Cover image of CIL 7.2

The new thematic issue of Communications in Information Literacy is out!  It is called Reflecting on the Standards, and the 15 articles that it contains reflect a range of viewpoints and focused interests. The image of Janus on the cover is particularly apt, as the pieces look back to the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards published in 2000, noting both the good and the not so good about those standards, and forward to the new model currently under development. The authors express hopes and potential concerns about the new framework. And some offer sage advice: the two introductory paragraphs in Benjamin Harris’s The New ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards: Revising Reception are particularly thoughtful in this regard.

This issue contains articles by a number of well known individuals in the field. These include Carol Kuhlthau, Stanley Wilder, and Patricia Iannuzzi (who chaired the group that developed the 2000 Standards). Some of the 15 articles use the Prospectus for Revision that was issued by the current Task Force to try to determine what might or might not be included in the new version. This was an early document, and does not fully capture current discussions. The draft will be available for review in mid February.

We were delighted to find that our contribution, Proposing a Metaliteracy Model to Redefine Information Literacy, was selected as the lead article. We encourage you to read it, and all the articles in the issue. Speaking of which, let me get back to the few I’ve not yet read…