Conference Agenda

Demand for Change

The information specialists in Tritonia Academic Library, a joint library in a multilingual environment, are used to finding new and innovative ways to support students in the field of information literacy (IL). Our information specialists have given hands on tutorials, lessons on request, and one credit courses in IL for both first-year students and bachelor degree students for the past 15 years. Some courses are developed or held together with the teaching staff. The ever-changing scientific landscape demands a change in how we support the students’ IL (Lokse et al., 2017). As our IL teachers have the possibility for only one lecture of two hours per IL course, the risk of overloading students with information is imminent (Lokse et al., 2017). To keep the lectures quite light, our library offers as much IL support as possible in various other ways.

IL Services Close at Hand

Since the pandemic, students seem to prefer receiving library services online (Baker & Ellis, 2021). Therefore, IL questions and support takes place in channels preferred by the students. Our library has a live chat service for students, researchers, and staff. We feel that a chatbot does not empower students to evaluate, use, and create information effectively. Other ways of getting IL support is to use the Ask the library form or send us e-mail. Questions from both the form and e-mail go to a ticket system managed by information specialists. For these online library services to be successful, it is important to keep up with the evolving technology and to maintain and develop the information specialists’ knowledge and expertise through relevant training (Laaro, 2021).

We also offer a weekly drop-in thesis workshop together with the university’s study psychologist. The workshop aims to solve the students’ thesis-related problems regarding IL issues, time management, and writer’s blocks. Students also give and get peer support. Before the pandemic, the workshops were on campus, but now the workshops are held online.

In addition, students can get personal IL guidance by booking an appointment with an information specialist through the Book, a tutorial service. The service helps students with issues, such as finding suitable information resources, upgrading their search strategies, and creating literature reviews. These appointments are generally held online. The library gives open online sessions on subjects including e-books, reference and data management, and open science.

At Tritonia, we acknowledge that we have an important role in giving our university students sound IL support when they need it so that they can thrive in their academic studies and also later in their work life. Offering different kinds of easily accessible IL support services favors not only the students but the whole university. IL support does not have to be that complicated, but it needs professional and flexible information specialists.

References

Atkinson, J. (2021). The times they are a-changin’: But how fundamentally and how rapidly? Academic library services post-pandemic. In D. Baker & L. Ellis (Eds.), Libraries, Digital Information, and COVID: Practical Applications and Approaches to Challenge and Change (pp. 303–315). Cambridge: Elsevier.

Laaro, M. D. (2021). Library services amidst covid-19 pandemic: Adjusting to the new normal. Emperor International Journal of Library and Information Technology Research, 1(3), 24–27.

Lokse, M., Lag, T., Solberg, M., Andreassen, H. N., & Stenersen, M. (2017). Teaching Information Literacy in Higher Education: Effective Teaching and Active Learning. Cambridge: Elsevier.

Published research regarding the differences in the impact of services, resources, methods, and tools between the college and university library environment in the United States is, overall, lacking. The methods for transferring knowledge of information literacy practices between smaller, often two-year, college institutions and the progression through the remaining four-year environment of the university brings shifts in approaches to information literacy instruction. Additionally, the expansive changes brought by the 2020 global biological crisis formed the basis for the vast expansion of remote and asynchronous instructional methods. I aim to present examples of the differences and similarities between the styles utilized in different higher education environments for the purposes of expanding knowledge regarding practices suitable for students developing information literacy skills in higher education between academic environments serving different purposes. Kennette and McIntosh (2022) promote an analytical approach to the means of assessing the effects of library information literacy instruction. Assessment is critical in both the college and university environments, simultaneously the discussion regards academia as a whole with the subtleties between two- and four-year academic institutions. Shi, Peng, and Sun (2022) promote a multi-pronged approach in the methodology of deploying a heuristic space, yet the work does not differentiate with depth the variety of methods deployed between teaching and research institutions. Anders (2021) takes the approach of focusing solely on graduate students and leaves the issue of undergraduate two-year students, separate from the conversation entirely, while the scholarly conversation regarding information literacy surrounding university library research begins with first-year undergraduates, a view Valenza, et al. (2022), promote. Finally, Bennedbaek and George (2021) take the steps needed when seeking common ground between similar sized colleges and universities, though this approach does not cover consistency and longer-term planning when creating information literacy instruction between institutions of vastly different scales. Though the research grapples with aspects of the information literacy via library instruction across multiple institutional models there lacks a common thread illustrating the differences between types of academic institutions and the pathways available to support students in the transfer from college to university learning spaces. Though the community college environment is arguable a rather uniquely North American institution, planning for the successful deployment of library information literacy instruction between varying academic spaces, online, in-person, and synchronously and asynchronously is of benefit to scholars and teachers across geographies and disciplines. I have been both a college library director and a university faculty research librarian and seeing the scope and scale between two institutions serving different roles, but often with the same students continuing from one school to another, the need for collaboration and deployment of impactful information literacy strategies is critical. I propose to present on the differences between such institutions, the lack of representation in the research literature regarding the nuances between two- and four-year schools, and the means through which teaching and research schools promote, deploy, and evaluate the means of successfully enacting impactful information literacy instruction through library services.

References

Anders, K. (2021). Information literacy and instruction: Building a multi-format graduate student information literacy program. Reference and User Services Quarterly, 59(3/4), 156–. https://doi.org/10.5860/rusq.59.3/4.7712

Bennedbaek, D., Clark, S., & George, D. (2021). The impact of librarian-student contact on students’ information literacy competence in small colleges and universities. College & Undergraduate Libraries, 28(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/10691316.2020.1830907

Kennette, L. N., & McIntosh, E. A. (2022). Your information literacy practices (YILP): A new measure of information literacy. Partnership, 17(2), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.21083/partnership.v17i2.6680

Shi, Y., Peng, F., & Sun, F. (2022). A blended learning model based on smart learning environment to improve college students’ information literacy. IEEE Access, 10, 89485–89498. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2022.3201105

Valenza, J. K., Dalal, H., Mohamad, G., Boyer, B., Berg, C., Charles, L. H., Bushby, R., Dempsey, M., Dalrymple, J., & Dziedzic-Elliott, E. (2022). First years’ information literacy backpacks: What’s already packed or not packed? The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 48(4), 102566. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2022.102566

Introduction & Literature Review

Instruction librarians are at the forefront of introducing learners to new concepts and skills such as evaluation strategies, searching techniques, and trends in scholarly communication. But how do instruction librarians themselves learn new concepts and skills? Especially if they have been a professional for a significant amount of time and have experienced multiple changes in the profession. We conducted a study to learn how mid-career and experienced instruction librarians seek out and learn new professional information, how they find curiosity sparks to keep them engaged in their work, and how they choose to incorporate new ideas or professional competencies into their instructional practice.

