996 College & Research Libraries November 2018

Part 2 begins with chapter 6, and this and each of the following chapters provides 
arguably the most immediately useful content in the book. Each chapter takes one of 
the six ACRL Threshold Concepts and applies each of Francis’ three kinds of fun to it 
in the form of a fully realized lesson plan: one incorporating humor, one using games, 
and one using group work. Each lesson plan includes a clearly stated objective, a 
“procedures” section including materials and processes, methods for assessment, and 
a section on modifications and accommodations. Between the three plans for each of 
the six threshold concepts, the book includes 18 total lesson plans useful in a variety of 
instructional contexts. And while each lesson plan may not be usable in its entirety in 
every situation, they’re designed to be adaptable to many scenarios and to offer ideas 
applicable to any lesson plan. These lesson plans make this volume a particularly use-
ful resource. The bibliographies for each chapter offer a compelling source of further 
reading on each topic and cover the breadth of the book’s arguments thoroughly. 

Francis makes clear during the course of the book that in including fun in instruc-
tional design, it is not her intention to ask the librarian to become an entertainer or 
comedian in addition to a teacher. “There is a point in the learning process when the 
content becomes unfamiliar and the learner becomes uncomfortable” (12). The point 
of including fun as a key element of the lesson is to help students cross this gap in 
their understanding and to help them connect with the concepts and ideas the lesson 
presents. 

Francis leaves one compelling argument in favor of fun for the very end of the book, 
noting that, in addition to improving engagement, comprehension, and recall, fun can 
also help establish a positive relationship between the librarian and the student and 
between the student and the concepts they’re learning. These positive relationships in 
turn increase the likelihood that students will continue to build on their knowledge 
and will return to the librarian for future needs. She notes that, furthermore, fun for 
the students can also be fun for the instructor, creating and communicating enthusi-
asm for research and information literacy. The book is practical in that it treats fun not 
as an intangible quality that may appear if an instructor is fortunate, but as a useful 
element that can be intentionally planned and built into the teaching and learning 
process for everyone’s benefit. Francis’ volume is a genuinely useful and accessible 
presentation of ideas and practical examples that makes a valuable addition to the 
toolkit of any librarian who regularly teaches information literacy concepts.—Amy 
Frazier, Middlebury College

Dave Harmeyer and Janice J. Baskin. Implementing the Information Literacy Framework: 
A Practical Guide for Librarians. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2018. 279p. Paper, 
$65.00 (ISBN 978-1-5381-0757-7). LC 2017048324, 

In 2015 the Association of College & Research Libraries’ 
Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education 
replaced the Information Literacy Competency Standards for 
Higher Education, the latter document being rescinded by 
ACRL. With the removal of the Standards from the ACRL 
website entirely, the decisive nature of this change has had 
profound effects on the teaching of information literacy 
in academic libraries. Gone were the Standards with their 
clear statements about what an information-literate stu-
dent will be capable of accomplishing. In their place the 
Framework provided six now-familiar threshold concepts 
called “frames,” introducing new levels of flexibility and 
adaptability to information literacy education. However, 



Book Reviews 997

the Framework does not recommend best practices or guidelines for teaching these 
frames. The utility of the information literacy frames clearly extends beyond the “walls” 
of the library to the classroom, where teaching faculty may find the concepts have a 
natural fit within their subject curriculum. What should be the nature of librarians’ 
collaborations with faculty? Dave Harmeyer and Janice J. Baskin’s book aims to pro-
vide practical assistance to librarians and classroom faculty in using the Framework to 
collaborate in teaching students to think conceptually about information literacy, as 
well as having the intellectual tools to learn new information literacy skills throughout 
their lives. The authors use their experiences as an academic librarian and a profes-
sor of English to describe how the Framework can be addressed from both library and 
classroom perspectives.

The first two chapters of the book bring all practitioners, librarians and faculty, up to 
speed on information literacy. The first chapter presents an introduction to information 
literacy, providing historical context for the development of the concept and introduc-
ing the revised (2015) ACRL definition of information literacy and the six “frames” of 
information literacy, specifically: Authority is constructed and contextual; Informa-
tion creation as a process; Information has value; Research as inquiry; Scholarship as 
conversation; and Searching as strategic exploration.

To further place the ACRL Framework within the context of national and global efforts 
to increase understanding of information literacy, the authors discuss the description 
and definition of the information literacy concept by the United Nations Educational, 
Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the National Forum on Information 
Literacy (NFIL), the Society of College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL), 
the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), Project 
Information Literacy (PIL), the Association of American Colleges & Universities 
(AAC&U), the National Education Association (NEA), and the Big6 model.

