Information literacy as professional legitimation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine how the professionalization of school and academic librarianship contributed to the establishment of information literacy as a form of legitimation. Design/methodology/approach Historical analysis via Abbott. Findings The need to obtain and maintain professional status did place school and academic librarians in a vulnerable position during a time of change that forced them to seek a new jurisdiciton of expertise. Originality/value Important for the profession to examine the context of the emergence of a current and important framework.