Developing Information Literacy Skills in the Post-Pandemic World

Recent research has shown that inquiry‐based learning and project‐based learning (PBL) are better than the traditional didactic approach in promoting various learning outcomes. There is also a large literature on how collaboration among different teachers can enhance student learning. In Hong Kong, inquiry‐based learning has been integrated into the General Studies curriculum. This study investigated the effects of an intervention that used a collaborative teaching approach and inquiry project‐based learning on the development of primary students' information literacy and information technology skills. Students in a Hong Kong primary school completed two inquiry‐based group projects as part of their General Studies curriculum. A collaborative teaching approach involving three teachers with different specialties (Language [Chinese], IT, and General Studies) and a school librarian was taken in guiding students through the two projects. Results indicated the positive impact of collaborative teaching and inquiry PBL on the development of students' information literacy and IT skills.

To compare the effectiveness of an online information literacy tutorial with a face-to-face session for teaching information literacy skills to nurses. Randomised control trial. Seventy-seven first year undergraduate pre-registration diploma nursing students. Online in-house information literacy tutorial One hour face-to-face session, covering the same material as the intervention, delivered by the nursing subject librarian. Search histories were scored using a validated checklist covering keyword selection, boolean operators, truncation and synonyms. Skills retention was measured at 1 month using the same checklist. Inferential statistics were used to compare search skills within and between groups pre and post-session. The searching skills of first year pre-registration nursing students improve following information literacy sessions (p<0.001), and remain unchanged 1 month later, regardless of teaching method. The two methods produce a comparable improvement (p=0.263). There is no improvement or degradation of skills 1 month post-session for either method (p=0.216). Nurses Information literacy skills improve after both face-to-face and online instruction. There is no skills degradation at 1 month post-intervention for either method.

Using collaborative teaching and inquiry project-based learning to help primary school students develop information literacy and information skills

This research paper delves into the Information Literacy (IL) skill development strategies implemented by Senior High Schools (SHSs) in the Tolon District of Northern Ghana. The study employs a phenomenological approach and qualitative method to explore the perspectives of students, teaching staff, and management within these institutions. Through purposive sampling and focus group interviews, the research investigates both the institutional and individual efforts in enhancing IL skills of students. The findings illuminate the proactive measures taken by SHS management, including fresh students’ orientation programs and dedicated library time and creation of conducive learning environment. There is no IL course in the curriculum of the SHS. The findings further reveal that teaching staff, recognizing the significance of IL, employ varied strategies to enhance students' IL skills. Despite these efforts, a noteworthy challenge emerges: teaching staff lack the requisite IL skills. Finally, students of these institutions rely on Google, teachers, parents and colleagues for the needed information. The research recommends a holistic approach to IL education, incorporating policy reforms, teacher training programs, and targeted interventions to address the identified challenges.

Secondary teachers and information literacy (IL): Teacher understanding and perceptions of IL in the classroom

PurposeThis study aims to examine the instruction of basic information literacy (IL) skills taught to the socio‐economically disadvantaged students in the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) at Rider University in summer 2011. The study set out to determine how the beginning IL levels of EOP freshmen differ from those of other freshmen, their learning outcomes, and retention of IL as a means to improve future research instruction.Design/methodology/approachFaculty of a speech communication class and two librarians collaborated in integrating IL in the class assignments of the 2011 summer EOP program. The assessment tools include identical pre‐ and post‐tests, a second post‐test with different multiple correct answer questions, a survey about students' perceptions of their IL training, and the teaching faculty's observations of EOP students' research skills.FindingsEOP freshmen are equivalent to the peer freshmen in their low levels of IL skills. The findings suggested that EOP freshmen complete IL instruction with stronger IL skills. The second post‐test revealed that many students were confused about some basic IL concepts. Faculty's observation of students' information literacy skills concurs with the pre‐ and post‐tests.Originality/valueThis study fills a void in the literature on recent research of information literacy skills of socio‐economically disadvantaged college students. The multi‐correct answer questions employed are valuable but rarely employed in studies or discussed in the literature. The collaboration of faculty and librarians in assignment design is valuable as an increasing number of faculty are utilizing librarians to teach the necessary IL skills needed in today's curricula.

