How to Pack a Room: 3D Printing at Albertsons Library

Libraries have a history of helping their communities create, whether it’s writing a paper or acquiring new information on a topic. Libraries have always helped communities learn new skills, and sometimes those skills are best acquired through creating. As technology has advanced, libraries too have evolved to boost individual’s digital fluency skills by providing tools and resources to help understand and experience new technology. Albertsons Library strives to helps students, staff, and faculty innovate by encouraging collaborative opportunities that promote information access and digital fluency skills. Providing campus-wide access to a 3D printer fits perfectly with this aim by bringing students, faculty, and staff together to investigate a new technology

Defining Workplace Information Fluency Skills For Technical Communication Students

Information fluency refers to the ability to recognize information needs and to gather, evaluate, and communicate information appropriately. In this study, I treat information fluency as both an overall competency and as a collection of knowledge and skills. The purpose of this study is to explore the specific workplace information fluency skills valued by employers of technical communicators, to find out how instructors perceive and teach these skills, and to suggest how these findings can inform our teaching practices. Within the framework of qualitative methodology, this study employs two data-collection instruments, including a content analysis of online job recruitment postings and a survey of technical communication instructors across the United States. The study discovers that when hiring technical communicators, employers require candidates to have skills in information processing, information technology, and critical thinking. Candidates must be able to identify their information needs, and must know how to use specified tools to gather, evaluate, and communicate information. It also reveals that although information fluency is a new terminology to a majority of instructors, the skill sets that constitute information fluency already existed in their knowledge. The study\u27s last finding suggests that the opportunity for an internship is perceived as the most helpful in students\u27 acquisition of information fluency skills. This dissertation concludes with a list of specific employer-valued information fluency skills, recommendations for program administrators and instructors for implementing information fluency, as well as recommendations for future researches on this subject

Information research strategies (IMT 220) and fluency with information technology (CSE 100): Two approaches to teaching use of technology

The University of Washington has recently initiated two approaches to teaching technology and information resources via the School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) and Computer Science and Engineering (CSE). The courses developed by the respective departments, IMT 200 2 and CSE 100, offered specialized instruction, regarding computer use and the availability of information resources. These courses were offered during Winter 1999 and Spring 2000 quarters, allowing for the evaluation of their success over time, and comparison to courses that were unaccompanied by this type of information resource instruction. Questionnaires were administered to students in IMT 220 and CSE 100 both at the beginning and end of the course, and included questions tapping ability, confidence and performance with respect to information resources and technology. Analysis revealed that the incorporation of information resource and technology instruction resulted in significantly improved ratings given by the students concerning their computer skills, as well as increased computer literacy. A detailed account of student responses, as well as conclusions and recommendations for future courses are discussed. Over the last several years, the University of Washington has taken a number of different approaches to teaching the use of information resources and technology. Recently, two additional approaches have been developed and introduced into the curriculum. First, is the instruction that has traditionally been provided by University librarians in the use of information resources. This instruction has evolved over time in response to the increasing implementation of computerized databases. More recently, a new course was introduced within the department of Computer Science and Engineering based on a model developed by the National Research Council. The report, Being Fluent with Information Technology (FIT) defines the level of understanding of information technology sufficient for lifelong self-education. The emphasis within FITness is primarily on the technology underlying information resources, whereas that of the Libraries is on the use of those resources

Digital Fluency and Social Media Use: An Empirical Investigation of WeChat Use

Social media has increasingly been used to deal with personal and professional issues. Past studies note that individuals of different digital fluency present distinct technology use behaviors. Yet, limited research has explored how digital fluency affects individuals’ motivations and the use of social media tools. Based on uses and gratifications theory and digital fluency literature, we develop a model to explore the relationship between digital fluency and social media use. We tested our model by analyzing 262 responses from WeChat users. Results show that digital natives (individuals of high digital fluency) tend to use WeChat to broaden social network while digital immigrants (individuals of low digital fluency) tend to enjoy WeChat use and to use WeChat to maintain ties with friends and fulfill their information needs. Our findings contribute to the literature by identifying the theoretical and practical roles of digital fluency in social media use

Carolyn Gamtso and Patricia Halpin travel to Ireland

In August 2014, we travelled together to Limerick, Republic of Ireland to participate jointly in a panel discussion at the Information Literacy Section Satellite Meeting of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) World Library and Information Congress. Hosted by the Limerick Institute of Technology, the conference’s theme was “Facing the Future: Librarians and Information Literacy in a Changing Landscape.” The topics discussed and debated (information literacy and social media; information literacy as a “meta-literacy”; information literacy and distance learning)relate directly to conversations our UNH Manchester colleagues are having about how best to teach our students the transferable critical thinking skills they will need both as members of the workforce and members of their communities. We were very excited to have our presentation proposal accepted at this competitive conference. Our presentation was an opportunity for us to share our teaching practices and our research with an international audience of librarians and educators. It was also a chance to meet and network with colleagues from around the world, colleagues who, like us, are dedicated to developing students’ information fluency in an environment of constant technological change. Our trip was generously funded by the UNH Center for International Education, the UNH Manchester Humanities Division, the UNH Manchester Science &Technology Division, and the UNH Manchester Deans & Chairs

