The January 2011 issue of College and Research Libraries contained an article by Mackey and Jacobson titled ‘Reframing Information Literacy as a Metaliteracy”. This article challenged traditional library approaches to teaching information literacy as a basic library skill and encouraged adoption of new skills suited to the digital age, promoting critical thinking and effective participation and collaboration in social media and online communities. Metaliteracy successfully outlines directions for revising Information Literacy competence standards to empower learners to do more than ‘just look things up in catalogues’, but to adopt a more adaptable and reflective approach to information in a ‘post-truth’ world.
Mackey and Jacobson outline four domains of metaliteracy – behavioural, cognitive, affective and metacognitive. The behavioural aspect describes the skills and competencies learned by the student and the ability to apply them. The cognitive domain includes comprehension, organisation, application and evaluation – so far, the traditional information literacy skills of library training. However, the affective domain introduces awareness of changes in the learner’s emotions and attitude through interaction with the learning activities. And finally, the metacognitive is a reflective understanding of how and why the students learn, and ways to continue to learn and extend the learning to become metaliterate learners.
The authors of this book recognise that metaliterate learners must learn and adapt continually, given the constantly and rapidly evolving information landscape of the modern world. While acknowledging that ‘experts’ do exist, learners also need to evaluate ‘information’ and recognise that it is not always produced for legitimate purposes. There is a distinction between ‘editorial’ and research. However, while copyright and ethically produced content must be acknowledged, it is possible to ethically participate in collaborative environments, think critically in context and transfer critical thinking to new learning.
Subsequent to the 2016 American Presidential Election, fake news became a hot topic, with false information being spread on social media and through broadcast outlets. Fake news was being blamed for any number of political and social ills. The point missing from the discussion, however, is that fake news is not a new phenomenon. It just has a new name. Metaliterate learners are well equipped to face this phenomenon and not be taken in.
Metaliteracy is a lifelong value and practice, helping our students to seek ways to address issues of misinformation and disinformation, and for educators to adjust courses and instruction to teach and engage students in techniques of how to think, rather than what to think. Library educators will love this book.