Page 1 - Introduction — Information Literacy and Information Behaviour, Complementary Approaches for Building Capability

Chapter 1

Introduction — Information Literacy and
Information Behaviour, Complementary

Approaches for Building Capability

Mark Hepworth and Geoff Walton

Abstract

This chapter gives a general overview of the book, indicates the rich
diversity of information literacy (IL) and information behaviour
(IB) work carried out and is organised into four broad areas moving
from the strategic to the highly contextualised. The four areas are
specifically: strategic view; delivering information literacy education;
the link between university and work; beyond higher education. The
approach for each chapter is summarised. This chapter also examines
the inter-related nature of the concepts of information literacy and
information behaviour. It shows how these ideas are contextualised,
theorised and researched. The authors argue that far from being
conflicting approaches to the same problem of information capability,
they are, in fact, complementary. Though these are epistemologically
different both have much to offer in terms of explanation and also as
tools for fostering information capability. The history of information
literacy and information behaviour is overviewed and their inter-
relation explored. It is argued that information literacy can be viewed
as the practitioners’ model for delivering information capability
whilst information behaviour, being more research focussed, explains

Developing People’s Information Capabilities: Fostering Information Literacy in Educational,
Workplace and Community Contexts
Library and Information Science, Volume 8, 1–11
Copyright r 2013 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited
All rights of reproduction in any form reserved
ISSN: 1876-0562/doi:10.1108/S1876-0562(2013)0000008005