About

Denise Agosto studies young people’s use of information and information technologies, the role of social context in shaping youths’ information practices, and public library services. She uses qualitative research methods with young people in public libraries and other informal and formal educational settings to learn about their information behaviors and preferences. Core values of her work include a youth-centered approach that posits young people as the experts of their own behaviors and preferences; the perspective of researcher as interpreter, learning from research participants about their information behaviors and preferences, and reframing what they learn for key stakeholder audiences such as librarians, teachers, parents, and policy makers; and finally, the belief that power and privilege underlie all human information practices and the information systems that humans design to support them. She holds a Ph.D. in Library and Information Science from Rutgers University, an M.L.I.S. from The University of Texas at Austin, and a B.S. in Linguistics and Portuguese from Georgetown University. She is a distinguished member of the Association of Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) from 2023-2028 and received the ASIS&T SIG-USE Outstanding Contributions to Information Behavior Research Award in 2018.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Social Science
• Political Science
• Computer Science
• Public relations
• Pedagogy
• Law
• Engineering ethics
• Nursing
• Management science
• Engineering
• Data science
• Medicine
• Epistemology
• Public administration

Selected publications

• Connecting the Public Library with Immigrant-Serving Community-Based Organizations in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley Region

  Public Library Quarterly · 2025-09-29

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Matrixes for Data Collection in Information Research: Issues Related to Data Reduction and Display

  Proceedings of the Annual Conference of CAIS / Actes du congrès annuel de l ACSI · 2024-09-10

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  The goal of this lightning talk is to foster discussion about the effective analysis and reporting of data collected via interview-based matrixes. Data matrixes are a common qualitative data analysis tool. They are less common at the data collection stage. For this study of the information sharing practices of Brazilian undergraduate students, participants completed a written data matrix in conjunction with semi-structured interviews. The researchers will describe the project and engage audience members in discussing the merits of using matrixes for data collection, ideas for effective data reduction and display, and issues relating to reporting data and findings in translation.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Information Privilege: Considerations for Library and Information Science Curriculum Design

  Proceedings of the ALISE Annual Conference · 2024-10-16 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Embedded within the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education and building on the broader concepts of privilege and oppression, information privilege (IP) might be a useful lens for centering library and information science (LIS) curricula on information-related aspects of social power. IP suggests that individuals' access to and utilization of information is connected to demographic factors like socioeconomic status, place of birth, and gender. Despite the relevance of this concept to LIS scholarship and teaching, LIS scholarly discussions on information privilege are limited. The limited existing literature mainly extends Booth’s foundational essay exploring IP through the lens of institutional affiliation, stopping short of fuller sociocultural considerations. This essay considers IP as an information-focused organizing perspective within LIS teaching and curriculum development. The authors conclude with suggestions for building discussions of IP into LIS curriculum and teaching.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• “We Were Beaten Down”: Parents' Concerns about Children's Digital Media Use

  Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology · 2024-10-01 · 7 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  ABSTRACT Parents' concerns about children's digital media use were investigated using data from semi‐structured interviews with 17 parents of children ages five to 11 at three branches of a U.S. urban public library system. Data were analyzed using collaborative inductive thematic analysis and analyzed with the lens of culturally‐constructed anxieties about new media. The most common concerns included worries about exposure to inappropriate content, worries about digital media taking up time that children would otherwise spend engaging in more meaningful activities, concerns about safety and privacy, and worries about negative effects on children's behaviors, attitudes, and social skills. Further analysis showed parents' deeper concern for children's healthy development to underlie these narrower concerns. The authors conclude with the recommendation to shift the framing of discourse around parenting with digital media from risk protection to digital media education. Such a shift could raise awareness that framing children and digital media only in terms of risks is overly simplistic, and it could help parents come to understand that children's digital media use is not just risky but also an opportunity for children to derive educational and social benefits, and learn how to operate in a digital media‐dominated information ecosystem.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• AI Through Gen Z: Partnerships Toward New Research Agendas

  interactions · 2024-08-28 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  Insights→ For Gen Z there is no before AI, which raises epistemological challenges.→ Youth are assured AI will force change, and while they want regulations to address it, they want to be involved in directing solutions.→ The challenges and opportunities of AI demand a participatory approach.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Philly parents worry about kids’ digital media use but see some benefits, too

  2023-11-28

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• AI through the Eyes of Gen Z: Setting a Research Agenda for Emerging Technologies that Empower Our Future Generation

  2023-10-13 · 11 citations

  article

  Artificial intelligence (AI) underpins virtually every experience that we have—from search and social media to generative AI and immersive social virtual reality (SVR). For Generation Z, there is no before AI. As adults, we must humble ourselves to the notion that AI is shaping youths’ world in ways that we don’t understand and we need to listen to them about their lived experiences. We invite researchers from academia and industry to participate in a workshop with youth activists to set the agenda for research into how AI-driven emerging technologies affect youth and how to address these challenges. This reflective workshop will amplify youth voices and empower youth and researchers to set an agenda. As part of the workshop, youth activists will participate in a panel and steer the conversation around the agenda for future research. All will participate in group research agenda setting activities to reflect on their experiences with AI technologies and consider ways to tackle these challenges.

