An empirical assessment of information literacy competency of social science researchers: a gender perspective

The study is an empirical assessment of Information Literacy Competency (ILC) levels of social science researchers concerning ‘information need’, ‘information access’, ‘information evaluation’, ‘information use’ and ‘information use ethics’. Various techniques of differential and statistics have been used to assess the ILC levels and find out the significant differences. The findings indicate that the ILC varied between males and females on selected concepts. The study highlights the reasons and suggests measures for improvement of ILC

The impact of workplace information literacy on organizational innovation: An empirical study

The present study investigates the relationship between CEO’s information literacy and innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Even if information literacy’s business value has been recognized in recent literature, its impact on organizational innovation, a critical and strongly information intensive process, has never been studied before. Structural equation modeling based analysis of data collected from 184 company CEOs in Finland revealed that CEOs’ information literacy has a positive impact on the development of exploratory and exploitative innovations in SMEs. Additionally, opportunity recognition mediates the relationship between information literacy and innovation. Overall, the influence of information literacy is slightly stronger on exploitation than exploration. Nevertheless, the mutual positive effect suggests that information literacy enhances innovation ambidexterity in organizations. Based on these findings, we discuss theoretical and practical implications as well as future research opportunities in workplace information literacy research.</p

An empirical assessment of information literacy competency of social science researchers: a gender perspective

7-16The study is an empirical assessment of Information Literacy Competency (ILC) levels of social science researchers concerning ‘information need’, ‘information access’, ‘information evaluation’, ‘information use’ and ‘information use ethics’. Various techniques of differential and statistics have been used to assess the ILC levels and find out the significant differences. The findings indicate that the ILC varied between males and females on selected concepts. The study highlights the reasons and suggests measures for improvement of ILC

Promoting information literacy: perspectives from UK universities

© 2017 Emerald Publishing Limited.Purpose: Academic libraries have sought to become the leaders in the provision of information literacy (IL). The purpose of this paper is to identify to what extent IL is being promoted through institutional websites. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from all UK university websites (n=133) in early 2015 to identify the promotion of IL. Content analysis was used for the five categories: IL in the mission statement, visions or strategic plan; IL model or framework; IL policy; IL assessment; and, IL training. Data collection was limited to information in the public domain which could be accessed from individual websites, which were searched and browsed systematically. Findings: In total, 85.7 per cent of universities promote IL to some extent on their websites in at least one of the five categories, however the degree of the information provided varied extensively. Less than 6 per cent of universities promote IL at institutional level. Only 17.3 per cent refer to a model or framework, 15.8 per cent show their IL policy and 9 per cent provide information on their assessment of students’ IL skills. Information on IL training is offered on 84.2 per cent of websites, the most common method being online tutorials, although 52.6 per cent only offer training for one or two aspects of IL, primarily information seeking and citing and referencing. Originality/value: This paper provides up-to-date data concerning how universities in the UK promote IL in the public domain via their websites. It should be of interest to academic librarians who are responsible for IL provision

USING TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING THEORY TO EXPLORE ADJUNCT FACULTY\u27S EXPERIENCES WITH TEACHING INFORMATION LITERACY: A CASE STUDY OF COMMUNITY COLLEGES IN NEW JERSEY

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how adjunct faculty experienced transformative learning as a result of their efforts to teach information literacy for their classes at community colleges in New Jersey. Information literacy was defined as the ability to identify information needs and the skills to discover, evaluate, and use information effectively (Townsend et. al., 2016). The study resulted in descriptions of how adjunct faculty transformed their teaching practices when necessary to adapt to new information environments. A qualitative descriptive case study methodology was chosen to examine the occurrence of this phenomenon (Yin, 2014). For the purposes of this research, the units of analysis were adjunct faculty, who have taught at community colleges in New Jersey for at least two semesters. The setting for the study was the network of the 18 community colleges in New Jersey with more than 60 campuses, serving 21 counties (NJCCC, 2019)

Four Passages to Information Use Related Phenomena in Bachelor Theses at the Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences

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