Pursuing Information Literacy: Roles and Relationships

Citation

Winzenried, A. (2011), "Pursuing Information Literacy: Roles and Relationships", Library Review, Vol. 60 No. 3, pp. 264-265. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242531111117344

This new work from Lombard sets out to both help the reader understand more clearly what the phenomenon known as information literacy actually is as well as to “enable them to pursue it”. It is a practical work rather than a theoretical one. As part of this plan, from almost the first page, a clear definition of information literacy is addressed. Not always clear cut, and sometimes hotly debated (Lloyd, 2010), the concept we call information literacy is perhaps a little elusive. Establishing his context carefully, Lombard approaches a definition from the point of four commonly used aspects – identify, locate, analyse and use. These, he argues, are fundamental to gaining an understanding of the issue.

Pursuing Information Literacy is very much a work that approaches the issue from the point of view of information seeking (rather than information as practice as per Bruce and Lloyd for example). In fact, the author makes his position clear very early in the book, stating that “This book universally considers the roles of Seeker and Provider” (p. 2). It is a simple and straightforward approach and one which suits Lombard's concern to keep a strict focus on people and relationships that influence information literacy. This is echoed throughout the work with chapters neatly following an orderly seeker – provider pattern. The seven central chapters deal with the seeker/provider concept in the different contexts of business, health care, media, government, justice, defence and education. At the end of each chapter, Lombard deals with issues that the specific context might engender to extend the application of the points raised. For example, in the media chapter, the issues of access to, and privacy of, the information are raised. While very pertinent to the media sector, as Lombard points out, these aspects are also relevant to other sectors.

Chapter construction is very much key to the work as a whole. It is a systematic and orderly arrangement with relatively neat and easy to access suggestions and observations for everyday information access and use. Information literacy for Lombard is very practical and tangible. It is the relationship between information and the individual, but it is a measurable and finite relationship. There is, for example, little point in teaching information literacy to primary school students because it “is difficult for teachers to make children understand exactly what information literacy is and how its components work” (p. 130).

Pursuing Information Literacy offers a concept of literacy that is very much tied to research and so relates most readily to an active information seeking arrangement. It offers insights on this basis wherein the library (business, government, education, or other) plays a vital role. Information literacy is the ability to identify, locate, analyse and use information for a specific purpose – to “find something out”. For Lombard, information is essentially explicit and physically locatable. Access, in terms of technology, forms a central component.

While Pursuing Information Literacy contributes nothing to the debate on the wider conceptualisation of information literacy it does offer some significant insights into the practical issues of working with information in an increasingly complex information environment. For the behaviourist, skills‐based information literacy managers, this new work provides significant insights into key areas of activity. Above all else, it demonstrates clearly the importance of information literacy in the many key areas detailed in the book. In a field where, as the author claims, “few things about it are absolute”, this new work provides a basis for discussion – a wide‐ranging discussion that aims to cover sectors and topics that “are relevant to everyone”.