Core descriptors of ‘information literacy’: a subject content analysis of the concept’s literature, Dr. OB Onyancha Dept of Information Science UNISA

Agenda Introduction –Historical devts of IL Research problem –Purpose of study –Objectives of study Methodology Results and discussions Conclusions and recommendations

Introduction The history of teaching people about information is tied to historical, social, and economic developments in society (Gilton, undated) –Agricultural, pre-industrial and pre-modern period –Industrial and modern period –Current information-based, post-industrial period –Libraries were rare at the beginning of this period –Industrial and modern period brought about accelerated establishment of schools, universities, and libraries –American Library Association was established –Public libraries created both reference and children’s services

Library instruction before 1960s –B Lamar Johnson organized an instruction program at Stephens college in –Prefigured bibliographic instruction of the 1970s and 1980s by offering: orientations, instruction in the use of basic reference tools, point-of-use instruction, individualized instruction, course- related instruction, and full courses The Bibliographic Instruction (BI) Movement in Academic Libraries: –Attempts at integrating BI into college programs –Establishment of the Instruction Section of the Association of Association of College and Research Libraries, and of the Library Instruction Round Table within ALA 1970s: Instructions consisted of tours and orientations –Zurkowski (president of the US Info Industry Association) coined "information literates" in 1974

1980s – Pathfinder approach –Emphasis: conceptual frameworks and research strategies –ALA’s 1989 definition: “a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate and use effectively the needed information" Traditional BI in academic libraries consisted of: –library tours and orientations, formal instruction in the form of course- related instruction, course-integrated instruction, and full courses; informal instruction for interested individuals or groups, point of use instructions, the creation of bibliographies, etc Beyond 1980s –Internet connectivity resulted in invisible students and colleges; and distance education –Information is increasingly becoming electronic –Reference and instructional services are moving into the “24/7” world of the Internet

Research problem These developments have resulted in: –New type of users and information which in turn require –New skills and competencies and therefore –New types of IL delivery The paper seeks to trace the development of the concept over time; to identify the most commonly used compound subject terms that are associated with the subject; to find out the core single terms that are used to describe IL; and to map the various concepts that describe IL.

Methodology Databases –Academic Search Premier, Communication and Mass Media Complete, LISTA, and Master File Premier. Search Query –DE “Information Literacy*” – within the subject field Period of study: Document types: ALL Data extraction date: –March 2009 Data analysis softwares –Bibexcel software

RESULTS

Information literacy timeline (Source: Google, 2009) Much activity was recorded between 1995 and 2009

Growth of IL publications 300% 125% 188% 211% 524% 219%

Number of terms per record NB: Number of terms include information literacy Terms in other concepts (e.g. HIV/AIDS have grown over time

Top 15 most commonly used terms: Number of records INFORMATION SCIENCE3 INFORMATION SERVICES2 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY2 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT2 MEDICAL ETHICS1 JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS1 INFORMATION RETRIEVAL1 CONTENT ANALYSIS (COMMUNICATION)1 CANCER1 BIOETHICS1 INFORMATION RESOURCES1 ENCYCLOPEDIAS & DICTIONARIES1 DATABASES1 A total of 14 terms including information literacy were used Knowledge management is a relatively recent concept but its appearance here is due to retrospective indexing of the literature Most terms recorded 1 occurrence each

Top 15 most commonly used terms: Number of records INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY2 LIBRARY SCIENCE1 MASS MEDIA1 LIBRARIES1 INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION1 INVENTORS1 UNITED STATES1 UNIVERSITIES & COLLEGES1 WORLD POLITICS1 TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS1 PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION1 READING COMPREHENSION1 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY1 ARTICULATION (EDUCATION)1 ASSOCIATIONS, INSTITUTIONS, ETC.1 Library science and Libraries emerged in this period One of the activities that may reflect the IL focus area was Reading comprehension Except Information Technology, ALL terms recorded 1 occurrence each

