Information literacy programs and research: Reflections on 'Information literacy programs and research: An international review' by Christine Bruce. 2000

Although in the late 1990s there was much discussion as to whether the idea of information literacy was necessary or had longevity, global interest in the phenomenon has increased rather than diminished. In the midst of all this activity, what has happened to the way in which we interpret the idea of information literacy in the last decade or more? The label of information literacy has certainly become widely applied, especially to library based programs and remains more popular in formal learning environments.Ultimately information literacy is about peoples’ experience of using information wherever they happen to be. Information literacy is about people interacting, engaging, working with information in many contexts, either individually or in community. Emerging technologies may transform the kinds of information available and how it is engaged with. Nevertheless, we continue to need to understand the experience of information use in order to support people in their information environments. We continue to need to develop programs which reflect and enhance peoples’ experiences of using information to learn in ever widening and more complex settings (Bruce, 2008; Bruce & Hughes, 2010)

Everyday life information literacy: a review of literature.

Information literacy (IL) within an everyday life context is connected to searching for, critically evaluating and using information effectively. Everyday life IL is about being able to address a range of information needs (e.g., financial, health, or legal) that relate to everyday practices as well as making informed decisions that are of significant value to individuals and communities. IL is regarded as an important condition for civic participation and engagement, informed citizenship, health, well-being and, generally, people's quality of life (Leung, 2010). However, compared to the vast amount of IL research within educational and workplace settings, there has been relatively little research conducted so far on examining the effective use of information and its impact in relation to people's everyday life situations. For example, although IL has been researched within quite diverse contexts and with a variety of foci, such as age (e.g., older adults/fourth age/retired people, young people/men, early years/preschool, nursery, aging women), different roles (e.g., parents, retired, citizens) and situations (e.g. pregnant women, immigrants, unemployed, job seekers, carers, health issues), the literature lacks a holistic view to this body of research. In addition, so far, IL in everyday life context has received less attention in terms of empirical research when compared to other conceptual lenses that have been adopted within the wider spectrum of user-focused information research, such as that of information seeking behaviour, that do not address the critical positioning and value of IL. Thus, this paper presents a critical review of relevant literature on everyday life IL. It seeks to offer a snapshot of existing research within this area and aims to develop a research agenda for further exploration of the growing everyday life IL domain. We based the review on literature published between 2000-2016 and sourced from a range of different databases (Science Direct, Library and Information Science and Technology Abstracts, ERIC, Emerald, ABI/Inform, Library and Information Science Abstracts, Library Literature and Information Science, and Google Scholar). We conducted the search using two terms, 'information literacy' and 'everyday life' in all search fields of the individual databases. Additional related terms, such as 'community', were found to be closely connected to other contexts, for example, that of education and the workplace, which were beyond the scope of this research. We also excluded from the retrieved results articles that focused directly on students' education and the workplace. Our paper emphasises the importance of examining IL within different everyday life settings and highlights existing gaps that need further development in terms of empirical research. A comprehensive review of everyday life IL research is particularly of importance since it will help us understand the diversity and the dynamic nature of IL needs and activities. It will also help us highlight the implications of the lack of IL and identify the key players in the advocacy of IL within different everyday life settings. The review suggests that the outcome of everyday life IL research has the potential to inform the design and delivery of evidence-based information services offered by decision makers and practitioners in different sectors and communities (Yates and Partridge, 2014). It also demonstrates that this area of research is still in its infancy and more varied contexts need to be explored to nurture a robust understanding of the use and impact of information in people's everyday lives

