The publications featured here reflect the ongoing development and application of metaliteracy across evolving educational, interdisciplinary, and technological contexts. They include the core metaliteracy books by Thomas P. Mackey and Trudi E. Jacobson, along with recent and forthcoming books, chapters, and articles that extend the model into new areas of inquiry and practice.
Recent and Forthcoming Books
Edited by Nicola Marae Allain and Thomas P. Mackey, who also co-authored the volume’s framing chapter, AI and Metaliteracy: Empowering Learners for the Generative Revolution (2027) explores how metaliteracy develops learners as ethical producers of knowledge in AI-mediated environments. Featuring a Foreword written by Series Editor Trudi Jacobson and contributions from researchers and practitioners around the world, the book presents theories, case studies, and adaptable approaches for engaging critically, creatively, and responsibly with generative AI.
Edited by Thomas P. Mackey and Sheila Marie Aird, who also co-authored the volume’s framing chapter, Teaching Digital Storytelling: Inspiring Voices through Online Narratives (2024) explores the intersection of digital storytelling and metaliteracy across a range of educational contexts. Featuring Trudi Jacobson as Series Editor and contributions from educators in diverse disciplines from the United States and South Africa, the chapters present innovative approaches to personal and collaborative storytelling, learner agency, global learning, and the creation of original digital narratives.
Core Metaliteracy Books
The idea of learner as producer is central to the metaliteracy model and is the primary focus of the book Metaliteracy in a Connected World: Developing Learners as Producers (2022). This book is co-authored by Thomas P Mackey and Trudi E. Jacobson and is the recipient of the the 2024 Divergent Publication Award for Excellence in Literacy in a Digital Age Research. It presents a fully developed metaliteracy model with core components that include learning domains, learner roles, characteristics, and goals and learning objectives. It also investigates the relationship between metaliteracy and self-directed learning, multimodality, open pedagogy, digital citizenship, and developing a growth mindset.
Edited by Thomas P. Mackey and Trudi E. Jacobson, Metaliterate Learning for the Post-Truth World (2019) examines the role of metaliteracy in responding to misinformation, misleading content, and the complex social and ethical dimensions of contemporary information environments. The framing chapter introduces the metaliterate learner characteristics, further developing the model through an emphasis on the qualities and dispositions of metaliterate learners. Contributors explore critical evaluation, metacognitive reflection, and responsible participation in social media and other digital environments, with applications across academic libraries, science, fiction writing, digital storytelling, and theater arts.
Edited by Trudi E. Jacobson and Thomas P. Mackey, Metaliteracy in Practice (2016) moves the metaliteracy framework into applied teaching and learning contexts through contributions from librarians and educators across multiple disciplines and institutions. The chapters explore applications of metaliteracy in areas such as social media pedagogy, nursing education, library instruction, Renaissance drama, and undergraduate learning, while examining connections with digital and multimodal literacies, emerging technologies, and the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. Throughout the volume, contributors emphasize learner agency, metacognitive reflection, and the active roles students take in creating, communicating, and sharing information in participatory digital environments.
Written by Thomas P. Mackey and Trudi E. Jacobson, Metaliteracy: Reinventing Information Literacy to Empower Learners (2014) is the first book devoted to the metaliteracy framework. It establishes the theoretical foundations of metaliteracy, including the significance of the meta prefix and the central role of metacognition, and introduces the metaliterate learner roles and learning domains that remain integral to the model. The book also examines social media, open education, and emerging literacies in a global context. Moving from theory to praxis, its second section explores undergraduate applications of metaliteracy through case studies, including digital storytelling.
Book Chapters
Mackey, T. P., and Aird, S.M., “Metaliteracy and Global Digital Storytelling: Building Shared Learning Communities.” In Aird, S.M. and Mackey, T. P., (Eds.). Teaching with Digital Storytelling: Inspiring Voices Through Online Narratives. Innovations in Information Literacy series, Rowman & Littlefield, (2024).
Jacobson, T.E., & Mackey, T.P., “Designing Interactive Pedagogies of Play Through Metaliteracy.” In Marietjie Havenga, Jako Olivier, and Byron J. Bunt (Eds.). PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING AND PEDAGOGIES OF PLAY: ACTIVE APPROACHES TOWARDS SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING. AOSIS, South Africa, 2023. https://doi.org/10.4102/aosis.2023.BK409
Jacobson, T.E., Mackey, T.P., Olivier, J., “Aligning metaliteracy with self-directed learning to expand assessment opportunities.” In Elsa Mentz and Anitia Lubbe (Eds.). Learning through Assessment: An approach towards SDL. AOSIS, South Africa. 2021.
Jacobson, Trudi E.; Mackey, Thomas P.; and O’Brien, Kelsey L., “Visualizing the Convergence of Metaliteracy and the Information Literacy Framework” (2021). University Libraries Faculty Scholarship. 149. https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/ulib_fac_scholar/149.
