Visual Literacy for Libraries: A Practical, Standards-Based Guide

The importance of images and visual media in today's culture is changing what it means to be literate in the 21st century. Digital technologies have made it possible for almost anyone to create and share visual media. Yet the pervasiveness of images and visual media does not necessarily mean that individuals are able to critically view, use, and produce visual content. The ACRL Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education were developed to address these distinct characteristics of images and visual media. Based on those standards, this book provides librarians and instructors with the tools, strategies, and confidence to apply visual literacy in a library context. Readers will not only learn about ways to develop students' visual literacy, but also how to use visual materials to make their instruction more engaging. Ideal for the busy librarian who needs ideas, activities, and teaching strategies that are ready to implement, this book shows how to challenge students to delve into finding images, using images in the research process, interpreting and analyzing images, creating visual communications, and using visual content ethically; provides ready-to-go learning activities for engaging critically with visual materials; offers tools and techniques for increasing one's own visual literacy confidence; and gives strategies for integrating, engaging with and advocating for visual literacy in libraries. With this book's guidance, academic professionals can help students master visual literacy, a key competency in today's media-saturated world, while also enlivening instruction with visual materials.