brage & gustafsson aman - is it possible to support workplace information literacy already at...
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CHRISTINA BRAGEKAJSA GUSTAFSSON ÅMAN
IS IT POSSIBLE TO SUPPORT WORKPLACE INFORMATION LITERACY ALREADY AT UNIVERSITY?
LILAC 2013 MANCHESTER
Background
Linköping UniversityTwo-campus26000 students100 scientific areas17 multidisciplinary departments5 branch libraries (Linköping 3,Norrköping 1, Stockholm 1)
Goal
To gain an understanding of graduate´s information world
Research questions
•What type of information do alumni use at work?
•What kind of information tools do alumni use at work?
•Has the IL training at university any impact on thegraduates academic performance and future work?
Methodology
Online survey10 different study programs12 questionsMultiple answerFree text
Analysis
Pivot charts and tables90 tables all in all visualised in charts
Able to establish different and similar relationshipsFree text answers analysed separately, visualised through word clouds
MOST USED SERVICES
Steps
Preliminary analysis = all answers for each program = an overview
Second analysis, the responses from different programs, one by one = an overview
Third step, analyse each question separately = an overview
Finally a synopsis of all overviews
Results
90% participated in the library’s formal IL sessions
63% useful for academic work
38% useful for work outside university
Information tools
Information resources such as Google 67%
Research databases 48%
Scientific journals 35%
Solving professional information needs
Talking and discussing with colleagues 92%
Learning from experience and practice in the workplace 90%
Using relevant literature 88%
Participating in courses 59%
Visiting conferences 46%
Type of literature used
Books 67%
News articles 64%
Professional webpages 63%
Barriers
Lack of time
Information overload
A need for IL curriculum changes
A stronger emphasis on:
•How to analyse and synthesise retrieved information
•How to restructure and use information in a workplace context
•How to monitor social media effectively
•How to use journal ToC:s with RSS and e-mail alerts
•How to use Open Access journals
•How to assess the quality of information found on the net
•How to render effective search strategies
Conclusions
Our IL training must mimic real-life use and application of information
Our examiniation of IL skills must be adjusted to real-work scenarios
Is it possible to support workplace information literacy already at university?
Yes we think (hope) so with our adjustments of thecurriculum and a new way of thinking aboutthese issues