Active learning forms a common teaching method within information literacy instruction. Commitment to participatory models of teaching and learning requires critical vigilance, however, particularly given changing information environments and broader educational priorities. This theoretical paper interrogates active learning and its prevalence within library instruction. Literature from library and information science (LIS), education, educational technology, and development studies is used to consider active learning in relation to self-protective information behaviors, the performance of learning, nonparticipatory and resistant activity, technological risk, and questions of inclusion. This discussion invites readers to acknowledge the complexity inherent in adopting active learning for contemporary settings.