Advocates of critical literacy emphasize the empowering role that literacy can and should play in reshaping the environment in which one lives and works. Through mastering the skills of critical literacy, students apply the inquiry process and knowledge gained as a means for political or social action. By gathering appropriate information, organizing, and defining specific objectives, literacy serves as a method to change the status quo. More than an academic exercise, critical literacy is not complete unless change is proposed, contested, debated, and ultimately determined by the power of evidence and argument. Information resource professionals, such as school media specialists, must understand the goals of critical literacy and judicial inquiry if they are to collaborate effectively with teachers who want to promote critical thinking. Social action learning is often a direct result of an increase in both student and teacher abilities to exercise critical literacy (Lewis, Espeland and Pernu 1998). The school media center can serve as a clearinghouse for such projects with information on social organizations and contacts nationally as well as locally. Student projects that demonstrate application of information to make a difference in their own school or community can be tangible artifacts that show how debate, planning and application of critical knowledge are authentic learning experiences (Shor and Pari 1999).