Critical Literacy for Information Professionals

Critical literacy is an important and highly relevant concept to hospital and health sciences librarians: the theory reflects the value our profession gives to informed, contex-tual, critical readings of the research literature; the importance of context in evidence-based practice ; and the inclusion and consideration of the patient's and family's social or cultural needs, values, and preferences. To wit, " the approach taken in critical literacy is not to read texts in isolation, but to develop an understanding of the cultural , ideological and sociolinguistic contexts in which they are created and read " (p. xi). Sarah McNicol has gathered the work of twelve international authors from a variety of institu-tions—public libraries, school libraries , four-year college or university libraries, and a private college—to discuss various aspects of critical literacy as it relates to librarianship. Among the librarian-authors, only one is a health sciences librarian. The book has seven theoretical chapters and seven practical case studies, and each individual chapter is referenced. In the back of the book are an index and bibliographies for further reading on critical pedagogy, critical literacy, libraries and critical literacy , teaching resources, practical resources to support the teaching of critical literacy using comics, and new literacies and new literacy studies. The greatest value for medical librarians is likely McNicol's introduction and some of the theoretical chapters. McNicol presents various definitions of critical literacy and makes clear that it is as much about power and position as about the functional cognitive ability to read critically. She admonishes readers in her first chapter to remember that " all texts are constructed and serve particular interests " (p. xi). It may feel, to some readers of this journal, that " critical literacy " is but an extension of " information literacy. " This is not entirely wrong, but it is a limited view. Jes-sica Critten's theoretical chapter relates critical literacy to information literacy and delves deeper into the discipline of critical theory. Human reverence for the written word requires that we remind ourselves to critically consider the authority of the author against the life experience and perspective of the reader and, in medicine, to find the balance between well-designed, rigorous studies and the specific context of a particular patient. A theoretical chapter on " Reading Health-Education Comics Critically: Challenging Power Relationships " is one example of " new literacies, " reminding readers that the format or delivery …