Reconciling Authority and Agency through Information Practices Research.

Authority and Agency have been central concepts in information science since its beginnings in 19th century documentalism. This paper begins with a brief historical overview of how these concepts have been constructed in the traditional and user‐centred paradigms. It will then explore how an information practices perspective affords the possibility of seeing authority and agency not as oppositional but rather as synergistic: two sides of the same theoretical coin. This exploration will be contextualised by examples drawn from the author's own research over more than two decades across a range of studies. This body of research includes studies of academic, artistic and serious leisure communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]