Adding an Integrated Library Component to an Undergraduate Research Methods Course

AbstractAs undergraduate students increasingly rely on the Internet as their primary method for gathering sources, they often overlook the rich and varied resources available to them in library collections. Furthermore, students often lack the sophistication to effectively seek out and use information, an ability generally referred to as information literacy. Political scientists and librarians at one institution sought to address the gap in student information literacy skills by creating and implementing a semester-long library lab component integrated into the required research methods course within the political science department. This article presents the steps taken to implement the lab component, including the student learning outcomes we sought to address. We also focus on the measures we used to assess the impact of the lab component. Students who participated in the lab component demonstrate markedly improved information literacy skills compared to those who did not.

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Information literacy of students as a correlate of their use of electronic resources in university libraries in Nigeria

The Electronic Library ◽

10.1108/el-05-2013-0085 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 33 (3) ◽

pp. 486-501 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Ngozi Blessing Ukachi

Keyword(s):

Undergraduate Students ◽

Information Literacy ◽

Literacy Skills ◽

Literacy Skill ◽

Strong Positive Correlation ◽

University Libraries ◽

Electronic Resources ◽

Content Type ◽

Information Literacy Skills ◽

The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the relationship existing between undergraduate students’ information literacy skills and their use of electronic resources (ERs) located in university libraries in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach – The descriptive design was adopted for the research questions, while the correlational design was adopted for the hypothesis. The purposive sampling technique was also adopted in selecting 12 university libraries which the preliminary study had revealed that they have Internet access and also subscribe to ERs in the south-west geopolitical zone in Nigeria. Questionnaire and oral interview were used for data collection. The population size consists of all the 36,116 library-registered undergraduate students in the 12 universities, while the sample size is 1,806 (5 per cent of the population) and the 12 librarians heading the ERs sections of the libraries. Findings – The findings revealed that ERs are not adequately utilized, undergraduate students do not possess adequate information literacy skills necessary for optimal utilization of the libraries’ ERs and strong positive correlation between level of undergraduate students’ information literacy skill and their use of ERs provided in the library. Practical implications – This paper provides practical insights into the impact of possessing inadequate information literacy skills on the use of ERs. Originality/value – This paper is the first to relate undergraduate students’ information literacy skills and their use of libraries’ ERs in south-western zone of Nigeria.

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Assessing Information Literacy Skills among Undergraduate Students at the Alexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki

Communications in Computer and Information Science - Worldwide Commonalities and Challenges in Information Literacy Research and Practice ◽

10.1007/978-3-319-03919-0_60 ◽

2013 ◽

pp. 450-457 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Margarita Chatzilia ◽

Stella Sylaiou

Keyword(s):

Undergraduate Students ◽

Information Literacy ◽

Literacy Skills ◽

Educational Institute ◽

Technological Educational ◽

Technological Educational Institute ◽

Information Literacy Skills

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Collaboration between Librarians and Teaching Faculty to Teach Information Literacy at One Ontario University: Experiences and Outcomes

10.32920/14639529.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Maureen J. Reed ◽

Don Kinder ◽

Cecile Farnum

Keyword(s):

Information Literacy ◽

Student Development ◽

General Information ◽

Literacy Skills ◽

Individual Student ◽

Unique Contribution ◽

Literacy Knowledge ◽

Information Literacy Skills ◽

Teaching Faculty ◽

Student Information

Purpose: In this study, we sought to describe information literacy success outcomes for students who participated in a university course where university librarians and teaching faculty collaborated in all aspects of the course including; curricular development, assignment development, in-class teaching, office hours for individual student development, and assessment activities. The authors wanted to examine student success in attaining information literacy skills following this one semester course. Further, the authors wanted to determine what difficulties in achieving expected information literacy levels persist even after intensive collaborative instruction. Finally, the authors wished to describe the challenges of these collaborations. Methodology: The focus of this study was to determine changes in first-year university students’ information literacy knowledge and skill following a thirteen week university preparation course that was developed through strong collaboration between university librarians and teaching faculty. Students entering their first semester of university were tested on their information literacy skills without feedback. They then took part in the required course and were post tested in the last week of the semester. Findings: Student showed strong increases in information literacy from this collaborative approach. In addition, teaching faculty and librarians felt positive about the collaborative experience. However, some students showed misunderstandings about information literacy that requires further research. Originality and Practical Implications: Our unique contribution here is our description, experiences and detailed outcomes with a collaborative process to teach information literacy. Based on our experiences here, we believe that collaboration will work best if it is planned at a curricular level, if the librarians are truly integrated into the classroom, if the librarians provide input on assignments and help with student feedback, and if targeted information literacy knowledge is tested. This planning takes time, but the librarians offer unique contributions and insight into issues surrounding information literacy that may not be obvious to faculty instructors. In our study, we also found that students confuse assignment requirements with general information literacy standards and those teaching information literacy need to be aware of these confusions. Finally, integration of librarians into college/university courses has benefits in terms of increases in student information literacy and increases in librarian knowledge of faculty expectations.

