The argument that Information Literacy (IL) is a subject of research and practice in its own right has been gaining ground, in particular with the formation in 2021 of the international collaboration, ILIAD (Information Literacy is a Discipline – link to https://www.iliad-group.org/). This has been led by Professor Clarence Maybee and Dr Karen Kaufmann (Maybee et al., 2023, https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.84.10.363), drawing particularly on arguments developed by Webber & Johnston (2017, https://doi.org/10.11645/11.1.2205) and on the growing IL research base. The IL discipline is celebrated in the new Information Literacy Handbook: Charting the discipline (Facet Publishing, https://www.facetpublishing.co.uk/page/detail/the-information-literacy-handbook/?k=9781783306343.) In her preface to the Handbook, Professor Christine Bruce notes that IL “has influenced policy, curriculum, learning and teaching design, programs, and services. It has become an object of global interest, international and national policy, organizational direction, professional focus, research and scholarship, and deliberate conversation. It has been adapted to many contexts and found ongoing meaning in social, economic, and political spaces.”
In this special issue of Information Matters we will explore how this discipline can develop in the future, and for the future.
We welcome contributions on topics such as:
Author Instructions
All proposals should be submitted directly through the Information Matters’ platform, following the author’s instructions. Authors are encouraged to include illustrations with their texts. Submitted pieces should ideally be 1,000 words, aimed at a general audience, and should not contain traditional academic citations or reference lists. Instead, authors may embed links where appropriate.
Before submitting, please create an account at https://informationmatters.org. Once registered, create a post that will serve as your submission to the Special Issue. When submitting your article, make sure to designate “SI InfoLit” as a tag. The texts will be published simultaneously on SSRN in a citable format with a DOI, volume, and issue number, and will be indexed in several publication databases.
For your writing reference, you can find recently published articles here: https://informationmatters.org/si-nformation-privilege-and-the-cultures-of-scholarly-communication/
Timeline
Submission deadline: June 8, 2026
Full issue publication: June 2026
Publication of the special issue and indexing through SSRN: July 2026
Decisions and publication via Information Matters’ website: Typically within two weeks of submission
Questions
For queries about the special issue, please contact Sheila Webber, s.webber@sheffield.ac.uk.
Editors
Sheila Webber, School of Information, Journalism & Communication, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom
Professor John Budd, University of Missouri, United States
Dr. Karen Kaufmann, School of Information, University of South Florida, United States
Bill Johnston, Independent scholar, Scotland
Professor Clarence Maybee, Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies, United States
References
Maybee, C., Kaufmann, K., Tucker, V., & Budd, J. (2023). Recognizing information literacy as a discipline: Reflections on an ACRL 2023 panel discussion. College & Research Libraries News, 84(10), 363-368. https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.84.10.363
Webber, S. & Johnston, B. (2017). Information literacy: conceptions, context and the formation of a discipline. Journal of Information Literacy 11(1), 156-183. https://doi.org/10.11645/11.1.2205
