For academic librarians, more resources, particularly information resources, should cause them to question how they should improve the teaching of information skills. Librarians mustn’t see the changes as a threat to established working practices, but as an opportunity for more in-depth, cross-curricular, and more appropriate training that will be reflected in the services provided to faculty, researchers, and students in higher education to adequately meet academic needs. The present work is based on the premise that a collaborative effort must be made to benefit from international examples. To this end, librarians should be aware of what is happening in the professional world, particularly regarding pedagogical guidance for the application of information literacy (IL). These documents can prepare librarians for the necessary updating of skills, supporting innovation, and the achievement of best practices. They can then, in the national context, identify which strategies will be most appropriate for developing recommendations, programmes and training. Several strategies have been followed at the international level, either in professional forums, such as the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), or through the documents that are put out for public consultation, for example, user education librarians hosted a teaching circle designed to get librarians reading, talking, and discussing the ACRL Framework (Association of College & Research Libraries L, 2016), as previously explored in several studies (Berg, 2020; Julien et al., 2020).

In the case of Portugal, it has been important to discuss national intervention strategies within the national association of information professionals (Associação Portuguesa de Bibliotecários, Arquivistas e Profissionais da Informação e Documentação – BAD). At the beginning of 2020, the Working Group for Academic Libraries (GT-BES) published the Recommendations for Academic Libraries 2020–2022 (Príncipe et al., 2020). The first recommendation, integrated into the teaching and learning dimension, refers to the importance of strengthening skills in IL and advocates the strengthening of IL skills aligned with users’ needs, the establishing of training strategies for diversified audiences using varied formats and channels, the offer of quality training programs that include integrative approaches, the definition of learning objectives and also to plan using international standard references. This paper aims to systematise the evolution of concepts and practices in IL academic guidelines at the international level and explain their application to the recommendations of academic libraries in Portugal.

The understanding of the multiple ways in which knowledge about IL has circulated across the world has already been the subject of reflection. Examples of this are longitudinal studies (Kolle, 2017; Lau et al., 2013; Pinto et al., 2019; Virkus, 2013) demonstrating how IL research has been diversifying topics of interest and penetrating higher education worldwide. The results of one study (Onyancha, 2020) revealed that IL has evolved from being a library and/or librarianship-oriented concept to a multidisciplinary field and is no longer restricted to social sciences, but is spread across 27 disciplines, confirming a broad spectrum of activity. Another study (Horton Jr., 2016) referred to the importance of the circulation of knowledge in IL, not only through scientific publications but also through education and training, professional associations, large conferences, small meetings, workshops, seminars and webinars, national and local government laws, regulations and policies, best practices, and personal experiences.

At the same time, the discussion of terminology in IL has also been the subject of debate. In their study, Pinto et al. (2010) discussed a terminological, conceptual, and statistical analysis of the main subjects related to IL, as well as its evolution over the last 30 years. They illustrated how IL has been progressively incorporated into the library and academic fields. Gasque (2013) delved into the conceptual theme, detailing the subjects of informational skill, informational competence, IL, and reflecting on the difficulties of stabilising the vocabulary. The topic is relatively new and, therefore, has prompted terminological discussions, especially concerning the translation of concepts from English into Portuguese.

Bruce (2004) developed the argument that three topics should be considered in an educational change context involving IL – policies, professional development and curriculum, and argued that for the success of an IL program there is a need to combine these three factors. In terms of policies, it is essential to ensure that there is a vision of IL as a strategic vector for academic development (Corrall, 2008; Kyrychok et al., 2021; Webber & Johnston, 2014). Regarding professional development, librarians must invest in their qualifications, particularly their teaching skills. As for the curriculum, an effort is needed to clarify how IL can contribute across the board to improve it, and that can be applied to different subject areas.

Based on this assumption, it is legitimate to consider that the guiding documents for teaching IL answer these premises, although other more comprehensive documents, in the political scope, may also be important (Dudziak, 2016). They provide librarians with the conditions to be policy agents, to develop professionally, as they instigate best practices, and promote the necessary curricular changes in the design of programs for teaching IL. Thus, they function as axes of professional discourse around IL and stabilisers of terminology and conceptual understanding.

Several authors have dedicated themselves to studying and proposing models that adapt to different realities, including Rockman (2004), who referred to successful training experiences in higher education, a South African example at a university in Pretoria (De Boer et al., 2012), or in Portugal (Andrade, 2016; Lopes, 2016).