The second chapter explores the transition from the Standards to the Framework in 
detail. This narrative is very useful for librarians and instructors familiar with teaching 
information literacy from the Standards. The roots of the Framework came out of the 
examination of the work by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) in 
2007. Instead of focusing on information literacy proficiency as demonstrated mastery 
of a set of skills, AASL’s Standards for the 21st-Century Learner focused on defining a de-
sired outcome, an “independent learner,” in terms of four characteristics. This shifting 
of emphasis from the “how” of skill acquisition to the “why” of process understanding 
to achieve an outcome resonated with the architects of the Framework. In creating the 
Framework, the ACRL’s Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Educa-
tion Task Force recognized that the Standards had established information literacy as a 
core educational concern and that subsequent fruitful and critical discourse suggested 
that it was necessary to set down a new model for information literacy. The authors 
created three excellent tables in the chapter that place the Standards side by side with 
the frames, then provide mappings of the related frames to the Standards and vice versa.

The next chapter looks into five great strategies that existed pre-Framework, along 
with development steps to get things moving on them within the year. After a brief 
consideration of five milestones of information literacy in librarianship, the chapter 
covers empowering faculty to teach information literacy, making information literacy a 
campuswide initiative, creating a collaborative K–12 information literacy community, 
developing an information literacy assessment, and starting a for-credit information 
literacy course. The information literacy assessment example provided a complete 
search plan assignment for students, along with a rubric for grading to gather data. 
The authors provide enough information that the reader can easily structure a similar 
assignment for their institution.



998 College & Research Libraries November 2018

The next two chapters, chapters 4 and 5, present first the classroom teachers’ 
perspective on how to integrate information literacy instruction (and the librarians’ 
collaboration) into the classroom culture, then the librarians’ perspective on working 
with teaching faculty successfully and integrating into their learning communities. 
Understanding these perspectives, for example the teaching faculty perception of librar-
ians as technical professionals but not teachers, informs chapter 6, “Tips for Creating a 
Framework Campus Culture.” The three tips include step-by-step approaches, including 
suggested speech scripts, handouts, and rubrics as appropriate. Time spent building 
faculty familiarity with the Framework, and getting librarians more comfortable with 
communicating using the frames, will help align everyone’s efforts to promote student 
information literacy.

In chapter 7, the authors find inspiration from a 2015 article by Betsy Reichart and 
Christina Elvidge, presenting a four-step plan for developing a Framework-centric 
online course on information literacy, including suggested skill elements to teach that 
correspond to desired frames of the Framework. Ideas for using the Framework with the 
familiar CRAP test (Conversation, Revision, Authority, and Property), with guided 
discussions through online discussion boards and face-to-face sessions and with social 
media platforms, are presented with sufficient detail to direct the librarian and allow for 
customization for local learning environments. The chapter concludes with a synthesis 
of six thoughts on implementing the Framework from a paper by ACRL Framework task 
force cochairs Trudi Jacobson and Craig Gibson. 

Chapters 8 and 9 represent the heart of the book. Each chapter presents a set of teach-
ing aids for three of the frames. First, the authors diagram each frame with its “frame 
distinctions,” or set of terms and concepts unique to that frame. These frame distinctions 
then inform sample student learning objectives (SLOs), complete assignments along 
with handouts, and a grading rubric. These assignments and rubrics are well thought 
out, and the authors encourage readers to copy, modify, and use the rubrics directly 
from the text or PDF and Word files available from the book’s website. The chapters 
also include scenarios of the dialogue between a classroom faculty member and a 
librarian who are collaborating on teaching the frame. While such scenario dialogues 
can seem artificial, they play a useful role in allowing the authors to explore likely 
real-world questions that librarians will face from faculty. While a reader well versed 
in the Framework could skip to this material and implement it right away, it would be a 
mistake to neglect the earlier chapters, as they represent an opportunity to build team 
awareness and understanding of the Framework.

The final brief chapter discusses some issues and concerns as information literacy 
instruction develops post-Framework, including the need for greater collaboration 
and assessment.

Each chapter in the book ends with excellent References and Further Reading sec-
tions for the interested reader to build upon the information presented. The appendices 
are helpful additions, including learning tools like flashcards for information literacy 
frames and frame bookmarks. The book charts, graphics, and tables are clear and well 
integrated into the text. 

This book represents a significant contribution to both the practical understanding 
and implementation of the ACRL Framework and will be useful to academic public 
services librarians in general as well as for instruction-focused librarians as a guide 
and a reference.—Scott Curtis, University of Missouri–Kansas City

Kevin Michael Klipfel and Dani Brecher Cook. Learner-Centered Pedagogy: Principles 
and Practice. Chicago, Ill.: ALA Editions, 2017. 208p. Paper, $60.00 (ISBN 978-0-8389-
1557-8). LC 2016058814. 


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