Towards an everyday life information literacy mind-set: a review of literature

Abstract

Purpose Information literacy (IL) within the everyday life context is regarded as an important condition for civic participation and engagement, informed citizenship, health and well-being. However, compared to the significant amount of IL research within educational and workplace settings, there has been relatively little research in relation to the value of IL within everyday life situations. The purpose of this paper is to explore existing empirical research that addresses aspects of IL within the context of everyday life, identifying current gaps in the literature, highlighting key theoretical positions, and mapping trends. Design/methodology/approach The review has been conducted in the form of a scoping study that aims to map the key concepts underpinning this research area and the main sources and types of evidence available. It is based on journal literature reporting primary research, published from 2000 to 2016 and sourced from a range of different databases covering IL research. Findings IL practices take place within diverse everyday life contexts. The key research directions have been categorised into four broad contextual areas, encompassing leisure and community activities, citizenship and the fulfilment of social roles, public health and critical life situations. These point to the need for developing an IL mind-set which is discussed as an adaptive, transferable and ongoing activity that transgresses the boundaries of prescribed skills within the specific contexts of work and education. Originality/value This research area is still in its infancy and more varied contexts need to be explored to nurture a robust understanding of the use and impact of IL in people’s everyday lives. The paper also highlights the implications of the lack of IL and identifies the key players in the advocacy of IL within different everyday life settings.

The information literacy and continuous professional development practices of teachers at a Jewish Day School

“…This does not discount the individual/cognitive approach, but presents it as an aspect of a broader, more synergistic endeavor. This study offers preliminary empirical evidence for bringing together converging IL contexts and experiences, highlighting that in addition to being formal and skill-based, they can also involve an intertwined process of IL, CPD and learning which are social, embodied, constantly changing and organic (Martzoukou and Abdi, 2017). This research therefore While this study covers much conceptual ground and provides rich empirical insights, it does so based on findings from a narrow context.…”

“…A recent shift in IL scholarship poses an avenue for exploring the development of IL as a lifelong learning and continuous professional development process, conceptualising and positioning it as a sociocultural practice shaped by professional and social contexts, rather than as a set of discrete library-oriented skills (Abdi and Bruce, 2015;Lloyd, 2017;Lundh et al, 2013;Martzoukou and Abdi, 2017;Williams et al, 2014). The sociocultural approach appreciates IL as a socially constructed practice which manifests differently upon context, rather than as an individual's competency or as a tool for solving information problems.…”

Screening everyday health information literacy among four populations

“…Previous empirical studies on health information literacy have focused on health professionals or medical students (McClurg, Powelson, Lang, Aghajafari, & Edworthy, 2015), the roles of libraries in promoting health information literacy (Shipman et al, 2009) and evaluation of health information literacy programmes (Ayre et al, 2014; Keselman, Chase, Rewolinski, Dutton, & Kelly, 2019). Overall, information literacy has been studied mainly in educational contexts, and there is a gap in research on information literacy in people’s everyday lives (Lloyd & Williamson, 2008; Martzoukou & Sayyad, 2017).…”

Developing health information literacy in disengaged at-risk populations

“…individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and macro-policy). Similar to Martzoukou and Sayyad Abdi (2017), understanding of context is identified as important to effective IL interventions. Similar issues are raised with regard to the digital health aspects of health literacy.…”