Alenka SauDepartmenScience andand Head,The Univerbalenka.sauSilva NovljaDepartmenScience andand ConsuThe NationUniversity Lbsilva.novljAndreja GrcThe Univerbandreja.gr

294 The Jou

INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES...! Information Literacy Programs at the

University of Ljubljanaby Alenka Sauperl, Silva Novljan, and Andreja Grcar

Available online 14 December 2006

lovenia is a country of about two million people with an sufficient to pass the exams. Such an approach to studying,

S area covering 20,273 square kilometers. It now has threeuniversities. The first, the University of Ljubljana, was

established in 1919 after World War I when Slovenia becamepart of Yugoslavia after having been in the Austrian Empiresince the tenth century. Post World War II socialist Yugoslaviaadded the second university, the University of Maribor in1975.1 After Slovenia became an independent state in 1991 thethird university, Primorska University, was established inKoper (see Fig. 1).

The universities have university libraries and the individualschools usually have libraries as well. The libraries are a part ofthe national library and information network. There has been atradition of close cooperation among the libraries in the country.The system was developed in the 1950s and was not interruptedeven after Slovenia gained independence. During most ofYugoslavia’s socialist years and the difficult first years of thenewly independent Slovenia, this system was vital for thesurvival of several libraries, and provided important informationto all levels of government, management, and the general public.

Most university students take four years of coursework inwhich the vast majority of courses are required and only a veryfew are elective. It takes an additional year to complete theprogram, in which students usually have to write and defend athesis. Professors often prepare textbooks for their courses.These textbooks and some additional literature is usually

perl is the Associate Professor,t of Library and Information

Book Studies,Principal Library of Humanities, Faculty of Arts,sity of Ljubljana, Sloveniaperl@ff.uni-lj.si N;n is the Assistant Professor,t of Library and Information

Book Studies,ltant for public libraries,al andibrary, Ljubljana

an@nuk.uni-lj.si N;ˇar is the Librarian, Faculty of Sports,sity of Ljubljana, Sloveniacar@fsp.uni-lj.si N.

rnal of Academic Librarianship, Volume 33, Number 2, pages 294–30

unfortunately, does not prepare students to use informationeffectively in an information rich society. A task such as writinga thesis requires a greater knowledge of information literacyskills than can be learnt just by reading a set text. These skillscan be provided by librarians or professors. All universitylibraries have already established information literacy courses,but some have been more successful than others in integratingthem into the regular curriculum. This experience is not uniqueto Slovenian librarians. The fact that the Bologna Declarationstresses the importance of information skills for every com-petent member of the society, gives librarians a new opportunityto implement information skills in the study curricula.2

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF INFORMATION LITERACY

PROGRAMS AT SLOVENIAN UNIVERSITIES

Instructions on how to use information resources and informa-tion literacy programs as we now know them started in the1970s. Dr. Stanislav Kos from the University Library ofMaribor at the University of Maribor pioneered an informationliteracy program at that university.3 He was certain that theknowledge of information resources in academic libraries was aprerequisite for one to study successfully and therefore a vitalpart of instruction in scientific work and research methodology.His program for all first-year students at the University ofMaribor started in 1970. As he only had two to three hours oflectures, he had to limit his topics to essential information onlibraries and their organization, information resources in areference collection, the nature of library catalogs andsearching for literature in those catalogs. This program wasfirst integrated into a regular course curriculum in the Facultyof Economics and Business of the University of Maribor in1973. Fortunately when the Library moved to a new buildingand a new information system was established, the library andinformation resources became more visible to the universitycommunity. This allowed librarians to prepare a new informa-tion literacy program, which included a two-hour lecture in thelibrary of an individual school, a two-hour lecture at theUniversity Library and two hours of practical work for firstyear students, and an additional lecture on subject-specificinformation resources in the third or fourth year of study.4

Similar programs started at the University of Ljubljana atabout the same time where the Central Technical Library hadthe leading role. During the academic year of 1972/73, it

0

Figure 1Map of Slovenia Indicating the Location of the Three Universities

offered programs to undergraduate and graduate students fromall schools of the University of Ljubljana, who wanted to attendthe classes.5

In 1974, The National and University Library in Ljubljanaheld a conference for librarians responsible for informationliteracy programs at various academic libraries of the Uni-versity of Ljubljana. A product of this conference wereguidelines for user education programs. The guidelinesincluded the topics and instruction methods for the entireprogram. These guidelines were sent to the schools of bothuniversities. Many librarians were discouraged by the smallresponse from the schools’ authorities to this initiative.

