Document Type

Published Article

Journal Title

Journal of New Librarianship

Volume Number

8

Issue Number

2

First Page

1

Last Page

28

DOI

https://doi.org/10.33011/newlibs/14/1

Version

Publisher PDF: the final published version of the article, with professional formatting and typesetting

Publication Date

2023

Disciplines

Information Literacy | Library and Information Science

Description, Abstract, or Artist's Statement

The concept of authority—its definition and the consequences thereof—receives intense scrutiny in library scholarship. This article intervenes in that debate with attention to the larger political context in which the debate is taking place. The article’s purpose is threefold. First, it analyzes the most significant work on authority from philosophy and information studies in order to explicate the concept. Second, it draws on that explication to identify three components of authority that are under-addressed in library literature: a) the distinction between cognitive authority and political authority, b) the means by which authority is recognized or granted to a source, and c) the relationship between a source’s authority and the features (such as author, publisher, etc.) of that source. Finally, the article illustrates why each of those under-addressed components is important to speaking and teaching about information literacy effectively in the United States’ current political climate.

Original Citation

Bluemle, Stefanie R. “A Close Look at the Concept of Authority in Information Literacy.” Journal of New Librarianship 8, no. 2 (2023): 1-28. https://doi.org/10.33011/newlibs/14/1.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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