Mid-career professional development has been characterized by stage-like models depicting growth, stability, and sometimes frustration (Maskit, 2011). These stages have been explored in K-12 teachers, and we wanted to determine how well these stages describe the experiences of mid-career and experienced instruction librarians. We were especially interested in these librarians because many workplaces have multiple generations of workers and must find ways to encourage growth in an age-diverse environment. However, much of the literature and professional development opportunities focus on supporting newer librarians (for example, Flatley and Weber, 2004). We enthusiastically agree that newer librarians should receive significant and thoughtful supports, but we were curious to explore the unique challenges mid-career and experienced librarians face based on their accumulated experiences as well as how they sustain their engagement with new ideas.

Objectives, Methodology and Outcomes

Our objectives were to learn:

• how mid-career and experienced instruction librarians seek out and learn new professional information,

• how they find inspiration to keep them engaged in their work,

• how they choose to incorporate new ideas or professional competencies into their instructional practice.

In an online survey and follow up interviews, we asked mid-career and experienced instruction librarians from North America to share their experiences about how they engage with and incorporate new professional ideas into their instructional practice. Recognizing the systemic changes brought about by the global pandemic, we asked participants to reflect on how these changes impact their learning preferences, what inspires their curiosity, for their self-evaluation of where they are now situated in the career cycle stage, and what they think are currently the most pressing issues in librarianship. We used convenience sampling to recruit up to twenty library workers who conduct instructional activities in an academic setting and who have worked for at least 10 years--regardless of full or part-time employment. To extend our participant pool, we used snowball sampling. Participants were asked to respond to an online survey consisting of nine multiple choice and short answer questions and were invited to participate in an hour-long virtual interview to expand on their survey responses.

We discuss how our findings and analysis, along with our suggestions, can inform institutional training efforts and retention strategies. We will also discuss how we can use these findings at the individual level to inform how we adapt to professional changes in rejuvenating and productive ways.

References

Flatley, R. K., & Weber, M. A. (2004). Perspectives on... Professional development opportunities for new academic librarians. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 30(6), 488–492. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2004.06.011

Maskit, D. (2011). Teachers’ attitudes toward pedagogical changes during various stages of professional development. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27(5), 851–860. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2011.01.009

This best practice case presents the development of information literacy workshops embedded in a bachelor’s thesis course when moving the teaching to an online environment. On-site information literacy (IL) lecture on the principles of information searching, presentation of the most important databases and hands-on information search training given by an academic librarian had been part of the on-site course curriculum in LUT University since the early 2010s. When the Covid pandemic restrictions started in March 2020, IL teaching had to be moved to an online environment. To find the best IL e-learning methods, iterative student feedback evaluation for continuous development was utilized.

The Two Phased Development Process

To develop the online IL workshops, a new model was implemented in the autumn of 2020. In this model, students (n=35) got a preliminary assignment based on online learning material. The assignment consisted of an essay where students described their information search process for their thesis and reported the results. In the online workshops librarians then gave them feedback and pointers based on the essays, moving on to demonstrations using the University Library’s search portal and the Scopus database. After the demonstrations, students performed searches in smaller groups and reported their results at the end of the workshop.

Webropol questionnaire was used to collect feedback from the students to find out about their satisfaction with the workshop. According to grounded theory-based analysis, the result was twofold. In their open answers, some students appreciated the group work, while others considered it not being as beneficial as the rest of the workshop. In addition, comments were made on the scheduling and heaviness of the session with back-to-back demonstrations.

In the following revisions, the preliminary assignment was split into four narrower questions covering the scope of the essay. In the workshop, the group work was replaced by two independent search sessions, giving students an opportunity to both have a little breather and to do searches based on their thesis topic. Other parts of the workshop remained the same. Lastly, feedback was collected.

Conclusion

Like other flipped and online classroom initiatives report (Fisher et al., 2017, Yap and Manabat, 2021), students appeared to benefit from getting acquainted with the learning material in advance and from using class time for active learning activities. According to citation analyses of preliminary assignments, students had learned the skill to find scientific documents on their topics by reading the online learning material (Talikka et al., 2022). Students considered independent searching for information on their thesis topic very useful, and group work did not appear to support it sufficiently. The overall satisfaction with the renewed workshop was good.

References

Fisher, R., Ross, B., LaFerriere, R. & Maritz, A. (2017). Flipped learning, flipped satisfaction, getting the balance right. Teaching and Learning Inquiry, 5(2), 114–127. https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.5.2.9.

Talikka, M., Naukkarinen, J., Mielonen, K. & Eskelinen, H. (2022) Guided process to enhance undergraduate engineering students’ thesis work. In 2022 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), Uppsala, Sweden (pp. 1–6). https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE56618.2022.9962441

Yap, J. M., & Manabat, A. R. (2021). Are we in-sync? Students’ virtual instructional experience and perceived information literacy skills in time of pandemic. Internet Reference Services Quarterly, 25(4), 169–184.

Yuval Harari proposes the dystopian view that an algorithm can understand us and our thoughts and feelings better than our mothers, without us even recognising that this is happening, and that this can lead to a threat to democracy (Harari in Thompson, 2018). Questions of responsibility for overcoming the power vested in technologies abound in the literature, with calls for regulation by technology companies and by nation-states through legislation. Although many people are resigned to the unregulated media environment, informed citizens can also take on some responsibility, through maintaining a high level of digital literacy. As Henninger (2021) notes, this is not new information. Lloyd (2019) calls for information literacy scholars and librarians to consider how they address the impact of algorithms on everyday activities. This study aims to heed this call, drawing on accounts of the information literacy practices of librarians.

Objectives

Algorithms influence our online interactions and have real impacts on individuals and on society, in ways that are rarely apparent and which can be detrimental to a democratic society. Librarians claim to have a significant responsibility for developing information and digital literacies, through which a level of algorithmic literacy might develop, but little is known about the professional processes through which they achieve this. The purpose of this study is to position the development of algorithmic literacy in the context of an inclusive and democratic society.

