Information literacy as a motivator for reading and research Vilve Seiler, Kärt Miil University of Tartu Library, Estonia CoBal , Trakai

Overview Why information literacy? Online information literacy course “Basics of Information Literacy” Content analysis of students reflections and feedback Results of the study: what effect does information literacy have on reading

Information literacy defined „To be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate and use effectively the needed information.” American Library Assosciation. (1989). Presidential Committee on Information Literacy: Final Report.

Information literacy and lifelong learning “Information literacy forms the basis for lifelong learning. 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.” Association of College and Research Libraries. (2000). Information literacy competency standards for higher education.

Information Literacy Competency Standards for higher education An information literate individual is able to 1.Determine the extent of information needed 2.Access the needed information effectively and efficiently 3.Evaluate information and its sources critically and incorporate selected information into one’s knowledge base 4.Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose 5.Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information, and access and use information ethically and legally Association of College and Research Libraries. (2000). Information literacy competency standards for higher education.

Online course Basics of Information Literacy – Free elective course for all faculties – 3 ECTS credit points, 8 weeks – Since 2007, every year graduates – Target group: Bachelor’s and Master’s students – Subject librarians as instructors – Individual tutoring and feedback

Learning modules I. Overwiev of information sources II. Principles of information search in databases III. Databases and e-journals IV. Search in online catalogue ESTER V. Search in Estonian article databases VI. Search in EBSCO databases VII. Search in CSA databases VIII. Search in publishers’ e-journals databases and in e-book databases IX. Search in ISI Web of Knowledge X. Search in Scopus XI. Information search on the Internet. Scientific search engines and portals XII. Evaluation of information sources XIII. Avoiding plagiarism

Teaching and learning activities – Information search exercises on students’ research topic – Individual feedback from instructors – All exercises and feedback visible to all participants

Content analysis of students reflections and feedback – Data derived from course feedback posts and reflections from final home assignments – Qualitative content analysis as a method for analysing and interpretation of the data – Qualitative data analysis software Atlas.ti

What effect does information literacy have on reading? We analysed the students’ self-assessments about – their earlier knowledge of information search and databases – their evaluation of knowledge gained from the information literacy course – how the course changed the students’ attitudes

The earlier knowledge: The main aids for finding information For me, ESTER was the only database that I had ever used and I thought that it was perfectly sufficient. Honestly, so far, I had searched only by trial and error.

Evaluation of the knowledge gained Having formerly been a devoted user of Google, I can now pay attention to other sources as well. I even could not imagine how many very useful and interesting writings exist in this field. Right now, before writing my graduation thesis, I cannot imagine that I should know as little of information search as I used to before

Delight in good results I found interesting reading materials just thanks to this course. Performing searches is addictive, especially if you are searching on a subject that is very thrilling for you I was delighted with the e-books database ebrary

Information literacy helps people in all spheres of life People working in medicine have the obligation of all the time keeping up with new information, meaning they have to read and analyse scientific literature. Useful in future job Better research papers I believe that due to my new skills, my master’s thesis will be of better quality. I took great pains to find material for my bachelor’s thesis Useful for personal interests I know now that through different databases I can access quite a large selection of IT journals, where there are interesting articles

What did the course change? I feel much more confident in my future research Poor information literacy could hinder (if not interrupt) the academic careers of many students and it cannot be expected that all students could master it independently.