Information literacy has become more important as more information is produced and communication has become easier. Better information skills are vital for individuals working in governmental organizations as well as in the business sector. Employees are expected to be confident and competent in interacting with information in their workplaces in order to deliver better service to customers and to the public. This study examines the differences in information literacy skills (ILS), computer literacy skills (CLS), and frequencies of use of information sources (FIS) among police officers, based on their socio-demographic characteristics, namely education, departmental affiliation, ranks, and experience. Information literacy process models developed in an educational environment are combined to explore information literacy process in the workplace. Bivariate and multivariate analyses indicated significant differences of ILS and CLS based on education, departmental affiliation, and ranks but no difference for experience. In addition, there were differences of FIS for all demographic variables except departmental affiliation. The findings of the study may guide both future researchers in the process of developing new models in understanding information literacy process and the managers in police organizations in planning better training programs by considering information and computer literacy skills and use of information sources of police officers.

This report gives an overview of the work to date of the Welsh Information Literacy Project (WILP). WILP is a cross sector project looking to embed information literacy skills across Wales and has been funded by the Welsh Government through CyMAL (Museums, Archives and Libraries, Wales). The report provides specific details of phase three of the project (April 2012-March 2013). The focus of this current phase of the project is the development of information literacy skills amongst public library staff so that these staff can support the development of information literacy skills amongst the whole range of different public library users. In addition, the project is supporting the development of information literacy skills amongst secondary school pupils, by working with school librarians and teachers.

This paper explores some sustainability issues as they relate to library services for a growing cohort of online university students. The students in question come from a range of educational backgrounds, countries and cultures. Addressing their needs has become increasingly important as the amount of information available continues to grow, the nature of information access changes, and the number of students taking up online study also grows. Lifelong learning has long been recognised as necessary to adapt to changing roles in the information rich society and the resulting need to upgrade education and work skills. The IFLA statement on libraries and sustainable development highlights the importance of improving educational and social skills in an information rich society. One of the results of development is the explosion of information; with that comes the need to be able to filter the good information from the bad. This author is convinced that the increasing amount and easy availability of information mean that the development of information literacy skills is more critical than ever. As Gorman1 argues, the key to bridging the literacy divide (thus being a contributor to sustainable development) is information literacy; the ability to understand, filter, evaluate and use information. Using the example of Open Universities Australia (OUA) students, the paper focuses on the emerging role of Distance Liaison Librarian at Swinburne University of Technology. Library services to support distance learning and information literacy needs are scrutinised in terms of the particular requirements of the growing numbers who are choosing to study online. A review of the literature to identify issues of sustainability in relation to library services to online students, particularly addressing the development of information literacy skills is followed by an exploration of the characteristics, needs and challenges of these students. Enabling and supporting these students to develop high order information literacy skills in an online environment raises questions about possible implications for academic library services should the trend to study online increase.

Digital natives are often perceived as experts in managing digital technology, but recent studies show that they do not have a very high level of developing information literacy skills. This research aimed to investigate the relationships between students' level of development of information literacy skills and the teacher's level of expression of pedagogical skills. A correlational research design was used. The research method was questionnaire survey. The results show that there are links between how students perceive pedagogical competences in action and the level of assimilation of information and information literacy skills.

This study examined media and information literacy (MIL) skills in the use of electronic information resources among senior secondary school students in Ibadan North West Local Government Area (LGA), Oyo State, Nigeria. A descriptive survey design was adopted, with a population of 3,103 SS2 students across 13 public senior secondary schools. A multi-stage sampling technique was used: in the first stage, seven schools were randomly selected using the balloting method, and in the second stage, 484 students (30%) were selected proportionately. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection, comprising four sections: Section A captured demographic data, Section B measured information literacy skills (15 items), Section C assessed media literacy skills (15 items), and Section D examined the utilisation of electronic information resources (15 items), all rated on a four-point Likert scale. Descriptive statistics, including frequency counts, percentages, means, and standard deviations, were used to analyze research questions 1 to 5, while Multiple Regression was used for questions 3 to 8. The Pearson Product-Moment Correlation was used for hypothesis testing. Findings revealed significant positive relationships between media literacy skills (r = 0.38) and information literacy skills (r = 0.577) with the utilization of electronic information resources. Jointly, media literacy and information literacy accounted for 47.5% of the variance (F(484) = 217.841, Adj. R² = 0.475). Information literacy emerged as the stronger predictor (β = 0.574), followed by media literacy (β = 0.377). The study recommends incorporating media and information literacy education into the curriculum to enable students to effectively access, evaluate, and utilize electronic information resources.

