Framework Focus: Value

Conversation
Process
Value
Inquiry
Authority
Exploration
Information possesses several dimensions of value, including as a commodity, as a means of education, as a means to influence, and as a means of negotiating and understanding the world. Legal and socioeconomic interests influence information production and dissemination.

3. Information Has Value

Key Sentence: The novice learner may struggle to understand the diverse values of information in an environment where "free" information and related services are plentiful and the concept of intellectual property is first encountered through rules of citation or warnings about plagiarism and copyright law.

Knowledge practices:

  1. give credit to the original ideas of others through proper attribution and citation;
  2. understand that intellectual property is an important legal and social construct;
  3. articulate the purpose and distinguishing characteristics of copyright, fair use, open access, and the public domain;
  4. understand why some individuals or groups may be underrepresented or marginalized within information systems;
  5. recognize issues of access or lack of access to information sources;
  6. decide where and how their information is published;
  7. understand how the commodification of personal information and online interactions affects them;
  8. make informed choices regarding their online actions in full awareness of the above issues.

Dispositions:

  1. respect the original ideas of others
  2. value the skills, time, and effort needed to produce knowledge
  3. see themselves as contributors to the information marketplace rather than only consumers of it
  4. examine their own information privilege

We teach:

  • Value of bibliographies and citation formats (from ENGL 101 throughout the entire program)
  • RefWorks as a citation management tool (Various upper level and graduate courses)
  • Critical evaluation of open-source versus subscription resources (SPAN 311, BADM 236 and 536)
  • Use of interlibrary loan (Various courses)
  • Access issues related to government confidentiality, transparency, and security (HSEC 340)

“Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education.” Association of College and Research Libraries, 11 Jan. 2016, http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework. Accessed 21 June 2016.

Download Framework Resources for Librarians.