Alhuraiti, Reham; (2022) Information Literacy Perspectives and Practices of Kuwait’s Government Intermediate School Librarians. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

Through a constructivist lens this qualitative study explores the perspectives and practices of school librarians regarding information literacy in Kuwait. Thematic analysis was used to understand and interpret librarians’ understandings, practices, barriers and drivers of information literacy in schools. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect in-depth narratives of 12 participants (8 librarians and 4 supervisors) from Kuwait’s government intermediate schools. Although the study predominantly uses a qualitative approach, it also draws upon a small preliminary quantitative study. A SurveyMonkey online questionnaire was created for this purpose, to which 178 out of 380 intermediate school librarians responded. The quantitative results informed the development of the main qualitative in-depth interview questions. This qualitative study contributes to new knowledge with Kuwaiti, Arabic and Muslim culturally relevant perspectives on information literacy. This study found that the theory of information literacy landscapes and attendant model created by Lloyd (2017, 2021) was able to reveal a way of knowing about the participants’ multiple information environments (sites), information sources (modalities of information) and practices (enactment) that comprise the school library information landscape. The study findings indicated that participants’ understanding of information literacy and its practice are shaped by the intersection of various information landscapes (education, workplace, religious, sociocultural, emotional).The study revealed a way of knowing about the participants’ modalities of information (epistemic, social, corporeal) and enactment (Library and Information Science/Studies (LIS) and information literacy, cultural and religious, educational and teaching, and collaborative and supportive practices). Furthermore, the study identified key factors that may enable or constrain school librarians in fostering information literacy in Kuwait, namely the awareness and knowledge of information literacy, librarians’ professional identity, passion, emotions and meaningfulness, as well as the workplace environment. Lastly, the study presents a list of recommendations for information literacy best practice by librarians in Kuwaiti government schools.

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