Articles

Elmborg, James. “Critical Information Literacy: Implications for Instructional Practice.” The Journal of Academic Librarianship 32.2 (2006): 192-199.

Elmborg argues that, as educators, librarians should focus less on information transfer and skills-based definitions of literacy and more on developing critical consciousness in students. This new model of information literacy would incorporate tenets of media and visual literacies, moving toward “an understanding of literacy as a culturally situated phenomenon based in the way communities construct meaning and belonging” (193).

Fister, Barbara. "The Devil in the Details: Media Representation of 'Ritual Abuse' and Evaluation of Sources." Simile 3.2 (2003).

Fister asserts that it is not enough to supply students with checklists to evaluate websites or book reviews to determine the value of a book. By examining a controversial issue in multiple mediums, Fister demonstrates the varied ways in which the issue is represented and discusses the particular drives behind the different publishing enterprises (book, newspaper and magazine, television, and government documents) in order to better understand those representations. Such exercises would begin to develop students’ own abilities to evaluate sources in the many forms they encounter. Thus she brings together the similar and mutually beneficial goals of media literacy and information literacy.

Frechette, Julie. “Cyber-Democracy or Cyber-Hegemony? Exploring the Political and Economic Structures of the Internet as an Alternative Source of Information.” Library Trends 53.4 (2005): 555-575.

Author contends that discourses fueling the development and implementation of filtering software for online content produce hegemonic consent in which we fail to see the incursion of advertising and marketing strategies aimed at young people. Moreover Frechette argues that filtering information does not prepare students to critically evaluate and make informed decisions.

Kellner, Douglas and Jeff Share. “Toward Critical Media Literacy: Core Concepts, Debates, Organizations, and Policy.” Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 26.3 (2005): 369-386.

The authors present a snapshot of the key concepts of critical media studies, present various forms of media literacy education, and connect the reader to national organizations in the U.S. engaged in media literacy education.

Kellner, Douglas and Jeff Share. "Critical Media Literacy Is Not An Option." Learning Inqiry 1.1 (2007): 59-69.

Kymes, Angel. “The Library Media Center: At the Center of Media Literacy Education.” Media Literacy: Transforming Curriculum and Teaching. Eds. Gretchen Schwarz and Pamela U. Brown. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2005. 275-278.

Written from the perspective of a school library-media specialist, Kymes reminds the reader that librarians have been encouraging students to locate and use various types of media for over a decade. Furthermore librarians have been teaching the effective use of information based on issues of currency, authority, and relevance, amongst others. Without invoking the term information literacy, Kymes nevertheless connects its tenets with those of media literacy.

Livingstone, Sonia. “Media Literacy and the Challenge of New Information and Communication Technologies.” The Communication Review 7.1 (2004): 3-14.

The author seeks to extend the concept of media literacy from a traditional application to print and television to account for the Internet and other new media. She first defines media literacy as the ability to access, analyse, evaluate and create messages across a variety of contexts and then applies these skills in relation to the Internet. Finally, she addresses outstanding issues regarding policy in the promotion of media literacy education.

Books

Baagdikian, Ben H. The New Media Monopoly: A Completely Revised and Updated Edition with Seven New Chapters. Boston: Beacon Press, 2004.

Berndt, Michael, and Amy Muse. Composing a Civic Life: A Rhetoric and Readings for Inquiry and Action. New York: Pearson Longman, 2004.

Branwyn, Gareth. Jamming the Media: A Citizen’s Guide, Reclaiming the Tools of Communication. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1997.

Briggs, Asa, and Peter Burke. A Social History of the Media: From Gutenberg to the Internet. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers Inc., 2002.

Compaine, Benjamin M., and Douglas Gomery. Who Owns the Media? Competition and Concentration in the Mass Media Insustry (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2000.

Couldry, Nick, and James Curran. Contesting Media Power: Alternative Media in a Networked World. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2003.

Frechette, Julie. Developing Media Literacy in Cyberspace: Pedagogy and Critical Learning for the Twenty-First-Century Classroom. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 2002.

Lambert, Joe. Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Community. Berkeley: Digital Diner Press, 2002.

Lasn, Kalle. Culture Jam: How to Reverse America’s Consumer Binge—And Why We Must. New York: HarperCollins, 2000.

McChesney, Robert. The Problem of the Media: U.S. Communication Politics in the 21st Century. New York: Monthly Press Review, 2004.

McChesney, Robert, Russell Newman, and Ben Scott. The Future of Media: Resistance and Reform in the 21st Century. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2005.

Semali, Ladislaus M. Literacy in Multimedia America: Integrating Media Education Across the Curriculum. New York: Falmer Press, 2000.

While this book targets the K-12 curriculum, Semali’s discussion of using students’ own media experiences as moments of teaching and learning connect with librarians’ work of providing the tools for informed judgment at the college-level as well. Especially pertinent for those directly involved with curriculum design or who teach credit-bearing library courses.