The Wicked Problem of Data Literacy: A Call for Action

Calls for urgent action on data literacy are coming from all sectors of society, including educators, employers, journalists, non-profits, policy makers, scientists, and advocacy groups, but there is no consensus on what data literacy means today, how it should be developed, or who should take the lead. Our research contributes to the debate by reviewing existing conceptions and pedagogies for data literacy, identifying and classifying critical stakeholders, and suggesting a way forward. We used data from multiple sources, including academic, professional, and trade literature, agency publications, and books for non-specialist audiences, as well as websites of data-related organizations and project databases of funding bodies. We used Radical Change Theory to frame the changing context for data literacy development, the Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Saliency to identify groups with potential to influence developments, the Intellectus Model of Intellectual Capital to assess the role of libraries in advancing the data literacy movement, and Wicked Problem theory to analyze the problem and identify strategies for resolution. Definitions of the concept ranged from broad conceptions of data literacy as a life skill with general applicability through context-specific interpretations for particular professions and its positioning as an essential enabler for data-intensive research and data science. Academic, public, and school librarians are already involved in cross-sector initiatives that recognize the lifewide and lifelong data and information needs of students, workers, and citizens, and are well placed to participate in a global movement, building on promising practices in the field to develop a new integrative framework

Information literacy self-efficacy within a medical curriculum : research conducted in 2011-2016 at Ghent University

Considering the rapid pace of progress in medicine, the medical profession should definitely be aware of the importance of lifelong learning. Information literacy self-efficacy (ILSE) plays a crucial role in the development of lifelong learning. Therefore, curriculum developers and medical educators need to have a good understanding of ILSE, in order to decide when to integrate specific support and training in their curricula. This PhD dissertation investigates the conditions for an effective training of information literacy skills in the context of an academic medical curriculum. The research analyses the evolution of the ILSE for all medical students at Ghent University (Belgium) from 2011-2016. To evaluate medical students’ ILSE, the research aimed at developing a validated and usable measurement tool: an ILSE scale to be used in a medical curriculum. An existing standardized scale (ILSES) was enriched with ten specific medical items and validated within a 6-year medical curriculum. The new scale, the Information Literacy Self-Efficacy Scale for Medicine (ILSES-M), consists of 5 subscales labelled as: ‘Evaluating and Processing Information’; ‘Medical Information Literacy Skills’; ‘Searching and Finding Information’, ‘Using the Library’ and ‘Bibliography’, all well-defined information literacy skills. To investigate the effectiveness of the ILSES-M, the scale was tested on a longitudinal basis (to measure the development of medical students’ ILSE), and in a specific educational case (integrated information literacy course in the first year) pre-and post-intervention ILSE scores were analysed. In both cases, the ILSES-M appeared to be a reliable tool, e.g. for formulating recommendations to integrate information literacy training in the curriculum. This research recommends a vertical integration of information literacy into medical curricula: a continuous development of information literacy skills throughout the programme, by activating and stimulating the actual use of these skills. Different implementations are clearly needed to enhance students’ learning. The longitudinal study shows that when there is no real use of the skills, the ILSE decreases. Pre- and post-interventions show that integrating a ‘search-report’ increases the development of ILSE and that adding a peer review is positive for the ILSE in relation to the medical information literacy skills. In general, student’s ILSE increases overall in more recent academic years. The development towards more specialised information literacy skills prove to influence students’ awareness and thus self-efficacy. Furthermore, training and guidance need to be integrated at appropriate times and should be adapted at the level of information literacy skills appropriate in the learning process

