Activity Theory as a Framework for Understanding Information Literacy

Information literacy is often described as a set of skills allowing an individual to find, evaluate, and use the information that he needs. In this paper, we discuss the value of re-examining the information behaviour models in order to understand the skills and motivations necessary for the performance of different types of information activities. We also determine the benefits to be gained from the use of activity theory, with the aim of understanding and defining the literacies underlying the success of information activity. Engestrom's model of conceptualization of the structure of activity is mainly explored to understand interrelated elements in information activity. The results of our research show that information literacy is essentially a social practice that cannot be reduced to the knowledge of information retrieval stages. These results lead us to think that an information literacy program should be perfectly integrated into its context of implementation and exploitation.