The Qualitative Landscape of Information Literacy Research : Perspectives, Methods and Techniques

The last 46 years have witnessed a deep and continued interest in information literacy. This interest has resulted in an extensive range of research being undertaken and a burgeoning corpus of literature created by academic researchers, library practitioners and other researchers who explore information literacy through their own disciplinary lens.

The Qualitative Landscape of Information Literacy Research is a landmark publication that will develop and support readers’ understanding of how information literacy research and teaching is framed, developed and produced. Written by a leading expert in the field, it introduces and describes the key approaches taken by qualitative researchers, identifying core and specialist methods, techniques and theories. In each chapter, examples will illustrate how theory, types of pedagogical frameworks, methods and tools have been used. Coverage includes:

• theory and key concepts of information literacy
• social theory framework and their application to information literacy research
• exploration of the pedagogical frameworks that inform information literacy
• a range of qualitative methods that shape information literacy research
• data collection techniques
• research design.

This book will be valuable to researchers in information literacy, students who are developing or undertaking research or simply interested in identifying approaches to information literacy and practitioners who want to investigate the practice of information literacy to create an evidence base to support information literacy in their workplaces or institutions.