ALA Framework

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Framework created by the ALA

Authority is Constructed and Contextual

1. Authority is constructed by systems, so learners need to respect the expertise that it represents while remaining skeptical of the systems that elevated it.
2. Authority is contextual, since different communities may recognize different types. The information need may also help determine the level/type of authority required.
3. Disciplines have acknowledged authorities in the form of well-known scholars and publications considered "standard", but some scholars may still challenge them.
4. Acknowledge that they are developing their own authority and recognize the responsibilities that entails.

Information Creation as a Process

1. Information is always produced to convey a message and is shared via a selected delivery method
2. Information packaged in different formats may be perceived and valued differently, especially within different contexts (workplace vs academia). Format isn't dictated by the creation process, but can be changed based on need
3. Elements that reflect on information creation process, such as peer-review, may be indicators of quality. Exports look to the process of creation as well as the product to evaluate usefulness of information.

Information Has Value

1. Society accepts that information has many types of value: as a commodity, a means of education, a means of influence, and a means of understanding and negotiating with the world.
2. Legal and socioeconomic interests influence information production and dissemination. Information's value may be wielded by powerful interests in ways that marginalize certain voices.
3. Intellectual property is a legal and social construct that varies by culture.
4. Individuals are responsible for making deliberate and informed choices about when to comply with or contest current practices concerning the value of information (intellectual property law, copyright, public domain, etc.)

Research as Inquiry

1. Research is iterative and depends upon asking increasingly complex or new questions, whose answers open up more questions
2. Ambiguity and points of disagreement can benefit the research process, as debate and dialogue work to deepen the conversations
3. Learners gather various research skills: Assessing gathered information for gaps/weaknesses, organizing information usefully, synthesizing ideas from multiple sources, drawing reasonable conclusions based on interpretation of information

Scholarship as Conversation

1. Scholars engage in sustained discourse with new insights and discoveries occurring over time
2. Issues may be characterized by several competing perspectives in ongoing conversations in which information creators and users together create meaning.
3. Providing attribution to relevant previous research is an obligation of participation in the conversation.

Searching as Strategic Exploration

1. Searching for information is often nonlinear and iterative, and requires mental flexibility to pursue alternate avenues as new understanding develops.
2. Searching is a complex process that is affected by the cognitive, affective, and social dimensions of the searcher