More than two decades of debate since the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) adopted the term information literacy have been marked by ongoing criticism of its associated definitions and standards. Some scholars and practitioners have argued for a critical information literacy, which applies the precepts of critical pedagogy to…

Describes the participant-observation technique for data collection and proposes its usefulness as a research methodology in library science. Procedural steps are outlined and suggestions are offered for successful completion of participant-observation research. (10 references) (Author/MES)

Questionnaires are important research tools despite their unpopularity. They are generally less costly per response than other techniques, may elicit more candid answers, provide more time for respondents to consider their replies, and do not introduce interviewer or observer bias. The rate of return is an indication of the usefulness of a…

This critique of prevalent conceptual methodologies in research in library administration examines the current research methodologies, relates them to the positivistic orientation of some social scientists, indicates why they are inappropriate, and suggests how research in library administration can be made more meaningful and relevant.…

Outlines current ideas about the use of focus groups in library and information science and considers advantages and disadvantages of different types of focus group discussions. Discusses reasons for choosing this research method. (AEF)

This study uses method of citation analysis on 448 articles dealing with cataloging and classification to investigate following areas: distribution of publication format; mean age of documents cited; most highly cited authors and languages; distribution of articles among journals; subjects of cited journals. Ten references and a bibliography are…

Introduction: changes in educational policy and practice demand that we examine school library programmes from a new perspective. As a model that takes a developmental view of minds in context, Cultural Historical Activity Theory is particularly well suited to the study of school libraries and the learning that occurs therein. This paper focuses…