Guest editorial

Emergent academic literacies

Anyone who claims to be able to predict the future should be summarily dismissed as delusional. As Jim Dator, former Director of the Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies, emphasized when discussing the inclination to anticipate, there are multiple “futures” ahead of us. Once we accept this premise, we can balance the imperative and simultaneous tasks of both engaged observation and active participation to not predict the future, but instead to notice and embrace emerging trends.

This special theme issue on emergent academic literacies grew from a curiosity around the implementation of the new ACRL Framework. The Framework is refreshingly un-prescriptive, challenging libraries and librarians to appreciate the intellectual and social arc of information. Libraries and librarians must recognize emergent theory, ideas and paradigm shifts, along with their practical and logistical manifestations. What are libraries and librarians facing as they implement the Framework? Are there academic libraries and librarians that are implementing the Framework in innovative ways? More importantly for this special issue, are there new literacies that have emerged because of the Framework?

Our contributing authors are clearly risk takers first, because they respond to a call for manuscripts around the idea of emergence and, second, because their responses highlight the value of agility in libraries. The thoughtful, intentional application of emergent literacies is a capacity to be valued and encouraged in academic libraries. The articles in this issue demonstrate that many libraries and librarians are embracing the challenge.

Carlito tackles multimodal literacies in library instruction, claiming that composition, argument and idea delivery are no longer the property of pen and paper (or keypad and printer); students must now be able to create and understand in more than one modality. Meanwhile, Hovious’ systematic literature review explores how transliteracy is a social practice that crosses multiple contexts and expands beyond a traditional skills-based information literacy perspective.

With a tight focus on media literacy, Goforth, Hammer and Metz examine visual and digital literacies in relation to communication and narrative through digital media productions. Kappel and Schmidt offer a conceptual article around newspapers of record, arguing that news media literacy for students in all disciplines is an urgent need and must incorporate both visual and content literacies. Next, Hauck and Robinson present up-to-date research in course planning through their use of the new 2017 “Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy” to study archival intelligence and primary source literacy in a university class.

Several articles explore the layered and nuanced nomenclature of emergent literacies. Emergent terminology for individuals with disabilities is the topic of Pionke’s article. How can the use of the term “functional diversity” be used to empower library users? Barefoot confronts the social justice and cultural literacy concepts within the Framework by presenting a cultural literacy lesson plan that could be applied in library classrooms; library literature has not yet studied these essential concepts in conjunction with teaching information need. Bynoe and Katz present a case study on critical literacy skills related to reading, noting that discipline-specific attention to reading instruction is on the rise. Drawing on a series of interactive discussions with pre-service education students, critical literary analysis is applied toward building and improving information analysis.

The changing demographics of higher education, including an increased demand for terminal degrees at the master’s level, demand a response from libraries. This emergent population is entitled to comprehensive library services, and McDaniel uses a peer-tutoring model to assert that libraries can build on their position as intellectual and learning commons to garner a leadership role in facilitating graduate student success. Meanwhile, as our world debates the emergent effects of environmental change, an understanding of science is no longer optional. Kuglitsch writes that for non-scientists, a critical scientific and information literacy is important to effectively make choices in a democratic society; and for nascent scientists, a grasp of both literacies is necessary to become an informed, empathetic scientist able to communicate to the public. The issue concludes with a literature review of space theory and spatial literacy in which Gray, Burel, Gallacci and Graser select resources that address the increased need for space to function in multiple interchangeable structures and dimensions.

Fresh ideas can impact our attitude toward change. We hope that the articles in this issue prompt discussions around emergent academic literacies and demonstrate that the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education is a challenge to adopt agile, responsive and relevant library services.