Top 15 most commonly used terms: No of Records LIBRARY ORIENTATION6 ACADEMIC LIBRARIES5 INFORMATION SCIENCE4 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY3 INFORMATION SERVICES3 LIBRARY SCIENCE3 LIBRARIANS3 COMPUTER LITERACY2 CONGRESSES & CONVENTIONS2 EDUCATION2 LIBRARY SCIENCE -- SOCIETIES, ETC.2 TRAINING2 LIBRARIES2 LIBRARY SCHOOLS1 LIBRARIES & INDIANS1 NEW TERMS THAT EMERGED DURING Information Technology means new methods of IL delivery and focus in terms of needed skills

Top 15 most commonly used terms: No. of records LIBRARY ORIENTATION17 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY12 LIBRARIANS5 UNIVERSITIES & COLLEGES5 ACADEMIC LIBRARIES5 INFORMATION SOCIETY4 COMPUTER LITERACY4 LITERACY4 EVALUATION3 EDUCATION3 LIBRARY USERS3 INTERNET3 INFORMATION RETRIEVAL3 BOOKS2 TRAINING2 DATABASE SEARCHING2 New Terms

Top 30 most commonly used terms: Records LIBRARY ORIENTATION103 EVALUATION15 INFORMATION SCIENCE79 GENERAL EDUCATION13 LIBRARIANS44 INTERNET13 LIBRARIES37 DISTANCE EDUCATION13 EDUCATION32 UNIVERSITIES & COLLEGES13 ACADEMIC LIBRARIES29 LEARNING12 LIBRARY SCIENCE28 INFO RESOURCES MANAGEMENT11 LITERACY25 INTERNET IN EDUCATION11 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY23 COLLEGE STUDENTS11 EDUCATION -- CURRICULA23 SCHOOL LIBRARIANS10 INFORMATION SOCIETY20 INFORMATION RETRIEVAL10 STUDENTS18 CONTINUING EDUCATION10 SCHOOL LIBRARIES18 LITERACY PROGRAMS10 PUBLIC LIBRARIES15 COMPUTER-ASSISTED INSTRUCTION10 EDUCATION, HIGHER15 CONGRESSES & CONVENTIONS10 Life-long learning

Top 30 most commonly used terms: Records INFORMATION SCIENCE450 LIBRARY ORIENTATION100 LIBRARIES203 EDUCATION, HIGHER95 LIBRARIANS198 INFO LITERACY -- STUDY & TEACHING88 EDUCATION163 RESEARCH80 ACADEMIC LIBRARIES156 INFO RESOURCES MANAGEMENT79 LIBRARY SCIENCE146 INFORMATION RETRIEVAL75 UNIVERSITIES & COLLEGES138 TECHNOLOGICAL LITERACY73 LITERACY132 MEDIA LITERACY73 STUDENTS123 ELECTRONIC INFO RESOURCE LITERACY65 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY117 LITERACY PROGRAMS60 INFORMATION RESOURCES110 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT59 EDUCATION -- CURRICULA109 EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY58 LEARNING108 GENERAL EDUCATION55 INFORMATION SERVICES108 LIBRARY EMPLOYEES52 INTERNET IN EDUCATION102 SCHOOL LIBRARIES52 The focus centers around (about and by) Libraries

Conclusions Interest in IL seems to have increased in the second half of the 1990s –Can be attributed to the Internet and WWW technologies which brought about various challenges in information handling IL delivery modes have remarkably changed – : Library orientation played a great role in the delivery of IL as shown by its popularity among scholars IL programs centered around libraries The term ‘Librarians’ featured prominently indicating that the librarians have a big role to play in the delivery of IL programs Information technology as enabler of IL programs delivery and tools for handling information (E-information) – focus research area from mid 1980s to date

Information literacy is tied more to electronic information and computers Today, practitioners are concerned with core competencies of information users, learning theories, conceptual frameworks, active learning, and critical thinking

Recommendations Collaboration between librarians and LIS schools in the provision of IL programs? What will be the role of society for which the programs are intended, i.e. in terms of their input into what is offered? What are the core topics of IL, i.e. topics that MUST be included in the curriculum? Can the core/periphery model of the full-text IL literature provide the answer? – Area for further research

THANKS