The personal knowledge base conception of information literacy

Abstract

Although most authors on Information Literacy do not really differ in their definitions of the information literacy concept, phenomenographic research makes clear that in the context of education at least two different conceptions can be distinguished: an “Information Problem Solving” conception and a “Personal Knowledge Base” conception [1]. The conception of “Information Problem Solving” has been elaborated on in various models by many researchers but the operationalization of the “Personal Knowledge Base conception” has, until now, been ignored in LIS research.Based on educational literature a model for the content of a “Personal Knowledge Base” will be proposed. Two kinds of internalized knowledge are distinguished: the body of knowledge of the discipline and metacognitive knowledge. Both of these elements display sub content. This conception of information literacy as a “Personal Knowledge Base” is consistent with the idea that “learning to learn” is one of the main goals of Higher Education.