INFORMATION LITERACY SKILLS (ILS) TRAINING FOR MEDICAL STUDENTS

OVERVIEW Importance of ILS Training for Medical Students Why training? Ability of Information Literacy What is an Information Literacy Person? Modules

Importance of Information Literacy Skills (ILS) Training for Medical Students Motivation for information literacy skills is based on the realization that academic libraries are central and critical to the instructional and scholarly life of the universities they serve They are integral parts of the teaching, learning and research Medical Librarians are accepting the challenge of graduating students with information and communication technology competencies It is therefore important to design instructional modules to be taught to medical students during their academic career ILS recognizes that all learners need training in information and communication technology in order to fully utilize available information resources.

Why ILS Training? Information Communication Technologies have changed the way in which we communicate Whilst books and journals remain important, CD-ROM, and the Internet are supplementing and even replacing some forms of print material (INASP, 2002) Due to these developments, the following questions arise: What new skills and techniques are needed to search, find and navigate this information? What kind of training is needed? What kind of training is needed? How can these electronic resources be evaluated?

Ability of Information Literacy Understand in a basic sense how resource information is produced, disseminated, organized, including differences among primary, secondary and tertiary literature and the distinction between popular and peer-reviewed literature Information literacy is increasingly important in contemporary environment of rapid technological change It is common to all disciplines, to all learning environments, and to all levels of education It enables learners to master content and extend their investigations, become more self-directed, and assume greater control over their own learning.

What is an Information Literate Person? Determines the extent of information needed Accesses the needed information effectively and efficiently Evaluates information and its sources critically Incorporates selected information into one`s knowledge base Uses information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose Understands the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information, and access and use information ethically and legally.

Module 1 Lecture 1: Information Organization Lecture 2: Information Sources Lecture 3: Access Tools Lecture 4: Information Retrieval Lecture 5: Electronic Information Retrieval-navigating websites, subject gateways, advanced searches, online journals, evaluating resources Lecture 6: Referencing

Module 2 Information Sources Books Periodicals Indexes and Abstracts Bibliographies Encyclopedias CD-ROM Databases The Internet

Module 3 Lecture 1: Topic Analysis and Knowledge structure – Basic Structure of Databases, Selecting a Database, Abstracts and Full-text articles Lecture 2: Access Tools Lecture 3: Search Strategy-Electronic Information Retrieval Skills Lecture 4: Digital Libraries, E-Books and E-Journals Lecture 5: Bibliography & Intellectual Property- plagiarism, copyright, referencing

Module 4 Lecture 1: The Research Process-Topic Analysis, OPAC, CD-ROM Lecture 2: Information Retrieval – search engines, Using Websites, Subject Gateways Lecture 4: Evaluating Articles

Module 5 Lecture 1: Search Engines Lecture 2: Keywords and Boolean Operators Lecture 3: Evaluating Sites Lecture 4: Referencing

Citation Styles-MLA Refers to rules and conventions established by the Modern Language Association Book by one author Datey, K. K. Essentials of cardiac therapy. New Delhi : Allied Publishers, Book with three authors Datey, K. K., James Hingorani and Edward Mujera. Essentials of cardiac therapy. New Delhi : Allied Publishers, Book with more than three authors Datey, K. K. et al. Essentials of cardiac therapy. New Delhi : Allied Publishers, 1983.

Harvard Citation Style Book with one author Smith, David. (1987) Plastic and reconstructive surgery for students, Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation, Chicago. Book with two or three authors Smith, David, Mataruse, A. & Mujera, E. T. (1987) Plastic and reconstructive surgery for students, Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation, Chicago.

Harvard Citation Style Thesis Ncube, T. (2000), Children and the family, Phd Thesis, University of Zimbabwe. Article in a journal Kongle, C. & Crago, S. (1999) “Pacemakers and related children”, Medical Journal of North America, vol. 85,no. 2, pp71-77.

INTERNET Electronic journal basic pattern: Surname, First name(s), Year. Title of article. Title of journal, vol. no. (issue no.). (URL: xxxx…) Date accessed. Example Micco, Mary, (1996). Subject authority control in the world of Internet. Libres, 6(3). (URL: [Accessed 22 July 2009]

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