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An assessment of information literacy skills among first-year postgraduate students at Sokoine University of Agriculture Tanzania

Journal of Librarianship and Information Science ◽

10.1177/0961000616667802 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 50 (4) ◽

pp. 427-434 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Mugyabuso J. F. Lwehabura

Keyword(s):

Undergraduate Students ◽

Information Literacy ◽

Information Search ◽

Concept Maps ◽

Literacy Skills ◽

Independent Learning ◽

First Year ◽

Postgraduate Students ◽

Literacy Knowledge ◽

Information Literacy Skills

This study was set to examine and identify some aspects of information literacy skills among postgraduate students at Sokoine University of Agriculture and determine challenges and problems facing them in terms of searching and use of various information resources. Systematic probability sampling and questionnaires were used to collect data from175 students out of 314 first-year postgraduate students registered. The findings showed that although information literacy exists among students, a good number of students demonstrated significant deficiency in their information literacy knowledge and skills in key aspects including searching for information from electronic sources, application of various information search techniques such as Boolean operators, use of truncation, synonyms and concept maps. Based on the findings, the paper recommends addressing the shortcomings found by introducing a mandatory information literacy course for both postgraduate and undergraduate students to ensure effective independent learning among students.

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Information Literacy among Undergraduate Students in Nigeria

Professional Development and Workplace Learning ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-8632-8.ch071 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 1314-1327

Author(s):

Stella E. Igun ◽

Jessa Precious Odafe

Keyword(s):

Undergraduate Students ◽

Information Literacy ◽

Information Science ◽

Survey Design ◽

Literacy Skills ◽

Digital Information ◽

State University ◽

Statistical Tool ◽

Needed Information ◽

Information Literacy Skills

This paper examined information literacy skills among undergraduate students in Nigeria. The scope of the study covered two departments in Delta State University, Abraka namely: Library and Information Science and Guidance and Counselling. The study was limited to final year students of the two departments. The descriptive survey design was adopted for the study and the population was 517. 103 or 20% of the population of 517 were sampled for the study. 97 questionnaires were retrieved and used for the study. Simple percentage and frequency count statistical tool was used to analyze the data. The study found out that ability to use information effectively to accomplish a task, ability to recognize the needed information, ability to access the needed information effectively and efficiently and ability to evaluate information critically are the information literacy skills possessed by some of the undergraduate students in Nigeria. The study recommended that information literacy education and electronic/digital information skills should be included in the curriculum of the undergraduate students in the universities.

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What Five Minutes in the Classroom Can Do to Uncover the Basic Information Literacy Skills of Your College Students: A Multiyear Assessment Study

Evidence Based Library and Information Practice ◽

10.18438/b8dw4z ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 34 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Ma Lei Hsieh ◽

Patricia H. Dawson ◽

Michael T. Carlin

Keyword(s):

Information Literacy ◽

Information Access ◽

Literacy Skills ◽

Honors Students ◽

Basic Information ◽

Research Writing ◽

Start Time ◽

Information Literacy Skills ◽

Improve Instruction ◽

The Impact

Objective – Librarians at Rider University attempted to discern the basic information literacy (IL) skills of students over a two year period (2009-2011). This study aims to explore the impact of one-session information literacy instruction on student acquisition of the information literacy skills of identifying information and accessing information using a pretest/posttest design at a single institution. The research questions include: Do different student populations (in different class years, Honors students, etc.) possess different levels of IL? Does the frequency of prior IL Instruction (ILI) make a difference? Do students improve their IL skills after the ILI? Methods – The librarians at Rider University developed the test instruments over two years and administered them to students attending the ILI sessions each semester. The test was given to students as they entered the classroom before the official start-time of the class, and the test was stopped five minutes into the class. A pretest with five questions was developed from the 1st ACRL IL Standards. A few demographic questions were added. This pretest was used in fall 2009. In spring 2010, a second pretest was developed with five questions on the 2nd ACRL IL Standards. Students of all class years who attended ILI sessions took the pretests. In 2010-2011, the pretest combining the 10 questions used in the previous year was administered to classes taking the required CMP-125 Research Writing and the BHP-150 Honors Seminar courses. An identical posttest was given to those classes that returned for a follow-up session. Only the scores from students taking both pretests and posttests were used to compare learning outcomes. Results – Participants’ basic levels of IL skills were relatively low. Their skills in identifying needed resources (ACRL IL Standards 1) were higher than those related to information access (ACRL IL Standards 2). Freshmen in the Honors Seminar outperformed all other Rider students. No differences were found in different class years or with varying frequencies of prior IL training. In 2010-2011, students improved significantly in a few IL concepts after the ILI, but overall gains were limited. Limitations – Many limitations are present in this study, including the challenge of developing ideal test questions and that the pretest was administered to a wide variety of classes. Also not all the IL concepts in the test were adequately addressed in these sessions. These factors would have affected the results. Conclusions – The results defy a common assumption that students’ levels of IL proficiency correlate with their class years and the frequency of prior ILI in college. These findings fill a gap in the literature by supporting the anecdote that students do not retain or transfer their IL skills in the long term. The results raise an important question as to what can be done to help students more effectively learn and retain IL in college. The authors offer strategies to improve instruction and assessment, including experimenting with different pedagogies and creating different posttests for spring 2012.

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