Health information seeking behaviour: the librarian's role in supporting digital and health literacy

This paper is based on Rachel Butler's dissertation carried out at the University of Sheffield as part of the MA Library and Information Services Management. The study examines people's online health information seeking skills, with the specific aim to identify how libraries and health services can work together in supporting digital and health literacy. A survey approach is used to explore online searching habits as well as librarian and health professionals’ views on health literacy. The key findings indicate that whilst the majority of respondents consider themselves to be health literate, there was an overall agreement that effective education and support could be achieved through the collaboration between libraries and health services, and specifically to signpost information and to provide targeted education. The limitations of the research for dissertation are recognised leading to recommendations that further study focuses on the impact of signposting and education on health literacy.F.J.     

Context and learning: the value and limits of library‐based information literacy teaching

This month's regular feature will discuss some of the implications for library‐based information literacy teaching that have emerged from a HEA‐funded research project conducted at De Montfort University. It is argued that information literacy teaching as it has evolved in a university setting, while having a greater degree of relevance and value than ever before, nevertheless has inherent limits when it comes to its transferability beyond the academy and into a workplace setting. HS     

Success of reiterative instruction: Looking at faculty-librarian collaboration to improve information literacy in political science education

The purpose of this case study was to ascertain if college students’ information literacy improves through a faculty-librarian collaboration involving a session of library instruction as part of a regular political science course. The authors conducted two surveys to determine if in-person library instruction increases students’ research abilities. The authors surveyed political science faculty to discover their attitudes toward library research instruction. They also surveyed political science students to gauge their opinions on the value of library instruction and to see if there is a connection between their research proficiencies and instruction by a librarian. Through this case study, the authors found that such instruction does improve information literacy. The researchers concluded that for faculty and colleges interested in improving information literacy skills in undergraduate political science students, such library instruction is helpful towards that goal.     

Making evidence-based decisions when organising information retrieval training for nurses and head nurses

Using the PICO (Problem, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome)(1) framework, this feature presents a case study on the information skills strand of a continuing education programme delivered at Kuopio University Hospital in Finland for nurses and head nurses. H.S.     

Using Blogs and Wikis in a Graduate Public Health Course

Blogs and wikis are examples of Web 2.0 technology that facilitate collaboration in the online world. In the health sciences, the emergence of these social tools potentially increases the risk of generating harmful or biased information. Therefore, it is the health professional's responsibility to have the skills to critically appraise Web content that has not undergone traditional peer review. This was the focus in a three-credit graduate Urban Public Health course taught by a librarian and was addressed with assignments using blog and wiki technology within the course management tool Blackboard. The assignments fostered comprehension of the issues surrounding blogs and wikis as they relate to public health.     

Taking Library 2.0 to the Next Level: Using a Course Wiki for Teaching Information Literacy to Honors Students

ABSTRACT

How do educators capitalize on students’ comfort with ubiquitous communications in order to develop information literacy skills required in the 21st century? A curriculum materials librarian and a professor in the School of Education present an approach that uses library instruction, online research scaffolds, and peer evaluation within a class wiki to enhance student research practices and academic achievement. The explosion of information sources and access to networked technologies has provided the opportunity to “ratchet up” the expectations for student research in higher education. The Association of College & Research Libraries's information literacy standards for higher education provide a framework for setting these expectations. The authors describe features of an introductory education course that seeks to enhance honors freshman students’ knowledge of library research resources, efficient research skills, and scholarly writing, as described in these standards.