A review of the literature on spirituality and religion in information research – 1990 to 2022
| Date | 08 October 2024 |
| Pages | 236-258 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-02-2024-0039 |
| Published date | 08 October 2024 |
| Author | Pranay Nangia,Ian Ruthven |
A review of the literature
on spirituality and religion
in information research – 1990
to 2022
Pranay Nangia and Ian Ruthven
Department of Computer and Information Sciences, University of Strathclyde,
Glasgow, UK
Abstract
Purpose –More than eight in ten people worldwide identify with a religious group. In addition, people often
engage with spiritual and religious content despite having no formal beliefs or affiliations. Spirituality
remains a prominent feature of Western and Westernised information-based societies and cultures; however,
people’s everyday interactions with spiritual and religious information have received disproportionate
attention in information and library science research. Accordingly, this paper aims to understand how
scholars have explored religion and spirituality in information research and identify current and emerging
trends in the literature.
Design/methodology/approach –This paper analyses 115 peer-reviewed articles, 44 book chapters, 24
theses and 17 unrefereed papers published between 1990 and 2022 to present a narrative review of how
scholars have explored spirituality and religion in information research. The reviewed literature is first
organised into spirituality-related and religion-related articles and thereafter analysed in Internet studies,
information behaviour studies and galleries, libraries, archives and museums-related research groups.
Findings –Our analysis indicates scholars in Internet studies have researched both established and
alternative religious interactions, and emerging research agendas seek to explore intersections between
traditional religious authority and modern Internet-facilitated engagements. Information behaviour scholars
have examined interactions in Christianity and Islam, focused primarily on Western contexts and
conventional interactions, with emerging research aiming to explore diverse contextual and methodological
combinations. Finally, GLAM researchers have investigated the practicality, suitability, and appropriateness
of spirituality and religion-related service provisions; however, a clear research agenda is currently lacking in
spirituality and religion information research more broadly.
Originality/value –This paper is the first review of the spirituality and religion-related information research
spanning Internet studies, information behaviour studies and galleries, libraries, archives and museums
research domains.
Keywords Libraries, Religion, Information behaviour, Spirituality, Narrative review, Internet studies
Paper type Literature review
Introduction
More than eight in ten people worldwide identify with a religious group (Pew Research
Center, 2012). In addition, people often engage with spiritual and religious content despite
having no formal beliefs or affiliations (Pew Research Center, 2017). Spirituality remains a
prominent feature of Western and Westernised information-based societies and cultures;
however, people’s everyday interactions with spiritual and religious information have
received disproportionate attention in information and library science research.
Here, Kari’s (2007) influential Review of the Spiritual in Information Studies helps discern
various information processes, services, systems and technologies in the spiritual context
and posits that spirituality-related phenomena can significantly affect individuals’ and
communities’ information interactions. Likewise, Penner’s (2009) bibliographic essay,
Information Behaviour of Theologians, reviews studies concerning religious academicians’
behaviours (specifically those interested in the Jewish and Christian traditions) and insists
JD
81,1
236
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0022-0418.htm
Received 18 February 2024
Revised 7 September 2024
Accepted11 September 2024
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 81 No. 1, 2025
pp. 236-258
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-02-2024-0039
that information professionals, especially those working in theological libraries and
institutions, may benefit from a deeper understanding of people’s religion-related
information needs and search behaviours. Both articles criticise the lack of empirical
studies within this area; however, a decade since Kari’s and Penner’s papers, many scholars
have investigated a range of interactions such as Bible study, sermon preparation, spiritual
journaling and online and offline ritual participation (e.g. Freeburg, 2011;Campbell, 2011;
Siracky, 2013;Gorichanaz, 2016;Gaston et al., 2015;Dankasa, 2015;Lacovi
c and Tanackovi
c,
2018;Caidi, 2019), providing new insights and details into people’s religious and spiritual
information-related engagements. Accordingly, understanding this literature more closely
may help academics and practitioners deliver more pertinent and better-informed services
and outcomes.
To this end, this paper analyses 115 peer-reviewed articles, 44 book chapters, 24 theses
and 17 unrefereed papers published between 1990 and 2022 to present a narrative review of
how scholars have explored spirituality and religion in information research, analyse current
understandings and indicate trends in the literature.
Background
The Pew Research Center’s 2017 Changing Global Religious Landscape report signals that
sixteen per cent of the global population currently has no religious affiliation. A
complementary report, however, indicates that this group is relatively heterogeneous. In
the US, many who are religiously unaffiliated identify as atheists or agnostic; however, some
claim they are spiritual, not religious, and numerous others identify as both spiritual and
religious but seldom attend services at churches, mosques or temples (Pew Research Center,
2017). A subsequent Pew report points out that a quarter of unaffiliated individuals regularly
pray, contemplate or practice yoga or meditation, indicating that spiritual practices remain
somewhat popular despite religious de-affiliation (Pew Research Center, 2018). These trends
are also prevalent in European countries such as the UK, Germany, Italy, Austria and the
Netherlands (Pew Research Center, 2012). Contemporary religious and spiritual activities
may, therefore, be diverse as people’s inclinations have begun to present themselves in
various orientations: the religious and spiritual, the spiritual but not religious, the religious
but not spiritual and neither spiritual nor religious (Pew Research Center, 2017).
Like the Pew Research Center’s reports, Van Der Veer (2009) notes that while historically
there has been considerable overlap between religious and spiritual conceptions, popular
interpretations now relate spirituality with personal values and beliefs rather than religious
grand-narrative-related frameworks. Accordingly, contemporary religion and spirituality-
related information interactions may be equally heterogeneous, as people’s preferences range
from religiously unaffiliated and personal interactions to those spread across several
ideologies and compatible with memberships of various formal and informal institutions.
According to Van der Veer, this change may be attributed to late nineteenth-century
liberalism, socialism, globalisation and scientific advancements followed by widespread
searches for freedom from institutionalised religion and spiritualities not bound to specific
traditions (Van der Veer, 2009; also: Borowik, 2011).
For context, Van der Veer (2009) explains that modern spiritual change occurred
alongside secularisation in late nineteenth-century Euro-American society. Scientific
progress during this time, coupled with increasing separation between Church and state,
resulted in the growth of secularism and increased searches for rational means of satisfying
human needs (Van Niekerk, 2018). Alongside this, contemporary forms of spirituality
emerged as an alternative to organised religion. These new spiritualities were defined by a
“thoroughgoing political, economic and cultural integration of the world” (Van der Veer,
2009, p. 1098) and, in the West, presented as various attempts seeking to dissociate from
Journal of
Documentation
237
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