Re-envisioning Information Literacy: Critical Information Literacy, Disciplinary Discourses, and Music History

Abstract

As educators, we recognize that it can be challenging to translate the research methods we learned in graduate school to our contemporary students, who are accustomed to the constantly shifting information buffet provided by sites such as Wikipedia, YouTube, SoundCloud, and the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP). Students can struggle with the transition from an almost exclusive reliance on Google to the complex information environment, both print and online, that the typical university library provides and can be overwhelmed by the volume and variety of information they encounter. Our students also operate in an online environment that is politicized, monetized, and surveilled and we are only just beginning to understand the implications of this new environment. In light of these changes in the information landscape, this article introduces critical information literacy, a recent movement drawing upon critical theory and critical pedagogy, as a new approach for introducing discipline-specific research skills in the music history classroom.