Informational Justice: A Conceptual Framework for Social Justice in Library and Information Services

Abstract

This article presents a conceptual framework of social justice for library and information science (LIS) and services responsive to their core concerns and drawing from the disciplinary literatures in both philosophy and LIS. The framework is introduced in terms of the multifaceted concept of informational justice, defined as the just treatment of persons as seekers, sources, and subjects of information. The article also expands on the central aspect of informational justice, namely iDistributive justice, defined as the equitable distribution of access to information. An iDistributively just system is one that ensures all persons have sufficient access to information, where access is understood as a capability sensitive resource.

Keywords: access to information, social justice, distributive justice, Library Science, Information Science