Information literacy in the education system: research overview

Informacijska pismenost je u današnje vrijeme mnogo više od samog pristupa informaciji i pretraživanja po Webu, ona također mora uključivati i kritičko promišljanje. U radu se donosi pregled relevantnih istraživanja o informacijskoj pismenosti u obrazovnom sustavu. Uz sama istraživanja također se navode primjeri dobre prakse podučavanja informacijske pismenosti. Cilj rada je prikazati istraživanja koja se bave inplementacijom koncepta informacijske pismenosti u nastavne programe i procese unutar obrazovnih ustanova Prvi dio rada pojašnjava pojam informacijske pismenosti te donosi teorijske okvire koncepta kroz relevantne modele koji su usko povezani s obrazovanjem. Drugi dio rada se odnosi na pregled domaćih i stranih istraživanja kroz tri razine obrazovanja. Primarna, sekundarna i akademska razina pokazuju različite potrebe i načine podučavanja informacijske pismenosti. Osim samih učenika i studenata, pregled istraživanja je obuhvatio možda i najvažnije sudionike tog procesa a to su knjižničari. Rezultati istraživanja upućuju na izvjestan nedostatak vještina i znanja o pravilnom postavljanju upita pretraživanja, prepoznavanju točnih od netočnih informacija, interpretiranje rezultata, te u skladu s etikom njihovo predstavljanje. Dosadašnja iskustva govore o pojedinačnim aktivnostima održavanja izbornih kolegija, modula unutar obveznih kolegija, radionica, različitih programa i projekata. Knjižničari u suradnji s nastavnicima trebaju kreirati modele informacijskog opismenjavanja te postati važna karika u informacijskom opismenjavanjuInformation literacy today is much more than just accessing information and searching the Web, it must also involve critical reflection. The paper provides an overview of relevant research on information literacy in the education system. The research itself also provides examples of good information literacy teaching practices. The aim of this paper is to present the research that deals with the implementation of the concept of information literacy in curricula and processes within educational institutions. The second part deals with the overview of domestic and foreign research through three levels of education. The primary, secondary and academic levels show different needs and ways of teaching information literacy. In addition to the students themselves, the survey review covered perhaps the most important participants in the process, namely librarians. The results indicate a certain lack of skills and knowledge on how to correctly place search queries, identify true from false information, interpret the results, and present them in accordance with ethics. Past experience speaks about individual elective courses, modules within compulsory courses, workshops, various programs and projects. Librarians, in collaboration with teachers, should create models of information literacy and become an important link in information literacy

Information literacy: conceptions, context and the formation of a discipline

In this article the authors argue that progress in the development of information literacy (IL) has been hindered by tendencies such as: denying that information literacy is even a subject, paying exclusive attention to forces outside the discipline and forming information literacy silos. The authors start by reflecting on formative developments in information literacy outside North America in the late 1990s-early 2000s, and noting that IL has not evolved from that period as much as one might expect. They identify hindrances to information literacy’s formation as a discipline, and relate their discussion to changing notions of disciplinarity. The authors present ‘Information Literacy in the lifecourse’ as an example focus which could stimulate engagement from researchers and practitioners who are currently situated in different information literacy silos. They conclude that taking a disciplinary and lifecourse approach to information literacy would open up opportunities for working in a collegiate way, both within the information literacy community and with those outside it, and provide a more robust foundation for influencing policy

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

Peer reviewe

IL and Information Ethics: How to Avoid Plagiarism in Scientific Papers?

One of the most usual misconducts in science is plagiarism. It has negative consequences for authors, editors and scholarly journals, causing loss of credibility, reputation, readers and finances. Academic ethics can be assured by proper education, good codes of ethics and detailed instructions to authors of scientific papers. This paper analyses contents of author’s guidelines in Croatian journals in the field of social sciences. The analysis tries to ascertain whether the journals mention and/or explain ethical issues in their instructions to authors. The paper also analyses content of codes of ethics of Croatian universities, with the accent on plagiarism. A conclusion is made about the use of proper protection mechanisms in Croatian academic community when it comes to misconducts in science, especially plagiarism. Recommendations for universities and publishers on what to include in their codes of ethics and instructions to authors are given

Ensino de information literacy para adolescentes de 11 a 16 anos membros de bibliotecas públicas da 1ª região de Teerã

Teaching information literacy is a new important issue, which has received lots of attention from most organizations and different institutions of Iran. Public libraries in different countries of the world have also paid attention to this important issue. The aim of this research is to teach information literacy to 11-16-year-old teenage members of public libraries of Tehran 1st region. This is a descriptive study conducted using survey method. The statistical population of the research consisted of teenage members (11-16 years old) of Shahid Bahonar public library, who are more than 500 individuals. Using Morgan table, research sample size was calculated to be 217. Data were collected using researcher-made questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics.  Research findings showed that the information literacy skills of 11-16-year-old teenage members of public libraries of Tehran 1st region (3.38) are higher than average (3) and the role of information literacy in teaching information literacy to teenagers (2.5) is lower than average (3). O ensino da information literacy é uma questão nova e importante, que recebeu muita atenção da maioria das instituições do Irã. Bibliotecas públicas em diferentes países do mundo também prestaram atenção a esta importante questão. O objetivo desta pesquisa é ensinar alfabetização informacional a adolescentes de 11 a 16 anos de idade membros de bibliotecas públicas da 1ª região de Teerã. Este é um estudo descritivo, realizado por survey. A população da pesquisa consistiu em adolescentes (11 a 16 anos) da biblioteca pública Shahid Bahonar, com mais de 500 indivíduos. Usando a tabela de Morgan, o tamanho da amostra da pesquisa foi calculado em 217. Os dados foram coletados por meio de questionário. Os dados coletados foram analisados por estatística descritiva e inferencial. Os resultados da pesquisa mostraram que as habilidades de alfabetização informacional de adolescentes de 11 a 16 anos de idade de bibliotecas públicas da 1ª região de Teerã (3,38) são superiores à média (3) e o papel da alfabetização em informação no ensino da alfabetização em adolescentes (2,5) é menor que a média (3)