Methodology

Using a practice theory approach, this study has interviewed more than twenty academic librarians who provide programs and services in information literacy services to university students in New South Wales, Australia, in order to identify how they talk about these processes and interactions (Schatzki 2012). The transcripts of the interviews, as well as resources relevant to their practices, were analysed using thematic analysis to identify elements of algorithmic and digital literacies, considerations of democratic practices, active citizenship and wider societal implications.

Outcomes

There was little evidence of a focus on algorithmic culture. Librarians’ understanding of algorithmic literacy ranged from the naïve to passive acquaintance especially through social media, with few claiming conceptual or practical expertise. Perceptions of the relationship between information and digital literacies and active citizenship were influenced by the ethos of the university, presenting a fragmented perspective on the role of these literacies. Responsibilities for regulating the effects of algorithms on citizens in their everyday lives were mostly seen to lie beyond the scope of librarians, vested in government, in technology companies and the institutions of education from earliest childhood. Taken together, these factors are likely to weaken further the position of librarians as arbiters of authoritative sources of information in a society.

References

Thompson, N. (2018). When tech knows you better than you know yourself: Yuval Noah Harari and Tristan Harris interviewed by Wired. [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/story/artificial-intelligence-yuval-noah-harari-tristan-harris/

Henninger, M. (2021). Information literacy: Importance and consequences. Philippine Journal of Librarianship and Information Studies, 41(2), 3–12. Retrieved from https://phjlis.org/index.php/phjlis/article/view/82/67

Lloyd, A. (2019). Chasing Frankenstein’s monster: Information literacy in the black box society. Journal of Documentation, 75(6), 1475–1485. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-02-2019-0035

Schatzki, T. R. (2012). A primer on practices: Theories and research. In J. Higgs, et al. (Eds.), Practice-Based Education: Perspectives and Strategies, (pp. 13–26) Rotterdam: Springer.

The widespread use and impact of algorithms on almost every aspect of the individual and society is a significant challenge to the modern world. For effective and informed functioning in today’s societies, we need to develop algorithmic literacy (Iwasiński & Furman, 2022). So far there have been several studies aimed at defining and operationalizing this notion, but only few at developing standardized measures of algorithmic literacy (Latzer et al., 2020). In 2022 Dogruel, Masur, and Joeckel (Dogruel et al., 2022) constructed and validated a 22-item scale for measuring algorithmic literacy. It consists of two interrelated dimensions: awareness of algorithms use (11 items), and knowledge about algorithms (11 items). The first dimension relates to the awareness of the purposes for which algorithms are being used and awareness of areas and applications or devices, in which algorithms are actually used. The second dimension focuses on a more advanced understanding of the mechanisms of action of algorithmic systems and their consequences. The correlation between results in both dimensions, and the practical ability to interact with algorithms has been confirmed.

In our study, we apply this scale to measure and compare the algorithmic literacy of Polish students of several faculties. We also want to test the scale in the Polish context. Authors of the scale declare: “our original scale was developed in German (...) Items worked in the context of our study, but item length or use of words to increase or decrease item difficulty might be critical in other languages”. Our pilot research indicated that respondents had trouble understanding the intentions behind some of the items.

Our research has two main goals:

• Testing the scale in the Polish context

• Assessing algorithmic literacy among Polish students of selected faculties.

We regard our research as exploratory. Our sample is purposive. We have selected courses from Polish universities, which are available to us, and as we assume, include some form of algorithmic education in their curricula. These are: Architecture of Information Spaces at the University of Warsaw, Sociology of Media and Communication at the University of Warsaw, and Philosophy of New Media at the University of Silesia. All students of the last (third) year will be studied. We also intend to check if the items are understandable, using interviews. Moreover, we plan to study and compare the syllabuses of the above programmes, to find out if they include courses that sensitize students to the knowledge of algorithms.

We adopted two working hypotheses:

1. Not all items in the questionnaire are clear and understandable to our respondents.

2. Students of different faculties have different levels of algorithmic literacy.

The study combines elements of quantitative analysis (Algorithmic Literacy Scale) and qualitative analysis (interviews with students, sylabuses analysis). This is, to our knowledge, the first empirical research on algorithmic literacy in Poland. Furthermore, we are not aware of any other studies that use the scale developed by Dogruel, Masur, and Joeckel worldwide.

References

Dogruel, L., Masur P., & Joeckel, S. (2022) Development and validation of an algorithm literacy scale for internet users. Communication Methods and Measures, 16(2).

Iwasiński, Ł., & Furman, W. (2022). Jak być świadomym użytkownikiem algorytmów? O potrzebie rozwijania kompetencji algorytmicznych. Zagadnienia Informacji Naukowej, 2.

Latzer, M., Festic, N., & Kappeler, K. (2020). Awareness of algorithmic selection and attitudes in Switzerland. Report 2 from the project: The significance of algorithmic selection for everyday life: The case of Switzerland. University of Zurich.

Generative artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT are transforming how people interact with information, with significant implications for information literacy. Using ChatGPT and similar tools as information retrieval challenges many core ideas of information literacy, as it generates often quite adequate topic overviews, while claiming neither copyright nor any authority other than having been trained on a huge corpus of texts.

While this disruption is unique, it is not unprecedented. Twenty-five years ago, general purpose web search engines blurred formats and authorship on the Web, which itself had just reached a critical mass to make it a worthwhile starting point for general information needs. A few years later, Wikipedia explicitly challenged traditional notions of expertise. How librarians, and others interested in information literacy, responded to these tools, both in terms of how they thought about they discussed them among themselves and how they addressed them while teaching information literacy, can help us anticipate and understand our reactions to the use of AI today.

In this paper, I review the historical scholarly and trade literature, as well as less formal sources such as social media and email listservs, for discussions of Wikipedia, Google, and earlier dominant search engines as new tools that impact information literacy, looking for themes and approaches that might inform our response to ChatGPT and similar tools.

Broadly speaking, early analysis shows three broad categories of responses:

• Reinforcing, in other words, incorporating Wikipedia and Google into the pre-existing models of information behavior. For example, presenting Wikipedia as an encyclopedia that you might use to initially learn about a topic, but would not cite as a source.

• Rejecting or taking the stance that Google or Wikipedia are not appropriate tools and should not be used. For example, emphasizing the questionable quality of information in these sources.

• Revolutionizing or exploiting features of the tool that allow for new ways of engaging with information literacy. For example, presenting editing Wikipedia as a low stakes opportunity for learners to engage with concepts of scholarship as conversation, authority, and so on.

I discuss the strengths and weaknesses of all three responses, considering both the benefits of hindsight as well as the implications for how we approach artificial intelligence and other future disruptive tools.