Articles from several Brazilian authors (Alves & Alcará, 2014; Spudeit, 2016) stood out for their pertinence, dealing with IL models and their applications in an academic context, and which report experiences carried out in different universities and countries. Internationally, several models are important for the conceptualisation and definition of the IL terminology: the Big 6 Skills models (Eisenberg & Berkowitz, 1990, 1999), Marland’s Nine Steps (Marland, 1981), the PLUS model (Herring et al., 2002), or Guided Inquiry (Kuhlthau et al., 2007).

For this paper, it is important to make a current observation of the evidence based on international documents considered as references for academic librarians who teach IL. While not all librarians feel comfortable in the role of a teacher (Wheeler & McKinney, 2015), the pedagogic role of academic libraries is recognised as an essential feature of the organisational mission and must move from emergent practice to best practice (Walter, 2006). This idea, subsequently defended by Belluzzo and Feres (2013), assumes that information competence is an important worldwide movement to promote knowledge and its application, providing opportunities for citizens to assert themselves and contributing to the development of society (Basili, 2021; Landøy et al., 2020; Thomas, 2018).

The results list the main documents, presented in chronological order, as well as the organisations, bodies, or producer associations, associating each of them with the countries of origin (Table 1). A more detailed analysis of each of the documents in question is then carried out, which includes the chosen terminology and the main concepts from each of the documents highlighted.

Throughout this analysis, it is possible to understand not a radical cut between each publication, but a gradual evolution, which often overlaps, repeats or deepens conceptual relationships associated with IL. This evolutionary vision allows us to understand that international documents use each other, citing each other (Faulkner & Ford-Baxter, 2021, Taşkın et al., 2013), in a growing process of improvement, using recognised terminology, disseminating, and consolidating the theoretical framework that is not fixed, but rather fluid and engaging. Thus, it is confirmed that in the scientific and professional community there is an asynchronous dialogue established through reference documents, but also through the articles that study them and the conferences, meetings, training, and other events that echo these recommendations.

Considering the international context, it is important that in Portugal the academic libraries also reflect their concrete reality so that they can prepare themselves and act in an adequate and meaningful way within their academic communities.

In recent years, the GT-BES has been asserting itself on several work fronts, which sought to align strategies, develop projects, and implement working tools, contributing to the affirmation of libraries and professionals. One of the initiatives was the creation and dissemination of the Portuguese Recommendations for Academic Libraries in 2016 (Sanches & Costa, 2017). At that time, the document was disseminated among BAD members, librarians, leaders of academic institutions, and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. The discussion and drafting of the Portuguese Recommendations for Academic Libraries have been an act of social and professional intervention, which aims to put this issue on the political agenda and derives precisely from the professional needs expressed by stakeholders. Three years after the publication and large-scale dissemination of the guideline document from 2016, ‘Recommendations for Higher Education Libraries’, a study was carried out to understand the extent to which that document has been adopted by librarians and how practices and experiences have been introduced in Portuguese academic libraries (Sanches et al., 2020).

A non-exhaustive literature review shows that there are common concerns globally, which several organisations are trying to answer. These organisations have been debating the future of academic libraries, which include university and polytechnic libraries and research centers. Examples are Denmark’s Electronic Research Library in Denmark (Denmark’s Electronic Research Library, 2019), the Council on Library and Information Resources in the United States (CLIR, 2008), the Research Information Network, and the Consortium of Research Libraries in the United Kingdom (Brown & Swan, 2007) and Ireland (Research Libraries UK, 2014), as well as several individuals and collective researchers (Eden, 2015; Sanches, 2018; Shorley & Jubb, 2013). In all these papers, the issues focus on the need for libraries to adapt to the change emerging in higher education, in technologies, and in ways of communicating and sharing information.

It is within this fluid context that librarians – in the partnerships they foster, in responding to the different needs of users, in the management of information systems, in engaging with new forms of publishing and growth of open access, and in everything involving the management and dissemination of scientific and scholarly knowledge – need to develop IL programmes that remain both relevant and critical.

