2. Introduction
0 Context
0 Critical pedagogy
0 Information literacy
0 Critical information literacy
0 Methodology and methods
0 Challenges
0 Conclusions
0 Anticipated outcomes
2

3. Research Problem
Information literacy is presented as
“unproblematic, atheoretical and apolitical”
(Kapitzke, 2003). It is hypothesised that gaps exist in
the structure of information literacy tuition in UK
secondary schools which means that information
literacy focuses on skills-based technical aspects of
information seeking and does not adequately address
critical thinking skills which enable students to
critically assess the information they encounter and
the structures in which the information and
knowledge is held.
3

4. Political Attitudes of
Young People
4

5. “While young people are interested in social
and political issues they do not focus their
concerns on engagement with formal political
systems. Many hold negative views about
politics, such as feeling that they have little
control over what the government does.”
(Grundy and Jamieson 2004, p.237)
5

6. “It is not possible to assess whether
young people are more disenchanted
with politics than their predecessor
generations.”
(White et al. 2000, p.44)
6

7. Critical Pedagogy
7

8. Critical pedagogy “help[s] students to
develop a consciousness of
freedom, recognise authoritarian
tendencies, empower the
imagination, connect knowledge and
truth to power, and learn how to read
both the word and the world as part of a
broader struggle for agency, justice and
democracy.”
(Giroux 2012, p.116)
8

9. “Giroux suggests that adults have written
their own dystopian values of selfish
individuality, fear, greed, and cynicism
onto the lives of youth and children
without providing them voice or forum to
imagine alternative perspectives and
ways of being external to the dictates of a
rapacious and homogenizing
consumerism.”
(Gage 2004, p.68)
9

10. Critical Literacy
10

11. “The act of decoding texts, analysing the
underlying power structures, and using
the analysis to drive equitable change.”
(Morrell 2004)
11

12. 12

13. “The meaning of information literacy has
never been fixed, despite its being the
topic of numerous conferences and a
considerable body of scholarly work.”
(Kapitzke 2003, p.40)
13

14. “an effort to deny the ancillary status of
librarianship by inventing a social
malady with which librarians as
‘information professionals’ are uniquely
qualified to deal.”
(Foster 1993, p.346)
14

15. “LIS cast as a science has flattened
libraries and information systems/
products into objective and neutral
entities studied without reference to
context or power.”
(Buschman 2007, p.1492)
15

16. Libraries contribute
to democratic ideals:
0 Information
provision
0 Equity of access
0 Education
0 Independent
learners
0 Intellectual freedom
0 Public spaces
0 Privacy
16

17. “Information literacy practices are
closely related to and complementary
with those of liberatory education
practices.”
(Keer 2010, p.157)
17

18. Critical Information Literacy
18

19. Information Literacy Critical Literacy
0 Information 0 Critical thinking
seeking skills
0 Decision-making 0 Analysis and
0 Cognitive elements critiquing skills
0 Identifying 0 Identifying
information need underlying power
0 Locating,
structures
evaluating, using 0 Acquisition of
information agency
19

20. “A critical approach to information
literacy development means changing the
view of education as the transfer of
information or “getting the right
knowledge into students’ heads” to an
awareness of each person’s agency and
ability to make meaning within the
library setting.”
(Elmborg 2006, p.194)
20

21. Critical information literacy would aim to
“reverse trends of exclusion from
political participation and enable people
to participate in the decisions and events
that affect their lives.”
(Whitworth 2009, p.118)
21

22. Towards a Methodology
22

23. Methodological Approach
0 Mixed methods
0 Qualitative analysis
0 Narrow focus
0 In-depth
0 Critical theory will inform the collection and
interpretation of data
23

24. Questionnaire
24

25. 0 General sense of levels of political knowledge
0 Range of questions about local, national and
EU politics
0 Multiple choice answers
0 Short – 20 questions
0 Identify possible trends
25

26. Repertory Grid Interviews
26

27. 0 Elements identified
0 Constructs developed
0 Elements and constructs related to each other
0 Minimises researcher bias
0 Better idea of participants’ political constructs
0 Quantitative analysis
27

