Research within the disciplines: foundations for reference and library instruction (2nd ed.)

Abstract

information literacy has been taught, practised and studied in limited ways within an institutional framework that does not permit scrutiny of cognitive authority. Understanding the contexts within which people experience information is part of the theory of applied practice that recognises the fundamentally dialogic and political nature of knowledge formation. The author’s view embraces the information landscape as involving libraries, schools, community organisations, activist groups, businesses, classrooms, workplaces, family, media, social networks and many more informal elements, including social and political elements, which communicate and are responsible for knowledge formation. The perspective regarding ‘information landscapes’ is exploratory rather than evaluative, with even libraries coming in for critical evaluation because they demonstrate limited philosophies of knowledge formation. Controversially, the author claims that the concept of radical information landscapes involves an independence from technology. He claims that information and communication technologies, rather than facilitating autonomous learning, may be more accurately identified as an element allowing the informed in society to maintain their capital. The author recognises rapid technological change but holds the view that its value lies in stimulating learning needs, which, in turn, need to be met. High value is also placed on artifacts as an essential part of information; these include practical knowledge, insights, experience, emotional impact, observations, dialogue, technology access and other experiential factors. Factoring in time is also examined, postulating that every epoch is characterised by its singular view of legitimate information and knowledge. Each chapter begins with an abstract and a list of key words with in-text referencing throughout. At the end there is a very lengthy bibliography followed by a detailed index. For readers who have an interest in the theory of information behaviour and are stimulated by challenges to accepted academic frameworks, this is an expansive and rigorous interrogation of the field.