Considering the growing need to take on the construction of public policies in libraries, particularly of academic institutions, the presentation of the Recommendations for Academic Libraries was fundamental. The wide dissemination of normative documents and guidelines that guide IL programmes and the construction of good practices can and should be done through incentives to leadership that drive change and promote joint actions. However, it is also essential to anticipate what actions and consequences can be envisioned. We know that libraries are largely dedicated to supporting students in their learning journey, but also to teachers in their teaching and research functions. The Recommendations in the first strategic dimension present a common subject across the board, based on strategies for learning. In higher education, it is understood that learning is not feasible without IL, that is, without the development of transversal skills that allow students to apply their knowledge. It means that both students and the academic community should seek to mobilise themselves to make the student experience more meaningful and, in parallel, seek to bring together the best curricular content, pedagogical methods, technologies, and activities to provide the best possible learning experience (Julien et al., 2020; Sanches, 2016).

The importance of investing in the context-specific training programmes, targeted to specific groups of users, is emphasised, using international guidelines that show how these concepts can be applied. Based on these references, namely the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (Association of College & Research Libraries, 2016), three keywords are highlighted that can be worked on: concepts, dispositions to act, and attitudes. These expressions will be interconnected in the three recommendations of the dimension Teaching and Learning Support. We work with a target audience, academic students, who must first of all master disciplinary subjects and are dedicated to studying concepts without which they cannot operationalise knowledge. Then, dispositions for action are connected to the way students themselves see their competencies in a field of knowledge and develop them. Finally, attitudes, for example, curiosity, resilience, learning by doing, are strategies to empower our audience for IL.

As academic librarians, we should prioritise the establishment of training for our users (mainly students), developing abilities in search and to use the information in an appropriate and meaningful way in their academic career. It also becomes evident, in a digital context, that there is a need to develop digital fluency and practice ethical use of information, given that digital fluency is also based on a characteristic linked to information, its interpretation, and its good use. If we are not able to use a browser or conduct an effective Internet search, our digital fluency may be compromised. Digital fluency also implies knowing how to surf the Internet safely, knowing what privacy is, knowing how to respect the authorship and all the implications that these issues involve. In times that are becoming increasingly digital, the development of digital fluency is critical – whether we are participating in online meetings, mastering email, exhibiting online ethical practice and appropriate etiquette or knowing how to critically interpret information and distinguish fake news. These are conditions that also enable safe and confident mobility in these media. As for the dynamisation of spaces for learning, experimentation, and knowledge creation, the focus is on active learning, and how we can enhance it, that is, how users discover, use and experiment with information and resources to create new knowledge. They have to know how to access information, how to use it in a competent, appropriate and meaningful way to support the creation of reliable new knowledge.

Examples for training can be based on the documents issued by the Joint Task Force on Competencies for Librarians in Support of E-Research and Academic Communication1, which brought together representatives from the Research Library Association (RLA), the Canadian Research Library Association (CARL), the European Research Library Association (LIBER), and the Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR) (Calarco et al., 2016; Schmidt & Shearer, 2016a, 2016b). Here we can acknowledge the competency profiles that professionals must develop: from source management to supporting new functions, specifically in the areas of academic communication and research in the digital age. Explicit in their general objectives, these profiles will enable library managers to identify skills gaps in their institution. They can form the basis of job descriptions, enable professionals to carry out self-assessments, and act as a foundation for the development of training programmes for librarians and library professionals.

In summary, this reinforcement of IL skills, in multiple formats, will also promote digital fluency, allowing us to frame our offer of services, spaces, and resources, channelling it towards effective knowledge creation.

Attentive and better-qualified professionals enhance their performance, bringing advantages to the institutions of which they are part and to the users with whom they deal. Institutions, teachers, and students benefit from investment in knowledge and learning for their library staff. This investment results in greater expertise and professional competence in the service, better answers to the reference questions, the more effective management of collections, spaces, human resources and information, improved teaching skills, and the ability to support institutional research in several aspects. This means knowing in-depth information resources, terminologies, methods, and professional practices, to respond adequately to each request, in addition to a permanent update of transversal skills for all documentation and information professionals. It also demonstrates a visible adaptation to the demands of the Open Science movement and an understanding of its implications. The consequences of improving librarians’ skills, which imply keeping abreast of current trends and latest recommendations for the sector, include tangible benefits for reducing costs, optimising resources for the management of libraries, improved management of knowledge, collections, and information, increasing students’ academic success, improving teaching support and enhancing the conditions for the production and projection of research. These results should be motivating factors for academic institutions in their commitment to providing conditions for the initial training of librarians, but also for the professionals themselves, who must constantly seek to update them. Studies like this should be pursued to contribute to the visibility and influence of librarians, but also accountability and commitment to the profession and its impact on higher education.