28. Diaries
28

29. 0 Two weeks
0 Guidelines provided
0 Able to ask questions
0 Conceptual content
0 Variety of formats
0 Led by participants
29

30. Participants will have the
option to contribute to the
diary by submitting posts to
private tumblr accounts.
0 Text
0 Audio
0 Video
0 Quotes
0 URLs
If they have questions they
can submit these and I can
respond to them.
30

31. Focus Groups / Interviews
31

32. 0 Discussion topics based on the
constructs extrapolated from repertory
grid interviews and diaries
0 In-depth view of attitudes and
behaviour
0 How participants communicate with
each other and share information
32

33. Research Risks
33

34. 0 Co-operation of school and staff
0 Getting students to participate and continue to
contribute to all stages
0 Participant understanding of research
0 Relatively novel methods and unfamiliar topic
34

35. Challenges
0 Limited school resources
0 Teachers, librarians, learning resources, libraries
0 Education and qualification of library staff
0 LIS qualifications, pedagogical theory, politics
0 Challenging the status quo
0 Power, stereotypes, resistance to change
35

36. Anticipated Outcomes
0 Application of critical theory to information
literacy – firmer academic footing and
engagement in social and critical theory;
0 Development of information literacy theory and
understanding of the field, adding weight to the
argument about value of libraries;
0 Suggestions for developments to be made to
information literacy practice.
36

37. Conclusions
0 Libraries are ideal providers of critical
information literacy instruction, and must
engage with the political issues surrounding
pedagogy to effectively apply critical theories;
0 Critical information literacy is an approach that
could be taken to further develop information
literacy theory and practice;
0 Engagement with substantive professional
issues is of benefit to LIS, learners and wider
society.
37

39. References
0 Buschman, J. 2007. Democratic theory in library and information science: toward an emendation. Journal of
the American Society for Information Science and Technology 58(10), pp. 1483-1496.
0 Elmborg, J. 2006. Critical Information Literacy: Implications for Instructional Practice. The Journal of
Academic Librarianship, 32(2), pp. 192-199.
0 Foster, S. 1993. Information literacy: some misgivings. American Libraries 24(4), pp. 344-346.
0 Gage, R.A. 2004. Henry Giroux’s “Abandoned Generation” & Critical Librarianship. Progressive Librarian,
23(Spring 2004). pp. 64–74.
0 Giroux, H. 2012. Education and the Crisis of Public Values. New York: Peter Lang.
0 Grundy, S. and Jamieson, L. 2004. Action, Reaction, Inaction? Young Adults’ Citizenship in Britain. Sociológia
36, pp. 237-245.
0 Kapitzke, C. 2003. (In)formation literacy: A positivist epistemology and a politics of (out)formation.
Educational Theory 53(1), pp.37-53.
0 Keer, G. 2010. Critical Pedagogy and Information Literacy in Community Colleges. In Accardi, M.T. et al. eds.
Critical Library Instruction: Theories and Methods. Duluth, MN: Library Juice Press. pp. 149-59.
0 Morrell, E. 2004. Becoming critical researchers: Literacy and empowerment for urban youth. New York: Peter
Lang.
0 White, C., Bruce, S. and Ritchie, J. 2000. Young Peoples’ Politics. Political Interest and Engagement amongst 14-
24 Year Olds. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
0 Whitworth, A., 2009. Teaching in the relational frame: the Media and Information Literacy course at
Manchester. Journal of Information Literacy [Online] 3(2), pp. 25–38. Available at:
http://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/ojs/index.php/JIL/article/view/PRA-V3-I2-2009-2 [Accessed 28 February 2013].
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40. Image Attribution
0 Slide 4: CC lorri 37on flickr
0 Slide 7: CC truthout.org on flickr
0 Slide 10: CC gwenboul on flickr
0 Slide 13: CC gadgetgirl on flickr
0 Slide 16: CC pete fletch on flickr
0 Slide 18: CC great beyond on flickr
0 Slide 22: CC albertogp123 on flickr
0 Slide 24: CC moff on flickr
0 Slide 28: CC ed___209 on flickr
0 Slide 30: CC albyantoniazzi on flickr
0 Slide 31: CC rodcasro cc on flickr
0 Slide 33: CC scott hamlin on flickr
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