Information Literacy: Authority is Constructed and Contextual

Information resources reflect their creators’ expertise and credibility, and are evaluated based on the information need and the context in which the information will be used. Authority is constructed in that various communities may recognize different types of authority. It is contextual in that the information need may help to determine the level of authority required.

• Experts 
  • Understand that authority is a type of influence recognized or exerted within a community.
  • View authority with an attitude of informed skepticism and an openness to new perspectives, additional voices, and changes in schools of thought.
  • Understand the need to determine the validity of the information created by different authorities and to acknowledge biases that privilege some sources of authority over others, especially in terms of others’ world views, gender, sexual orientation, and cultural orientations.
  • Experts know how to seek authoritative voices but also recognize that unlikely voices can be authoritative, depending on need.
  • Recognize schools of thought or discipline-specific paradigms.
• Novice
  • ​An understanding of this concept enables novice learners to critically examine all evidence—be it a short blog post or a peer-reviewed conference proceeding—and to ask relevant questions about origins, context, and suitability for the current information need.
  • Thus, novice learners come to respect the expertise that authority represents while remaining skeptical of the systems that have elevated that authority and the information created by it.
  • Novice learners may need to rely on basic indicators of authority, such as type of publication or author credentials, where experts recognize schools of thought or discipline-specific paradigms.