Examining authority and reclaiming expertise

Publication date: Available online 24 October 2019Source: The Journal of Academic LibrarianshipAuthor(s): Laura Saunders, John BuddAbstractIn a post-truth era of fake news and alternative facts, it is relatively commonplace for people to question established authority and perhaps especially the surrogates of authority such as academic degrees and credentials that are often equated with elitism. However, some critics have questioned whether in rethinking standards, people have lost sight of the value of scientific and systematic research and the kind of expertise that comes from deep and extended study. This conceptual article offers an examination of the frame Authority is Constructed and Contextual from the ACRL Information Literacy Frameworks, and then provides a philosophical and a methodological approach for assessing authority. The article concludes with advice to instruction librarians to incorporate these approaches into their teaching.
Source: The Journal of Academic Librarianship - Category: Databases & Libraries Source Type: research