scholarly journals An Information Literacy Course for Doctoral Students: Information Resources and Tools for Research

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann-Louise Paasio ◽  
Kristiina Hintikka
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Information Literacy ◽  
Graduate School ◽  
Doctoral Programs ◽  
Information Resources ◽  
University Library ◽  
Literacy Course ◽  
The University ◽  
Doctoral Candidates

The purpose of this paper is to showcase the information literacy course for doctoral students called Information Resources and Tools for Research. Turku University Library organises this course in collaboration with the University of Turku Graduate School. The course, which was started in 2012, has been organised four times so far, twice in English and twice in Finnish. The course offers training to all doctoral Programs in all of the seven disciplines present at the University of Turku and doctoral candidates of the University. In our presentation we will describe the structure and contents of the course and share our experiences of the collaboration with the University of Turku Graduate School. In addition, we will describe how the information specialists of the Turku University Library have collaborated during the course. We will also discuss the challenges of the course. Based on the course feedback, it can be stated that in general, participants have found this course very useful for their research in the University of Turku.

scholarly journals Developing informational literacy among doctoral students and researchers - Case Åbo Akademi University Library and Turku University Library

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Costiander-Huldén ◽  
Leena Järveläinen
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Information Literacy ◽  
Information Search ◽  
The Other ◽  
Library Services ◽  
Transferable Skills ◽  
University Library ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
The University

In recent years, there has been a demand to include doctoral students and researchers in the curriculum for information literacy. Not only information search, but also the expertise of the librarians in scientific publishing, bibliometric analysis is demanded. As a result of the demand the two universities in Turku/Åbo have developed their research services. The libraries have also met for benchmarking and further cooperation is being discussed. 1.The implementation of three focus group interviews with 18 researchers at Åbo Akademi University The Focus Group survey methodology has its roots in social science qualitative research. It is widely used in the library world and is considered to be suitable particularly well for the evaluation and development of library services. The overall purpose with our interviews was to obtain feedback on how library users (in this case, researchers and graduate students) wish ÅAUL to develop its services to better meet their needs. Three group interviews were conducted, with 6-8 participators. The following questions were, among others, discussed in every session: How do the researchers perceive the library's role in their daily work? What is the starting point for retrieving information (e.g. The MetaLib portal, Google Scholar or other)? Is there a need for courses/more supervision in information search and reference management? Is there a need for tailored and integrated library services? As a result of the sessions and analysis of the group discussions a number of measures were proposed: Targeted teaching of subject-specific databases, more topic-specific sessions in the library portal and RefWorks. Compulsory information retrieval course for first year doctoral students. Information Weeks or "hands on" sessions on campus libraries. The library should participate more in workshops and seminars to increase their visibility and their services. The library should actively consider how to measure the impact and influence of such as the teaching of information retrieval and databases to better develop and monitor the results. More individual supervision and focus on the personal touch. The presentation will also discuss the pros and cons of the focus group method. 2.Transferable skills for researchers in Turku University Library (TUL) In Turku University Library the need for IL among doctoral students and researchers had also been recognized and when the University of Turku Graduate School (UTUGS) was established in 2011, the library immediately contacted the coordinator of UTUGS. Already in the first meeting both parties agreed that the first training of which the library would be responsible would take place in Spring 2012. The course blended well into the other transferable skills training of UTUGS. The IL course contents were then planned with the UTUGS Coordinator who had the best knowledge of what the PhD students would need from the library. E-resources, reference management, affiliation, plagiarism etc. were discussed and the first course description was written. One of the key elements was that other experts in the university were asked to lecture also. They covered subjects like ethics and plagiarism. For all three courses the library has asked for feedback and adjusted the content respectively. For the most part the feedback has been encouraging but there are still things to be done. Which are the interfaces with the other UTUGS courses? How can the course participants benefit more of the interdisciplinary groups they are studying in? Does the training have effect on the research the participants are doing? 3.Cooperation and benchmarking Since 2004, The Information Literacy Network of the Finnish Universities has coordinated further education and exchanges of experiences. Some of the members were appointed in 2012 to develop the recommendations of information literacy in universities and universities of applied sciences in Finland. The recommendations are now under consideration by the libraries and will be used in negotiations with the university administration to implement compulsory studies of information skills among doctoral students. On a local level, ÅAUL and TUL, as neighbouring libraries, have strengthen the exchange of ideas and experiences during the last years. As ÅAUL started with focus group surveys and abstracts before implementing information literacy courses, TUL started with customized courses for doctoral students last year. There have been fruitful, professional discussions and more elaborative benchmarking sessions between the libraries. Together the both libraries have also hosted the University Library of Gothenburg and arranged a two-day-long benchmarking seminar about research services.

