Information privilege is the ability to access information others cannot; this usually includes the most credible, scholarly, and peer-reviewed information. The barriers to access include a person's geographical location, access to technology, access to education/higher education, status, financial situation, among other things. This creates a power dynamic where portions of a society benefit from having access to the highest quality information, those who benefit from selling/gatekeeping this information, and those who are marginalized by their lack of access to said information. Students attending higher education institutions with access to databases are advised to share that information while they have it since when they graduate, they lose access to it. The price for database access on average is over $1000/year for one database, which will prevent access for many. Open access is where scientists, journalists, and scholars in general are encouraged to publish their work on their platform so anybody with an internet connection can get access to it. This allows the scholar to publish their work elsewhere afterwards, so the scholar gets paid by a publisher and gets academic praise without restricting access to the public.
National and international statements
Below is a list of national and international statements declaring access to information as a basic human right that should be upheld: United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights – Article 19 states that an individual has the right to hold their opinion and their opinion should be held "without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of any frontiers". International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions' (IFLA) Beacons of the Information Society: The Alexandria Proclamation for Information Literacy and Lifelong Learning states information literacy is a "basic human right in a digital world" and advocates "institutions to meet technological, economic and social challenges, to redress disadvantage and to advance the well-being of all". The Presidential Committee on Information Literacy: Final Report from the Association of College and Research Libraries recognized the problems associated with lack of access to credible information. It states, "problems are more difficult to solve when people lack access to meaningful information vital to good decision making." The American Library Association Bill of Rights states "all libraries are forums for information and ideas" and in the published follow up, Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights states, "Libraries and librarians protect and promote these rights by selecting, producing, providing access to, identifying, retrieving, organizing, providing instruction in the use of, and preserving recorded expression regardless of the format or technology."
ACRL framework
The Association of College and Research Libraries developed the Framework for Information Literacy which is meant to guide the instruction of information literacy to college students. The ACRL Framework first mentions the term "information privilege" in the frame titled Information Has Value. It discusses the legal and socioeconomic circumstances that can influence the production of, and access to, information. It encourages learners to recognize their own information privilege and acknowledge that some individuals and groups are underrepresented especially in academic publishing. Some argue that the ACRL Framework does not go far enough to teach learners of information literacy about the social injustice issue of lack of access. It is advised that more explicit instructions be included on how learners can combat the injustice in access to information.