Towards information fluency: applying a different model to an information literacy credit course

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to examine information literacy, critical thinking, and computer literacy in higher education and discuss the application of the information fluency model, created by the Associated Colleges of the South, to the Purdue University Libraries one-credit information literacy course, GS 175 Information Strategies. Design/methodology/approach – The case study has a two-part focus. The first examines information literacy, critical thinking, and computer literacy in higher education through a review of the literature. The second part discusses the pilot GS 175 Information Strategies course, shows how the information fluency model was applied, and analyzes the overall success of the pilot. Findings – Today, employers and professors expect graduates and students to exhibit critical thinking, analysis, research, and technology skills at a fairly high level. Universities are responding with a more rapid integration and adoption of technology and creating a higher emphasis on information use and retrieval. Increasingly, student research projects are being displayed, presented, and contained in a variety of formats. Library instruction programs and courses need to evolve and adapt to these changes as shown through the successful modification of the GS 175 Information Strategies course. Practical implications – The article provides ideas and concepts for enhancing the critical thinking and technology components of an information literacy course or program as well as touches on what to avoid when modifying assignments and projects. Originality/value – The application of the information fluency model is a fairly new model to the library profession. This case study shows one way information literacy credit courses can be modified to accommodate the changing educational landscape and the expectations of Generation Y. It can be used by instruction librarians and their faculty partners to explore alternatives to their current instructional programs

Developing the 21st Century Skills of Creativity, Collaboration and Information Fluency in a Kindergarten Classroom

The research question addressed in this project was, how can kindergarten students develop the 21st Century Skills of creativity, collaboration and information fluency through technology integration? It documents one teacher’s creation of a literacy based curriculum unit that gives kindergarten students opportunities to grow their 21st Century Skills, using the iPad as the learning tool. Key influences for this capstone include the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s new standards for technology integration in early education classrooms, as well as the International Literacy Association’s new standards for literacy education. Richardson’s research on the change in learning and teacher’s roles with the influx of technology in the 21st century is also an important influence. The author describes the reasoning behind the curriculum unit developed, as well as the significance of teaching the skills of creativity, collaboration and information fluency to 21st Century learners

Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants - Towards a Model of Digital Fluency

The article looks at the differences between “digital natives” and “digital immigrants.” Digital natives are the new generation of young people born into the digital age, while “digital immigrants” are those who learnt to use computers at some stage during their adult life. Whereas digital natives are assumed to be inherently technologysavvy, digital immigrants are usually assumed to have some difficulty with information technology. The paper suggests that there is a continuum rather than a rigid dichotomy between digital natives and digital immigrants, and this continuum is best conceptualized as digital fluency. Digital fluency is the ability to reformulate knowledge and produce information to express oneself creatively and appropriately in a digital environment. The authors propose a tentative conceptual model of digital fluency that outlines factors that have a direct and indirect impact on digital fluency namely, demographic characteristics, organizational factors, psychological factors, social influence, opportunity, behavioral intention and actual use of digital technologies

The role of technology in the interactions between secondary school library media specialists and teachers

Statewide studies of school library media centers in at least sixteen states (other than Louisiana) indicate that effective school library media center programs have a positive impact on student achievement. According to these studies, effective school library media centers have: (a) a qualified library media specialist, (b) adequate support staff, (c) current and large collections, (d) access to information technology that is integrated into the curriculum, and (e) time for collaboration with the faculty. This study was developed to explore the role of technology in the collaborations between school library media specialists and teachers. Data revealed that interactions between school library media specialists and teachers concerning the use of technology to teach information literacy skills occurred with frequency and in a variety of ways at the three selected exemplary school library media centers. However, barriers sometimes prevented collaboration from resulting. Climate in the school library media center was found to be crucial to collaboration and to the teaching of information literacy skills. Data indicated that technology should be only one of the tools used in teaching of information literacy skills to students, although computer literacy skills were perceived as increasingly important in this effort. According to the data from the surveys, interviews, and observations, teachers and administrators perceived the library media specialist to be the person with expertise in both technology and information literacy on their campuses, thereby necessitating involvement in continuing professional development. The findings of these best practices of technology interactions and the teaching of information fluency skills led to the formation of the Integrated Model of Information Fluency for Student Learning

A novel framework for the use of workflow system in the integration of supply chain tiers

The global competition has imposed challenges to supply chain integration, mainly, during the process of obtain information to make demand management decisions. This paper proposes an integrated framework for data collection, analysis and results dissemination in the supply chain management (SCM), contributing to research and alternatives for \u201cThe Bullwhip Effect\u201d issue. In this sense, it is necessary to discuss the integration of supply chain management, Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) functionality and others systems, to enlarge this scope to the total supply chain players. The ERP web-based tool and Workflow Systems (WS) can contribute to solve issues related to supply chain management. Starting from a detailed analysis of the research background regarding current SCM definitions and integration problems, Information Technology and Communication (ITC) development and WS in order to map and ensure flow fluency; the paper proposes a model to increase the overall integrations and an application in a case study for supporting the decisions that are aligned with the company\u2019s strategic objectives. This paper is divided in: research background; proposed model of the SC integration; case study, conclusions and future research