Research assignments, which are assignments that require students to form an argument or develop a question about a topic and use information sources to support their argument or to answer their question, are common across disciplines in tertiary education and often require students to demonstrate their information literacy development. However, instructors often take for granted that students have developed their information literacy to meet performance expectations or feel constrained to teach core academic skills like information literacy at the expense of disciplinary content. Because of this, the ways of thinking and knowing related to information literacy can form a hidden curriculum for some students, resulting in lower grades, frustration, and decreasing motivation. In this workshop, we will model how a team of library and writing staff have used the Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) approach to help instructors to develop more transparent and equitable research assignments. The TILT approach requires instructors to think carefully about the purpose of any research assignment, identify the kinds of information-literacy related tasks students will need to do to be successful, and to intentionally articulate the criteria by which student work will be evaluated. Research has indicated that the use of TILT has positive results for students’ academic confidence, sense of belonging, and awareness of skills mastery (Winkelmes et al., 2016).

Learning Outcomes

After attending this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Describe the importance of transparency and equity to design research assignments;

• Apply the Transparency in Learning & Teaching (TILT) approach to research assignments prompts, handouts, and other instructional collateral;

• Consider how to apply TILT when working with instructors.

Topics to be Covered

• Introduction to the expert/novice researcher gap, implications for student learning, and role of the librarian;

• Introduction of TILT, emphasizing how research has provided evidence of this as an equity-focused;

• Participants are encouraged to bring their electronic devices, though some paper copies of the workshop materials will be available.

Target Audience

Any librarian who works with faculty/ instructors, particularly at a college or university.

References

Winkelmes, M. A., Bernacki, M., Butler, J., Zochowski, M., Golanics, J., & Weavil, K. H. (2016). A teaching intervention that increases underserved college students’ success. Peer Review, 31–36.

This paper describes how the Czech National Library of Technology in Prague (NTK) maps the information needs of its patrons and how it addresses the gaps in information literacy (IL) that (re-)appear in successive educational stages. In the past five years, NTK information specialists have provided individual consultations to 644 students and researchers and organized 230 IL workshops/webinars attended by 5,396 students and researchers. By combining qualitative and quantitative content analyses of these activities, we managed to identify structural IL gaps that extend from high school students to doctoral researchers:

• insufficient knowledge of searching tools and suitable search engines;

• insufficient ability to evaluate information found online;

• misapprehension of the main principles of referencing sources;

• lack of knowledge about citation managers;

• and difficulties with writing academic texts as such.

These findings point to the benefits of closing the IL gap earlier rather than later, as already suggested by other examples of best practice (Dolničar, Podgornik, Bartol & Šorgo, 2020; McPherson & Dube, 2016). We will illustrate this by presenting case studies dealing with the transition from high school to university and from Master to doctoral work. IL interventions earlier in the education cycle, in our case, appear to provide benefits later in life, but we have not yet performed a longitudinal study confirming this. Nevertheless, while the Czech education system does not yet require independent research and academic writing outputs in its high school curriculum (Výzkumný ústav pedagogický v Praze, 2007), our efforts to date (Razím & Chodounská, 2021; Martinová & Tassanyi, 2018; Tvrdá & Martinová, 2017) developed in cooperation with instructors, are in high demand. This anecdotally points to a need for more comprehensive IL interventions that systematically encompass the entire public educational cycle, as previously identified by Martinová & Tassanyi (2018).

The goal of our contribution is to show what structural IL gaps should be filled at the high school level and why, and how libraries could contribute to achieving this. Aside from continuing the aforementioned instructional services, we plan to extend our services to more schools and to resume our cooperation with the National Pedagogical Institute, with the hope that we can provide evidence-based data to the Czech Ministry of Education on the effectiveness of IL interventions and, perhaps in the form of a future longitudinal survey tracking student success over the long-term, show how IL leads to benefits such as better preparation for university-level work and/or civic engagement.

References

Dolničar, D., Podgornik, B. B., Bartol, T., & Šorgo, A. (2020). Added value of secondary school education toward development of information literacy of adolescents. Library & Information Science Research, 42(2), 101016.

Martinová, O., & Tassanyi, P. (2018). Navigating the maze: Collaborating with teachers to meet information literacy challenges. In S. Špiranec et al. (Eds.), The Sixth European Conference on Information Literacy (ECIL): Abstracts, September 24-27, 2018, Oulu, Finland (p. 131). Oulu: University of Oulu.

McPherson, H., & Dube, M. (2016). Reducing the information literacy gap in high school students: An action research study. Knowledge Quest, 45(2), 48–55.

Razím, T. & Chodounská, A. (2021). Podpora výuky chemie v Národní technické knihovně. Chemické Listy, 115(10), 547–549.

Tvrdá, P., & Martinová, O. (2017). Partners in class: A needs-based approach to high school curricular support at the National Library of Technology in Prague. In S. Špiranec et al. (Eds.), The Fifth European Conference on Information Literacy (ECIL): Abstracts, September 18-21, 2017, Saint-Malo, France (p. 195). Saint-Malo: Information Literacy Association.

Výzkumný ústav pedagogický v Praze. (2007). Rámcový vzdělávací program pro gymnázia. Retrieved January 9, 2023 from https://www.edu.cz/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/RVPG-2007-07_final.pdf

I completed a PhD in Information Literacy (IL) at UiT The Arctic University of Norway in November, 2022. Two of my research questions were:

1. How can we measure students’ IL knowledge (know), skills (do), and interest in being or becoming information literate (feel)?

2. In which ways do students develop as information literate individuals over their first three years as undergraduates?

I developed four tools to quantitatively measure students’ IL knowledge, skills, and interest. In addition, I interviewed students to gain insight into their perceptions of their development as information literate individuals. The use of mixed methods allowed me to better explore the totality of their growth. I paid special attention to possible transformative IL learning or changes in their identity as information literate people. In this presentation, I briefly introduce the IL tools and present main findings from my research.

I evaluated the tools I developed for this research for reliability and validity; the tools are freely available for others to use. To measure IL knowledge (knowing), I used the 21-item test, TILT (Nierenberg, Låg, & Dahl, 2021). TILT measures students’ knowledge of three main facets of IL: finding, evaluating, and using information sources. To assess students’ IL skills in practice (doing), I employed two assignment-based measures. One measure assesses the ability to evaluate sources and the other measures the ability to use sources correctly when writing. I developed the questionnaire, TRIQ, to measure students’ interest in being or becoming information literate people (feeling) In developing TRIQ I was informed by Hidi and Renninger’s (2006) four-phase model of interest development (Dahl & Nierenberg, 2021). TRIQ is composed of several subscales, including the Meaningfulness and Competence level, and I designed it to measure how interest changes over time.

