Information Literacy Experience of Undergraduate Students during Their Involvement in the University Creativity Program

Abstract

Indonesian universities have a long tradition of supporting their students in developing their innovative and creative ways of thinking during their times in university. One of the programs being continuously offered to the students is named student creativity program. It was initiated in 2001 to showcase students’ creative and innovative works. This study presented undergraduate students’ information literacy experience during their involvement in this program conducted by Diponegoro University, Indonesia. This research was based on the relational perspective of information literacy that emphasizes the relationship between people and information. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 15 undergraduate students from 8 different faculties. Thematic analysis was conducted to interpret various related aspects. Results revealed that the identified themes contributed to communities, brainstorming, and Googlization. All the themes illustrated the information literacy experience of undergraduate students as they contributed to the university creative program. This study provided new insights into students’ creativity programs and information literacy as a basis for designing future research. Although the majority of studies in Indonesia have focused on the conception of information literacy from a behavioral perspective, this research offered different ways on understanding the conception of information literacy. This research would be beneficial to university libraries in terms of enhancing their information literacy programs and faculties in terms of understanding how undergraduate students interact with information during their academic activities.