Development and validation of an information literacy self-efficacy scale for medical students

The aim of this research is to develop and validate a scale for the evaluation of medical students’ information literacy self-efficacy beliefs, as this plays a crucial role in the development of lifelong learning objectives. Curriculum developers and medical educators need to have a good understanding of information literacy in order to decide when specific support and training should be integrated in the curricula. The use of a trustworthy, user-friendly tool in a large population able to detect different aspects of students’ information literacy self-efficacy beliefs could help to evaluate an entire curriculum. A 5-factor model was developed and validated within a 6-year medical curriculum (n=1252). Internal consistency of the subscales was high (α: 0.845-0.930). In conclusion, the Information Literacy Self-Efficacy Scale for Medicine (ILSES-M) could be an added value for evaluating medical students’ information literacy self-efficacy beliefs. Furthermore, it could form the basis for curriculum development as well as a guideline for critical curriculum reflection

Pitanje opstanka tradicionalnih papirnih izvora informacija u suvremenim knjižnicama: osvrt na istraživanja provedena u visokoškolskim knjižnicama

Cilj. Cilj rada je dobiti uvid u interes suvremenih studenata, korisnika visokoškolskih knjižnica (specijalnih knjižnica usmjerenih na znanost i znanje) za njihove tradicionalne tiskane izvore. Metoda. Na temelju pregleda rezultata većeg broja istraživanja provedenih u proteklom desetljeću u Hrvatskoj i svijetu, kao i na temelju razmatranja stavova uglednih znanstvenika o ovoj temi, nastoji se dobiti uvid u dosadašnji interes studenata za tiskane izvore (izvore koji u vremenu „eksplozije informacija“ ne donose brze informacije). Osobito je važno pritom uočiti eventualne promjene koje se po tom pitanju događaju tijekom vremena. Sintezom promatranih i analiziranih rezultata i stavova nastoji se sagledati moguća slika dogledne budućnosti ovih izvora. Rezultati. Premda spadaju u vrstu korisnika za koje bi se očekivalo kako će pokazivati veći interes prema internetskim izvorima informacija, interes za tiskane izvore informacija među studentima je još uvijek vrlo visok. Istraživanja pokazuju kako se interes za određene e-izvore (uglavnom časopise i baze podataka) s vremenom povećao, no kako je pritom tiskana knjiga studentima ostala preferirani informacijski izvor. Studenti i dalje radije uče iz tiskanih udžbenika, a uz slabu dostupnost i nedostatno poznavanje, nemogućnost se dubinskog učenja iz e-udžbenika ističe kao jedan od glavnih razloga tome. Iako se, barem kada je riječ o tiskanoj knjizi, može zaključiti kako se ne radi o izvoru kojem prijeti skori nestanak, određeni pokazatelji uočeni kroz rezultate pregledanih istraživanja, ukazuju kako bi veća prilagodba na e-izvore i poboljšanje tehnologije, mogli u budućnosti dovesti do određenih promjena u stavovima studenata koje bi se kretale u korist e-izvora. Originalnost. Promatranje interesa knjižničnih korisnika za knjižnične izvore informacija iznimno je bitno za budućnost suvremenih knjižnica. Svako provedeno istraživanje, kao i pregled: analiza i sinteza rezultata i saznanja o ovoj temi, stoga ima određenu vrijednost. Knjižnice moraju biti spremne prilagoditi se zahtjevima svog doba, ali i zahtjevima svojih korisnika, jer upravo o njima i njihovom interesu ovisi i budućnost samih knjižnica

Promoting Lifelong Information Literacy throughout Schooling: The Role of Dispositions [pre-print]

The ultimate goal of information literacy (IL) theory and instruction is to prepare people who are first students and then adults to continue learning throughout their lives from the multitude of information sources that surround them. Academic librarians in the United States have adopted the Framework for Information Literacy which encompasses threshold concepts, knowledge practices, and dispositions. The Threshold Achiement Test for Information Literacy (TATIL) by Carrick Enterprises was developed to measure all of those pieces. Two different modules of the test were deployed in an undergraduate course with over 200 students. The results of the disposition tests and overall information literacy were used to understand how information literacy theory can be advanced toward a more active focus on critical thinking and attitudes of students that will persist throughout their lives