Tracing paradigm shifts in information literacy: a progressive knowledge domain visualization approach

An information literate population is a fundamental component of modern society, but the definition of what it means to be information literate has changed over time, resulting in debates within the information literacy community. Through the lens of Thomas Kuhn's theory of scientific revolutions and Shneider's four stages of a discipline framework, this dissertation examines the progress of the information literacy research domain using both scientometric and content analysis methods. Three research questions are addressed in this study. First, the structural and temporal features of the information literacy knowledge domain are identified using document co-citation analysis to identify major research areas, landmark and hub documents, and active research topics. Second, pivotal papers connecting major research areas are explored using pathfinder network scaling algorithms to identify critical paths of transition in the domain. Finally, full-text pivotal documents are examined using qualitative content analysis to trace the progression of information literacy construct definitions in seminal research documents. Findings support a paradigm shift occurred in the domain when the skills-based information literacy definition was rejected in favor of a metaliteracy model. Technological advancement emerged as an influencing factor on paradigms, playing a major role in the domain's evolution over the past half-century. Information literacy research and instruction is built upon the framework used to define what it means to be information literate. Therefore, this study has practical implications for information literacy researchers, librarians, and students.Includes bibliographical references