Lloyd, Annemaree. The qualitative landscape of information literacy research: perspectives, methods and techniques. London: Facet Publishing, 2021. xxiv, 152 p. ISBN 978-1-78330-405-9. £50.00.
Information literacy has recently become a subject of many books published on both sides of the Atlantic ocean. Mainly they take a form of various handbooks for libraries or educational institutions and ways of teaching information literacy (see e.g., Reale, 2020; Lanning and Gerrity, 2021; Merga, 2022). The book by Annemaree Lloyd can also be regarded as a textbook or a serious teaching aid, but of a very different character. It is based on vast experience and knowledge of the author as a researcher of information literacy and deals with the issues of carrying out qualitative research on the issue.
There are several key concepts introduced in the book that help the presentation of the material. One of them is the concept of the landscape or rather landscapes. Information landscapes are shaped by modalities (social, epistemic or corporeal) of information representing the ways of knowing about the collective ways of knowledge (pp. 3-4). So, it is one of the central features in the model of information literacy set in the centre of Lloyd's research and is essential to the whole area of qualitative research, to which this book is devoted. The information landscape concept includes certain approaches to ontology, epistemology and methodology of the research paradigms that researchers enact while conducting their investigation.
As a consequence, these paradigms define the whole aproach to the landscape of theories that are suitable for carying out qualitative research (chapter 3) and methods (chapter 4), including data collection techniques (chapter 5). In the chapters on paradigms and theoretical approaches, the author does not limit herself to only those theories that are applicable for qualitative research, but rather to those that have been used in exploration of information literacy over time. The chapters on methods and data collection techniques are clearly addressing only those that are suitable for qualitative research projects.
Throughout the book, the readers are getting acquainted with the way of carrying out qualitative research in general and research on information literacy in particular. Chapters 4-6 are especially oriented to provide good understanding of the tools available for this research. Chapter 6 is oriented towards the process of designing qualitative information literacy research from the first steps (formulating a research problem and questions) to the end of it (evaluating the research). These are the most instrumental chapters and the students or young researchers starting their career would find them very useful for understanding the complexities related to hands-on processes of research.
Overall the book is a fusion of the highly conceptual approach to the understanding of information literacy as a research object and quite practical know-how for the set up and carrying out of research projects. This is a useful combination for those teaching doctoral or master's students.
However, to qualify as a textbook or a teaching aid, the book lacks certain features helping in studying the topics introduced in its chapters. There are no such pedagogical aids as questions guiding the study, the learning outcomes are not presented in any form or measures for self-evaluation of how successful is the progress of readers or students. The lists for further readings are also missing, unless we assume that the final chapter 7 should serve in their stead. Its purpose in the book remained quite unclear to me: the title suggests that it addresses the final topic on how to write up one's qualitative research, but then we see some high level summary of previous research or maybe it is a different way to summarise the content of this particular text. Thus, the basic aim of the book remains somewhat ambiguous: is it a research agenda of the author that is in the centre here or is it constructed as an aid to guide the novices? It is quite possible that the author wanted to achieve both aims and attract researchers who would follow the path.
Regardless of this, the book will be appreciated by many social science and, especially, information science research educators and their students. It is a welcome text that puts the topic of information literacy into the research landscape within a most interesting and refreshing conceptual framework.
References
- Lanning, S. and Gerrity, C. (2021). Concise guide to informaiton literacy. Libraries Unlimited.
- Merga, M. (2022). School libraries supporting literacy and wellbeing. Facet Publishing.
- Reale, M. (2020). Meeting the challenge of teaching information literacy. ALA Editions.
Ona Norvaišaitė
Vilnius University
February, 2022
How to cite this review
Norvaišaitė, O. (2022). Review of: Lloyd, Annemaree. The qualitative landscape of information literacy research: perspectives, methods and techniques. London: Facet Publishing, 2021.Information Research, 27(1), review no. R731 [Retrieved from http://www.informationr.net/ir/reviews/revs731.html]
Information Research is published four times a year by the University of Borås, Allégatan 1, 501 90 Borås, Sweden.