Interest in information literacy programs was renewed tenyears later when the committee of academic libraries of theassociation of Yugoslav library societies (Zveza drustevbibliotekarjev Jugoslavije) formed a working group for prepar-ing a new user instruction program. Breda Filo was a member ofthis group.6 She was the first professor at the Department ofLibrary and Information Science and Book Studies to includeinformation literacy in the courses of the department’s regularprogram for librarians. Filo and the working group prepared aprogram that included learning information resources, this timeas a required assignment for students under the guidance oftheir subject professor and the librarian.7

The basic idea of this program was that it had to beintegrated into regular coursework. Filo thought that teachingthe use of information sources per se was a waste of timebecause students are not able to associate the informationseeking process with the problem solving process. The basicgoals of the program were therefore:

! Students should understand that the library and informationservices are sources of information. Librarians are there toprovide students help in seeking information.

! Students should learn to search for information and to usethe retrieved information in their everyday work and lifesituations as needs occur.

! Students should understand the organization and function ofdifferent information sources and accept that searching for

literature is only a part of accomplishing their task, whetherit be an assignment, project, or work requirement.

! Students should learn to search, select, and evaluateinformation sources and library materials.

In 1993, Filo wrote that there was little chance that any suchprogram would be integrated into the university curriculum,but that all efforts had to be made to introduce such programsand make professors aware of the necessity of such programs.This was particularly important because students were by thistime receiving basic training in information skills in primaryand secondary schools.

In fact, the experiences of school and youth librarians were ofgreat help to Filo and her colleagues during their preparation ofthe information literacy program for university. Primary andsecondary schools started to implement information literacy underthe title ‘‘Book and library education’’ (in Slovenian knjizna inknjiznicna vzgoja) thoroughly and systematically in 1971.8 Thefirst experiences of primary school libraries and youth librarieswith these programs were used to develop the national standardsfor school libraries in the 1980s.9 Information literacy programs(in Slovenian knjiznicno informacijsko znanje) for the primaryand secondary school level had a modern approach and includedcurrent and emerging information technology and dealt with theneeds of the contemporary information society. They are nowboth obligatory and receive occasional updates: the secondaryschool program10 was updated in 1997 and the primary schoolprogram11 was updated in 1998.

The program for primary schools has been obligatory since1999. It consists of four hours of information literacy in each ofthe nine academic years. There is also an elective thirty-five-hour course in the ninth grade. In these cases, informationliteracy is taught in collaboration by both a subject teacher anda librarian. The primary school program focuses on basicknowledge of the library and library materials required forindependent use of library resources. The information literacyprogram has been obligatory in the secondary schools since2000. There are fifteen hours of teaching by a subject teacherand a librarian. It focuses on search strategies and the

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evaluation of retrieved information for independent andsuccessful problem solving by using information resources.

Although at the time no university curriculum or studyprogram included information literacy, in 1989 library instruc-tion became a requirement in the national standards for aca-demic libraries.12 Standards were proposed by the nationallibrary association and accepted at the Ministry of Culture ofthe Republic of Slovenia, which is not responsible foracademic libraries. This means that the standards were andare not obligatory for university authorities. In 1999, Dolgan-Petric13 commented that in spite of the librarians’ wideexperience with these programs, even ‘‘basic library instructionis not provided to students of all schools at the University ofLjubljana, the level and number of lectures are very diverse,depending on the interest of schools and individual profes-sors.’’ Her review shows that in 1997 information literacyprograms were offered in all libraries at the University ofMaribor and 69 percent of libraries at the University ofLjubljana. In total, 1543 hours were offered to 9809 students.In 2003,14 twenty-three of forty-two libraries at the Universityof Ljubljana offered library instruction programs. They offered2000 hours of instruction to 9200 students. Only some librariesmanaged to integrate information literacy or at least instruc-tions in the use of information resources into their regularstudy programs. They were successful at the BiotechnicalFaculty,15 the Faculty of Medicine16 at the University ofLjubljana, and at the Faculty of Economics and Business at theUniversity of Maribor.17 Dolgan-Petric found that this was thecase also at the Faculty of Social Sciences, the Faculty ofMathematics and Physics, the Faculty of Mechanical Engineer-ing, the Faculty of Sports, the Faculty of Law, the Faculty ofTheology, and some departments at the Faculty of Arts and theFaculty of Natural Science and Engineering at the University ofLjubljana. Some of these faculties started their informationliteracy programs in the 1970s.18 Two successful programs atthe University of Ljubljana will be presented as case studies inthe following two chapters.

