INFORMATION NEEDS, REPRESENTATION, AND ORGANIZATION

An important element in information science and librarianship is being literate in the context of diversity. Cultural literacy, diversity literacy, and critical literacy are all elements of this.

Being able to recognize the diverse elements that make up a community ensure the ability to present that community with the diverse information it requires (likewise with having awareness about a communities varying cultures).

These elements of literacy include a consciousness in both locating as well as presenting information. It is not enough to simply provide diverse information - that information must be supplied in a way that is conscious of the diverse groups it will be seen by. It makes little sense to provide information about gender equality to a group of men and women, but inform them of it in a method that could be deemed sexist towards either group.

Ideally, all information is provided in a neutral context. Information is neither malicious nor benevolent, yet wielded in a non-neutral way, it can be either of those things.

It is important as library and information science professionals that individuals present information in neutral forms, with a firm consciousness about maintaining those cultural, diversity, and critical literacy elements along the way.

Additional reading includes Horton's Hierarchy of needs.