The term information landscape is used to refer to the various information locations and types of information resources that are present in our lives. Each discipline has its own information landscape with established journals, publishers, and ways of engaging in scholarly communication. SoTL is the same. SoTL has an information landscape that varies from other disciplines, and scholars who are immersed in their own scholarly information landscape may experience a challenge in adjusting to the information landscape of SoTL. Lloyd (2006) wrote, “Because of the varied nature of landscapes, different skills, practices and affordances are required to make them accessible and knowable” (572).

Lloyd (2006) continued by writing, “For the less well-traveled, a landscape may seem unfamiliar, formidable, difficult to traverse, inhospitable, and ultimately difficult to know. Without assistance it may be easy to get lost along the paths or within the nodes and go beyond the edges. However, for those with an appropriate understanding of how to read the landscape and with the help of some guides, landmarks and tools along the way, the terrain may take on a different character and become knowable” (572).

To become a SoTL scholar, one must travel the information landscape of SoTL and therefore learn where scholarly conversations centered on SoTL exist.

In this interview, SoTL librarian and scholar Margy MacMillan reflects on how the SoTL information landscape has evolved and deepened from its early, largely conference-based origins. She highlights touchstones of SoTL and important new developments, ending with advice for new SoTL scholars. 

The next sections will help you become familiar with the SoTL information landscape.

References

Center for Engaged Learning. 2023. “Asking Inquiry Questions.” Elon University. https://www.centerforengagedlearning.org/studying-engaged-learning/asking-inquiry-questions/.

Hutchings, Pat, and Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, eds. 2000. Opening Lines: Approaches to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 1-10. Menlo Park, Calif: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Lloyd, Annemaree. 2006. “Information Literacy Landscapes: An Emerging Picture.” Journal of Documentation 62(5): 570-83. https://doi.org/10.1108/00220410610688723.