Connecting Information Literacy and Social Justice - Why and How

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by jay

Libraries have a long, complex relationship with social justice and advocacy. The ACRL Framework for Information Literacy, more conceptual and adaptable than earlier Standards, enables librarians to teach from a social justice perspective, integrating social justice and anti-oppression into multiple frames. The essay evaluates why information literacy should be approached through social justice and assesses the Framework’s opportunities and limits for social justice concerns, ending with a proposed “information social justice” frame.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Libraries, Social Responsibility, and Information Literacy

Social justice opportunities and institutional recognition

Limitations, bias, and reflective practice

Information Access and Human Rights

Access as a core competency and legal foundation

Implications for participation in civic life

Connecting Information Literacy and Social Justice: Why and How Laura Saunders, Simmons College Abstract Libraries have a long, though not uncomplicated, history with social justice and social advocacy. The new ACRL Framework for Information Literacy, which is more conceptual and flexible than the original Standards, offers an opportunity for librarians to approach teaching and learning from a social justice perspective. Indeed, the Framework integrates social justice and anti-oppression into some of its frames. This essay will examine the reasons for approaching information literacy from a social justice perspective and will analyze the opportunities and limitations of the new Framework with regard to social justice issues. It concludes with a proposal for a new frame, "information social justice," that could be added to the existing Framework. Keywords: information literacy; social justice; anti-oppression Perspectives edited by Carolyn Gamtso Saunders, L. (2017) . Connecting information literacy and social justice: Why and how. Communications in Information Literacy, 11(1), 55-75. Copyright for articles published in Communications in Information Literacy is retained by the author(s). Author(s) also extend to Communications in Information Literacy the right to redistribute this article via other scholarly resources and bibliographic databases. This extension allows the authors'copyrighted content to be included in some databases that are distributed and maintained by for-profit companies. All other rights of redistribution are licensed by Communications in Information Literacy under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BYNC-SA 4 .0) . Connecting Information Literacy and Social Justice: Why and How Libraries have a history of commitment to social justice principles and issues. This commitment is supported by an ethical code that promotes equitable access and service, intellectual freedom and resistance to censorship, and commitment to representing diverse perspectives in their collections (ALA, 2008), as well as a core value of social responsibility (ALA, 2004). Jaeger, Taylor, and Gorham (2015) argue that libraries have always been social justice institutions, and cite services such as bridging the digital divide, developing literacy, supporting new immigrants and facilitating citizenship as examples of such work. Information literacy provides additional opportunities for libraries to engage in social justice issues. It is widely acknowledged that we live in an information society—one in which information is being produced and disseminated at an exponential rate, and where information literacy or the ability to locate, access, evaluate, and use information is required in order to fully participate and be successful in school, work, and everyday life. Government, education, and policy institutions around the world have acknowledged the importance of information literacy and endorsed it as an essential skill for the 21st Century. Indeed, as these institutions recognize and endorse information literacy, some have made a case that access to information and to information literacy education is a human right, placing information literacy squarely within a social justice context. For the most part librarians and library professional associations have embraced information social justice as a natural fit for their educational and outreach missions, as well as the core value of social responsibility. However, the adoption of information literacy as a social justice concept has not always been easy or comfortable. Some librarians suggest that by intertwining information literacy and social justice, we are giving up our core values of neutrality and objectivity, while others have argued that we do not go far enough, and that information social justice could be made an even more explicit part ofour conceptualizations of information literacy. Indeed, libraries are not immune t

FAQs

Why does the author connect information literacy to social justice?

The author argues that information literacy enables individuals to locate, access, evaluate, and use information, and that access to information literacy education and materials can be framed as supporting social justice goals and human rights.

What opportunities and limitations does the author identify in the new ACRL Framework?

The author analyzes how the Framework can be used to address social justice issues while also questioning whether its stance is strong enough and whether its adoption raises concerns such as elitism.

What is the proposed new frame called, and what does it aim to address?

The proposal introduces a new frame, “information social justice,” intended to more explicitly incorporate social justice into conceptualizations of information literacy and address biases and oppressive practices.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by jay