Older Australians’ information literacy experiences using mobile devices

This article presents the findings of a constructivist grounded theory study that explored older Australians’ information literacy (IL) experience using mobile devices in their daily lives. Australians aged 65 years of age or older who use mobile devices took part in an in-depth semi-structured interview. Analysis of data from twelve interviews gave as result a substantive theory consisting of six interconnected categories: ageing; learning to use and manage mobile devices; being entertained; enacting everyday life; learning; and managing relationships. Examination of these categories revealed the different ways in which older adults experience IL using mobile devices through their engagement with information in their daily life. Furthermore, these categories supported that the degree of older adults’ IL exerts a significant impact on the level, and way of use and adoption of mobile devices. This study provides new knowledge and understanding about how older adults experience IL and how their IL experiences are socially and culturally influenced by their interactions within that community

Participation and Presence: Interrogating Active Learning

Active learning forms a common teaching method within information literacy instruction. Commitment to participatory models of teaching and learning requires critical vigilance, however, particularly given changing information environments and broader educational priorities. This theoretical paper interrogates active learning and its prevalence within library instruction. Literature from library and information science (LIS), education, educational technology, and development studies is used to consider active learning in relation to self-protective information behaviors, the performance of learning, nonparticipatory and resistant activity, technological risk, and questions of inclusion. This discussion invites readers to acknowledge the complexity inherent in adopting active learning for contemporary settings

Are librarians teachers? Investigating academic librarians’ perceptions of their own teaching skills

Librarian roles in the education sector increasingly include teaching responsibilities, therefore librarians need to know more about teaching theory and techniques in order to provide high-quality information literacy (IL) teaching. There has been little published research into how librarians conceive of their teaching, their skills and themselves as teachers. This research, initially conducted for a Masters dissertation in the Information School at the University of Sheffield, investigates the variation in conceptions of their own teaching skills among academic librarians who teach IL in higher education (HE). It was investigated whether participants would describe themselves as teachers, whether they are influenced by teaching theories (and which ones), and whether they are actually teaching or training. Firstly the literature on pedagogy for IL, approaches to teaching IL in HE, and librarians as teachers, was reviewed before the research and its findings are discussed. A phenomenographic approach was used. A purposive sample of six librarians who teach IL in HE institutions in the north of England was chosen, selected to ensure maximum variation between participants and the resulting conceptions. Six interviews were conducted using phenomenographic techniques to encourage participants to talk about their conceptions, and the interviews were then transcribed and analysed. The data gives rise to four categories of description, each of which describes a conception that librarians hold of themselves and their teaching:: teacher-librarian; learning support; librarian who teaches; and trainer. The variation between categories is determined by interviewees’ conceptions of themselves, their teaching, IL, and other teachers. The results suggest that further support and training for librarians and library and information science (LIS) students would be beneficial and more in-depth and larger-scale research is recommended to test these conceptions and understand in greater detail the training experience and needs of librarians who teach. This article is based on a paper presented at LILAC 2015

Information literacy in food and activity tracking among three communities: parkrunners, people with type 2 diabetes and people with IBS

Background: Tracking and logging food intake and activity are increasing and there is evidence of links to improvement in health and well-being as a result of these activities. Crucial to the effective and safe use of logging is users’ information literacy. Objective: To analyse food and activity tracking from an information literacy perspective. Methods: An online survey was distributed to three communities via parkrun, diabetes.co.uk and the IBS Network. Results: The data showed that there were clear differences in the logging practices that members of the three communities engaged with, and differences in motivations for tracking and extent of sharing of tracked data. Respondents showed a good understanding of the importance of information accuracy, and were confident in their abilities to understand tracked data. There were differences in the extent to which food and diet data was shared, and a lack of understanding of the potential re-use and sharing of data by third parties. Conclusions: Information literacy in this context involves developing awareness of the issues of accurate information recording, and how tracked information can be applied to support specific health goals. Developing awareness of how and when to share data, and of data ownership and privacy are important aspects of information literacy

Towards an everyday life information literacy mind-set: a review of literature.

