Two decades of critical information literacy: a review and analysis of the literature

Abstract

Introduction. Critical information literacy (CIL) has been explored, refined, debated and critiqued since its first appearances in the literature twenty years ago. CIL uses teaching and learning settings in libraries to understand and act upon oppression in information systems. What does the literature tell us about the direction of CIL and critical librarianship more broadly, and what is absent from the existing scholarship?

Method. This research explores CIL's recent past through a literature review and analysis of 97 publications from 2016-2024. The review is international in scope.

Results. The literature review finds common thematic concerns in the areas of Conceptualising and theorising, Responding to contemporary politics and technologies, and Critiquing critical information literacy. Additionally, several issues and failings of CIL were identified, including a lack of attention to race and labour and the overrepresentation of perspectives based in higher education and western-centric knowledge systems.

Conclusions. The author suggests that to move towards its liberatory aims, the burgeoning field of CIL should continue drawing upon other relevant movements and contemporary theories, establish localised analyses of power and be considered as a dynamic and context-dependent concept rooted in sociopolitical realities.