I utilized this suite of four tools to measure students’ knowing, doing, and feeling at several points during the first three years of their undergraduate education. Results revealed that their IL knowledge and skills increased with time, as expected, while findings from TRIQ’s interest subscales showed varied results. Interestingly, correlations between knowing, doing, and feeling scores also increased with time, possibly indicating an integration of knowledge, skills, and interest, and thereby a deeper kind of learning.

Regarding the second research question, students’ perceptions of themselves as information literate people clearly evolved during their three years of higher education. Interview findings indicate that some students experienced glimmers of transformative IL learning and changes in identity as information literate individuals (Nierenberg, 2022). By employing mixed methods, where quantitative and qualitative findings are integrated, I found the evidence for transformative learning was strengthened. This research lays the foundation for subsequent research by identifying specific qualities of the student experience in capturing IL growth, transformation, and identity change.

References

Dahl, T. I., & Nierenberg, E. (2021). Here’s the TRIQ: The Tromsø Interest Questionnaire based on the four-phase model of interest development. Frontiers in Education, 6(402), 1–17.

Hidi, S., & Renninger, K. A. (2006). The four-phase model of interest development. Educational Psychologist, 41(2), 111–127.

Nierenberg, E. (2022). Understanding the development of information literacy in higher education: Knowing, doing, and feeling [article-based thesis, UiT The Arctic University of Norway]. Tromsø, Norway. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10037/27245

Nierenberg, E., Låg, T., & Dahl, T. I. (2021). Knowing and doing: The development of information literacy measures to assess knowledge and practice. Journal of Information Literacy, 15(2), 78–123.

Over 85% of students doing their Masters’ degree in Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences are over 30 years old (Education Statistics Finland 2022), usually meaning that some time has passed since their first degree. When returning to studies, their information literacy (IL) skills need updating to help them use the current databases and search portals effectively. Together with the teachers from the health faculty, academic librarians worked on finding the best information literacy guidance tools for Masters’ degree students in LAB University of Applied Sciences.

Scoping the Needs with Service Design

A service design process was initiated in early 2022 to find ways to enhance the information retrieval skills of the Master’s Students. Information was gathered using mixed methods, including observation, interview, survey and scoping to form a versatile view of the current situation.

Customer profiles were created for three different student types based on the collected data. The student types showed differences in their need for guidance and support – one being a super achiever and needing just a little push in the right direction, the other needing more structured and personalized help, and the third looking for individualized support. Solution ideas most beneficial for all student types were a step-by-step guide for updating and refreshing the information retrieval skills and an entry-level skills test which allows the students to reflect on and evaluate their IL skills.

Useful Tools for Adult Learners

The step-by-step guide that emphasized search skills and tools was created in summer 2022. This guide was designed to work with the already existing comprehensive information retrieval guide. The new guide was tested with a pilot group of summer course students. According to the course lecturer, the students had less difficulties finding and identifying academic sources with the help of the new guide.

The teachers viewed the step-by-step guide as such an important part of the studies that they wanted to ensure and control that the students have familiarized themselves with the guide. The entry-level skills test was created in autumn 2022 for this purpose. Passing the test is a mandatory part of a research methods course. The test was piloted in spring 2023.

As Marquez and Downey (2015) state, using a service design process can help the library refine existing services to meet the needs of our patrons and ensure through collaboration that the services are effective and relevant. Customer profiles offer a good way to remind the librarians of the diverse customer base, and to make sure the adult learners’ specific needs are met.

References

Education Statistics Finland. (2022) University of applied sciences (UAS) education. Students and degrees. Retrieved January 20, 2023, from https://vipunen.fi/en-gb/polytechnic/Pages/Opiskelijat-ja-tutkinnot.aspx

Marquez, J., & Downey, A. (2015). Service design: An introduction to a holistic assessment methodology of library services. Weave: Journal of Library User Experience, 1(2).

Information literacy is extremely relevant in academic education for prospective researchers, teachers and future enterpreneurs. DigComp 2.2 ((Vuorikari, R. et al., 2022) offers many examples of knowledge, skills and attitudes desirable for information and data literate citizens and workers, many related to the retrieval and management of documents, both analogic and digital. Such competences should be part of the learning goals at the end of any academic path; they mark students’ individual growth and foster their future careers, especially if certified. Open badges are a useful assessment tool enabling students to spend those competences in the job market.

Academic libraries that contribute to building these competences may become more visible within their institutions, advocating for themselves.

The University of Trieste Library system took advantage of the pandemic-related closures in 2021 to build an online, self-paced and self-learning information literacy course for students. The project was run at no extra cost, employing the time of librarians during the lockdown. The final product was hosted on the institutional Moodle platform. The course goals aim at increasing information literacy skills, including the ability to “recognize information needs and to locate, evaluate, apply and create information” (IFLA, The Alexandria Proclamation, 2005) including “how to use it in an ethical way” (IFLA, MIL Recommendations, 2011). An expected side-effect of the course would be to enhance knowledge about and use of library services and resources of any format among students, for whom the library is not always the first port of call.

The first edition, developed by the Science and Technology Library in academic year (A.A.) 2021/22, was tailored to the needs of STEM students. In A.A. 2022/2023 the course underwent a restyling. The materials were reorganized and expanded to meet multidisciplinary needs.

Participants who pass the final test earn a digital Open badge, the international standard to valorize individual competencies. Open badges are easily shareable on individual portfolios, CVs, social media accounts, personal websites. Officially announced in October 2022, the second edition of the course, by the 8th of March 2023, had released 432 badges, the highest number among the 8 badges granted by the University of Trieste.

This report sets such experience within the information literacy framework: it describes the genesis of the course, its learning goals (compliant with UN SDGs 4,10,17), and analyses the progress from the first to the second edition. It reports how it became an open-badge course and the resources underlying its development. Analysing the feedback of the participants of the current edition, it discusses lessons learned and ideas for further improvements.

Moreover, the paper puts in question the limits of such experiences: how far are they able to produce a deep change? Can they be defined as “information literacy” or simply “library instruction”? Are they flagships to advocate for the role of libraries themselves?