  PublisherDOI

• Public Librarian Perceptions of Assisting Immigrant Patrons: Results from a Multi-State Survey

  Journal of Community Health · 2023-03-15 · 2 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Guest editorial

  Information and Learning Sciences · 2022-02-16 · 1 citations

  editorialOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  The complexity of teaching and learning about Mis-and Dis-Information Issues of information bias and accuracy are of increasing concern around the world across disparate educational contexts and settings.A growing consensus definition proposes that misinformation is inaccurate and misleading, while disinformation is deliberately so (Cooke, 2017;Oltmann et al., 2018).Both types of unreliable information are being rapidly created and disseminated across multiple information and communication technologies and platforms.The discourse surrounding mis/disinformation is often highly polarized and highly politicized.With this special issue of Information and Learning Sciences dedicated to the study of teaching and learning about misinformation, we seek to move beyond partisan arguments about sources and causes of misleading, inaccurate, false and satirical information to consider positively framed educational interventions.Educational discourses around teaching and mis/disinformation have often been framed as concepts such as a "battle for truth" (Albert, 2019) and positioning the entire internet as a "toxic place" (Singer and McConnell, 2021).These discourses feed into moral panics (Bratich, 2020) and technopanics (Marwick, 2008) that often appear with the introduction of new information and communication technologies.The solution to these dire pronouncements of widespread societal decline is typically identified as teaching critical thinking and source evaluation heuristics (Auberry, 2018) or using teaching apps to guide students in how to avoid the influence of mis/disinformation (Roozenbeek et al., 2020).Such simplistic pedagogical framing ignores the social structures that give rise to the spreading of false, misleading and often harmful information, and the complex social contexts in which they grow and spread.The papers in this issue offer more nuanced discussions of misinformation and disinformation in teaching and learning, and they consider how we as educators can help student learners, as well as public and key stakeholders, become more discerning in their interactions with information across many mediated and sociotechnical contexts.Although the papers in this special issue focus largely on mis/disinformation in online communities and sources, we must recognize that misinformation and disinformation are manifestations of existing societal problems.Typically, these are enduring issues, such as social power imbalances, political bullying, economic inequity, political polarization and racism (Agosto, 2021).The spreading of mis/disinformation through the media is not new either.It can be traced in the US mass media back to the height of the "yellow journalism" era in the late 19th century, and likely much further back than that (McQueen, 2018).In the 1890s, sensationalism and exaggeration joined with poorly researched and rarely verified reporting, as seen in the intense competition between two New York City newspapers (Campbell, 2001).These media outlets valued sensationalism over truth in an effort to gain increasing market shares and proportionate profits.We can readily identify some of those same trends and values today, across different information platforms and technologies, but often amplified in a way that earlier media could not have imagined.For example, disinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccination often relies on spurious connections, exaggerations, distortions and misrepresentations of research (Bond, 2021).But the potential reach of such purveyors (including the so-called "disinformation dozen," the 12 people responsible for most COVID-related disinformation on Facebook) is exponential, as millions of people view and often share such claims (Center for Countering Digital Hate, 2021).During the height of yellow journalism, mis/disinformation was produced to drive newspaper sales; the same

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Reflections on adolescent literacy as sociocultural practice

  Information and Learning Sciences · 2022-11-21 · 4 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Purpose This paper aims to discuss the concept of “literacy” within the new literacy, new literacies and library and information science (LIS) discourses. It proposes widening the prevailing LIS conceptualization of adolescent literacy, which focuses largely on information literacy in academic settings, to a broader, information practice-based, sociocultural framing that encompasses the full range of adolescents’ everyday life contexts. Design/methodology/approach The author presents a literature review and personal reflection on a series of adolescent information activities to show the value of framing the LIS discourse on adolescent literacy within a broader sociocultural perspective. Findings Based on the discussion, the author proposes a framework for future investigations of adolescents’ literacy practices that views adolescent literacy as fundamentally social and communicative; multiformat; multicontextual; multigenerational; and culturally situated. Originality/value A broader sociocultural approach to the LIS information literacy discourse can lead to deeper understanding of the co-constructed and collaborative nature of adolescents’ new literacies practices. It can also enable stronger recognition of the impact of power and privilege on adolescent literacy practices. Finally, this essay shows the value of reflecting on adolescent information activities for challenging narrow views of literacy and highlights the social embeddedness of new literacies activities in adolescents’ everyday lives.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• June Abbas

  15 shared

• Rachel M. Magee

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  13 shared

• Andrea Forte

  Drexel University

  10 shared

• Michael Dickard

  Yahoo (United States)

  6 shared

• Yuanyuan Feng

  University of Vermont

  5 shared

• Gabrielle Salib

  Drexel University

  5 shared

• Sandra Hughes‐Hassell

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  5 shared

• Eileen G. Abels

  4 shared

Awards & honors

• ASIS&T SIG-USE Outstanding Contributions to Information Beha…
• Member of the Association of Information Science & Technolog…