Searching for a Definition of Information Literacy as a Socially Cohesive Component of Community: A Complementarity of Experts and Student Approach

Abstract

Information literacy can be seen as a fundamental prerequisite for a sustainable complex information society. As a lack of information literacy, information poverty represents a significant social and educational issue. Information literacy and information poverty will be the new dividing lines of a complex world, as the “rich north and poor south” metaphor became in the 20th century. A careful study of discourses in information literacy allows for effective educational and social policies aimed at its development. The aim of this study is to present an analysis of different approaches and discourses to define the concept of information literacy based on a review of papers from Web of Science. The study identifies four important directions of definitions or new grasps of information literacy, with an emphasis on social justice, the analysis of social and technological change, and a demand for higher quality information literacy education. Based on this analysis, the discourses present in the responses of undergraduate information studies and library science students (n = 132) collected between 2019 and 2022 are studied. The qualitative study shows that these underlying discourses are present in the students’ responses but, at the same time, offer specific perspectives on their fulfilment.