References

IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions). (2005). Beacons of the Information Society: The Alexandria Proclamation on Information Literacy and Lifelong Learning. Retrieved June 15, 2023 from https://www.ifla.org/publications/beacons-of-the-information-society-the-alexandria-proclamation-on-information-literacy-and-lifelong-learning

IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions). (2011). IFLA Media and Information Literacy Recommendations. Retrieved June 15, 2023, from https://www.ifla.org/publications/ifla-media-and-information-literacy-recommendations

Vuorikari, R., Kluzer, S., Punie, Y., European Commission, & Joint Research Centre. (2022). DigComp 2.2: The Digital Competence framework for citizens: with new examples of knowledge, skills and attitudes. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. Retrieved June 15, 2023, from https://op.europa.eu/publication/manifestation_identifier/PUB_KJNA31006ENN

Over the last twenty years, studies have shown that most university students prefer reading their academic texts in print format over electronic (e.g., Dilevko and Gottlieb, 2002; Liu, 2006; Li et.al., 2011; Mizrachi et al., 2021). But when the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, institutions worldwide were forced to close their campuses and move to remote learning. Libraries closed to the public and curtailed their services severely. Suddenly students had no reading format choice and had to use e-format. This study investigated how the COVID restrictions affected their reading format attitudes and behaviors. We addressed these research questions:

• What is the impact of forced remote learning on students’ academic reading format attitudes and preferences?

• Do students report changes in their reading and learning engagement strategies?

• How do students’ collective reading format preferences and behaviors compare to those documented before COVID?

We defined academic texts as textbooks, scholarly books, book chapters, and journal articles in different formats used for coursework or academic projects. Print format included texts originating on paper and printouts from an electronic source. Electronic reading was reading on any digital device.

The survey contained some original questions and others adapted from the previously validated ARFIS survey (Mizrachi, et.al, 2018). It was distributed to students at a North American research university in March 2021, at the height of the pandemic. 234 responses were received and analyzed. Descriptive analysis was generated with SPSS and Excel programs.

Results showed an increased dislike towards e-format, and that most students still believed print to be the best medium for focusing and remembering information. However, we cannot generalize that the increased dislike is a permanent condition. It may just be a temporary outcome of the exclusive remote learning mode during this unprecedented time. As students become more accustomed to digital learning, it is possible that comfort levels and confidence in their ability to learn using e-readings will increase; and as instructional modalities move back towards pre-pandemic norms, it is possible that students’ attitudes towards e-reading will become more favorable.

References

Dilevko, J., & Gottlieb, L. (2002). Print sources in an electronic age: A vital part of the research process for undergraduate students. The Journal of Academic Librarianship 28(6), 381–392.

Li, C., Poe, F., Potter, M., Quigley, B., & Wilson, J. (2011). UC Libraries academic e-book usage survey. Retrieved March 4, 2022 from https://escholarship.org/content/qt4vr6n902/qt4vr6n902.pdf

Liu, Z. (2006). Print vs. electronic resources: A study of user perceptions, preferences, and use. Information Processing & Management 42(2), 583¬–592.

Mizrachi, D., Salaz, A. M., Kurbanoglu, S., Boustany, J., & ARFIS Research Group. (2018). Academic reading format preferences and behaviors among university students worldwide: A comparative survey analysis. PloS one, 13(5), e0197444.

Mizrachi, D., Salaz, A. M., Kurbanoglu, S., & Boustany, J. (2021). The Academic Reading Format International Study (ARFIS): final results of a comparative survey analysis of 21,265 students in 33 countries. Reference Services Review, 49(3-4), 250–266. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1108/RSR-04-2021-0012

The consumption of online video keeps growing, especially during the Covid crisis and the “emergency remote education” time (Bozkurt et al., 2020) when pedagogical continuity had to be organized with the available means and resources online. The studies of primary school teachers’ information seeking behavior (ISB) and information literacy (IL) are still scarce (Virkus & Mathiesen, 2019) even though ISB and IL of teaching staff has been reported to have a strong impact on students’ information literacy (Godwin, 2005).

Objectives

The present study focuses on French elementary school teachers’ uses of online video resources. We define online video as an audiovisual resource that can be reached online asynchronously (possibly downloaded and/or modified by the user) and that was not necessarily initially designed for learning purposes. We focus here on 3 research questions: What is the place of online video in the participants’ information habits (Q1)? What learning potentialities do they attribute to online video (Q2)? What does it say about the IL of these teachers and the media and information literacy (MIL) they may provide (Q3)?

Methodology

We adopted a qualitative approach: 15 individual semi-directed interviews (6 men and 11 women, teaching from first to fifth grade in different schools). Inspired by Flanagan’s Critical Incident Technique (1954) relevant in the IL field (Cisek, 2016), each interview is based on a retrospective analysis by the teacher of a learning situation involving online video.

Outcomes

Q1: Our results show effective, albeit disparate, use of online video. Our participants locate videos mainly through other teachers’ blogs and thanks to textbooks. Their main motivation in selecting a video is that it fits their learning objectives. It seems that the primary source of a video makes no difference. The search for online videos has however an impact on their preparation work: the selection process is described as rather difficult and time-consuming.

Q2: Online video is part of these teachers’ information habits as one type of media among others. The learning objectives for using online videos in class are described in an ambivalent manner (a means to maintain students’ attention and the very reason why children’s attention fluctuates). Specific learning potentialities are associated with online video: mainly “to show”, to “emotionally impact” learners to improve their understanding and memorization. The fact that an online video can be watched at a desired pace is appreciated. As such, online video is mainly used to introduce or summarize a learning point. Q3: The videos used are tightly linked to school programs. The video rarely seems to be sought or even less studied in class for itself. Nor does it appear as an objective of MIL.

These findings inform recommendations for teacher training (to select and validate online audiovisual resources) as well as for designers and publishers of resources (for a design closer to teachers’ pedagogical needs and better visibility of resources).

References

Bozkurt, A., et al. (2020). A global outlook to the interruption of education due to COVID-19 pandemic: Navigating in a time of uncertainty and crisis. Asian Journal of Distance Education, 15(1), 1–126.

Flanagan, J. C. (1954). The critical incident technique. Psychological Bulletin, 51(4), 327–358.

Godwin, P. (2005). Making life easier for academics: How librarians can help staff weather the technological storm. Journal of Literacy, 2(2), 68–79.

Virkus, S., Mathiesen, M. (2019). Information seeking behavior of primary school teachers in Estonia: An exploratory study. In S. Kurbanoğlu et al. (Eds.), Information Literacy in Everyday Life, The Sixth European Conference on Information Literacy (ECIL), Oulu, Finland, September 24-27, 2018,: Revised Selected Papers. CCIS 989 (pp. 317–328). Cham: Springer.