Mackey, T.P., “Exploring Metaliterate Learning through the Frames of Information Literacy.” In Julien, Gross, Latham (Eds.). Implementing the ACRL Framework in Libraries and Pre-Service LIS Education: Case Studies from the Field. Rowman and Littlefield. (2020).
Mackey, T.P., “Empowering Metaliterate Learners for a Post-Truth World.” In Metaliterate Learning for the Post-Truth World. ed. by Thomas P. Mackey and Trudi E. Jacobson. Chicago: ALA Neal-Schuman, 2019.
O’Brien, K.L. “Failing Better: Scaffolding Learning with the Metaliteracy Badging System.” In Teaching with Digital Badges: Best Practices and Library Case Studies, ed. by Kelsey L. O’Brien and Trudi E. Jacobson. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2018.
Refereed Articles
Griesbaum, J., Dreisiebner, S., Mackey, T. P., Jacobson, T. E., Thadathil, T., Bhattacharya, S., & Adilović, E. (2023). Teaching Internationally, Learning Collaboratively: Intercultural Perspectives on Information Literacy and Metaliteracy (IPILM). Communications in Information Literacy, 17 (1), 260–278. https://doi.org/10.15760/comminfolit.2023.17.1.4
Mackey, T. P., & Aird, S. M. (2022). Integrating Metaliteracy into the Design of a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) Course in Digital Storytelling. Open Praxis, 13(4), 397–403. DOI: http://doi.org/10.55982/openpraxis.13.4.442
Mackey, T. P. (2020). Embedding Metaliteracy in the Design of a Post-Truth MOOC: Building Communities of Trust. Communications in Information Literacy, 14 (2), 346–361. https://doi.org/10.15760/comminfolit.2020.14.2.9
Trudi E. Jacobson and Sally Friedman. “Teaching Critical Thinking and Metaliteracy Through OER: Theory and Practice in a Course Collaboration.” IJOER, v.2 no. 1, 2019/2020, pp.173-190.
Kelsey L. O’Brien, Michele Forte, Thomas P. Mackey, and Trudi E. Jacobson, “Metaliteracy as Pedagogical Framework for Learner-Centered Design in Three MOOC Platforms: Connectivist, Coursera and Canvas.” Open Praxis, v.9 no. 3, 2017, pp. 267-286
Thomas P. Mackey and Trudi E. Jacobson, “Reframing Information Literacy as a Metaliteracy.” College & Research Libraries, v. 72 no. 1, 2011, pp. 62-78. (Selected to be included in “LIRT’s Top Twenty” library instruction articles of 2011).
Conference Papers
Trudi E. Jacobson, Thomas P. Mackey, and Kelsey L. O’Brien, “Developing Metaliterate Citizens: Designing and Delivering Enhanced Global Learning Opportunities.” Conference on Learning Information Literacy Across the Globe. Frankfurt am Main, May 10, 2019.
Jamshid Beheshti, Dania Bilal, Thomas P. Mackey, Louise Limberg, Joan C. Bartlett, Jacek Gwidzdka, Trudi Jacobson, and Yusuke Ishimura, “Information Literacy: Bridging the Gap Between Theory and Practice.” Panel presentation at the 2016 ASIS&T meeting in Copenhagen. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, v. 53 no. 1, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.2016.14505301019
Non-refereed Articles
Hill, V., & Mackey, T. (2021). Embracing metaliteracy: Metamodern libraries and virtual learning communities. College & Research Libraries News, 82(5), 219. doi:https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.82.5.219
Trudi E. Jacobson. Promoting Student Learning and Digital Age Literacy Through Metaliteracy. Academia Letters, Article 42. December 2020.
Trudi E. Jacobson. Analyzing Information Sources Through the Lens of the ACRL Framework: A Case Study of Wikipedia. Communications in Information Literacy, 14 (2), 2020, 362–377. https://doi.org/10.15760/comminfolit.2020.14.2.10
Trudi E. Jacobson and Thomas P. Mackey, “Why You Should Fight for Metaliteracy on Your Campus.” HigherEdJobs, November 12, 2018.
Craig Gibson and Trudi E. Jacobson. “Habits of Mind in an Uncertain Information World.” Reference & User Services Quarterly, v. 57 no. 3, 2018.
Diane Fulkerson, Susan Ariew and Trudi Jacobson. “Revisiting Metacognition and Metaliteracy in the ACRL Framework.” Communications in Information Literacy, v. 11 no. 1, 2017, pp. 21-41.
Thomas P. Mackey and Trudi Jacobson. “How Can We Learn to Reject Fake News in the Digital World?” The Conversation, December 5, 2016.
Trudi Jacobson and Thomas P. Mackey, “Can’t Seem to Stop those Ads Following You Around? Why Not Become Metaliterate?” The Conversation, August 7, 2015.
Trudi E. Jacobson and Thomas P. Mackey, “Proposing a Metaliteracy Model to Redefine Information Literacy.” Communications in Information Literacy, v. 7 no. 2, 2013, pp. 84-91.
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