scholarly journals Piloting a National Online Tutorial in Slavic Information Literacy: The LOTSE-Slavic Studies Project at Bochum University Library, Germany

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erda Lapp
Keyword(s):  
Information Literacy ◽  
Institutional Context ◽  
Slavic Languages ◽  
Online Tutorial ◽  
University Library ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Literacy Course ◽  
The University ◽  
Slavic Studies

The presentation describes the Library Online Tour and Self-Paced Education (LOTSE) project for Slavic Studies (LOTSE-Slavistik) at Bochum University Library, Germany. LOTSE Slavic Studies is an open access online tutorial that provides German-speaking students and researchers an introduction to the most important resources in Slavic languages, literatures and cultures. The tutorial was developed at Ruhr University Bochum by the University Library in cooperation with the Slavic Department / Lotman Institute. It constitutes one module within a group of LOTSE modules (Business and Economics, Education, Engineering, Ethnology, Geography, History, Medicine, Music, Netherlands Studies, Philosophy, Psychology, Spanish Studies, Sociology, Theology). All LOTSE modules are embedded in larger subject portals, which are themselves under the umbrella of the online German national clearinghouse of subject portals, Vascoda. The pedagogically-designed LOTSE module Slavic Studies is intended primarily for students and can be used as a stand-alone e-learning tool or as an element of an integrated Slavic information literacy course. The presentation sets the broader historical and institutional context for the project, describes the content and layout of the LOTSE tutorial and summarizes how it has been used in recent undergraduate courses on Slavic information literacy.

Perceptions of Social Support in Doctoral Programs among Minority Students

2000 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 1003-1010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith B. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
African American ◽  
Native American ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Graduate School ◽  
Asian American ◽  
Doctoral Programs ◽  
Student Survey ◽  
The Social

This study examined the perceptions of social support reported by 70 African-American, 44 Hispanic, 20 Native-American, and 69 Asian-American doctoral students ( N = 203) concerning their experiences in graduate school. The Doctoral Student Survey was used to measure the levels and types of social support provided. One-way analysis of variance of mean scores indicated that a majority of doctoral students perceived the academic environment on campus and faculty advisers to be strong sources of social support, while perceiving the social environment on campus as unsupportive of their progress. The African-American and Native-American doctoral students perceived the social environment on campus to be less supportive than did the Hispanic and Asian-American doctoral students, and Native-American doctoral students perceived their departments to be less supportive than did the African-American, Hispanic, and Asian-American doctoral students.

scholarly journals Knowing when to cry uncle: Balancing instructional initiatives

2020 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 84
Author(s):  
Angie Cox ◽  
Jim Kelly ◽  
Chris Neuhaus
Keyword(s):  
Information Literacy ◽  
University Of Northern Iowa ◽  
Literacy Course ◽  
The University

About five years ago, the University of Northern Iowa Rod Library began building a credit-bearing information literacy course from scratch. Envisioned to be something more than simply “how to use the library,” the course was also designed to focus on Google resources and the trends and issues associated with the online world of information. We named the course Beyond Google. From the start, we aimed to teach students how to be more effective and thoughtful Google users, and more skeptical consumers of information.

scholarly journals Workplace information literacy skills

2018 ◽  
Vol 119 (7/8) ◽  
pp. 469-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Yousuf Ali ◽  
Joanna Richardson
Keyword(s):  
Information Literacy ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Information Resources ◽  
Academic Librarians ◽  
Content Type ◽  
University Library ◽  
Administrative Units ◽  
Locating Information ◽  
Survey Responses

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the level of information literacy (IL) skills competency among university library professionals in Karachi, Pakistan and to address areas of concern. Design/methodology/approach An online survey was designed, using Google Forms, to collect data from 77 academic librarians working in 25 universities in Karachi, Pakistan. The questions covered six generic attributes: library systems, information resources, searching techniques, research support, IL and generic/personal attributes. Findings The results indicate that the librarians who were surveyed had good IL skills in information searching and locating information resources. However, the average of all survey responses was 54.17 per cent, with 12 of the 24 competencies receiving scores of less than 50 per cent, thus indicating a generally overall low level of IL competency in the workplace. Research limitations/implications As the study was limited to universities in Karachi, it would be useful to apply the same methodology to other administrative units within the country. Further research is indicated on the potential impact of gender on aspects such as level of IL skills and motivation to enhance workplace competencies. Practical implications The authors have suggested a number of strategies, which would be applicable globally to any university library wishing to improve the IL skills competencies of its staff. Originality/value There have been no previous published, non-discipline-specific, research studies on the IL skills competencies of academic librarians in Pakistan.

