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2008
AI
The paper discusses the importance of information literacy (IL) for enhancing library practice and student learning outcomes. It outlines essential skills associated with visual, media, network, and digital literacy as components of information literacy, emphasizing their roles in developing independent inquiry and critical thinking in students. Furthermore, the implications of IL for library services, teaching strategies, and the overall approach to lifelong learning are highlighted, alongside the challenges and opportunities faced in library education.
The present age is Information Age, and the pedagogic implications of this age are that people should learn new skills to use information stored on computers. Libraries and Information
According to Shahi "User Education is a process of activities involved in making the users of the library conscious about tremendous value of information in day to day life to develop interest among the users to seek information as and when they requires" . User education, also called bibliographic instruction (BI), library instruction and library orientation can be defined as instructional programs designed to teach library users how to locate the information they need quickly and effectively. It usually covers the library's system of organizing materials, the structure of the literature of the field, research methodologies appropriate to the academic discipline, and specific resources and finding tools (library catalog, indexes and abstracting services, bibliographic databases, etc.). It prepares individuals to make immediate and lifelong use of information effectively by teaching the concepts and logic of information access and evaluation, and by fostering information independence and critical thinking.
The development of societies depends upon the quality of their workforces. Contemporary societies, in comparison with past societies, now need workforces with different qualities. The best way to prepare for a future characterized by constant change is to equip the individuals which make up these societies with skills which will help them to keep up with these changes. The most important of these skills are life-long learning skills and information literacy skills. Individuals who have information literacy skills are people who are more likely to be equipped for all kinds of change in their personal and professional lives. In equipping the individuals who make up society with these skills, the educational institutions, libraries and librarians have an important role to play.
According to Shahi "User Education is a process of activities involved in making the users of the library conscious about tremendous value of information in day to day life to develop interest among the users to seek information as and when they requires" . User education, also called bibliographic instruction (BI), library instruction and library orientation can be defined as instructional programs designed to teach library users how to locate the information they need quickly and effectively. It usually covers the library's system of organizing materials, the structure of the literature of the field, research methodologies appropriate to the academic discipline, and specific resources and finding tools (library catalog, indexes and abstracting services, bibliographic databases, etc.). It prepares individuals to make immediate and lifelong use of information effectively by teaching the concepts and logic of information access and evaluation, and by fostering information independence and critical thinking.
2005
The application of new technologies and the acquisition of new sources and methods of information dissemination, as well as the provision of libraries services, requires the special education of the users in order to take advantage of these sources and services. In this paper, an investigation of the Greek academic libraries and their user education sessions is attempted. This research aims to explore the user education sessions offered by the libraries, with special regards to the education, the type of user education sessions and their contents. For the collection of the elements, the questionnaire method is selected. The current situation as much as it concerns the libraries and the applied teaching methods at the Greek education institutions, is presented.
The work of library and information science (LIS) is strongly influenced by changes in society, which are complex and far-reaching. Educating future information professionals must take the changing context into account if they are to contribute effectively to the Information Society. It is posited here that IT does affect, and will continue to affect, libraries and librarianship, but that there is an essential core of knowledge that is unique to LIS, which can equally be seen to constitute a core for the "newer" areas of work. This core can be enhanced by the use of IT. This paper seeks to identify and describe this unique domain, and establish whether such a core is useful for each of the different information professions. Operational definitions of fundamental terms, such as information, document and knowledge, are essential for semantic and conceptual clarity in order to draw such conclusions. If workable definitions can be formulated, then common knowledge bases and the connections between these various aspects of professional information management might be easier to describe.
In 2009, President Barack Obama declared October of that year to be National Information Literacy Awareness Month and issued a proclamation stating that "an informed and educated citizenry is essential to the functioning of our modern democratic society." The Obama proclamation's emphasis on information literacy's role in education and democracy makes it akin to the 2005 Alexandria Proclamation on Information Literacy and Lifelong Learning. In both of these documents, information literacy is located at the core of lifelong learning. It empowers people in all walks of life to seek, evaluate, use, and create information effectively to achieve their personal, social, occupational, and educational goals. These two documents are powerful and inspiring to many academic librarians because they are reminders of the broader social context and democratic initiatives within their work. Inspiring as these documents are, they can also be intimidating and overwhelming: how can we help create an informed and educated citizenry or help our students meet technological, economic, and social challenges, to redress disadvantage and to advance the well-being of all? This article is not an attempt to provide answers to these questions but a call to move these questions to the fore of our policy and pedagogical discussions. By revisiting seminal documents like
The Reference Librarian, 2005
While there is much discussion today about information literacy, proper implementation of it within university campuses is still a struggle, often due to the fact that librarians and teaching faculty have different "cultures" that create different priorities. Librarians focus more on process and faculty more on content, though the two are not mutually exclusive. Past attempts by librarians to collaborate with faculty to produce information literate students have had limited success. A bolder plan-to imbed information literacy credit courses within existing departments-shows promise to avoid cultural conflict while creating a proper climate for collaboration.
