Journal Article: Dismantling the [Information] Evaluation Framework

The following article was recently published by In the Library with a Lead Pipe.

Title

Dismantling the Evaluation Framework

Authors

Alaina C. Bull
University of Washington Tacoma
Project Information Literacy

Margy MacMillan
Mount Royal University
Project Information Literacy

Alison J. Head
Director, Project Information Literacy
metaLAB (at) Harvard

Source

In the Library with a Lead Pipe
July 21, 2021

Abstract

For almost 20 years, instruction librarians have relied on variations of two models, the CRAAP Test and SIFT, to teach students how to evaluate printed and web-based materials. Dramatic changes to the information ecosystem, however, present new challenges amid a flood of misinformation where algorithms lie beneath the surface of popular and library platforms collecting clicks and shaping content. When applied to increasingly connected networks, these existing evaluation heuristics have limited value. Drawing on our combined experience at community colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada, and with Project Information Literacy (PIL), a national research institute studying college students’ information practices for the past decade, this paper presents a new evaluative approach for teaching students to see information as the agent, rather than themselves. Opportunities and strategies are identified for evaluating the veracity of sources, first as students, leveraging the expertise they bring with them into the classroom, and then as lifelong learners in search of information they can trust and rely on.

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