• Commodification of the Information Profession: A Critique of Higher Education Under Neoliberalism

    Author(s):
    Stuart Lawson (see profile) , Kevin Sanders, Lauren Smith
    Date:
    2015
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    neoliberalism, Scholarly communication
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6FS6C
    Abstract:
    The structures that govern society’s understanding of information have been reorganised under a neoliberal worldview to allow information to appear and function as a commodity. This has implications for the professional ethics of library and information labour, and the need for critical reflexivity in library and information praxes is not being met. A lack of theoretical understanding of these issues means that the political interests governing decision-making are going unchallenged, for example the UK government’s specific framing of open access to research. We argue that building stronger, community oriented praxes of critical depth can serve as a resilient challenge to the neoliberal politics of the current higher education system in the UK and beyond. Critical information literacy offers a proactive, reflexive and hopeful strategy to challenge hegemonic assumptions about information as a commodity.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.7710/2162-3309.1182
    Publisher:
    Pacific University Library
    Pub. Date:
    2015-3-10
    Journal:
    Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication
    Volume:
    3
    Issue:
    1
    ISSN:
    2162-3309
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    7 years ago
    License:
    Attribution
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