The Value of Information in Professional Settings is Experienced through Relationships and Networks

Abstract

A Review of: Sharun, S. (2019). Exploring value as a dimension of professional information literacy. Journal of Information Literacy, 13(2), 26–40. https://doi.org/10.11645/13.2.2627 Abstract Objective – To critically explore the frame “Information has Value” in a workplace setting. Design – Semi-structured interviews. Setting – Community health centre in Canada. Subjects – Seven health and human services staff members serving vulnerable, urban youth ages 12 to 24. Methods – The researcher employed phenomenography to analyze interviews and to identify categories of information practice. Main Results – Four categories of information practice emerged: resourcing, referring, outsourcing, and advocating. The researcher identified the value of information as central to participants’ experience of information practice in the workplace. Subjects’ understanding of the nature and significance of value was situated within personal relationships and professional networks. Conclusion – The study demonstrated that a specific aspect of information literacy can be successfully investigated to highlight its complexity and to show how it is experienced in a specific setting. A second conclusion was the centrality of interpersonal relationships to how value is experienced in professional information practice. The researcher recommends further study exploring relational value and in the sociocultural practice of information literacy.