The ACRL Framework successes and challenges since 2016: A survey

The Association of College and Research Libraries Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education has replaced the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education since 2016. The survey revealed how college and university librarians throughout the U.S. apply the Framework in their Information Literacy instruction, what barriers they encounter in applying the Framework, the lessons they have learned, and if they assess students' learning outcomes with the Framework. The findings indicate that other than course assignments, the Framework is librarians' most used document for their instruction. Despite the time constraints of the one-shot IL sessions, most surveyed librarians have adopted some Framework concepts in their instruction and have also managed to conduct assessment of student learning outcomes. Challenges still exist and librarians can benefit from more training to better communicate the Framework concepts to their constituents and to integrate the Framework in their instruction. This study depicts the status quo on the implementation of the ACRLFramework in the U.S. libraries from 2016 to 2020.