INFORMATION LITERACY AT THE DEPARTMENT OF

GEOGRAPHY, FACULTY OF ARTS

Information literacy is mostly a neglected topic within theFaculty of Arts. However, a few years ago, a successfulcollaboration between a departmental library and facultyemerged.19 The librarians introduced information literacy as apart of the course ‘‘Introduction to Geography’’ in the academicyear 1998/1999. All first-year students are required to take thiscourse in their first semester. The course includes lectures andpractical work and consists of the following topics:

1. An introductory tour of the library and a meeting withlibrarians. An introduction of library rules and informationresources in the library (one hour in the library, one hour inthe map collection, groups of fifteen students).

2. A lecture by the geography professor or his/her teachingassistant on basic information science, with the emphasis oninformation sources for geography (one two-hour lecture forthe entire class of about seventy students).

3. Practical work with bibliographic databases and otherelectronic information sources for geography: local and

296 The Journal of Academic Librarianship

Slovenian catalogs and databases, international databases,using the Internet (three hours in groups of seven students).

4. Student assignments: every student has to prepare four assign-ments during the entire semester. The assignments require asearch for information in different information sources.

5. Review and grading of the assignments with a discussion ofproblems by the geography professor or his/her teachingassistant.

Dolgan-Petric and her fellow librarians have also preparedteaching materials: a chapter in the new edition of the textbook(4.2 Sodobni informacijski viri – Contemporary informationresources)20, brochures on searching information sources, etc.Some of the materials are also available on the Internet (e.g.,course materials)21.

A survey to evaluate the program was conducted in the firstyear of this program.22 The results show that students have mostof their problems in the selection and evaluation of informationsources retrieved in from databases and the Internet. Studentswere also not careful enough in their assignments. They werequickly satisfied with inappropriate sources and one-fourth ofthem had to repeat the assignment because of this mistake.Students did not have many difficulties in searching thematicbibliographic databases (e.g., Geobase-Geography) but struggledwith searching the Slovenian union catalog COBISS/OPAC.

The positive outcome of the new program was that first yearstudents were more independent in searching for informationsources in the library than more advanced students who had notattended the program. The negative result was, as expected, anincreased workload for the librarians. They were not relieved ofany of their previous duties. Nor were they paid for the extrawork. The university does not consider librarians as teachingstaff, so whenever librarians join professors for informationliteracy programs or prepare library instruction programs, theydo it for personal satisfaction and professional commitment,not because they are required to do so. At present, theuniversity, generally, does not appreciate what contributionlibraries can make in information literacy.

THE INFORMATION LITERACY PROGRAM AT THE

FACULTY OF SPORTS

The information literacy program is a part of the course SportsInformatics (Slovenian Informatika v sportu) at the Faculty ofSports. This has been a required course in the first year ofstudies for about 10 years. The goals are to introduce studentsto the development and influence of informatics in our society,and to make them aware of the information that is important forthem in their role as citizens, professionals and parents.Students get to know the technology and methods of collecting,storing, handling, and giving information as well as managinginformation systems. They learn the basic skills of usinginformation technology, searching for information sources, andscientific writing.

The thirty-hour course covers the following topics:

1. An introduction to information science: information society,development of technology, the role of information in thesociety (government, health institutions, industry, education,sports), the staff and organization of information centers(professionals, the structure and organization of information).

Filo Big Six Skills

Define information need Define task

Decide on appropriate

information resources

Determine and evaluate

appropriate information resources

Identify appropriate subject

headings

Locate sources intellectually

and physically

Make note of relevant

documents

Check the most recent

information resources

Acquire and evaluate the

relevant documents

Use information (read, view, extract)

Organize and present information

Evaluate the product and information

gathering strategy

2. Information systems: their role, hardware and software, thedevelopment of a new information system, the maintenanceof an existing system, the evaluation of informationsystems, and public information systems important in sport.

3. Computers and information technology: history of thecomputer, the technology of information transfer, computerstorage, information display, programming languages, arti-ficial intelligence, and the future of computers andinformation systems.

4. Information sources: information and documentation ingeneral and in sports, documents, information storage, theretrieval of information from information systems (softwarefor locally produced bibliographic database, COBISS/OPAC national system, using international bibliographicaldatabases, Web browsers).

Librarians are also involved in the course lectures. At thebeginning of the academic year, the head librarian gives a tourof the library with a basic introduction of the rules and sourcesto groups of twenty students. The tour takes about forty-fiveminutes.