Purpose: Information literacy (IL) within the everyday life context is regarded as an important condition for civic participation and engagement, informed citizenship, health and well-being. However, compared to the significant amount of IL research within educational and workplace settings, there has been relatively little research in relation to the value of IL within everyday life situations. The purpose of this paper is to explore existing empirical research that addresses aspects of IL within the context of everyday life, identifying current gaps in the literature, highlighting key theoretical positions, and mapping trends. Design/methodology/approach: The review has been conducted in the form of a scoping study that aims to map the key concepts underpinning this research area and the main sources and types of evidence available. It is based on journal literature reporting primary research, published from 2000 to 2016 and sourced from a range of different databases covering IL research. Findings: IL practices take place within diverse everyday life contexts. The key research directions have been categorised into four broad contextual areas, encompassing leisure and community activities, citizenship and the fulfilment of social roles, public health and critical life situations. These point to the need for developing an IL mind-set which is discussed as an adaptive, transferable and ongoing activity that transgresses the boundaries of prescribed skills within the specific contexts of work and education. Originality/value: This research area is still in its infancy and more varied contexts need to be explored to nurture a robust understanding of the use and impact of IL in people’s everyday lives. The paper also highlights the implications of the lack of IL and identifies the key players in the advocacy of IL within different everyday life settings

Exploring Health Information Use by Older Australians within Everyday Life

Exploring information use within everyday or community contexts is a recent area of interest for information literacy research endeavors. Within this domain, health information literacy (HIL) has emerged as a focus of interest due to identified synergies between information use and health status. However, while HIL has been acknowledged as a core ingredient that can assist people to take responsibility for managing and improving their own health, limited research has explored how HIL is experienced in everyday community life. This article will present the findings of ongoing research undertaken using phenomenography to explore how HIL is experienced among older Australians within everyday contexts. It will also discuss how these findings may be used to inform policy formulation in health communication and as an evidence base for the design and delivery of consumer health information resources and services.published or submitted for publicatio

UNDERSTANDING INFORMATION USE IN ONLINE CONSUMER-HEALTH SUPPORT GROUPS: A LOOK INTO INTERACTIVE HEALTH COMMUNICATIONS

UNDERSTANDING INFORMATION USE IN ONLINE CONSUMER HEALTH SUPPORT GROUPS: A LOOK INTO INTERACTIVE HEALTH COMMUNICATIONS The exponential growth of the Internet in the past two decades has been accompanied by an increased interest by Internet users in communicating among each other electronically about all sorts of topics, including health-related issues. This increased interest in peer-to-peer communication for health topics raised lots of questions about the potential harmful effects of these communications on those participants who might take some health-related action without consulting with a doctor first. This potential problem has motivated the researcher to investigate how people with certain health conditions use health information that they obtain from online support groups. Even though the understanding of how information is sought, retrieved, and ultimately used is a very important topic within information behavior research, information use is an area that has seen less study. For this reason, the researcher decided to investigate information use within online consumer health support groups using a content analytical approach. The study had two specific objectives: (a) to describe what some of the cognitive, affective, and behavioral actions that consumers indicate they had taken based on information shared within some of the online support groups to which they belong; and (b) to determine if the uses given to information follow any pattern among different chronic conditions being studied with relation to the type of questions asked, the type of reply messages, and the health-related content of the messages. Methodologically, the study used computer-mediated discourse analysis to guide collection of trace data that came from archives of selected online discussion boards related to the three chronic conditions chosen for the study. For data to be part of the study, the presence of interactions with indications of usefulness was necessary. Then, through content analysis, the data was coded using several classification schemas found in the literature, some of them in their original form, others adapted to fit this research purpose. These schemas looked into the types of questions asked, the functions of the reply messages, the type of medical content of the posted messages, and the type of use given to the information. Once all the data was processed, the researcher looked for patterns among the different variables and across the different gender-based chronic conditions. Results of the analysis show that the message characteristics of content type, function of reply messages, and question types, have a significant relationship with the types of conditions. Message characteristics also show a significant relationship with the cognitive, affective, and behavioral information uses. Discussions of the results as well as some alternatives for future research are presented. Enter Abstract here late