Media Literacy:
The Role of the School Library
St. Petersburg, 28 May 2013
Dr. Barbara Schultz-Jones
Director, School Library Program
May 28, 2013
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Media Literacy Defined
• Information competencies that imply:
• the capacity to identify when information
is needed,
• the competence and skill to locate,
evaluate and use information effectively.
• Comfort and skill with media to
accomplish those information needs
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Media Literacy Defined cont.
 Skills based definition:
 The ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and
create messages in a variety of forms
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Media Literacy - Access
 Acquiring access to a variety of media depends on
a wide range of opportunities and formats
 Age levels blurred
 Skills acquired informally
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Media Literacy - Analyze
 Being able to think critically about what’s being
presented
 As opposed to reacting
or responding
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Media Literacy - Evaluate
 Critically assess:
 The content,
 The purpose behind the message
 Understand the techniques used to create the
message
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Media Literacy - Create
Media literacy examines techniques that affect a
person’s perception and understanding of the content
being presented to them:
 Color
 Music
 Layout
 Motion
 Lighting
 Camera angles
 Similar techniques
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Role of the School Library
 Active learning environment where patrons engage in the type of
information use and expression common in their daily routines.
 Provide not only access to information but also direction for learning
how to become an active, engaged, expressive, and empowered media
user in everyday life.
 Work within the curriculum to establish a foundation for exploring
how a variety of media can develop habits of inquiry along 5
dimensions:
 Access
 Investigation
 Critical analysis
 Expression
 Appreciation
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School Library - Access
 Traditional access points for information in schools
 School libraries serve as de facto media hubs
 Students bring their own devices to school and use the
library as a learning commons to access information
 Cannot assume that because youth have grown up as
“digital natives” they have the skills to effectively
access information online.
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School Library - Investigation
 Teach not only how to navigate information in the
library itself, but also how to develop sound
exploration skills with the Internet and new media
technologies.
 Teach effective strategies for:
 Searching online databases,
 filtering through academic and nonacademic sources,
 tracing hyperlinks, differentiating blogs from news
sources, and general savvy for Web-based investigation,
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School Library – Critical Analysis


responsibility for teaching critical analysis of information
5 key questions for assessing information:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Who is the author and what is the purpose?
What techniques are used to attract attention?
What lifestyles, values, and points of views are represented?
How might different people interpret messages differently?
What is omitted from the message? (Hobbs 2007)
help students assess the essence of messages (content,
authorship, form, structure),
 judge credibility, bias, diversity, and
independence.
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School Library - Expression
 Understand how information is published, repurposed,
and distributed
 Perform and publish can create situations for reflecting
on how their conduct in face-to-face and online scenarios
is similar and different and the implications of each style
of expression.
 Learn about the potential and dangers
of expression online
 Construct new understandings of audience,
identity, and privacy
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School Library - Appreciation
 reflect a place where the relationship to information can be
modeled as an enriching experience
 evoke creative dispositions around information that cultivate an
appreciation for its powerful and necessary role in community
 help students see the benefit of being expressive and inquisitive
 public readings, music, art, poetry, and design
 encourage users to become active performers through
multimedia in their everyday lives
 instill an ethical framework for expression
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Ethical Framework
Four principles:
1. Ownership
2. Right to privacy
3. Social responsibility
4. Self-respect
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Summary
 Media literacy is based on creation as a core skill in media
competency
 Deconstructing a variety of messages in a variety of formats
provides the opportunity for experiencing the power of
media and ethics
 Constructing personal expressions
encourages responsibility
 Reinforcing the skills and attitudes they
acquire will encourage responsible action.
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Your Thoughts?
 Questions?
 Comments
 Surprises?
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Contact Information
Barbara Schultz-Jones, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Head School Library
Program
Department of Library and Information
Sciences
College of Information,
University of North Texas
Denton, TX 76203-5017
Barbara.Schultz-Jones@unt.edu
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References
Aufderheide, P., and C. M. Firestone. (1993). Media
literacy: A report of the National Leadership Conference
on Media Literacy. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Hobbs, R. (2007). Reading the media: Media literacy in
high school English. New York: Teachers College Press.