Journal Article: “What Language are We Speaking?: Marketing Information Literacy on University Library Websites”

The article linked below was recently published by Communications in Information Literacy.

Title

What Language Are We Speaking?: Marketing Information Literacy on University Library Websites

Author

Aleksandar Golijanin
York University

Source

Communications in Information Literacy
Vol. 19, No. 1, 2025

DOI:

Abstract

This study investigates how Canadian university libraries communicate information literacy (IL) to non-library faculty members on faculty-facing web pages. A content analysis was conducted of websites from institutions affiliated with the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (n = 25) to identify trends in the terminology used to describe IL. The findings reveal that the term “information literacy” appears with varying frequency across website headings, subheadings and body text, while terms like “research skills” and “critical information use” may appear in its stead. University libraries may intentionally be employing these terms to enhance faculty engagement in response to the existing literature, which suggests non-library faculty generally dislike IL jargon. These findings have implications for how academic libraries market their IL-related services to non-library faculty, suggesting a need for further research into how the work of IL can be effectively communicated to non-library audiences.

Direct to Full Text Article
19 pages; PDF.

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