scholarly journals Information literacy of doctoral students in engineering and the librarian’s role

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teja Koler-Povh ◽  
Žiga Turk
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Information Literacy ◽  
Scientific Publications ◽  
Doctoral Study ◽  
Introductory Course ◽  
Study Programme ◽  
Literacy Course ◽  
Phd Theses ◽  
Citation Practices ◽  
Systematic Education

After a reform of the doctoral study programme at the authors’ faculty in Slovenia, an introductory course on scientific research methods became mandatory. It includes the topic of information literacy and covers its five main elements according to ALA 2000 standards. A librarian/researcher runs the practical part. As this course has been running for seven years we were interested in its impacts: (1) what are students’ subjective impressions about the course and (2) if and how such a systematic education on information literacy topics objectively impacts their publishing and citations. The paper first presents the results of the questionnaire among 120 PhD students (the response was 67.5%, i.e. 81 of them) conducted immediately after the completion of the information literacy course. Four indicators were measured to address Question 1. Question 2 was approached by examining students’ citation practices in their own PhD theses and their publishing results. The hypothesis was that the information literacy course increased students’ competence. It was tested using quantitative parameters, such as the number of references in PhD theses and the number of scientific publications written during the study and shortly after it, separately for reformed programme students who attended the information literacy course, and for pre-Bologna reform students who did not take this course. We found that although pre-reform students on average cited a few more references than their post-reform colleagues, there were smaller differences among post-reform than among pre-reform students. Also, the median/typical post-reform students cited more references, what can be attributed to the information literacy course.

scholarly journals University Library as Knowledge Management Centre

2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 415-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruslan A. Baryshev ◽  
Margarita M. Manushkina ◽  
Irina A. Tsvetochkina ◽  
Olga I. Babina
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Educational Institution ◽  
Knowledge Society ◽  
Information Resources ◽  
Smooth Transition ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Electronic Library ◽  
University Library ◽  
The University

The article discusses the transition to a new stage of civilization, the knowledge society. In the modern world, knowledge is one of the major socio-economic resources for both the individual and the state. Accordingly, the educational strategy of any higher educational institution should be refocused to ensure smooth transition from the traditional model to innovative in order to prepare the modern student for a life in the society where innovation and intellectual resources play the major role. The modern library can act as a control centre of knowledge, integrate with the world information resources and mediate for the user in global information space using the tools and mechanisms of the electronic library. In this regard, the e-library becomes a knowledge management centre focused on the development and maximum use of intellectual potential of library for the purpose of preservation, reproduction, building up and broadcasting of knowledge. The article analyses the opportunities which are given by electronic library for the University.The authors constructed the scheme of interrelation of knowledge and information resources. The article considers the concept of proactive electronic library of the University as a system of information service of readers, the main purpose of which is to provide resources in any form and on any carrier using the classical and network forms of services based on the advanced inquiry services. The authors constructed the model of proactive University library, which is a complex system, incorporating elements of various properties and complexity. The proactive electronic library itself searches for information corresponding to the information needs of the user, without waiting for his request; that can influence the development of his information needs. Thus, the library transforms from a passive storage of information into an interaction partner. Information is automatically selected for the user, relevant to his educational and scientific interests, hobbies and preferred leisure.

scholarly journals NTNU Academic Writing - developed with UX

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Lillevoll Lorange
Keyword(s):  
Learning Styles ◽  
Information Literacy ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Visual Learning ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
University Library ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Other Information ◽  
The University

In spring 2017, the University Library of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) launched VIKO, the redesigned tool for fostering information literacy and academic writing skills. The digital and technological development as well as new requirements for information literacy and academic writing skills have made it necessary to revise this tool. A working group at NTNU University Library developed and carried out an electronic survey to map specific needs of students, teachers, and researchers. We involved our users in developing our information literacy tool in order to give them a more useful user experience. We asked the following questions: Is information about academic writing something you need? Where do you go to find information about this? What kind of content do you desire? The answers suggested that “Yes!” this was something both students and teachers wanted. They were eager to get all the information they needed in their studies in one place. Results of this survey and additional depth interviews with students and staff have been the starting point for both the updated content and the new graphical design of VIKO. To accommodate the wish of having all information in one place, all content is now placed on the University Intranet together with all other information relevant for the students. A page listing relevant topics helps students navigate in the content relating to academic writing. The content of the redesigned tool is structured into four topics: defining a research topic, finding sources, structuring your text, and using and citing sources. We know that people have different ways of learning, so offering content for different learning styles like visual learning, auditory learning, and read/write learning will contribute to improving the learning outcomes.

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