Objectives

Across the globe, competencies that facilitate critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, and fluency with digital tools that support these competencies, top the inventories of employability skills (Klegeris, 2021; Matuszewska-Kubicz, 2021). Humanities and social science (HSS) programs appear to generate effective employees for the growing business services sector (BSS), which seeks job candidates with interpersonal and communication skills to address the various needs of clients and to work in sustainable multidisciplinary teams (Muller & Doloreux, 2009; Multan, 2020). Digital literacy skills appear to constitute some of the learning outcomes (Sparks et al., 2016) that the business sector expects university graduates to attain and to feel empowered in as they enter the labor market. Our study examines the psychological empowerment of recent HSS alumni after attending four different digital literacy courses at the Jagiellonian University in Poland. The goal was to examine the extent to which this empowerment differed depending on the type of digital literacy skill training—information, data, visual, or communication and collaboration—these alumni completed.

Methodology

Six months after graduation, HSS alumni who in their final year of study completed a digital skills course designed to support their entrance into the labor market, and who were employed in business services, completed a psychological empowerment survey based on Spreitzer’s (2007) framework. The sample for this quasi-experiment consisted of 202 responses (information literacy, n = 52; data literacy, n = 54, communication and collaboration, n = 54; visual literacy, n = 42). Bayesian statistics were used to examine differences in empowerment self-reports between alumni who completed the four digital literacy courses.

Outcomes

Students who completed courses in information literacy and data literacy reported higher workplace empowerment compared to those who completed courses in visual literacy, and communication and collaboration. Despite the study’s limitations concerning the Polish context, the research findings suggest curricular design implications that are relevant to a wider, international workplace context. Firstly, students would benefit from digital skills training opportunities provided within HSS programs. Secondly, certain digital skills appear to be more advantageous for students pursuing careers in the business services sector than others.

References

Klegeris, A. (2021). Mixed-mode instruction using active learning in small teams improves generic problem-solving skills of university students. J. of Further and Higher Education, 45(7), 871–885. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2020.1826036

Matuszewska-Kubicz, A. (2021). Key competencies in the labour market from the perspective of higher education students. E-Mentor, 92(5), 69–80. https://doi.org/10.15219/em92.1541

Muller, E., & Doloreux, D. (2009). What we should know about knowledge-intensive business services. Technology in Society, 31(1), 64–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2008.10.001

Multan, E. (2020). Adjusting students’ competences to the needs of modern business services sector. Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, 7(3), 2326–2349. https://doi.org/10.9770/jesi.2020.7.3(58)

Sparks, J. R., Katz, I. R., & Beile, P. M. (2016). Assessing digital information literacy in higher education: A review of existing frameworks and assessments with recommendations for next-generation assessment: Assessing digital information literacy in higher education. ETS Research Report Series, 2016(2), 1–33. https://doi.org/10.1002/ets2.12118

Spreitzer, G. M. (2007). Toward the integration of two perspectives: A review of social-structural and psychological empowerment at work. The Handbook of Organizational Behavior. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Background & Objectives

A turquoise organization is a concept crafted by Belgian business practitioner Frédéric Laloux. It is a rarely implemented, high maturity demanding model based on three pillars: sense of mission; wholeness of humanity; self-management (Bartosiewicz, 2017; Laloux, 2014; Tabaszewska-Zajbert & Sokołowska-Durkalec, 2019; Wasiluk, 2022). Accumulating information and collective transforming it into knowledge is considered to be its fundamental success factor (Januszko-Szakiel, 2020). Despite scarce evidence on this point, it may reasonably be inferred that, in practice, this flexible and individually empowering model, invests every employee with an equal load of responsibility for the organization’s prosperity. It engenders specific information needs and patterns of information behaviors as well as requires a particular form of information literacy. The authors, one of whom runs an information brokering company based on the turquoise scheme, inspected LIS students’ receptivity to the very idea of a turquoise organization and, subsequently, their readiness to develop skills needed to work with? such an entity.

Our objectives are defined as follows: 1) to measure, using mixed-method approach, LIS students’ receptivity to key principles of turquoise organizations. We define receptivity as capacity, grounded in already acquired knowledge, to project oneself in the turquoise settings and anticipate the type of information work and skills to be mobilized; 2) to assess mental and operational readiness of LIS students to integrate turquoise entities once graduated. In other words, to assess whether students demonstrate competences such as autonomous and self-responsible information sharing, discovering and encoding tacit knowledge within organizations, self-managing and improving the quality of data and information generated, sustainably archiving, and preserving information resources of the company for further reuse; 3) to suggest adding relevant content to existing LIS academic curricula in order to better equip future employees of turquoise organizations.

Methodology & Outcomes

For the study we used both quantitative and qualitative approach, the former being an online survey questionnaire. For he latter we conducted a series of individual semi-structured in-depth interviews, the full transcripts of which we analyzed conjointly by the prism of the affordance theory and the actor-network theory. We administered the survey to a group of 90 students of master in information management, from which we recruited 12 volunteer interviewees.

Results showed that students exposed ambivalent attitudes towards turquoise organizations, ranging from naïve approval to acute suspiciousness. Their nearly unanimous declarations of readiness to be hired by a turquoise entity, are mitigated, if not contradicted, by the results of individual interviews. Students showed some difficulties in properly identifying information affordances and networking connections (ANT theory) in turquoise settings. They seemed to be intimidated by the high level of autonomy and responsible personal involvement in information management processes embedded in the turquoise model. Since information is the major asset in turquoise organizations, LIS graduates are, a priori, predisposed to seek employment in such environments and there is merit in verifying their capacity to be actually recruited and to deliver proper work. These preliminary outcomes still need to be nuanced and processed in view of transforming them into actual proposals of curricula enrichment.

References

Bartosiewicz, S. (2017). Turquoise companies, future or utopia. Central and Eastern J. of Manag. and Econ., 5(3), 393–397.

Januszko-Szakiel, A. (2020). Turkusowy model komunikowania i informowania w organizacji biznesowej: Studium przypadku. In P. Korycińska (Ed.), Horyzonty informacji (pp. 123–140). Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Biblioteka Jagiellońska. Retrieved March 11, 2023 from https://ruj.uj.edu.pl/xmlui/handle/item/261425

Laloux, F. (2014). Reinventing organizations: A guide to creating organizations inspired by the next stage of human consciousness. Brussels: Nelson Parker.

