leaders; re-
sponses to this survey indicate library faculty interest in this topic 
that could be harnessed by CCCU through dialogue and program-
ming.

INFORMATION LITERACY FAITH INTEGRATION EFFORTS AT SAMFORD

This research was borne out of professional efforts in my role of 
Instruction Coordinator to align two assessment pillars: the ACRL 
Framework (library instruction) and the CCCU Basic Educational 
Commitments (Christian higher education). Using critical informa-
tion literacy as theoretical vehicle, an argument was drafted that in-
stitutions of higher learning ascribing to Christ-centered missions, 
values, and institutional/student learning outcomes should encour-
age students to evaluate information with a Christ-centered perspec-
tive (Young 2022). Reflection prompts were drafted pulling each of 
the assessment pillars together and were published and also added 
to the library instruction toolkit as resources for Samford library 
faculty and teaching faculty use. An instruction option of IL faith 
integration was added to the instruction menu, and three out of 195 
total instruction requests for AY 2022-2023 requested this. (Nowhere 
but up from here!) The Library is engaging in faith in learning discus-
sions on campus and sharing the resource with interested teaching 
faculty. An information literacy digital badging pathway set to launch 
Fall 2023 incorporates these reflection prompts in the third and final 
tier of microcredentialing that students must complete in order to 
earn badges for the six ACRL Frames and two special topics: ethical 
use of AI and evaluating open Web information for trustworthiness.  

The Samford Library is also developing a virtual course for Chris-
tian librarians to engage in Christ-centered information literacy 
discussions, with hopes to launch Summer 2024. This work is being 



PAPERS  43

undertaken prayerfully and with excitement about all we stand to 
learn from our colleagues engaging in this edifying work at their 
institutions.

REFERENCES

American Library Association. 2015. Framework for Information 
Literacy for Higher Education. http://www.ala.org/acrl/
standards/ilframework. 

Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. n.d. “Our Work and 
Mission.” https://www.cccu.org/about/.

Dockery, David S., ed. 2012. Faith and Learning: A Handbook for 
Christian Higher Education. Nashville: B & H Academic.

Mattson, Janna L. and Mary K. Oberlies. 2018. Framing Information 
Literacy: Teaching Grounded in Theory, Pedagogy, and 
Practice. ACRL Publications in Librarianship no. 73. Chicago: 
Association of College and Research Libraries. 

Smith, David I and James K. A. Smith, eds. 2011. Teaching and 
Christian Practices: Reshaping Faith And Learning. Grand 
Rapids: Eerdmans.

Young, Lauren M. and Elizabeth G. Hinton, eds. 2019. Framing 
Health Care Instruction: An Information Literacy Handbook for 
the Health Sciences. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Young, Lauren M. 2022. “Information Literacy at Christian 
Higher Education Institutions: A Visual Synthesis of the CCCU 
Commitments and the ACRL Framework.” Hybrid poster 
presentation at Atla Annual 2022, June 16, 2022, Baltimore, 
MD.

Young, Lauren M. 2023. “Gospel as Critical Information Literacy 
Lens: An instructive synthesis of the CCCU Educational 
Commitments and the ACRL Framework for Information 
Literacy for Higher Education.” Christian Higher Education: An 
International Journal of Research, Theory, and Practice 22 (2): 
152–165. https://doi.org/10.1080/15363759.2022.2138635.

http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework
http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework
https://www.cccu.org/about/
https://doi.org/10.1080/15363759.2022.2138635