Students also have fifteen hours of supervised practicalwork which results in four assignments:

1. basic work with the computer and printer, file management,e-mail;

2. text processing;

3. spreadsheets and charts; and

4. searching for and in information sources.

One of the assignments is prepared in groups of two to threestudents and presented in class.

Grcar23 surveyed students before and after they took thiscourse in the academic year 2002/2003. Of the 226 first-yearstudents admitted that year, 147 participated in the pre-test and100 in the post-test. The survey measured students’ assessmentof their own knowledge and skills. The study showed differ-ences among the students’ perceived knowledge and in thepost-test a statistically significant improvement was detected.Grcar found that after taking the course students used thecomputer for text processing more often than before. Theywere more confident in using e-mail, word processing andspreadsheet software, and the Internet. They were better able tosearch for library resources in the national union catalogthrough COBISS/OPAC. Yet they would search for informa-tion on the Internet more often than in a library. This surveyalso indicated that most of the students had problems inevaluating information retrieved from the Internet or otherinformation resources. They were also not entirely aware of thedata that were necessary for writing bibliographic citations.Although many more students were able to search for books inthe library and in the catalog on their own, most of the studentswere not independent and needed a librarian’s help even afterattending and passing the course. This means that informationliteracy goals have not been reached with this course and thatthe professor should consider revising the program to preparestudents for more competent use of information sources.

THE SLOVENIAN EXPERIENCE IN AN INTERNATIONAL

PERSPECTIVE

Many similarities are discovered if the two Slovenian examplesand Filo’s guidelines (chapter 2) are compared to the Big SixSkills approach to information literacy instruction, developedby M.B. Eisenberg and R.E. Berkowitz in 1988.24 The Big SixSkills model was developed at about the same time Filodeveloped her guidelines. It is very likely that Filo was familiarwith the model and used its components, because the Big SixSkills approach corroborated her own experience with infor-mation literacy instruction.

Filo’s guidelines, which served as a model to all Slovenianinformation literacy programs, suggest that students should startan information literacy programwith an introductory lecture. Herethe librarian would introduce the library and the librarians, andpoint out that every person needs good information literacy skillsif they want to be able to use all the available informationefficiently. The librarian presents library resources and points outdifferences among different resources, library collections anddocuments to students. S/he also introduces primary resources(books and articles) and secondary resources (databases, catalogs),and explains the basics of indexing. S/he illustrates the importanceof correct citation and advises against plagiarism. Practical workfollows the introductory lecture. Students are to be givenassignments and are expected to solve them using various libraryresources. Librarians are to help students during this practicalwork. The program ends with a joint lecture by the librarian and asubject teacher on discipline-specific information resources.

Looking at Filo’s steps in the practical part of theinformation literacy program, one notices great similaritieswith the Big Six Skills approach.

Discrepancy can be seen in the amount of detail comprised inthe third step of the Big Six Skills, where Filo lists several sub-tasks. Intellectually and physically locating sources naturallyinvolve selecting appropriate subject headings (to search incatalogs or databases) and call numbers (to find items in thelibrary). Obviously, one would rather make note of the necessarybibliographic data and call numbers than commit them tomemory. Filo’s inclusion of checking for most recent resourcescan be attributed to the fact that printed bibliographies and indexeswere more readily available in Slovenia in the 1980s than online

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bibliographic databases. The last three steps are not explicit inFilo’s guidelines, but were a part of student assignments.

Although Filo’s guidelines are similar to the typical libraryskills curriculum as illustrated by Eisenberg and Berkowitz,they also exceed it in various ways. A typical curriculum byEisenberg and Berkowitz presents the library and its resourcesdisregarding practical problem solving by employing libraryinformation resources. Filo’s guidelines and all Slovenianinformation literacy programs at the university level alwaysinclude practical problem solving in student assignments,which is very similar to what numerous librarians and teachershave done around the world.

Results of the two Slovenian examples show that there stillare a few persistent problems in teaching information literacyskills in spite of all the efforts to make students aware of theinformation seeking process as a part of the problem solvingstrategy. These problems are: the definition of the researchproblem, and the selection and evaluation of informationresources. Students have difficulties in using the library catalog,they prefer using Web resources of uncertain quality instead ofmore reliable library resources. They make quick decisions andmostly select the sources that present the desired topic in asimple and direct manner. Students are also uncertain of the datarequired for writing bibliographic references. All this is theconsequence of study programs that do not train studentssufficiently to select information for research and problemsolving. While teachers should provide disciplinary knowledgefor the research and problem solving process, librarians shouldprovide an overview of information resources and provide skillsfor problem solving on the basis of information resources.

