Information Literacy and Interconnected Literacies

The complex information systems through which information is made available through oral, print, and digital mediums, means that information literacy is inextricably intertwined with a variety of related literacies, such as digital literacy, media literacy, visual literacy, and others.

For example, many of the knowledge practices and dispositions identified in ACRL’s Framework require an understanding of the implications and effective use of digital tools to support research activities (Burns et al., 2023). And likewise, information literacy forms a key component of modern digital literacy frameworks (e.g., UNESCO’s A Global Framework of Reference on Digital Literacy Skills for Indicator 4.4.2 [PDF])^[1].

In 2011, MacKay and Jacobson proposed that “the emergence of social media and collaborative online communities requires a reframing of information literacy as a metaliteracy that supports multiple literacy types” (p. 52). They demonstrated how media literacy, digital literacy, visual literacy, cyberliteracy, and information fluency are inextricably connected.

In a post-secondary educational context, the Feekery Information Literacy Model^[2], developed by a team of educators across New Zealand and depicted in Figure 2, visually represents how post-secondary literacies such as academic literacy, disciplinary literacy, digital and media literacy, adult and professional literacy all interconnect with information literacy in important and meaningful ways.

In other words, research assignments that support information literacy require a wide variety of literacies essential for fostering thoughtful, critical, and reflective life-long learners.