Social media environments and online communities are innovative collaborative technologies that challenge traditional definitions of information literacy. Metaliteracy is an overarching and self-referential framework that integrates emerging technologies and unifies multiple literacy types. This redefinition of information literacy expands the scope of generally understood information competencies and places a particular emphasis on producing and sharing information in participatory digital environments.he emergence of social media and collaborative online communities requires a reframing of information literacy as a metaliteracy that supports multiple literacy types. Social media environments are transient, collaborative, and free-flowing, requiring a comprehensive understanding of information to critically evaluate, share, and produce content in multiple forms. Within this context, information is not a static object that is simply accessed and retrieved. It is a dynamic entity that is produced and shared collaboratively with such innovative Web 2.0 technologies as Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, Second Life, and YouTube. Several competing concepts of literacy have emerged including digital literacy, media literacy, visual literacy, and information technology fluency, but there is a need for a comprehensive framework based on essential information proficiencies and knowledge. New media literacy and transliteracy have also responded to the rapid and ongoing changes in technology. As part of a metaliteracy reframing, we argue that producing and sharing information are critical activities in participatory Web 2.0 environments. Information literacy is central to this redefinition because information takes many forms online and is produced and communicated through multiple modalities. Information literacy is more significant now than it ever was, but it must be connected to related literacy types that address ongoing shifts in technology.Through this overarching approach to information literacy, we examine the term within a new media environment. Metaliteracy promotes critical thinking and collaboration in a digital age, providing a comprehensive framework to effectively participate in social media and online communities. It is a unified construct that supports the acquisition, production, and sharing of knowledge in collaborative online communities. Metaliteracy challenges traditional skills-based approaches to information literacy by recognizing related crl-76r1

Metaliteracy is envisioned as a comprehensive model for information literacy to advance critical thinking and reflection in social media, open learning settings, and online communities. At this critical time in higher education, an expansion of the original definition of information literacy is required to include the interactive production and sharing of original and repurposed digital materials. Metaliteracy provides an overarching and unifying framework that builds on the core information literacy competencies while addressing the revolutionary changes in how learners communicate, create, and distribute information in participatory environments. Central to the metaliteracy model is a metacognitive component that encourages learners to continuously reflect on their own thinking and literacy development in these fluid and networked spaces. This approach leads to expanded competencies for adapting to the ongoing changes in emerging technologies and for advancing critical thinking and empowerment for producing, connecting, and distributing information as independent and collaborative learners. 84 REFLECTING ON THE STANDARDS [ARTICLE]Jacobson and Mackey: Proposing a Metaliteracy Model to Redefine Information Literacy

First-year experience (FYE) programs offer librarians opportunities to teach new students in a comprehensive fashion. However, large FYE programs can place demands on user education programs that are dif ficult to meet. Instruction librarians at the University at Albany sought to address this dilemma by developing a Web-based instructional module for one class session. The module was used by a segment of students in the Project Renaissance FYE program, whereas another segment re ceived instruction by a librarian. The effectiveness of the two instruc tional methods was compared using pre-and post-tests, and was found to be equal. Analysis of the test scores also showed that instruction, regardless of format, makes a significant difference (p < .05) in the num ber of correct test answers.he User Education Program at the University Library, Univer sity at Albany, SUNY, has worked with and supported the university's curriculum in a variety of ways over the past two decades. Dur ing most of the 1980s, librarians were able to teach all students who took a required English 100 course, but when that course was eliminated during the 1987-1988 aca demic year, the program had to redefine itself and its role. The beginning of the 1990s was a time of great change in elec tronic resources. CD-ROMs were new and attractive to users, and provided a novel approach for reaching patrons. To help students learn how to use new elec tronic resources effectively, an electronic information class program was initiated, following the model developed at the University of Texas-Austin. To keep pace with the technological developments of the 1990s, these classes have coexisted with course-related instruction and have provided an opportunity to reach stu dents who did not come to the library with their classes. Although course-re

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