The students’ tendency to be only partially informationallyliterate is not unique to Slovenia. Researchers in the UnitedStates have come to similar conclusions. Maughan’s empiricalstudy of undergraduate students25 found that students were notindependent library users: they were not able to identify holdingsdata in the library catalog and did not know what data werenecessary for bibliographic citations. Powel and Case-Smith26

found that occupational therapy graduates did not really changetheir information seeking behavior after receiving instruction ininformation resources. They still rarely used online databasesand other reliable information resources available to them.Weiler in her review of information-seeking behavior research27

found that students prefer receiving information from an‘‘authority’’ implying they may not yet be able to evaluate itby themselves, since they are still in a period of cognitivedevelopment. Seamans found something similar in a group ofVirginia Tech freshmen. Buschman and Warner in their reviewof several studies on the use ofWeb pages28 state that Web users,although aware of the fact that Internet resources can be highlyunreliable, still prefer to use them. They also found that there hasbeen a serious gap between learning an information researchskill and applying it effectively in real situations. Similar to thiswere the findings of the OCLC white paper on the informationhabits of college students.29 Researchers outside the LIS fieldhave found the same preference for readily-accessible and easy-to-understand sources.30 Larkin and Pines express the samefrustration as Slovenian librarians at being left alone to worryabout students’ information literacy skills.31

Obviously, the efforts and programs of Slovenian librarianshave been very similar to those of other countries. The resultsof those efforts are also very similar. It comes as no surprisethen, that librarians all over the world and in Slovenia continue

298 The Journal of Academic Librarianship

their efforts in providing information literacy education invarious ways. They anchor the need for information literacyskills in several important documents at the United Nations andother international institutions and try to persuade prominentpoliticians to support their ideas.32 For Slovenian librarians, thedocuments guiding the reform of higher education in theEuropean Union hold some hope that the programs we havealready developed will grow and develop to better equip futuregenerations of students.

POSSIBILITIES FOR FUTURE INFORMATION EDUCATION IN

SLOVENIA’S ACADEMIC LIBRARIES

The latest national law on libraries33 made library involvementin information literacy programs for the public a requirement.34

Libraries in primary and secondary schools have alreadystarted cooperating with teachers of different courses andintegrating information literacy with the school curriculum.This is in line with research results of Novljan, who found thatinformation literacy programs are more successful if informa-tion literacy is perceived by students as a process.35 Informa-tion literacy can only be presented as an information process ifit is used in class when students solve problems by usinginformation resources. During such work, students learnproblem solving, learning strategies, and research procedures.Metacognition is the most important mental process in thiscase: it enables the student to evaluate and select informationcritically to satisfy their education, work, entertainment, orrecreational information needs.36

The universities should follow the examples of primary andsecondary schools. Now is a good time, because all universityprograms are under revision according to the Bologna process,which started with the Bologna Declaration. Although theBologna Declaration and subsequent documents do not addressinformation literacy skills directly, these skills are inherent inthe goals such as lifelong learning, which was first mentioned inthe Prague Communique and continues in the most recentdocuments, such as the Bergen Communique.37 Education andtraining in Europe makes it more explicit even if it still does notuse the term ‘‘information literacy.’’38 Under objective 1.2Developing skills for the knowledge society it states:

Skills for the knowledge society need to be defined in view of needs

anticipated in the medium and long-term, including not only numeracy

and literacy (foundation skills) but also basic competencies in science,

foreign languages, the use of ICT and technology, learning to learn,

enterpreneurship, and what might be called general culture.39

Information literacy skills are essential for achieving theobjective 2.1 Creating an open learning environment, whichaddresses lifelong learning for people of all ages, levels, andaspirations. All these skills are inherent in the basic skills thatuniversity students should acquire before entering or afterfinishing their university program.

Tuning educational structures in Europe40 is a document,which reports on the project under the Erasmus/Socratesprogram to prepare common educational structures and contentsof studies on examples of specific disciplines. In this project,members from different universities collaborated on defining thebasic and subject-specific skills for their discipline. The resultare lists of general and subject-specific abilities of students ofbusiness, chemistry, education, geology, history, mathematics,

and physics desirable before receiving their bachelor’s andmaster’s degrees. In a survey among European universities madeby all groups at the beginning of their work, the followinggeneral skills emerged as the most important:

! the capacity for analysis and synthesis;

! the capacity to learn;

! problem solving;

! the capacity for applying knowledge in practice;

! the capacity to adapt to new situations;

! a concern for quality;

! information management skills; and

! the ability to work autonomously and together as a team.