The purpose of this study was to find out medical librarians' perceptions towards the importance of information literacy (IL) skills. A structured questionnaire, consisting of eight IL skills, was administered to the head librarians of all academic medical institutions in Pakistan. The respondents were asked to rate the importance of IL skills for their users on a 5-point Likert scale (1- Least important to 5-Most important). A total of 69 (60.5 %) usable questionnaires were returned out of 114 disseminated to the respondents. The IL skills about “accessing the needed information effectively and efficiently”, “identifying relevant, authoritative and reliable information sources”, “recognizing the need for information”, "verifying the relevance and quality of information sources” and “using information ethically and legally” got mean scores exceeding four from head librarians of both public and private sector medical institutions. However, IL skill "evaluating the information critically” received mean score less than four i.e., 3.94 from public sector medical librarians and IL skills "organizing information collected or generated in a logical way" and "using the selected information effectively to accomplish a specific task" although considered important but got lower mean scores (3.97 each) from private sector medical librarians. Respondents from both public and private sector medical institutions had considered all the eight IL skills important for their library users, meaning that library users must be adequately equipped with information competencies.

This mixed method systematic review considers recent literature on the information literacy (IL) skills of first-year undergraduate students. The review uncovers the following themes: faculty and librarians perceive first-year students as lacking IL skills; students have varying perceptions of their IL skills; assessment studies yield conflicting findings on first-year students' IL; communication between high school and college librarians is challenging; and some IL researchers emphasise and leverage first-year students' prior knowledge and experience in IL instruction. These themes emerge from extensive searches in four research databases for scholarly and professional articles written in English within the past ten years. With the exception of a few articles, studies reviewed consistently express their findings in terms of students’ gaps or deficits. We question whether this is the most productive basis for developing effective IL programs. Instead, we call for further investigation of students’ existing knowledge and skills as a basis for implementing constructivist and strengths-based pedagogies.

Purpose: Information literacy (IL) competency is an essential component of evidence-informed nursing practice. It is integral to introduce and develop core information literacy competencies for evidence-informed practice within undergraduate education programs. Research has shown undergraduate students may experience challenges with information literacy skills. More research to inform teaching methodologies that effectively enhance students’ skills and abilities, as well as their self-efficacy with these skills, is needed. This article describes an innovative teaching strategy, called journal club, which uses scaffolded learning activities in small groups over one semester. Methods: This mixed-methods research study used a non-experimental pre-post survey and was aimed at understanding the impact of the journal club strategy on students’ information literacy self-efficacy. The survey included the Information Literacy Self-Efficacy Scale (Kurbanoglu et al., 2006) and two open-ended questions in the post-survey. Results: A total of 37 participants, out of 42 potential participants, consented and responded to the pre-survey and 28 to the post-survey. Cohort-based descriptive statistics demonstrated a significant increase in overall scoring on the Information Literacy Self-Efficacy Scale from the pre-survey to the post-survey. Additionally, all relevant item measures from the tool showed statistically significant improvement. The open-ended questions were analyzed thematically, which resulted in the themes of recognition of personal growth, IL skill development, the opportunity to practise, time, the impact in the future, and relational engagement and benefits of the group. Conclusion: Overall, the findings of this study provide ample evidence that the journal club teaching strategy has positively enhanced students’ IL self-efficacy and will continue to be utilized in future offerings of the course. This strategy could be replicated in other contexts and content areas.

Purpose – This study aimed to acquire knowledge about Singapore secondary school (ages 13 to 16 years old) students' skills in searching, evaluating and using information. Design/methodology/approach – A comprehensive instrument encompassing the basic information literacy (IL) skills, as well as a new dimension of ethical usage of information and collaborative information seeking was used for data collection. From August to November 2010, a total of eight schools comprising 3,164 students participated in this study. Findings – It was a matter of concern that various kinds of libraries, including school libraries, were found to be under-utilized. From the test that was administered to assess the IL skills of students, the results were found to be generally unsatisfactory as each of the major categories of IL skills recorded a score that is below 50 (out of a maximum of 100) except for “task definition”. For skills related to “information seeking strategies”, “location &amp; access” and “information use”, the types of schools, academic streams of study, and students' family background seemed to have significant influences. Originality/value – This study is the first large-scale survey conducted in Singapore that sought to test the IL skills of secondary school students. The findings are useful in assessing the current effectiveness of IL integration, and the need for a more planned approach towards IL competency training within the school curriculum in Singapore.