Information literacy as a socially enacted practice Sensitising themes for an emerging perspective of people-in-practice Annemaree Lloyd School of Information Studies, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, Australia Abstract Purpose – This paper aims to introduce a “people-in-practice” perspective which brings together previous theorisations of information literacy landscapes and practice. This perspective provides the framework to analyse the complex practice of information literacy from a sociocultural perspective. This perspective represents a shift in focus towards information literacy as a socially enacted practice, and away from the information skills approach that has dominated information literacy research and education. Design/methodology/approach – The empirical data that informs this work is drawn from a series of studies that have been conducted by the author in the workplace and in everyday settings since 2004. Findings from these studies have contributed to the development of the people-in-practice perspective that is presented in this article. Findings – Drawing from the author’s empirical studies and from literature reporting socio-cultural research into information literacy, a people-in-practice perspective is described. Originality/value – The value of this paper lies in the attempt to marry together the author’s previous work resulting in the introduction of a people-in-practice perspective. This perspective draws from socio-cultural and practice theory. Keywords Information literacy, Enactment, Practice theory, Socio-cultural perspective Paper type Conceptual paper Introduction The aim of this paper is to explain how information literacy happens. In doing so, a range of concepts will be introduced that can be used to sensitise researchers towards an understanding of information literacy as a socially enacted practice. Focusing on how information literacy emerges in a setting can inform researchers about the discourses that reveal the nature of a setting, particularly in relation to what information and knowledge are sanctioned and legitimized. This approach facilitates a more holistic view of information literacy because it opens the enquiry to understanding the ontological and epistemological conditions that establish and operationalise information literacy as a practice within a setting. This work represents an attempt to marry together earlier conceptualisations of how information literacy should be viewed as a way of knowing an information landscape (Lloyd, 2006), with a more recent framing of information literacy as socio-cultural practice (Lloyd, 2010a). Together these earlier theorisations act as sensitising concepts The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm The author wishes to thank the anonymous reviewers of this article and the many colleagues who read and commented on numerous versions. JDOC 68,6 772 Received 16 September 2011 Revised 23 March 2012 Accepted 13 April 2012 Journal of Documentation Vol. 68 No. 6, 2012 pp. 772-783 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0022-0418 DOI 10.1108/00220411211277037