On the other hand, the widely accepted definition of in-formation literacy by the American Library Association states:

Ultimately, information literate people are those who have learned how

to learn. They know how to learn because they know how knowledge is

organized, how to find information, and how to use information in such

a way that others can learn from them. They are people prepared for

lifelong learning, because they can always find the information needed

for any task or decision at hand.41

Comparing the list of the most important general skills withthe definition of information literacy, one finds the followingcommonalities: The capacity for analysis and synthesis isessential for lifelong learning and problem solving. In bothcases, information is necessary to analyze and solve problems.This information has to be found, evaluated, and used.42 Aninformation literate person will know how to find the informa-tion to learn and solve problems. The ability to apply knowledgein practice includes information literacy in the sense that one isable to communicate information in a systematic way, so thatothers can learn from them. This means oral communicating inwork situations, and communicating in written and publishedpapers. The capacity to adapt to new situations depends cruciallyon acquiring relevant information. Any organism can only adaptto new situations when it is able to acquire and use relevantinformation to react to specific stimuli. Concern for quality has avery similar importance to the previous capacity to adapt to newsituations. It is basically a problem solving situation that requiresappropriate information at the right time. When reactions areefficient and demand for quality is high, the organism can spendthe least amount of effort for the best outcome.

Computer skills will likely be an information managementskill included in most lists of desirable general life skills. But ifwe understand the term in our sense, then this is the part ofinformation literacy skills where people know how informationis organized and distributed. It is important for any person toknow how to use the computer, how to store information in asystematic way, and how information available from differentproviders is organized and transferred. This knowledge enablesthe person to acquire the most relevant information when it isneeded in the most efficient way. The ability to workautonomously and in teams is at first sight not connected withinformation literacy. However, in a team, information has to begathered and transferred in an efficient and timely manner. Oneneeds to evaluate the information that has to be communicated

to the team. On the other hand, when one works autonomously,one cannot rely on other team members to provide information,but needs to deal with the transfer of information on his/herown. In the end, we can see that only an information literateperson would be able to have all the most important generalskills that the Tuning project has identified.

The Slovenian academic libraries that have struggled hard togain their rightful place in higher education will have to findnew ways to make their statement. They might consider severalpaths to achieve their goals. Librarians holding the rank ofeither assistant, associate, or full professor might prepareelective courses in information resources for different disci-plines. Librarians without an appropriate rank will have to seekalliances with professors at their schools or departments, andwork with students on assignments, using the learning-by-doing approach. Librarians might need to find new andinnovative ways to work within their institutions.

Librarians need to be fully aware that to be able to detectusers’ needs, they need to master information literacy skillsthemselves, they need to have a good command of informationtechnology, and they need to know other libraries in thelibrary system. Only by such comprehensive knowledge willthey be able to serve the public competently. Such profes-sional work would attract more users and increase the demandfor library services and materials. However, professionallibrary work at an individual school or an academic libraryalso influences the larger society, because students eventuallyleave the school or university and take their knowledge withthem.

The number of librarians trained in librarianship and libraryskills training in Slovenia is growing slowly but surely. A partof their knowledge also comes from pedagogical science andpsychology. If they understand and know the organization, thework and the activities of their schools and faculties then it ismore likely that they will be in a position to integrateinformation literacy skills into the teaching processes ofdifferent courses and disciplines. A project is underway inSlovenia that will make information skills mandatory in anycourse in all primary and secondary schools. This means thatall teachers will be partially responsible for helping studentsgain information skills. As a prerequisite, teachers will need tomaster information skills for themselves too, during theirformal training as well as in any further education. Librarianswill be in the position to give teachers and students immediateassistance with their information literacy programs and theirseveral decades of experience.

We hope that this will also be a requirement for universitylevel professors. If, on the other hand, courses for acquiringinformation literacy skills remain elective, it is less likely thatstudents will be attracted to them. Making students aware ofthe need for information literacy skills without the support oftheir professors will most likely be impossible.

