Thoughts About Teaching Critical Information Literacy

From Latia Ward:

To prepare for their future work, law students should learn how to search effectively within subscription and open access databases and how to evaluate critically the information found. ABA Standard 302(b) requires law schools to establish learning outcomes that include competency in legal research. Competency in legal research includes being able to find materials in a variety of formats from a variety of sources and the ability to evaluate that information. The American Association of Law Libraries has established Principles & Standards for Legal Research Competency. While all the Principles & Standards are relevant for teaching legal research, this post highlights two: “Principle II:  A Successful Legal Researcher Gathers Information Through Effective and Efficient Research Strategies” and “Principle III: A Successful Legal Researcher Critically Evaluates Information.” 

With regard to Principle II, there are many efficient research strategies, however, I will highlight three that are designed to facilitate searches that yield more information and are not hampered by algorithms: 

1. Search several databases (because content in one database is not always identical to content in another). 

2. Think about how the legal issue you are researching may be like another legal issue. See if the way to handle that other legal issue can apply to the issue you are researching. 

3. Review the West Key Numbers or topics and ask if you can describe the concepts using different words. If so, what words? 

Once the results of searchers are obtained, critically evaluate the results (Principle III). Critical evaluation includes asking questions. While there are many questions to ask about search results, one question to ask is, “Who is the intended audience for this information?” This and other questions are discussed by Safiya Noble, in her book Algorithms of Oppression. A more detailed discussion of critical information literacy’s importance within legal research is available in the blog post entitled Thoughts on Teaching Critical Information Literacy and Teaching Outside the Box at the RIPS Law Librarian Blog.