Perceptions of Faculty about Information Literacy Skills of Postgraduate Engineering Students

Purpose: This study identifies perceptions of faculty about the current level of information literacy (IL) skills of engineering students in higher education in Pakistan. It may help to design better IL programs for the tertiary level students. Methodology: The study used ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Science and Engineering/Technology as the basis to assess these perceptions. Teachers of the National University of Science & Technology (NUST), who were teaching engineering students of postgraduate level, were selected as population. A structured questionnaire was sent to 113 faculty members and the response remained 80 percent. Paired samples t-test was used for data analysis through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Findings: Research indicates that faculty perceived IL skills of their PhD level students higher than those of MS level students. Originality: The term “Information literacy” is yet new on the Pakistani library scene. Regarding perceptions of faculty about information literacy skills of their students so far no study has been carried out in Pakistan. This study will help to identify existing IL skills of Pakistani students of university level, their requirements and how these requirements can be best fulfilled.     

From competencies to threshold concepts through the information literate university. A faculty's perspective

This article explores the perceptions of social sciences professors in Spanish universities on a series of variables concerning the Information Literate University, and information literacy competencies and threshold concepts. The aim is to determine faculty's levels of agreement with such variables, how they cluster, and what the relationship between clusters consists in. Factor analysis and structural equation modeling methods are used. The accepted ILUCC-FP model structures the causal linkage between the constructs of IL Competencies, Information Literate University, and IL Concepts, and measures how they relate to the variables. The construct on faculty's attitudes toward the Information Literate University plays a key mediating role. This attitudinal, causal, bidirectional, flexible, and transferable model allows stakeholders -mainly faculty and librarians- to detect the current status regarding faculty attitudes, thereby providing them with the opportunity to promote attitudinal improvement initiatives with positive consequences for their levels of knowledge and skills. The model could be applied in different academic contexts.     

Behavioral Indicators of Transformational Leadership in the College Classroom

In this study the author considers the perceptions of university faculty members regarding media literacy education at the university level. Data from faculty interviews (N = 16) suggest that faculty members across multiple disciplines feel that it is important for university students to develop media literacy competencies. Nevertheless, faculty members fell into three categories regarding the extent to which they address media literacy: willing, unwilling because of systemic factors, and unwilling because of personal factors. An exploration of these categories demonstrates the challenges associated with addressing media literacy competencies within higher education.     

Using ePortfolios to Assess Student Achievement within an Online Library and Information Studies Program

As a result of suggestions from the American Library Association (ALA) the Division of Library and Information Science (DLIS) program at St. John's University implemented an end-of-program electronic portfolio (ePortfolio) requirement. The purpose of this ePortfolio is to provide information on student proficiency in the eight ALA core competencies to our external accrediting agency—the ALA Committee on Accreditation (CoA). This article will discuss how a Library and Information Studies (LIS) faculty member and a New Media and Communications Specialist worked together in developing the ePortfolio as an assessment tool for ALA reaccreditation within an online LIS program.     

Accounting Students,Library Use,and Information Competence: Evidence From Course Syllabi and Professional Accounting Association Competency Maps

A syllabus study was conducted to gain insight into the library use expectations of faculty for undergraduate accounting students. The findings were compared to the professional competencies articulated by Canadian professional accounting association competency maps, and there was an expectations gap. All three competency maps referred to a set of professional skills that, when mapped to the Association of College and Research Libraries’ (ACRL) Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, were equivalent to information competence, yet the majority of courses taught required very little library use. This study contributes to the literature as the first to map the ACRL's standards to Canadian professional accounting association competencies.     

Data Information Literacy and Undergraduates: A Critical Competency

As a primer on data information literacy (DIL), this column will cover the background of the field and why it is relevant to college and university libraries serving undergraduate populations. This article includes how data information literacy relates to information literacy, competencies associated with DIL, the relevance of DIL to undergraduates, DIL in library instruction, and the reasons for library engagement with DIL. Examining DIL within the larger framework of information literacy can help outreach and instruction librarians engage with a format that may be unfamiliar to them but whose underlying foundation is well-established.     

