Algorithms, Digital Literacies and Democratic Practices: Perceptions of University Librarians

Algorithms have real impacts on individuals and on society, in ways that are rarely apparent and can be detrimental to a democratic society. Librarians claim to have a significant responsibility for developing information and digital literacies, but little is known about the professional processes through which they achieve this. This study of librarians in universities in NSW, Australia, found that few claimed conceptual or practical expertise with algorithms. Responsibilities for regulating the effects of algorithms on people’s everyday lives were mostly seen to lie beyond the scope of librarians, vested in government, in technology companies and the institutions of education from earliest childhood. The ethos of the university influenced the relationship between information and digital literacies and active citizenship, presenting a fragmented perspective on these literacies. Taken together, these factors are likely to weaken further the position of librarians as arbiters of authoritative sources of information in a society.