Information Literacy and Metaphor

Guest blog by Andrew K. Shenton

I am delighted to share this guest blog by Andrew, now a retired School Librarian with years of research in his toolbox. In April 2014, he was awarded a DLitt by Northumbria University and became the first person to receive four degrees from the institution. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals and a prolific writer. His last book - "Facilitating Effective Sixth Form Independent Learning" - was published in November 2021. 

Metaphor is a powerful tool for school librarians intent on cultivating information literacy (IL). The acronym representing one of the most popular models for promoting IL – FOSIL – is itself something of a metaphor. As Darryl Toerien points out, the name brings to mind the discipline of archaeology, which “is a helpful way to think about inquiry”. In addition, he comments how the word, FOSIL, warns against complacency by implying that a framework for learning must remain responsive to changing circumstances (1). The most effective metaphors stay in the memory of students, enhance understanding by capitalising on the youngster’s existing knowledge of a familiar situation and simplify a more complex concept, without being too simplistic.

It is not hard to identify individual metaphors which have gained general acceptance, so much so that their metaphorical basis is easily forgotten. Several evoke transport or travel. “Navigating” the information environment is a recurrent theme and, although it is now seldom heard, the “Information Superhighway” was often discussed in the 1990s. Today, we are of course much more likely to hear references to “the Web”. One metaphor has come to replace another.

Metaphors associated with the Internet can be seen as attempts to give undemanding and never-to-be-forgotten names to sophisticated technologies; elsewhere parallels with familiar technologies introduce and summarise a set of disparate matters. In grouping the issues to be considered in a first stage of action within research under the heading, “tuning in”, the Inquiry Cycle delineated by Carol A. Gordon alludes to locating a desired station on an analogue radio (2). “Tuning in” is essentially equivalent to the “connect” and “wonder” dimensions of FOSIL. In the Primary Information Literacy Process Model, again a generic term is adopted to embrace a multitude of ideas; here a later phase in inquiry – i.e. finding material – is equated with the everyday gardening task of digging (3). This is aligned to FOSIL’s “investigate” element. Seeing such metaphors can prompt us to develop our own.

We may also be able to present key ideas as pictorial metaphors. There are significant precedents for doing so. In SCONUL’s “Seven Pillars” Model, the key skills have been shown as columns of a building with a temple-like appearance (4). Sometimes an existing metaphorical structure can be repurposed to convey matters more relevant to us. I, myself, have adapted the Johari Window diagram commonly cited in managerial/organisational contexts, recasting it to help Sixth Formers organise their reflections on the effectiveness of their work for an independent learning project (5). I have drawn, too, on Ross Todd’s Theory of Information Intents to enable EPQ candidates to understand the different ways that a particular source has been beneficial to them in an assignment. Todd unites five separate yet related picture-oriented analogies. In pursuing information, the individual may be seeking “a complete picture”, “a changed picture”, “a clearer picture”, “a verified picture” or “a position within a picture” (6).

Some older students formulate their own metaphorical models and a few can usefully be shared with others. My PhD work brought to light the perspective of one seventeen-year-old who viewed each essay writing assignment as a “dynamic jigsaw puzzle”. The task was dynamic in that its particulars were constantly shifting while he progressed in his search for material and the understanding he was constructing. It was jigsaw-like because a major requirement lay in making the information fit together to form a coherent whole in his essay. There are obvious similarities between the student’s perception of information as jigsaw pieces and the observation reported by Amanda Spink and Charles Cole that “bricks” of information can be placed by readers in their own documents (7).

Despite their considerable attractions, metaphors must be used with caution, by school librarians and students alike. The comparisons they evoke need to be valid in the sense of being able to withstand scrutiny and their application to establish an argument, rather than merely, say, illustrate key characteristics of a phenomenon, is questionable at best.

References

1)   Toerien, D. (Re)purposing the school library. School Libraries in View, 44, 2018, pp. 4-8.

2)   Gordon, C. Thinking through the inquiry cycle for young learners. Synergy, 10 (1), 2012. URL: https://slav.vic.edu.au/index.php/Synergy/article/view/v10120129/239

3)   Primary Information Literacy Process Model. URL: http://www.bcps.org/offices/lis/models/tips/elem/index.html (accessed 30 March 2017).

4)   See, for example: Lewis, M. University libraries in the UK data curation landscape. Presentation delivered at 4th International Digital Curation Conference, Edinburgh, 3rd December 2008.

5)   Shenton, A.K. and Shenton, K. How students can be taught to reflect on their own work – using a business management tool. Teaching Times, 17 October 2021. URL: https://www.teachingtimes.com/how-students-can-be-taught-to-reflect-on-their-own-work-using-a-business-management-tool/

6)   Todd, R.J. Information intents. In: Fisher, K.E., Erdelez, S. and McKechnie, E.F. (eds) Theories of Information Behavior. Information Today, 2006, pp. 198-203.

7) Spink, A. and Cole, C. (eds) New Directions in Human Information Behavior. Springer, 2006.