Upload
alison-head
View
181
Download
4
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Keynote about Project Information Literacy research studies on U.S. college students and how they conduct course and everyday life research.
Citation preview
What Librarians Should Know about Today’s Students
Alison J. HeadProject Information Literacy30 September 2014 | PaLA
TeachAdviseTrainDevelopPromoteDiscussPracticeAdvanceStudy
Information Literacy
1746Articles and books about IL published
in 2013 ALONE
Search of all databases at University of Washington Libraries, “information literacy,” 4 April 2014
Source: Top 50 most relevant books and peer-reviewed articles from search, 4 April 2014
What was the IL discussion about last year?
What can we learn
from students?
2008
n = 86
2009
n = 2,318
2010
n = 8,353n = 191
Focus groups
Online survey/ Crunch time content analysis interviews
2011
n = 560
Eight studies13,000 students, 63 US
campuses
Passage studies
2012 2013 2015
n = 23 n = 35 n = 60n = 33 n = 1,941 n = 4,000
Onlinesurvey
Workplace Freshmen Lifelong
Overview of findings? http://tinyurl.com/lg7fryh
Finding Evaluating/using
Multitasking
Transitioning
7 Takeaways
from Students
About theirInformation
Practices
#1Students say
research is more difficult
than ever before.
Adjectives that describe how you feel when you get a research assignment . . .
fear,angst, tired,dread,excited, anxious, annoyed, stressed,disgusted, intrigued, confused, andoverwhelmed.
2009, n = 86 | 7 campuses
#2 Getting started--
the hardestpart of
course research
Task Definition
Search Usinginformation
Taskdefinition
Search Selfassessment
69% 41% 30% 25%
What is most difficult?
2010 Survey, n = 8353 | 25 campuses
Getting startedDefining a topic
Narrowing a topic
#3 Frustrations
beginwith
finding context
Informationneed
Course research
Everyday lifeResearch
1. Big PictureSummary,
backgroundAlmost always
Often
2. Information Gathering
Locating relevant sources
Often Sometimes
2009, n = 2,318 | 6 campuses
Modeling the search for context
PIL’s Context Typology
Informationneed
Course research
Everyday lifeResearch
3. LanguageMeaning of
words, terms Sometimes Sometimes
4. Situational
How far to go, surrounding
circumstancesSometimes Sometimes
2009, n = 2,318 | 6 campuses
PIL’s Context Typology
Modeling the search for context
#4 Students use the
same few go-to
sources.
2010 Survey, n = 8,353 | 25 campuses2009, n = 2,318 | 6 campuses
Course research
Librarians 30% (2010); 47% ( 2009)
Everyday life research
2010 Survey, n = 8353 | 25 campuses2009 Survey, n =2,318 | 6 campuses
Librarians 14%( 2010); 33% (2009)
Satisficing
Situational & informationgathering contexts
Big picture/language contexts
A familiar path
#5 Wikipedia is
“my presearch tool”
Why Wikipedia?
2010 Wikipedia, First Monday, n = 8353 | 25 campuses
#6 Instructors
are “my research coaches”
1. Majority recommend a “place-based source” (60%)
2. Few recommended consulting librarians (13%)
3. Few defined what “research” is or means (16%)
2010 Handout Study, n = 191 handouts | 28 campuses
Handouts offer little guidance
#7 The
library is “my refuge”
How is the library used?
2009 Survey, n = 2318 | 6 campuses
Why ask a librarian for help?
2009 Survey, n = 2318 | 6 campuses
Language/information gathering contexts
What’s a librarian to do?
Interpreting change
Implications
Shift from information scarcity to abundance.
• Evaluation is the 21st century competencies
Information is disembodied from the whole source.
• More results > abstracts matter more
Connectivity = “always on, always notifying.”
• Libraries as refuge > different needs
PIL Finding Solutions
Overloaded, busy, and doing things at last minute.
• Offer on-demand info services, e.g., office hours, “triage reference”
Using same sources, many from high school experience.
• Go beyond “one shots,” e.g., three shots, embed in courses
Defining a topic is harder than finding sources.
• Fewer lessons on “search,” handout workshops for faculty
What Librarians Should Know about Today’s Students
Alison J. HeadProject Information Literacy30 September 2014 | [email protected]