Public Praxis: A Vision for Critical Information Literacy in Public Libraries

Public libraries in the United States have a radical opportunity to incorporate information literacy into their service missions. This article explores the reasons why public libraries are not addressing information literacy and engages the educational theories of John Dewey, Paolo Freire, and New Literacy studies to argue that critical information literacy in public libraries is essential to the vitality of democratic societies. In order to deliver these services to their communities, public libraries must provide not only the technologies and instruction for information literacy, but also the impetus for action—what Freire called “praxis.”