NOTES AND REFERENCES

1. Razvoj Univerze v Mariboru. Online. Univerza v Mariboru. 2004.Available: http://www.uni-mb.si/povezava.aspx?pid=1075.

2. BolognaDeclaration. Online (June 19, 1999). Available: http://www.bologna-bergen2005.no/Docs/00-Main_doc/990719BOLOGNA_

DECLARATION.PDF.3. Breda Filo, Uvajanje studentov v uporabo knjiznice in informa-cijskih virov. Obvestila republiske maticne sluzbe, Ljubljana (13),2–27.

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4. Ibid.5. Mara Slajpah, Uvajanje studentov prvih letnikov univerze vuporabo knjiznice in primarne literature. Knjiznica, Ljubljana, 18(1–2), 48–57; Sonja Tovornik, Uvajanje studentov visjih letnikovin podiplomskih studentov v vire literature. Knjiznica, Ljubljana,18 (1–2), 40–47.

6. Breda Filo, Izobrazevanje uporabnikov informacijskih sistemov(Predlog programa). Obvestila republiske maticne sluzbe, Ljubl-jana (12), 31–43.

7. Ibid.8. Marjana Kobe, Nekaj metodnicnih napotkov za delo skupinske(razredne) oblike dela z obiskovalci solske knjiznice. Knjiznica,Ljubljana 15(3–4): 107–116.

9. Ignac Kamenik and Martina Sircelj, Solska knjiznica-medioteka vsrednjem usmerjenem izobrazevanju, (Ljubljana; Narodna inuniverzitetna knjiznica, 1986).

10. Knjiznicna informacijska znanja. Ucni nacrt. Predlog (Ljubljana:Nacionalni kurikularni svet. Podrocna kurikularna komisija zagimnazije, 1997);Majda Steinbuch, ‘‘Knjiznicna informacijska znanjav osnovni in srednji soli,’’ Solska knjiznica, Ljubljana, 8 (2): 50;Zavod Republike Slovenije za solstvo. Knjiznicna dejavnost: Ucninacrti/Cilji in vsebine. Online. Available: http.//zrss.si/default.asp?link=predmet&tip=7&plD=42&rID=613.

11. Ibid.12. Strokovni kriteriji in merila za visokosolske knjiznice: knjiznicno

informacijski sistem univerze. (Ljubljana, Maribor: ZBDS,1989).

13. Mojca Dolgan Petric, ‘‘Informacijska pismenost in nacrtovanjeizobrazevanja v visokosolskih knjiznicah,’’ in Proceedings of the1st meeting of academic librarians ‘‘The role and activity ofacademic libraries’’ at 50th anniversary of Central TechnicalLibrary of the University of Ljubljana, 18–19Nov. 1999, pp. 60–75.

14. Visokosolske knjiznice 2003. Online. National and UniversityLibrary Ljubljana. Available: http://www.nuk.uni-lj.si/vstop.cgi;Zdenka Pejova, ‘‘Information Literacy Promotion and Implemen-tation: CEI Countries Perspectives,’’ in Odborny seminar IVIG2005 Informacnı vzdelavanı a informacnı gramotnost v teorii apraxi vzdelavacıch institucı, Prague, 22. Sep. 2005, available at:http://www.sprig.cz/ivig2005/program.php.

15. Jana Bradac, ‘‘Izobrazevanje uporabnikov knjiznicno-informacij-skih storitev na Biotehniski fakulteti,’’ Knjiznicarske novice,Ljubljana, 7 (6): 5–6.

16. Bozislava Oberc, ‘‘Vloga Centralne medicinske knjiznice v izobra-zevanju uporabnikov,’’Knjiznicarske novice, Ljubljana, 7 (3), 15–17;Anamarija Rozic-Hristovski, ‘‘Izobrazevanje uporabnikov informa-cijskih storitev na Medicinski fakulteti v Ljubljani,’’ Knjiznicarskenovice, Ljubljana, 7 (3), 13–15.

17. Zdenka Petermanec, ‘‘Izobrazevanje uporabnikov informacij vknjiznici Ekonomsko-poslovne fakultete,’’ Knjiznicarske novice,Ljubljana, 7 (1), 11–13.

18. Tovornik, ‘‘Uvajanje studentov.’’19. Dolgan Petric, ‘‘Informacijska pismenost.’’20. Igor Vriser, Uvod v geografijo (Ljubljani: Oddelek za geografijo

Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani, 2002).21. Katja Vintar Mally, Uvod v geografijo: Uporaba virov in

literature v geografiji. Online. Available: http://www.ff.uni-lj.si/geo/gradiva/studijska_gradiva/uvod_v_geografijo/files/04_:Uporaba_virov_in_literature.pdf.

