TY - DATA T1 - Commodification of the information profession: A critique of Higher Education under neoliberalism PY - 2014/10/27 AU - Stuart Lawson AU - Kevin Sanders AU - Lauren Smith UR - https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Commodification_of_the_information_profession_A_critique_of_Higher_Education_under_neoliberalism/1217592 DO - 10.6084/m9.figshare.1217592.v1 L4 - https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1756880 KW - scholarly communication KW - neoliberalism KW - critical information literacy KW - library and information studies KW - Library and Information Studies N2 - The structures that govern society’s understanding of information have been reorganised under a neoliberal worldview to allow information to appear and function as a commodity. This has implications for the professional ethics of library and information labour, and the need for critical reflexivity in library and information praxes is not being met. A lack of theoretical understanding of these issues means that the political interests governing decision-making are going unchallenged, for example the UK government’s specific framing of open access to research. We argue that building stronger, community oriented praxes of critical depth can serve as a resilient challenge to the neoliberal politics of the current higher education system in the UK and beyond. Critical information literacy offers a proactive, reflexive and hopeful strategy to challenge hegemonic assumptions about information as a commodity. This is a post-print of an article accepted for publication in Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication in September 2014.   ER -