Integrating Information Literacy and Evidence-Based Medicine Content within a New School of Medicine Curriculum: Process and Outcome

This column describes a process for integrating information literacy (IL) and evidence-based medicine (EBM) content within a new school of medicine curriculum. The project was a collaborative effort among health sciences librarians, curriculum deans, directors, and faculty. The health sciences librarians became members of the curriculum committees, developed a successful proposal for IL and EBM content within the curriculum, and were invited to become course instructors for Analytics in Medicine. As course instructors, the librarians worked with the other faculty instructors to design and deliver active learning class sessions based on a flipped classroom approach using a proprietary Information Mastery curriculum. Results of this collaboration may add to the knowledge base of attitudes and skills needed to practice as full faculty partners in curricular design and instruction.     

Mapping curriculum learning outcomes to ACRL's Framework threshold concepts: A syllabus study

The aim of this study was to align information literacy instruction with curriculum learning outcomes as defined by teaching faculty in their syllabi. Using a syllabus study, a cross-disciplinary collection of 180 course syllabi were reviewed for learning outcomes, assignments with research components, and references to library resources and services. Key faculty-defined learning outcomes were mapped to the Association for College and Research Libraries Information Literacy Framework for Higher Education threshold concepts. Based on learning theory, introducing information literacy concepts is most effective when done at the time of need, guaranteeing that students utilize the skills immediately, and are more likely to retain the knowledge and skills learned. The author proposes a tiered approach to information literacy instruction, with novice skills introduced in lower-level courses and expert skills for upper-level and graduate courses to meet learning outcomes. Suggestions of how each of the threshold concepts can be applied to develop instructional activities to achieve learning outcomes are presented.     

Collaboration and Information Literacy

Abstract

The National University Library Information Literacy Plan has been in place since 1999. Following a slow start, information literacy has begun to be accepted throughout the University. Faculty collaboration, dogged determination of librarians, and impressive assessment results have helped pave the way for this program. In this paper, a program overview will be briefly discussed followed by the National University LIC Librarians (virtual librarians at the regional learning centers) discussing faculty collaboration efforts, a University core curriculum class on information literacy, and information literacy assessment.     

Co-Authorship and Scientific Publications: A Case Study at Shahed University

The purpose of this research is to study co-authorship and scientific publications of faculty members at Shahed University, located in Iran, during the period of 2000 to 2008. Scientometrics methods were used to evaluate scientific publications. The rate of co-authorship is high (91.27%) in comparison with single authorship (8.73%). Moreover, there is a great number of scientific collaborations among Shahed University faculty members but international collaboration is low. The article provides insight into co-authorship at Shahed University and provides useful information for researchers who are seeking to learn about the collaboration in scientific works by Iranian researchers at the national and international levels.     

Integrating an Informationist Into Graduate Education: Case Study With Preliminary Results

An informationist taught, consulted, and mentored graduate students enrolled in a graduate research project course in Health Informatics. An observational cohort study was conducted to determine the effect of an early (first term) and continued (subsequent term) exposure of course-integrated instruction, individual consultations, information resource mentoring, and educational collaboration partnership on the development of information literacy, research skills, and integrative competencies in graduate students. Student progress was assessed by survey, class performance, and faculty feedback. The course-integrated lectures, consultations, mentoring, and educational partnership between the informationist and academic advisors increased the students’ course performance, information literacy, and research skills in graduate students.     

MEDLINE end-user survey: the University of Florida experience

The University of Florida Health Science Center Library (UF-HSCL) surveyed MEDLINE end-user activities of the faculty from the six colleges which the UF-HSCL serves. A questionnaire was developed and sent to all faculty members. The Basic SAS program was used to analyze the collected data. This survey was intended to identify the users, the reasons for faculty members not being end users, the purpose for searching MEDLINE, the information retrieval methods, the level of end-user satisfaction, and the librarian's role in information retrieval activities. Many findings from this survey were in agreement with those of the 1988 study by the National Library of Medicine.     

