That Was Then, This Is Wow: A Case for Critical Information Literacy Across the Curriculum

Abstract

This article applies a writing across the curriculum approach to critical library instruction. The information landscape has drastically shifted over the past ten years, altering the ways we perform, interact with, access, and understand research. These changes call for critical library instruction programs that are more robust and sustained than the oneor two-shot critical library instruction lesson I had described in 2010. However, college classroom practices, due to a variety of challenges, have been slow to adapt to this need. In this article written from my perspective as an English teacher, I identify the central place of critical information literacy (CIL) in higher education, aligning it with calls for a new educational approach for the 21st century. As one possible way forward, I draw on insights from writing across the curriculum to recommend a collaborative critical information literacy across the curriculum model that would provide students with sustained and increasingly advanced exposure to CIL throughout their undergraduate years.