Conflicting approaches to user information seeking education in Scandinavian Web‐based tutorials

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to make visible different approaches to university librarians' professional expertise such as they are mediated through user information seeking education. The empirical basis of the study consists of an analysis of 31 web‐based tutorials in information literacy accessible via Scandinavian university libraries' web‐sites. The results make apparent four, sometimes conflicting, approaches to user information seeking education expressed in the tutorials: a source approach, a behavior approach, a process approach and a communication approach. These approaches disclose different ways of defining central concepts such as information, information seeking and the user. A study of attitudes to user education is important as attitudes entail practical consequences for the operation of user education.