Describing the Ineffable: A Mixed-Methods Study of Faculty Mentoring Information Practices

Formal mentoring programs are a valuable tool for the professional development and socialization of new employees, and for the mentor. However, formal mentoring is often difficult to institutionalize. What are the indications that mentor and mentee should be split up? How often should mentoring partners meet? These questions and others highlight the problem: without a clear definition of mentoring itself, we are challenged to identify the characteristics of good mentoring. Mentoring is so contextual, and generally so private, that it is difficult to define. However, there is one element that is central to all mentoring relationships, and that can be used to describe mentoring explicitly – the exchange of information. The study described here consists of a longitudinal, mixed-method investigation of mentoring attitudes and practices among higher education faculty, with the goal of gathering data about the information practices – information seeking and sharing in a social context – of faculty engaged in mentoring. The study identifies the information practices of faculty who are engaged in mentoring, as well as how those information practices change across time. Faculty were surveyed about their attitudes toward mentoring, using an online instrument. The respondents provided data about their experiences with mentoring, including aspects such as the frequency of their meetings with mentoring partners, the topics they often discussed, the number of years they had worked with mentoring partners, their expectations of their mentoring partners, and their personal philosophy of mentoring. Faculty mentoring participants also completed an online diary of their mentoring information practices. The information diary provided an opportunity for faculty mentoring participants to share their information practices in real time, without requiring a prohibitive amount of effort. Data analysis shows that faculty mentoring participants do engage in information practices, such as seeking or sharing information regarding the specifics of the work environment, with the goal of transmitting culture (e.g., the requirements to achieve tenure). Both mentors and mentees value honest and open communication with their mentoring partners. Examination of the information exchanged between mentoring participants gives us a sense of what topics are most likely to be addressed, and also recommendations for new mentors and mentees

The Lilead Survey: A National Study of District-Level Library Supervisors: The Position, Office, and Characteristics of the Supervisor

The school district library supervisor occupies a pivotal position in library and information services programs that support and enhance the instructional efforts of a school district: providing leadership; advocating for the programs; supporting, advising, and providing professional development to building-level librarians; and representing school library programs to stakeholders in the school system and the community at large. With funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Lilead Project was founded at the University of Maryland in 2011 to study, support, and build community among school district library supervisors (Lilead Project n.d.). To gain a better understanding of supervisors--who they are, the duties they perform, and the challenges they face--and to establish baseline data upon which further research can be built, in 2012 the project team conducted a survey of supervisors nationwide: the Lilead Survey. In this paper, which is the first of two planned reports on the results of the survey, we present findings related to the position and office of the supervisor; demographic information, qualifications, and career paths of the incumbents of the position; and changes in policies, curriculum, and resources that impact the supervisor\u27s responsibilities for library services. Survey findings related to responsibilities and tasks assigned to the position, professional development needs of supervisors and staff, and challenges and needs that supervisors face will be presented in the second report

The Lilead Survey: A National Study of District-Level Library Supervisors: Roles, Responsibilities, Challenges, and Professional Development Needs

The school district library supervisor plays a pivotal role in supporting, advising, and providing professional development to building-level librarians; advocating for the program; providing leadership; and representing school library programs to stakeholders in the school system and the larger community. To gain a better understanding of supervisors\u27 roles, responsibilities, demographics, and challenges, and to establish baseline data upon which further research can be built, the Lilead Project was initiated in 2011 at the University of Maryland with funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. In 2012 the project team conducted the Lilead Survey, a survey of supervisors nationwide. In this paper, the second of two reports on the results of the survey, we present findings related to the responsibilities and tasks assigned to the position, professional development needs of supervisors and staff, and the range of stakeholder groups with which supervisors work

From Someone Who Has Been There: Information Seeking in Mentoring

For tenure-track faculty, mentoring can be an important source of information needed for success in their new career and institution. Although information behavior is central to the mentoring relationship, mentoring has not yet been examined through an information behavior lens. This study sought to fill this gap by investigating mentees' perceptions regarding how they and their mentors share information, what motivates them to seek information, what barriers exist to their information seeking, and what they believe contributes to a successful mentoring relationship. Data were collected using a Web survey and follow-up interviews, both of which explored the mentoring experiences of tenure-track faculty at a major mid-Atlantic research university. Study findings suggest that the information seeking of mentees is akin to browsing in a document collection, that mentees' information needs are fluid and highly contextualized, and that there are affective barriers to information seeking within the context of the mentoring relationship.publishedye

Tweens HackHealth: Working with School Librarians to Engage Disadvantaged Youth in Health Entrepreneurship

We are entering a new era in which people are increasingly interested in, and expected to take responsibility for, their own health (Broom et al., in press; Flatley et al., 2010; Johnson & Case, 2012). This interest and responsibility necessitates being able to find personally relevant health information within one’s day-to-day life. Today’s youth have an unprecedented opportunity to learn about and adopt healthy habits that will help them to maximize their chances for living long, healthy lives. However, this opportunity can only be realized if youth have both the requisite information and digital literacy skills and a strong sense of self-efficacy when it comes to their health

