Information literacy as a socially enacted practice. Sensitising themes for an emerging perspective of people‐in‐practice
| Published date | 12 October 2012 |
| Date | 12 October 2012 |
| Pages | 772-783 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/00220411211277037 |
| Author | Annemaree Lloyd |
Information literacy as a socially
enacted practice
Sensitising themes for an emerging
perspective of people-in-practice
Annemaree Lloyd
School of Information Studies, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, Australia
Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to introduce a “people-in-practice” perspective which brings together
previous theorisations of information literacy landscapes and practice. This perspective provides the
framework to analyse the complex practice of information literacy from a sociocultural perspective.
This perspective represents a shift in focus towards information literacy as a socially enacted practice,
and away from the information skills approach that has dominated information literacy research and
education.
Design/methodology/approach – The empirical data that informs this work is drawn from a
series of studies that have been conducted by the author in the workplace and in everyday settings
since 2004. Findings from these studies have contributed to the development of the people-in-practice
perspective that is presented in this article.
Findings – Drawing from the author’s empirical studies and from literature reporting socio-cultural
research into information literacy, a people-in-practice perspective is described.
Originality/value – The value of this paper lies in the attempt to marry together the author’s
previous work resulting in the introduction of a people-in-practice perspective. This perspective draws
from socio-cultural and practice theory.
Keywords Information literacy,Enactment, Practice theory,Socio-cultural perspective
Paper type Conceptual paper
Introduction
The aim of this paper is to explain how information literacy happens. In doing so, a
range of concepts will be introduced that can be used to sensitise researchers towards
an understanding of information literacy as a socially enacted practice. Focusing on
how information literacy emerges in a setting can inform researchers about the
discourses that reveal the nature of a setting, particularly in relation to what
information and knowledge are sanctioned and legitimized. This approach facilitates a
more holistic view of information literacy because it opens the enquiry to
understanding the ontological and epistemological conditions that establish and
operationalise information literacy as a practice within a setting.
This work represents an attempt to marry together earlier conceptualisations of how
information literacy should be viewed asa way of knowing an information landscape
(Lloyd, 2006), with a more recent framing of information literacy as socio-cultural
practice (Lloyd, 2010a). Together these earlier theorisations act as sensitising concepts
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
The author wishes to thank the anonymous reviewers of this article and the many colleagues
who read and commented on numerous versions.
JDOC
68,6
772
Received 16 September 2011
Revised 23 March 2012
Accepted 13 April 2012
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 68 No. 6, 2012
pp. 772-783
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/00220411211277037
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