22. Dolgan Petric, ‘‘Informacijska pismenost.’’23. Andreja Grcar, Vpliv programa informacijskega opismenjevanja

na izboljsanje informacijske pismenosti: primer predmeta Infor-matika v sportu na Fakulteti za sport: magistrsko delo (Univerza vLjubljani, Filozofska fakulteta: 2004).

24. Michael B. Eisenberg & Robert E. Berkowitz, InformationProblem-Solving: The Big Six Skillsn approach to library &information skills instruction (Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1996).

25. Patricia Davitt Maughan, ‘‘Assessing Information Literacy amongUndergraduates. A Discussion of the Literature and the University

300 The Journal of Academic Librarianship

of California-Berkeley Assessment Experience,’’ College &Research Libraries 62 (1): 71–85.

26. Carol A. Powell & Jane Case-Smith, ‘‘Information Literacy Skillsof Occupational Therapy Graduates: A Survey of LearningOutcomes,’’ Journal of the Medical Library Association 91 (4):468–477.

27. Angela Weiler, ‘‘Information-Seeking Behavior in Generation YStudents: Motivation, Critical Thinking, and Learning Theory,’’Journal of Academic Librarianship 31 (1): 46–53.

28. John Buschman & Dorothy A. Warner, ‘‘Researching and ShapingInformation Literacy Initiatives in Relation to the Web: SomeFramework Problems and Needs,’’ Journal of Academic Librar-ianship 31 (1): 12–18; Nancy H. Seamans, ‘‘Student perceptionsof information literacy: insights for librarians,’’ Reference ServicesReview 30 (2): 112–123.

29. OCLC White Paper on the Information Habits of College Students:How academic librarians can influence students’ Web-basedinformation choices. Online. Online Computer Library Center,2002. Available: http://www5.oclc.ogr/downloads/community/informationhabits.pdf.

30. Vicki Tolar Burton & Scott A. Chadwick, ‘‘Investigating thePractices of Student Researchers: Patterns of Use and Criteria forUse of Internet and Library Resources,’’ Computers and Compo-sition 17 (3): 309–328.

31. Judith E. Larkin & Harvey A. Pines, ‘‘Developing informationliteracy and research skills in introductory psychology: A casestudy,’’ Journal of Academic Librarianship 31 (1): 40–45.

32. Buschman and Warner, ‘‘Researching and shaping. . .’’33. Zakon o knjiznicarstvu. Uradni list Republike Slovenije (2002):

78.34. Silva Novljan, ‘‘Informacijska pismenost,’’ Knjiznica, Ljubljana,

46 (4): 7–24.35. Ibid.36. Darja Piciga, ‘‘Informacijska pismenost mladih,’’ in Pismenost,

participacija in druba znanja (Ljubljana: Andragoski centerRepublike Slovenije, 2002), pp. 67–77.

37. Prague Communique. Online (May 19, 2001). Available: http://www.bologna-bergen2005.no/Docs/00-Main_doc/010519PRAGUE_

COMMUNIQUE.PDF;Bergen Communique. Online (May 19–20, 2005). Available: http://www.bologna-bergen2005.no/Docs/00-Main_doc/050520_Bergen_

Communique.pdf.38. Education and training in Europe: Diverse systems, shared goals

for 2010. Online (Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications ofthe European Communities, 2002). Available: http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/educ-training/en.pdf.

39. Ibid, p. 16.40. Tuning educational structures in Europe. Online (2001–2002).

Available: http://odur.let.rug.nl/TuningProject/.41. American Library Association Presidential Committee on Infor-

mation Literacy: Final report, Online (Washington, DC: AmericanLibrary Association, 1989). Available: http://www.ala.ogr/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/whitepapers/presidential.htm.

42. Silva Novljan, ‘‘Profesionalizacija kot pogoj za uspeh,’’ Knjiznica,Ljubljana, 41 (2/3): 45–56, reports: Third grade students of eighty-six schools with a librarian employed in the school library scored atwelve-point higher average on their reading literacy test than thestudents of fifty schools with a teacher employed in the library, butnot holding a library degree. The difference between the achieve-ment of the two groups was statistically significant with a 0.5degree of risk. Also at the primary level the professional librarianwas more efficient in promoting the library and its materials in alldisciplines and areas of school life and work as the teacher. Alibrarian was more successful in advising, choosing, and distrib-uting the library materials that students and teachers needed. Onlythe librarian can therefore pass this skill and knowledge on to usersand enable them to fulfill their personal right to the free access anduse of information.