Teaching Information Literacy through Short Stories. By David J. Brier and Vickery Kaye Lebbin. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2016. 109 pages. Paper $35.00 (ISBN 978-1-4422-5545-6).

The ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, adopted in 2016, “encourages information literacy librarians to be imaginative and innovative in implementing the Framework in their institutions” (ACRL Framework, appendix 1). In this spirit, authors Brier and Lebbin have collected eighteen very short stories—typically one to three pages in length—whose themes raise questions concerning the nature of authority, the process of searching, and the creation and value of information. Following each story, the authors add discussion questions designed to initiate philosophical conversations among librarians, instructors, and students about significant topics in information literacy.

Originally published in various venues between 1937 and 2010, these stories are sure to provoke dialogue and debate among students. Many of the stories could be characterized as science fiction or speculative fiction, examining “what if” questions and carrying scenarios to logical but extreme conclusions. For instance, “The People Who Owned the Bible,” by Will Shetterly, uses both humor and rational argument to explore the question “what would happen if someone could copyright Shakespeare’s works or the Bible?” The conclusion: “Everyone was content, except for the storytellers who had to buy a Disney license to prove that their work did not owe anything to any story that had ever been part of human civilization” (49). It is easy to imagine this story prompting a lively exchange in the classroom regarding the limits of commercial ownership and the right to creative reuse of information. Another story, “Renaissance Man,” by T. E. D. Klein, explores the question of what it means to be an “authority.” Physicists have managed to arrange a six-hour visit from a person who lives hundreds of years in the future. Because they hope to gain advanced scientific knowledge, the physicists are jubilant to learn that the visitor is a scientist rather than “a college freshman . . . or a scrubwoman . . . or a tourist” (4). But when they ask him questions such as “how did you cure cancer?” and “how do your weapons work?” the scientist can only reply, “I don’t know . . . it’s just not my field” (7). In the end, the physicists are disappointed, concluding that “this guy doesn’t know anything about anything” (8).

This book provides a fresh and creative approach to information literacy instruction. Because the stories are so short, it should prove feasible to use them even in one-shot sessions without requiring students to read them in advance. Moreover, the stories are interesting and memorable and are likely to enhance students’ engagement in information literacy. However, the book’s greatest advantage may be that it provides a new, unique, and enjoyable method for instruction librarians who wish to present a new twist on their usual material.—Karen Antell, Public Services Librarian, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma