Information Literacy Tool Research Articles

A Health Media Literacy Intervention Increases Skepticism of Both Inaccurate and Accurate Cancer News Among U.S. Adults.

Inaccurate cancer news can have adverse effects on patients and families. One potential way to minimize this is through media literacy training-ideally, training tailored specifically to the evaluation of health-related media coverage. We test whether an abbreviated health-focused media literacy intervention improves accuracy discernment or sharing discernment for cancer news headlines and also examine how these outcomes compare to the effects of a generic media literacy intervention. We employ a survey experiment conducted using a nationally representative sample of Americans (N = 1,200). Respondents were assigned to either a health-focused media literacy intervention, a previously tested generic media literacy intervention, or the control. They were also randomly assigned to rate either perceived accuracy of headlines or sharing intentions. Intervention effects on accurate and inaccurate headline ratings were tested using OLS regressions at the item-response level, with standard errors clustered on the respondent and with headline fixed effects. We find that the health-focused media literacy intervention increased skepticism of both inaccurate (a 5.6% decrease in endorsement, 95% CI [0.1%, 10.7%]) and accurate (a 7.6% decrease, 95% CI [2.4%, 12.8%]) news headlines, and accordingly did not improve discernment between the two. The health-focused media literacy intervention also did not significantly improve sharing discernment. Meanwhile, the generic media literacy intervention had little effect on perceived accuracy outcomes, but did significantly improve sharing discernment. These results suggest further intervention development and refinement are needed before scaling up similarly targeted health information literacy tools, particularly focusing on building trust in legitimate sources and accurate content.

Social media microinterventions:Testing information activism as a media and information literacy tool

Social media microinterventions:Testing information activism as a media and information literacy tool

Leveraging Wikipedia in undergraduate health sciences education: a key tool for information literacy and knowledge translation.

Academic institutions and libraries are familiar with Wikipedia. There is growing momentum in higher education for using Wikipedia as a learning tool in various contexts. These include, but are not limited to, the use of Wikipedia-based assignments to teach information literacy, science communication, evidence-based practice, and more. Although there is growing acceptance of Wikipedia's value in the classroom, there are limited exemplars available for how it is applied in undergraduate health sciences education. This program description describes a librarian instructed course in the Bachelor of Health Sciences Program at McMaster University in which students dedicate one academic term to learning about Wikipedia content production and making contributions to a health-related Wikipedia article of their choice. In the five iterations of this course that have been offered, undergraduate health sciences students have made significant contributions to 25 health-related articles in Wikipedia. They have added more than 120,000 words and over 2,000 references to high-quality literature. In class, conversations emerged about the meaningfulness of the editing Wikipedia, information literacy, and knowledge translation.

Strategies Used to Impart Information Literacy Skills among Library Users at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Kenya

The rapid implementation of information technology worldwide has changed and continues to change all areas of life. The education, research and development sectors are highly affected by these technologies. New opportunities for accessing information, teaching, learning and training through the delivery of digital content are now widespread. The purpose of this study was to assess the utilization of information communication technologies as a tool for information literacy among library users of Catholic University of Eastern Africa’s Gaba Campus, Eldoret, Kenya. Based on the study, this paper examines the strategies used to promote information communication technologies as a tool for information literacy. Survey research design was adopted and the target population was 537 registered users comprising the library staff, teaching staff, non-teaching staff and students. Stratified random sampling technique was used to classify the population into strata of library staff, teaching staff, non-teaching staff and library registered students. Simple random sampling was applied on the strata to select the respondents. The sample size for the study was 113 respondents. Questionnaires were administered to the selected participants. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics. The study found that the major strategies that the library management adopted in enhancing information literacy were provision of written materials in information literacy, one-on-one training, demonstration, inducting new users and organizing seminars and workshops. The strategies were fairly effective. Therefore, it was recommended that the libraries and university management should strengthen and diversify strategies to ensure library users are able to access and use accurate information to solve their academic problems. The study is of value to academic libraries as it informs practice and policies in enhancing information literacy among the staff and students who depend on the .......

Information source and content: articulating two key concepts for information evaluation

PurposeLearning how to identify and avoid inaccurate information, especially disinformation, is essential for any informational consumer. Many information literacy tools specify criteria that can help users evaluate information more efficiently and effectively. However, the authors of these tools do not always agree on which criteria should be emphasized, what they mean or why they should be included in the tool. This study aims to clarify two such criteria (source credibility and soundness of content), which evolutionary cognitive psychology research emphasize. This paper uses them as a basis for building a question-based evaluation tool and draws implications for information literacy programs.Design/methodology/approachThis paper draws on cross-disciplinary scholarship (in library and information science, evolutionary cognitive psychology and rhetoric studies) to explore 15 approaches to information evaluation which conceptualizes source credibility and content soundness, two markers of information accuracy. This paper clarifies these two concepts, builds two sets of questions meant to elicit empirical indicators of information accuracy and deploys them against a recent piece of journalism which embeds a conspiracy theory about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper shows how the two standards can help us determine that the article is misleading. This paper draws implications for information literacy programs.FindingsThe meanings of and relationships between source credibility and content soundness often diverge across the 15 approaches to information evaluation this paper analyzed. Conceptual analysis allowed the authors to articulate source credibility in terms of authority and trustworthiness, and content soundness in terms of plausibility and evidential support. These conceptualizations allow the authors to formulate two respective sets of appropriate questions, the answers to which are meant to function as empirical indicators for the two standards. Deploying this instrument provides us with the opportunity to understand why a certain article discussing COVID-19 is misleading.Originality/valueBy articulating source credibility and content soundness as the two key criteria for evaluating information, together with guiding questions meant to elicit empirical indicators for them, this paper streamlines the process through which information users can judge the likelihood that a piece of information they encounter is accurate.

Comparative Gamification Practices for Information Literacy Instruction in Higher Education

Due to the recent call for the need to change information literacy instruction for 21st century skills, many scholars, educators, and librarians are exploring gamification as a teaching and learning pedagogy for information literacy instruction, design, and assessment for student learning. The research literature provides an overview of various information literacy tools, teaching methods, and pedagogies suggested by scholars and educators for improving information literacy instruction and student learning. Based on results from empirical studies, to improve information literacy outcomes for undergraduate students, especially literacy gains for at-risk or underperforming students, gamification can be used as a conceptual framework for pedagogy assessment for teaching and learning. Keywords: gamification, information literacy instruction, game-based formative assessments, instructional design

Comparative Gamification Practices for Information Literacy Instruction in Higher Education

Due to the recent call for the need to change information literacy instruction for 21st century skills, many scholars, educators, and librarians are exploring gamification as a teaching and learning pedagogy for information literacy instruction, design, and assessment for student learning. The research literature provides an overview of various information literacy tools, teaching methods, and pedagogies suggested by scholars and educators for improving information literacy instruction and student learning. Based on results from empirical studies, to improve information literacy outcomes for undergraduate students, especially literacy gains for at-risk or underperforming students, gamification can be used as a conceptual framework for pedagogy assessment for teaching and learning.

NTNU Academic Writing - developed with UX

In spring 2017, the University Library of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) launched VIKO, the redesigned tool for fostering information literacy and academic writing skills.
 The digital and technological development as well as new requirements for information literacy and academic writing skills have made it necessary to revise this tool.
 A working group at NTNU University Library developed and carried out an electronic survey to map specific needs of students, teachers, and researchers. We involved our users in developing our information literacy tool in order to give them a more useful user experience. We asked the following questions: Is information about academic writing something you need? Where do you go to find information about this? What kind of content do you desire? The answers suggested that “Yes!” this was something both students and teachers wanted. They were eager to get all the information they needed in their studies in one place.
 Results of this survey and additional depth interviews with students and staff have been the starting point for both the updated content and the new graphical design of VIKO. To accommodate the wish of having all information in one place, all content is now placed on the University Intranet together with all other information relevant for the students. A page listing relevant topics helps students navigate in the content relating to academic writing.
 The content of the redesigned tool is structured into four topics: defining a research topic, finding sources, structuring your text, and using and citing sources. We know that people have different ways of learning, so offering content for different learning styles like visual learning, auditory learning, and read/write learning will contribute to improving the learning outcomes.

Overcoming Challenges to Critical Information Literacy: Primary Source Analysis as Consciousness-Raising

Critical information literacy can be described as the application of critical pedagogy, or a theory of learning that endeavors to impact social change, to information literacy. The use of critical pedagogy in information literacy instruction is simultaneously on-trend in theory and also criticized for the obstacles to its practical implementation. Due to historic collecting practices in archives and special collections libraries, teaching with archival collections presents an advantageous way to integrate critical information literacy. This case study describes the use of primary source analysis as a critical information literacy tool in a one-shot instruction session for a cross-listed communications and women’s studies course, focusing on gender roles and communication.

Informational alphabetization tool directed to people who work in the medical sciences libraries in Artemisa province, Cuba

The performance of librarians in the medical sciences is enhanced by identifying their training needs through the use of an information literacy tool. We performed this study between 2016 and 2017 with the staff of the medical libraries network at Artemisa province in Cuba. In the first stage of the study we assessed the initial state of the staff's information literacy, and in a second stage, we used empiri-cal and theoretical methods to propose an information literacy tool in digital format. The methodology used was based on educational software. The tool will contribute to enhancing the performance of librarians working in the network of medical libraries in the prov-ince of Artemisa, Cuba.

