Project Information Literacy (PIL) is a nonprofit research institute that conducts national, ongoing scholarly studies on how early adults find and use information as they progress through, and beyond, their higher education years. We work in small teams (5-6 research practitioners) on large-scale studies using a collaborative research approach, mixed methods, and multi-institutional samples, drawn from U.S. four-year and community college and university campuses.

What we do: In the past decade, PIL has surveyed and interviewed nearly 21,000 U.S. college students and released 12 groundbreaking open access research reports that examine how they interact with information resources for school, for life, for work, and most recently, for engaging with the news. To learn more, read PIL’s FAQ or a summary of our key research findings.

What’s new? On April 5, 2022, we posted a Smart Talk interview with media scholars Whitney Phillips and Ryan M. Milner, “Thinking Ecologically about Our Polluted Information Networks.” In this interview, PIL’s Scholar in Residence, Barbara Fister talks with Whitney and Ryan about their recent book, You Are Here: A Field Guide for Navigating Polarized Speech, Conspiracy Theories, and Our Polluted Media Landscape, and the multi-faceted ways people express themselves online, and how the ambivalence of that expression can, and is, exploited.

>> On February 16, 2022, we released a new PIL Provocation Series essay, “Principled Uncertainty: Why Learning to Ask Good Questions Matters More than Finding Answers,” by Barbara Fister, PIL’s Scholar in Residence, who argues that the way librarians and educators introduce college students to research undermines the spirit of curiosity so desperately needed in today’s complex information environment. Read the Author’s Note on what inspired this essay. Sponsored by the Ohio State University Libraries.*

>> Check out our new Practical PIL teaching and learning idea, Making the Invisible Activity of Reading More Visible, from Deb Baker, Library Director at Manchester Community College, who used three PIL Provocation Series essays to develop a program for modeling critical reading at her institution.

New Releases


The PIL Provocation Series builds on a solid decade of PIL’s original research into students’ information practices in the digital age, our 2021 occasional Series offers new insights, drawing from scholarship and the flow of current events and explores what “literacy” means today in all of its manifestations.

February 16, 2022: Barbara Fister, “Principled Uncertainty: Why Learning to Ask Good Questions Matters More than Finding Answers,” exposes the limitations of college research assignments that constrain curiosity and reward a binary approach to assembling evidence. In a world where search technologies compete to provide the single, simple, and quickest answer, Fister asks how can we work on asking better, bigger, and more difficult questions with our students and ourselves? How can we address students’ anxieties and insecurities as we connect this scaffolding for inquiry not just for college, but in the world? Read the Author’s Note on what inspired this essay. Discussion group questions are here.

December 14, 2021: Mike Caulfield, “Information Literacy for Mortals,” claims that the teachers and librarians “have to understand that in the context of decision-making, simple can be good, less can be more, and the skills our students bring into the classroom may be a more valuable starting point than anything the traditional research process can provide. Author’s note: Why I wrote this essay. Discussion group questions are here.

August 11, 2021: Nicole A. Cooke, “Tell Me Sweet Little Lies: Racism as a Form of Persistent Malinformation,” asks “How can these deleterious and destructive forces of racist and racialized malinformation be eliminated? They need to be addressed and battled just as other societal ailments are, and critical cultural literacy can aid in this fight.” Author’s note: Why I wrote this essay. Discussion group questions are here.

June 9, 2021: Kirsten Hostetler, “The iSchool Equation,” asks “Are iSchools producing graduates who possess the teaching skills to tackle the growing problem of the spread of misinformation?” Author’s note: Why I wrote this essay. Discussion group questions are here. For the transcript and slides of the discussion between Dr. Hostetler and the University of Arizona’s Nicole Pagowsky on October 29th, visit “Learning to Teach in MLIS Programs: Research, Experiences, & Ways Forward.”

April 7, 2021: Alison Head, “Reading in the Age of Distrust,” asks “Are educators equipping college students with the critical reading skills they need for today?” Author’s note: Why I wrote this essay. Discussion group questions are here. Read PIL’s interview with Jenae Cohen on deep reading.

Feb. 3, 2021: Barbara Fister, “Lizard People in the Library,” asks “How have conspiracy theorists managed to seize the banner of ‘research it yourself’ from the classroom?” Author’s note: Why I wrote this essay. Discussion group questions are here. Swedish translation now available.

“Become a PIL Provocation Series Champion” and share our essays, build conversations with your colleagues, or learn how to host a virtual chat with one of our authors on your campus.

PIL at a Glance

Inception: 2008

Director: Dr. Alison J. Head

Team: Learn about the PIL Research Team

Purpose: PIL is a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit institute that conducts ongoing, scholarly research about how college students conceptualize and carry out information tasks in the digital age.

Volunteer Sample: See the 265+ community colleges, public colleges and universities, and private colleges and universities in the U.S. that have already joined. Read the FAQ about how your institution can join the sample.

Support for PIL research efforts has included:

  • Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL)
  • Berkman-Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard
  • Electronic Resources & Libraries (ER&L)
  • Harvard Graduate School of Education
  • The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)
  • John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
  • John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
  • Alfred H. Sloan Foundation
  • School of Library and Information Science at the University of South Carolina
  • University of Washington iSchool
  • Cengage Learning
  • ProQuest

Recent Publications

“Covid-19: The First 100 days of U.S. News Coverage”: PIL’s two-part series examines the shape and flow of the coronavirus story across time and digital spaces, and its visual representation, based on a large sample of stories from widely read U.S. news websites. The series, released in September 2020, includes discussion prompts and activity-based exercises for improving news and visual literacy that are suitable for virtual or in-person learning.

“Information Literacy in the Age of Algorithms”: In this January 2020 report from a yearlong study, we report on students and their awareness and concerns about algorithmic-driven platforms that shape and influence news and information they receive. Authors: Alison J. Head, Barbara Fister, and Margy MacMillan, with research supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Harvard Graduate School of Education, ER&L, a leading library conference, and the School of Library and Information Science at the University of South Carolina. Winner of ACRL’s Ilene F. Rockman Instruction Publication of the Year Award, 2021.

“Across the Great Divide: How Today’s College Students Engage with News”: This lead article from the PIL Team in the August 2019 First Monday issue asks: How can college students and young voters be prepared with the information skills they need to assess news quality and credibility of the information found online and in print as the threats of “fake news,” propaganda, and bias multiply and intensify? Opportunities and strategies are identified for preparing students to gather and evaluate credible news sources, first as students and then as lifelong learners. Authors: Alison J. Head, Erica DeFrain, Barbara Fister, and Margy MacMillan.

“How Students Engage with News”: In this October 2018 report from a yearlong study, we report on students and their news engagement practices. Authors: Alison J. Head, John Wihbey, Takis Metaxas, Margy MacMillan and Dan Cohen, with research supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Association of College and Research Libraries, and Harvard Graduate School of Education.