Information Privilege

Information privilege refers to the idea that access to information is based on status, finances, technology, location, and other factors. While the internet has made it easier to share and access information, there is still a lot of knowledge that is only available to people who have permission to access it or have the resources and knowledge to obtain information through other means. Accessing, using, and sharing information can impact our ability to complete projects and tasks, make decisions, strengthen our knowledge, and participate in other activities in which information access and sharing is vital.

Examples of Information Privilege

In Scholarly Publishing

While academic institutions value the creation and distribution of knowledge, the process by which knowledge is generated hinders the dissemination of scholarly information beyond colleges, universities, and other research institutions. Under traditional publishing models, scholarly articles are published in journals and other sources of academic information that are mostly accessible by educational and research institutions, libraries, and other organizations with the ability to pay. Information privilege is also embedded in the concepts, terminology, procedures, and organization of scholarly research. For example, someone with little or no background in an academic discipline may have trouble understanding the information being shared in journals and other scholarly literature.

In Academic Libraries

Information privilege affects academic libraries. Libraries subscribe to database packages that require authorized users to provide their credentials in order to view and download materials. Database access is typically limited to students, faculty, and staff of a college or university; this ends once the user leaves the institution. Database subscriptions cost thousands of dollars per year and librarians periodically review database usage to determine whether the subscription should be renewed or cancelled. If a database subscription is cancelled, library users lose direct access to scholarly articles and other research materials available through the database. While interlibrary loan (ILL) services provide access to materials unavailable in the library's collections, this may be limited based on a user's status, the library's budget, or other factors. 

Persons unaffiliated with an educational or research organization experience challenges involving information access. As independent researchers, they may access scholarly research by relying on public libraries, academic libraries that allow community users, and open web sources. Even then, individuals face additional barriers such as databases being restricted to on-site users, limited subscriptions to academic databases at the public library, and publisher websites that charge a fee for viewing and downloading scholarly articles.