Library instruction and information literacy 2016

Searching for a Definition of Information Literacy as a Socially Cohesive Component of Community: A Complementarity of Experts and Student Approach

Information literacy can be seen as a fundamental prerequisite for a sustainable complex information society. As a lack of information literacy, information poverty represents a significant social and educational issue. Information literacy and information poverty will be the new dividing lines of a complex world, as the “rich north and poor south” metaphor became in the 20th century. A careful study of discourses in information literacy allows for effective educational and social policies aimed at its development. The aim of this study is to present an analysis of different approaches and discourses to define the concept of information literacy based on a review of papers from Web of Science. The study identifies four important directions of definitions or new grasps of information literacy, with an emphasis on social justice, the analysis of social and technological change, and a demand for higher quality information literacy education. Based on this analysis, the discourses present in the responses of undergraduate information studies and library science students (n = 132) collected between 2019 and 2022 are studied. The qualitative study shows that these underlying discourses are present in the students’ responses but, at the same time, offer specific perspectives on their fulfilment.

Relating library user education to business students’ information needs and learning practices: a comparative study

Purpose

The paper aims to investigate current library instruction programs to help business students make better use of library resources and improve their information. However, students’ information acquisition ability, library usage and their perception toward library user education are inevitably changing along with the rapidly evolving information landscape as well as the socio-cultural environment driven by information technologies.

Design/methodology/approach

For this study, 90 business students from three different majors at the Faculty of Business and Economics, the University of Hong Kong were invited to participate in the online survey for comparison.

Findings

The findings of this study suggest that the subjects, in general, recognized the importance of library user instruction. However, when the subjects encountered difficulties in information searching, they preferred to use search engines (such as Google) and seek help from their classmates.

Practical implications

The results of this study show that there were distinctive differences in library usage and views toward library instruction among students of three different majors. This study sheds light on the feasible actions of academic libraries to enhance library user instruction services and improve the IL skills among business students.

Originality/value

Although there is much research about the library instruction of academic libraries, scant research focuses on library usage and views toward library instruction of business students, especially on the comparison among different business majors.

The information literacy and continuous professional development practices of teachers at a Jewish Day School

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate how in-service teachers within the context of an American Jewish day school perceive, practice and develop Information Literacy (IL) as a sociocultural practice and through Continuing Professional Development (CPD). A research gap exists in relation to empirical studies which examine sociocultural IL practices and the CPD learning experiences of in-service teachers within the professional environment of their work. Two emergent and compatible frameworks for investigating teachers’ IL practices and CPD in context are identified and discussed within that context: the sociocultural approach and the interactive CPD model.

Design/methodology/approach

The research adopted an interpretivist phenomenological perspective. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with six teachers to explore their IL experiences. Questions addressed the participants’ previous background, the working culture of the school, approaches to learning and developing new knowledge, sources and methods of obtaining work-related information, IL practices and the differences between IL and CPD practices.

Findings

Although teachers value the role of IL in their professional lives and they have confidence in their performance of it, they remain confounded by the IL terminology. Within the teachers’ everyday working environment, the primacy of social and embodied information and the centrality of information sharing demonstrated the social and experiential nature of learning and the significance of contextualisation to IL development. The study found IL, CPD and learning to be inseparable, as they intersected within a single, organic situated learning practice of becoming an expert in context.

Originality/value

This study makes valuable contributions to theory by supplying empirical evidence of sociocultural IL practices, linking the currently disparate scholarships on IL, CPD and learning and providing suggestions for future research. In addition, the study demonstrates alternative avenues for developing teachers’ IL and offers recommendations for supporting their CPD.