Radical Information Literacy

2

The early days of IL

Abstract:

This chapter examines how IL emerged as a theoretical and practical concept in the 1970s, with a particular focus on three papers: Zurkowski (1974), which is representative of the knowledge management approach to IL; Burchinal (1976), representative of the educational approach, and Hamelink (1976), representative of the transformational. It sees in Hamelink’s paper the roots of a radical approach to IL, but one that has remained undeveloped.

Key Words

Origins of information literacy; information science; knowledge management; education; transformation; hegemony

There are many definitions of information literacy. These definitions generally coalesce around the idea that IL is a set of “purposeful information practices” ...