Information literacy skills on the go

Students’ understanding and integration of information literacy (IL) skills are fundamental to higher education and lifelong learning. Development and implementation of thirteen mobile lessons application (http://renmil.ca/ ) in the Mobile Information Literacy Tool (MIL) was the result of a unique collaboration between faculty and the library. Lessons demonstrated how to locate, evaluate, and use information effectively. Mixed methods pilot study findings (Hanbidge, Sanderson, & Tin, 2015) informed the Canadian project’s second stage analysis to determine fluency in digital literacy skills and testing of the MIL tool. One hundred and twenty-eight undergraduate Arts students from eight different classes majoring in psychology, social work, English or social development studies participated in the study to determine the effectiveness of using mobile technology to enhance their IL skills. Preliminary successes and experiences with overcoming the barriers to support anytime, anywhere student mobile information literacy training are discussed and future directions are recommended.

Popular culture as a tool for critical information literacy and social justice education: Hip hop and <em>Get Out</em> on campus

We live in a politically polarizing climate and at a time when there is great economic and social unrest in the United States. Our current moment brings to my mind other periods in our nation’s history. First, the 1857 Dred Scott decision, when the Supreme Court decided that slaves were not U.S. citizens and could not sue for their freedom. So that even if a slave escaped to the North, he or she was still considered the property of the slave owner and must be returned.1 The second is in the 1960s, when the antiwar and civil rights movements occurred.2,3

Information literacy skills on the go

Students’ understanding and integration of information literacy (IL) skills are fundamental to higher education and lifelong learning. Development and implementation of thirteen mobile lessons application (http://renmil.ca/ ) in the Mobile Information Literacy Tool (MIL) was the result of a unique collaboration between faculty and the library. Lessons demonstrated how to locate, evaluate, and use information effectively. Mixed methods pilot study findings (Hanbidge, Sanderson, & Tin, 2015) informed the Canadian project’s second stage analysis to determine fluency in digital literacy skills and testing of the MIL tool. One hundred and twenty-eight undergraduate Arts students from eight different classes majoring in psychology, social work, English or social development studies participated in the study to determine the effectiveness of using mobile technology to enhance their IL skills. Preliminary successes and experiences with overcoming the barriers to support anytime, anywhere student mobile information literacy training are discussed and future directions are recommended.

Leveraging Learning Outcomes to Build an Online Information Literacy Tool

ABSTRACTThis exploratory study applies reflective practice to analyze the role of learning outcomes in developing an online information literacy tutorial. [web address] is a set of ten open access modules that build graduate-level academic literacies and research skills. At the heart of the modules is a set of rigorously crafted learning outcomes that provide the foundational structure on which the self-paced tool is built. Using Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle, this study traces how learning outcomes framed an iterative four-stage design process. Drawing on these findings, we offer considerations for teams developing online learning tools for information literacy and research skills.

Websites in academic libraries as tools for information literacy

Objetiva identificar nos websites das bibliotecas universitárias a prática da educação/formação de usuários por meio de produtos e serviços que podem ser fomentados tanto em ambientes tradicionais como digitais/virtuais na perspectiva da promoção de competências em informação dos estudantes. Pesquisa classificada como exploratória, estabeleceu em seu desenho como recorte duas universidades: a Universidade Federal de Alagoas e a Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. A análise dos dados foi realizada com enfoque quantitativo e qualitativo. Adotou-se como instrumento de coleta o formulário, que proporcionou o levantamento de dados em 35 bibliotecas das duas instituições. Os resultados forneceram evidências de que as bibliotecas das duas universidades encontram-se em processos de transição ao se considerar o ponto de vista de uso da tecnologia digital para a promoção das ações de educação/formação de usuário para promover a competência em informação.

Libraries Helping Faculty: A New Information Literacy Tool Is Quickly Adopted

Acquiring and presenting a new online academic library tool to faculty and students takes planning for quality results. The article documents a process of selection, acquisition, testing, rollout, and evaluation of a specialized information literacy tool at a university library.