Tabaszewska-Zajbert, E., & Sokołowska-Durkalec, A. (2019). Towards a turquoise organization–personal change of employees and its socio-cultural barriers. Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego We Wrocławiu, 63(9), 200–210.

Wasiluk, A. (2022). On the way to turquoise organizations and turquoise leadership. Zeszyty Naukowe Politechniki Śląskiej. Organizacja I Zarządzanie, 647–661.

In today’s healthcare there is a strong focus on evidence-based scientific information. The evidence-based movement states that healthcare should be based on scientific research. Hospital librarians have a role as key actors when it comes to facilitating information seeking and use of scientific evidence within healthcare (Chaturvedi, 2017; Egeland, 2015). In recent years, with demands for evidence-based practice, the main role of hospital libraries has gradually shifted from serving patients with literature to becoming medical libraries for healthcare professionals. This change has transformed the role of hospital librarians into specialists focused on clinical librarianship and research support. This paper is part of a research project started in 2020 on information practices of hospital librarians, with previous studies focusing on information work of hospital librarians (Hanell & Ahlryd, 2023) and documentary practices in evidence-based medicine (Ahlryd & Hanell, 2021). The often invisible information practices of hospital librarians can be visualized through the application of the concept of information work (Hanell & Ahlryd, 2023). Lloyd (2013) frames information literacy practices, such as facilitating access to information, as critical for solving workplace problems and consequently as a critical practice of information work. For healthcare professionals there is a need for specialized information literacy. Previous research shows how information practices in healthcare connect to both a science-oriented medical discourse and a holistically oriented nursing discourse (Johannisson & Sundin, 2007), and that information literacy practices of hospital librarians need to balance between an understanding of information literacy as either generic or embedded (Sundin, Limberg & Lundh, 2008). Against this background, this paper investigates the information literacy enacted and developed by hospital librarians as they work to support evidence-based practice. The main research question guiding this investigation is: what is the nature of information literacy practices constructed, negotiated, and enacted by hospital librarians as part of their information work? This study is informed by a practice-oriented perspective framing information literacy as a situated practice (e.g. Lloyd, 2013) and includes 20 semi-structured interviews conducted with hospital librarians and hospital library managers between 2020 and 2022. The analysis shows how information literacy practices of hospital librarians are situated within a multi-polar discursive field and characterized by three main hospital library practices: clinical practices, information seeking practices, and a health technology assessment practice (cf. Hanell & Ahlryd, 2023). Within the healthcare sector, hospital librarians need to navigate between generic and situated views on information literacy as well as epistemologically conflicting understandings concerning the nature of scientific evidence. The different views on information literacy make it possible to discuss different epistemological approaches within healthcare and how hospital librarians respond to these. With the growing importance of evidence-based medicine, we find that information literacy practices of hospital librarians tend to be positioned and shaped by a science-oriented epistemology. Drawing on this analysis, possible future directions for information literacy practices within hospital librarianship are elaborated.

References

Ahlryd, S., & Hanell, F. (2021). Documentary practices of hospital librarians in evidence-based medicine. Proceedings from the Document Academy, 8(2), 12. https://doi.org/10.35492/docam/8/2/12

Chaturvedi, K. (2017). Evidence-based library and information practice & educational needs of health librarians: National and international trends. DESIDOC Journal of Library & Information Technology, 37(1), 24–29.

Egeland, M. (2015). Hospital librarians. Journal of Hospital Librarianship, 15(1), 65–76.

Hanell, F., & Ahlryd, S. (2023). Information work of hospital librarians: Making the invisible visible. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 55(1), 70–83. https://doi.org/10.1177/09610006211063202

Johannisson, J., & Sundin, O. (2007). Putting discourse to work. The Library Quarterly, 77(2), 199–218.

Lloyd, A. (2013). Building information resilient workers: The critical ground of workplace information literacy. What have we learnt? In S. Kurbanoğlu et al. (Eds.), Worldwide Commonalities and Challenges in Information Literacy Research and Practice, European Conference on Information Literacy, ECIL 2013, Istanbul, Turkey, October 22–25, 2013: Proceedings. Communications in Computer and Information Science (CCIS) 397 (pp. 219–228). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-03919-0_28

Sundin, O., Limberg, L., & Lundh, A. (2008). Constructing librarians’ information literacy expertise in the domain of nursing. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 40(1), 21–30. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000607086618

Librarians at a southern New England Community College designed a freshman-level college course intended to teach information literacy skills to students within the context of their majors through a linked Learning Community. It is critically important for students to understand research within the context of their fields. As they progress through their education, students will build on the information literacy skills gained in their first two years of college, creating engaged and research-focused students and professionals (Virtue et al., 2019). The new course will align to different courses through the Learning Community model, allowing students to connect information literacy skills with real-world application within their discipline. Hopefully, through completing this course students will be encouraged to engage in life-long learning and potentially transfer to a four-year institution.

Objectives

In this session we will focus on the collaborative efforts of the librarians at this Community College and their new course in information literacy designed to teach research methods within specific majors. We created the course to act as a sort of “lab” for a foundational course in the disciplines that will focus on research methods utilized in those academic areas. For example, the course could be paired with a foundational sociology course and would then focus on the research methods in that field. Or, it could be paired with a history course, where students would learn research methods in that field. The course would include bringing in the college writing center in order to teach students to write within their chosen field as well as feature guest lecturers who have conducted research so that students can ask questions about interviewing, data collection, and other facets of research.

We will base the course on the High Impact Practice (HIP) of a learning community. The course will be offered as part of the required college first-year curriculum but will specifically be tailored to declared majors. The course, as a part of a learning community, would teach to the research assignments that are assigned in its partner course. In doing so, the students will be able to gain the research skills and support required to complete assigned research assignments.

Methodology

Our course proposal was approved by the College Wide Curriculum Committee in March of 2023. We intend to run several sessions in the summer of 2023, if possible. A faculty member in sociology has already agreed to participate in the first learning community, planned for Fall 2023. A variety of concerns are present, including staffing to teach the course in a time of low enrollment. Thus, the librarians feel that tailored courses will have more of an impact on student learning of information literacy concepts. Our presentation will include current research on information literacy and learning communities to illustrate the need for a modern approach.

References

Virtue, E. E., Maddox, G., & Pfaff, K. (2019). The lasting effects of learning communities. Learning Communities: Research & Practice, 7(2). Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1240093