How to Be Engaging: Recreational Reading and Readers' Advisory in the Academic Library

The Future Voices in Public Services column is a forum for students in graduate library and information science programs to discuss key issues they see in academic library public services, to envision what they feel librarians in public service have to offer to academia, to tell us of their visions for the profession, or to tell us of research that is going on in library schools. We hope to provide fresh perspectives from those entering our field in both the United States and other countries. Interested faculty of graduate library and information science programs who would like their students' ideas represented in these pages are invited to contact Nancy H. Dewald at nxd7@psu.edu.

Heather Nicholson is a recent graduate of the Library and Information Science program at the University of Western Ontario. Here she discusses leisure reading and readers' advisory in academic libraries.

The Master of Library and Information Science program at University of Western Ontario aims to graduate qualified professionals with a thorough knowledge of theory and practice in library and information science. The program is at the graduate level because professional activity in this area is based not just on traditional and current practices but also on theory that has been tested and supported by research. We strive to maintain and improve our national and international stature in research and education through multidisciplinary programs delivered by faculty members with a wide range of scholarly interests and qualifications. Through our optional co-op program, students gain exposure to the professional environment, an opportunity to use and develop newly acquired skills, and practical experience in the field.     

Information literacy and library attitudes of occupational therapy students

Information literacy, often described as a person's ability to effectively find and evaluate answers to questions using a variety of information resources, is of particular importance to health care workers. This paper presents the results of an information literacy survey presented to occupational therapy (OT) students at Thomas Jefferson University during a series of required class activities. Also described are the authors' activities with the faculty and courses at Jefferson. The survey was made available to first-, second-, third-, and fourth-year occupational therapy students along with nursing students and pharmacy students. The survey is designed to identify research habits, skills, and preferences. Results confirm some commonly held perceptions about searching skills of young adults and an interesting dichotomy in students' learning habits. The paper concludes with a discussion of recommendations to OT faculty and librarians on how to improve information literacy education. The survey can be obtained by contacting the authors.     

Developing health information literacy: a needs analysis from the perspective of preprofessional health students

Objective:

The research identified the skills, if any, that health preprofessional students wished to develop after receiving feedback on skill gaps as well as any strategies they intended to use to address these gaps.

Methods:

A qualitative approach was used to elicit students'' reflections on building health information literacy skills. First, the students took the Research Readiness Self-Assessment instrument, which measured their health information literacy, and then they received individually tailored feedback about their scores and skill gaps. Second, students completed a post-assessment survey asking how they intended to close identified gaps in their skills on these. Three trained coders analyzed qualitative comments by 181 students and grouped them into themes relating to “what skills to improve” and “how to improve them.”

Results:

Students intended to develop library skills (64% of respondents), Internet skills (63%), and information evaluation skills (63%). Most students reported that they would use library staff members'' assistance (55%), but even more respondents (82%) planned to learn the skills by practicing on their own. Getting help from librarians was a much more popular learning strategy than getting assistance from peers (20%) or professors (17%).

Conclusions:

The study highlighted the importance of providing health preprofessional students with resources to improve skills on their own, remote access to library staff members, and instruction on the complexity of building health literacy skills, while also building relationships among students, librarians, and faculty.

Highlights

• After receiving feedback on skill gaps, most preprofessional health students intend to develop their information literacy skills.
• Some students report that a trip to the library is a barrier to using library resources.
• Students see the need to build their information evaluation skills, knowledge of citations and plagiarism, and library skills, which they differentiate from Internet skills.
• Students are more likely to identify librarians as sources for assistance in finding information than faculty or peers after receiving individual feedback explaining the role of libraries and library staff members.