Web social y alfabetización informacional: experiencia en la Universidad de Puerto Rico

En esta investigación se explora y describe la adopción de la web social para la alfabetización informacional por parte de las bibliotecas de la Universidad de Puerto Rico (UPR). Los objetivos de este estudio son: identificar las tecnologías de la web social utilizadas por los bibliotecarios para la alfabetización informacional; identificar y examinar la extensión en el uso de las tecnologías; evaluar las actitudes de los bibliotecarios hacia la aplicación de la web social; y la conexión que establecen con los estándares de la Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). El enfoque metodológico del estudio es cualitativo y se utiliza el cuestionario y la entrevista como técnicas para la recogida de datos. Los resultados muestran que el 82% de los participantes de este estudio utilizan la web social para la alfabetización informacional de los usuarios. Las tecnologías de mayor uso son: blogs, redes sociales, media sharing y mashup. El media sharing (Flickr, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest), blog y redes sociales obtuvieron mayor frecuencia de uso por parte de los bibliotecarios. Los participantes presentaron una actitud de aceptación hacia la aplicación de la web social para la alfabetización informacional. En su mayoría, expresaron la conexión que establecen entre las normas de ACRL y el uso de la web social a través de la enseñanza. A partir de los resultados de este estudio, se presentan recomendaciones respecto a la aplicación actual de las herramientas de la web social para la alfabetización en información.

Information skills training through mobile devices

Purpose This paper aims to examine the use of different mobile devices by libraries to develop programs for information skills training, focusing on the application of quick response (QR) codes for such a purpose. Design/methodology/approach The study was developed in two stages; primarily an analysis of the literature was conducted to determine the theoretical framework underlying the use of this tool for information literacy. The second part examined the practical application of this tool, with examples of several university libraries. In all, 13 academic libraries were included as the sample, which were chosen randomly from a global search on the Internet under the thematic basis for the theme of the study and thus evaluate the different employment opportunities of mobile telephony in developing skills information on users. The study is complemented with an assessment from the practice of the applicability of the principles described, arriving at conclusions and recommendations. Findings The purpose of the study is to recognize the use given to mobile technologies from libraries, particularly the use of QR codes, to help meet the demands of users in relation to skills training information, just as you may have the need. Originality/value The benefits of the use of mobile devices for the development of information literacy actions are identified and the set of actions that can be implemented for training information skills through the use of QR codes are set based on all outlined by the Association of College and Research Libraries goals.

“I See the World Without Going into It”: Manley’s New Atalantis and the Problem of Mass Mediation in the English Enlightenment

In this article, I use Delarivier Manley’s New Atalantis to examine how the public sphere arose at a moment of epistemological crisis defined by the tension between empirical and mass mediation—a tension that I argue continues to plague our participation in the public sphere today. This sphere inherited a model of knowledge predicated on the proximity between the knower, the instrument, and the object of knowledge; despite the fact that it was shaped by the new mass media, it continued to imagine itself according to this model and therefore to treat the newspaper as a tool for empirical observation. Newspapers themselves encouraged this approach by adopting formal devices that mimicked face-to-face communication. Manley’s novel theorizes the differences between empirical and mass mediation and the political dangers that occur when the public superimposes one onto the other. By mimicking the formal devices of the newspapers, the novel first interpellates readers into media culture before demystifying the ideological motives behind such devices. In debunking the reader’s empirical approach to mass media, the novel presents itself as a tool for information literacy that instructs readers how to appraise the truth-value of news. However, while readers then and now question the reliability of news and its ideological motives, they continue to deploy it as if it were a tool of empirical observation. In this sense, the public today is still living out the legacy of Enlightenment mediation.

Enhancing health policymakers' information literacy knowledge and skill for policymaking on control of infectious diseases of poverty in Nigeria.

BackgroundIn Nigeria, one of the major challenges associated with evidence-to-policy link in the control of infectious diseases of poverty (IDP), is deficient information literacy knowledge and skill among policymakers. There is need for policymakers to acquire the skill to discover relevant information, accurately evaluate retrieved information and to apply it correctly.ObjectivesTo use information literacy tool of International Network for Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) to enhance policymakers' knowledge and skill for policymaking on control of IDP in Nigeria.MethodsModified "before and after" intervention study design was used in which outcomes were measured on target participants both before the intervention is implemented and after. This study was conducted in Ebonyi State, south-eastern Nigeria and participants were career health policy makers. A two-day health-policy information literacy training workshop was organized to enhance participants" information literacy capacity. Topics covered included: introduction to information literacy; defining information problem; searching for information online; evaluating information; science information; knowledge sharing interviews; and training skills.ResultsA total of 52 policymakers attended the workshop. The pre-workshop mean rating (MNR) of knowledge and capacity for information literacy ranged from 2.15-2.97, while the post-workshop MNR ranged from 3.34-3.64 on 4-point scale. The percentage increase in MNR of knowledge and capacity at the end of the workshop ranged from 22.6%-55.3%.ConclusionThe results of this study suggest that through information literacy training workshop policy makers can acquire the knowledge and skill to identify, capture and share the right kind of information in the right contexts to influence relevant action or a policy decision.