2015
Academic libraries increasingly need to add value to their universities and their strategic goals. Providing discovery tools and access to information is a key function that libraries are steering, but further to that is the importance of helping users find and make sense of information in an information overloaded society. Users are often unaware of what libraries offer in terms of information sources and tools, where to access it and how to use it. Therefore, information literacy teaching and all its facets is one of the core functions of a library ensuring that users can use the discovery tools and navigate the access to information. The Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) Council approved an information literacy policy in 2009. The CPUT policy states that all programmes must integrate information literacy within the curriculum. One of the ways the library has assisted faculties with this was to register a short course called Certificate of Information Literacy (CIL) w...
Information and Knowledge Management, 2014
This paper discusses information literacy as a new frontier of learning for librarians, educators and students in the 21 st century. It examines the meaning while taking a cursory look at the instructional process. The paper highlights some definitions of information literacy by authors and corporate bodies. The difference between information technology and information literacy was briefly analysed. The challenges of the 21 st century education in the information world were enumerated as it affects the students, teachers and librarians. The paper indicates that librarians have over the course of their work life been conversant with teaching students and faculty on how to get needed information for their research investigations and as such are better suited to teach information literacy. It recommends that as librarians and educators collaborate to promote information literacy, they can help each other, and the learners [students] they serve, to find the best way to bypass vast waste...
Since 1993, the CRO library has organized training courses on the use of information resources for the institute staff. However, recently the need to revise the proposals for meeting the educational needs of the scientific and clinical staff has arisen. A practical approach was adopted: planning short weekly lessons focused on practical learning of a single instrument at a time. The course structure included a minimum number of lessons whose attendance was compulsory to be chosen on the basis of individual professional interests of learners. With this approach, all instruments were compared and contextualized within a precise wider documentary search methodology. From the evaluation forms and "narrative" feedback, it has emerged that both courses were perceived as "relevant" for increasing attendants' professional skills and had a positive impact on their professional practice.
College & Research Libraries
Journal of education for library and information science, 2005
Information literacy instruction, having emerged in the 1990s from more traditional "bibliographic instruction" or "user education" activities, has become a core service in academic libraries, and an increasingly important focus in public and other types of libraries. 1 "Information literacy" is defined by the Association of College and Research Libraries as "the set of skills needed to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information". We live in a time when many library users and non-users believe that they are indeed "information literate," simply because they make extensive use of the Internet. Sadly, this confidence is often misplaced. Information overload, misinformation, and complex information retrieval systems, in addition to people's natural inclination to be satisfied with conveniently accessibly information, regardless of its accuracy or reliability, combine to challenge most claims of competence in information skills. As a group, librarians are an outstanding exception, having made information access and evaluation core to their professional skill set. As a result, librarians have long played a role in training their clients in the skills needed to independently find, retrieve, analyze, and use information effectively and efficiently.
Information literacy (IL) is an essential practice and integral part of user education in Libraries. IL is the ability to identify the needed information, locate it, evaluate it and use effectively the needed information. 1 Library orientation, user education, library instruction and bibliographic instruction are alternative terms used for IL in past. A historically performed one-hour library orientation session for newly enrolled students is not enough in today"s era of information and knowledge society. The variety of complex information resources in digital formats along with the printed resources demand a specialized user"s training. In this context librarians need to revisit their role with regard to user education.
School Libraries Worldwide, 2021
(AASL), two major divisions of the American Library Association (ALA), both recently released new guidelines. These documents form the basis for information literacy and library skills instruction for PK-20 education. In this study, we explored the alignment between these documents to identify the continuum of knowledge and skill expectations as well as the dispositional attributes toward information literacy that learners are presented. Our findings identified where the content of the ACRL Framework and AASL Standards Framework for Learners documents is strongly aligned as well as the gaps in the teaching and learning continuum. These findings suggest areas for ongoing development in practical application for both PK-12 school librarians and academic librarians who provide information literacy instruction in colleges and universities.
Students today are faced with many difficulties in finding information, because new technology makesinformation available in different, mainly electronic, formats. For this information to be accessed and used properly, students are required to be information literate. It is a duty of today’s libraries to equip students with the necessary information skills to function effectively and to meet challenges of the information age. This paper reports on an investigation into the role of the University of Fort Hare Library in the enhancement of students’ information literacy. A survey was conducted among both undergraduate and postgraduate students and results of a total of 246 responses were analysed. Findings show that while there is some evidence that the University of Fort Hare Library is engaging in information literacy activities, students still have difficulty in finding, critically evaluating and using information. Key words: Academic libraries; information literacy; Fort Hare Library
LIS Research in 21st Century: Some Facets, 2022
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