The Influence of Positive Hypothesis Testing on Youths’ Online Health-Related Information Seeking

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to investigate whether/how youths’ pre-existing beliefs regarding health-related topics influence their online searching behaviors, such as their selection of keywords and search results, their credibility assessments and the conclusions they draw and the uses they make (or do not make) of the information they find. More specifically, we sought to determine whether positive hypothesis testing occurs when youth search for health information online and to ascertain the potential impacts this phenomenon can have on their search behaviors, their ability to accurately answer health-related questions and their confidence in their answers. Design/methodology/approach: An exploratory field experiment was conducted with participants in an after-school program (“HackHealth”), which aims to improve the health literacy skills and health-related self-efficacy of middle-school students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Findings: Evidence of positive hypothesis testing among the participants was found and important impacts on their search outcomes were observed. Practical implications: The paper was concluded with suggestions for improving digital literacy instruction for youth so as to counteract the potentially negative influences of positive hypothesis testing. Originality/value: This study extends existing research about positive hypothesis testing to investigate the existence and impact of this phenomenon within the context of tweens (ages 11-14) searching for health information online

As Simple as That?: Tween Credibility Assessment in a Complex Online World

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to focus on disadvantaged tweens’ (ages 11 through 13) strategies for making predictive and evaluative judgments of the credibility of health information online. More specifically, this paper identifies the features of Google search results pages and web sites that signal credibility (or lack thereof) to this population and the reasons behind their perceptions. Design/methodology/approach: The authors employed an ethnographic approach (using various types of data collection methods) targeted to generate in-depth descriptions of tweens making predictive and evaluative judgments of credibility, focussing on the ways in which these tweens naturally assess the credibility of online information. Findings: The research has yielded novel findings concerning the types of factors that influence disadvantaged tweens’ credibility assessment strategies, such as limited English-language vocabularies, lack of familiarity with perhaps otherwise well-known sources, and forced reliance on (and/or general preference for) non-textual modalities, such as audio and video. Practical implications: The findings indicate a need for implementing digital literacy programs in a naturalized setting, building on tweens’ existing heuristics and thereby resulting in strategies that are simultaneously compatible with their natural inclinations within the online environment and likely to consistently lead them to accurate credibility-related judgments. Originality/value: This study provides novel insights into how disadvantaged tweens interact with online health information in a natural context, and offers invaluable information regarding the ways in which credibility assessment processes should be facilitated within formal or informal digital literacy programs

Bit by Bit: Using Design-Based Research to Improve the Health Literacy of Adolescents

Background: Although a low health literacy level has been found to be among the most powerful predictors of poor health outcomes, there is very little research focused on assessing and improving the health literacy skills of adolescents, particularly those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. The vast majority of existing research focuses solely on reading comprehension, despite the fact that health literacy is actually a multifaceted concept, which entails many different types of skills. Objective: The aim of this paper is to first mine existing literature to identify the many different skills that have been posited to constitute health literacy, and then, using this collection of skills as an overarching structure, to highlight the challenges that disadvantaged youth participating in our HackHealth after-school program encounter as they identify and articulate their health-related information needs, search for health-related information online, assess the relevance and credibility of this information, and manage and make use of it. Methods: We utilized the design-based research method to design, implement, and revise our HackHealth program. To collect data regarding HackHealth participants’ health literacy skills and associated challenges, we used a variety of methods, including participant observation, surveys, interviews, focus groups, and logging of Web browser activities. We also collected data through specialized instructional activities and data collection forms that we developed for this purpose. Quantitative and qualitative techniques were used to analyze this data, as well as all of the artifacts that each student produced, including their final projects. Results: We identified the various challenges that the 30 HackHealth participants faced in completing various health-related information activities during the course of the program. Based on these findings, we describe important implications for working with youth from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, how to assess and improve their health literacy skills, and offer specific recommendations for health literacy instruction aimed at this population. Conclusions: With an increased societal focus on health and a shift from viewing patients as passive recipients of medical care to viewing them as active arbiters of their own health, today’s youth need to possess an array of health literacy skills to ensure that they can live long and healthy lives. Working with adolescents to help them develop and practice these skills will also help to break the cycle between poor health literacy and poor health outcomes, thereby reducing health disparities and improving the long-term outlook for the health of our nation

From Eye Rolls to "I can!" - Understanding the Health Literacy of Disadvantaged Tweens

This poster will present preliminary results from a National Library of Medicine (NLM) funded afterschool program, HackHealth, that aims to increase tweens' interest in health and health science, their health literacy, their health-related self-efficacy, and their awareness of the important connection between their everyday health behaviors and their ability to maintain their health and prevent disease. The program is centered in the school library and the school librarian serves as a partner in facilitating the literacy activities. In this poster, we will focus on the divergent experiences of two seemingly similar tween participants in our program, Danielle and Tamira, and how their differing experiences may have contributed to differences in outcomes, such as the degree of changes in their level of interest in health and the broader sciences (science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields), in their health literacy levels, in their levels of health-related self-efficacy, and in their engagement in relevant health behaviors.publishedye