The Journal of Academic Librarianship
Volume 51, Issue 3, May 2025
DOI: 10.1016/j.acalib.2025.103053
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report on a scoping review investigating the preference for using digital literacy, digital competence, digital fluency, or digital dexterity when considering continued professional skills development for academic librarians.
Methodology
A scoping review of peer-reviewed scholarly articles published in the English language between 2013 and 2023 (a 10-year period) was conducted. An initial 485 results were retrieved with 184 duplicates removed. 301 studies were screened based on the title, keywords, and abstract fields, 108 full-text reviews took place, with a final 61 papers included for analysis. Data were analysed using Microsoft Excel to sort, group, and further analyse and visualise the data. Thematic analysis was used to report the results.
Findings
The review provided valuable insights into the concepts of digital literacy, digital competence, digital dexterity, and digital fluency for the development of information professionals in academic libraries. It also identified distinctive characteristics of each of the four concepts that were reviewed.
Originality
The scoping review distinguishes between digital literacy, digital competence, digital fluency, and digital dexterity. It also highlights the gaps, making it clear what is required for each, including the knowledge, skills, and competencies.
Limitations
Several databases (Emerald Insight, ScienceDirect, and Taylor and Francis) could not be interrogated directly, however, relevant articles from these databases were retrieved, nonetheless making use of the complementary databases searched.
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area.
He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.
Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.