Implications

• Students'' health information competencies can be built through assessment and feedback that reveals skill gaps, highlights misconceptions, and offers ideas on how to improve.
• Access to professionally designed self-study resources is needed for students who intend to develop health information competencies on their own.

     

Bringing an Interdisciplinary World View to English 101 - The Library's Involvement

Washington State University received a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to offer a pilot two-semester World Civilization course as part of the general education core curriculum. Two reference librarians were selected as members of the interdisciplinary faculty group to design the course, to relate it to the required Freshman Composition (English 101) course and to ensure the integration of basic library use skills. The two librarians were asked to develop library/classroom integrated assignments to meet course objectives and to serve as models for those teaching the course. The focus of the assignment is on selection and evaluation of information sources that approach a topic from a particular viewpoint (i.e., liberal, conservative, or middle-of-the-road), provide a popular or a scholarly treatment of the topic, and reflect a targeted audience approach (e.g., layperson or professional).     

Continuing Education (CE) of LIS Professionals: Need Analysis & Role of LIS Schools

Information explosion, development and applications of ICTs, changing dynamics of information users, and evolving trends in library and information services have promoted the discussion of continuing education (CE) in Library and Information Science (LIS) domain. ICTs are increasingly changing the landscape of libraries and challenging the traditional prevailing roles of LIS professionals. LIS professionals find it hard to remain in context in this technological era. They require the new set of skills and knowledge to address the challenges and issues of their professional life.The purpose of this study was to explore the opinions of LIS professionals to make an assessment about CE needs and the role of library schools to address these needs. The study opted sequential mixed methods of research. In first phase, an online survey was conducted to meet the objectives of the study. Data was collected by using a structured questionnaire. A total of 144 responses (70% male and 30% female) were received. In 2nd phase, a focus group was conducted to collect the qualitative data. The meta inferences were drawn on the basis of inferences of both QUAN and QUAL strands. The findings of the study revealed that respondents perceive a very active and instrumental role of LIS schools in their continuing education. Workshops, post-master certificate, and post-graduate diplomas were preferred formats of continuing education programs. The respondents preferred week long and 1–6 months long CE programs. In terms of the timings, weekends programs were most preferred. The respondents recommended that course instructor should be based on the contents of the course and a blend of teaching faculty and practitioners may be productive. The study also identified core areas of CE offerings.The findings of the study are helpful for LIS schools, professionals, trainers, funding bodies and policy makers. The study has the potential to bridge the gap by providing insight about the CE needs and recommend the concrete suggestions to act upon.     

中加档案学高等教育比较研究及其启示——以武汉大学和加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚大学档案学教育为例

档案学高等教育是档案事业发展的重要内容之一。选取了中加档案学高等教育机构的两个典型——武汉大学信息管理学院档案与政务信息学系和加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚大学图书、档案与情报研究学院作为研究对象,从培养层次、培养目标、课程设置与师资队伍等四个方面,分析中加档案学高等教育的异同与优劣,力图为我国档案学高等教育的进一步发展提供启示。     

Using Buttons to Better Manage Online Presence: How One Academic Institution Harnessed the Power of Flair

This article provides a case study of how the University of Nebraska College of Law and Schmid Law Library use “buttons” to manage Law College faculty members’ and librarians’ online presence. Since Google is the primary search engine used to find information, it is important that librarians and libraries assist Web site visitors in finding relevant information about faculty members at an academic institution. Easily identifiable buttons allow visitors to navigate to faculty scholarship in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Digital Commons, SSRN Web site, or both, in an academic service such as lessons from the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction and in social software sites like Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. The case study includes (1) how the project was implemented, (2) the feedback and results of a survey, and (3) an analysis of Web site statistics, clicks, and links data gathered via Google Analytics. This project was a partnership between the Law College Communications Department, Law College Administration, and the Law Library, involving law faculty, staff, and librarians. The buttons project was considered a successful venture by participating faculty members; it also provided an opportunity for face-to-face conversation between faculty members and librarians about digital scholarship and social media in the academic environment.