Scholarly Communication Commons^™

Library Anxiety: A Mixed-Methods Comparison Between Honors And University Learning First-Year College Students, Anthony L. Paganelli, Larry Sean Kinder

The Southeastern Librarian

This study examines the results from a mixed-methods comparison study that explored library anxiety between first-year Honors students and first-year students enrolled in a University Learning course. The study explores the levels of library anxiety, overconfidence, barriers, and behavioral factors. Findings indicate that Honors students had higher levels of library anxiety and associated perfectionism and self-esteem more closely with library use. University Learning students worked longer and more independently to use resources before seeking help. Knowing these results, teaching librarians could create tailored instruction sessions to address and alleviate library anxiety and its effects.

A Framework For Enhancing Utilization Of Library Electronic Resources In Higher Institutions Of Learning, Niyonsaba Innocent, Atuha Peter, Natukunda Elizabeth, Arahe Turahe Glorious

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

Electronic resources are now essential for teaching, learning, research and dissemination of knowledge in higher institutions of learning. Although many universities have invested heavily in digital collections, databases, electronic journals, electronic books, institutional repositories, and online reference services, the use of these resources is not as high as expected in many universities, especially in developing countries. Low awareness, lack of information literacy skills, limited technological infrastructure, poor internet connectivity, lack of training, and weak institutional support continue to impede the effective use of electronic resources. This is a review paper that explores the current state of electronic resource utilization …

Postmortem: Understanding The Life And Death Of A Multi-Year Writing Program In An Academic Library, Catherine Bowers

The Southeastern Librarian

A shared interest in a month-long novel writing event inspired two reference and instruction librarians to develop a serialized program built around writing and research. Through leveraging resources and partnerships, the librarians planned to foster creativity and confidence in research writing skills within an ethos of community. This project relied on multiple forms of outreach and assessment with an intention that would be meaningful and valuable to the students. The goal from the beginning was to develop an event that incorporated the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education, fit the library’s mission, …

Conducting Effective Literature Searches And Writing Strong Abstracts, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

This invited presentation for students at Poland's War Studies University communicates ideas on how Ph.D. students at this institution can enhance their research quality. Specific content includes formulating your research question, determining research aims and methodology, reviewing a research question checklist, understanding the meaning of search terms you propose to utilize, devising effective search strategies, consulting multiple varieties of information resources from multiple countries, finding gaps in literature, being able to distinguish between nuances in literature and data, writing succinct abstracts, and enhancing the clarity of your prose.

A Systematic Review Of Academic Writing Services In Low- And Middle-Income Countries, Augustine N. Gitonga, Peter M. Gatiti, Prisila Everisty Mlingi

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Libraries are the key research and scholarly communication centres of any university. The information literacy skills offered to library users enable scientific communication. As new roles for librarians emerge to meet changing user needs and match fluid technological trends, academic libraries must combine their rich resources with cutting-edge skills to further impact the scientific world. There is a need for a sound, evidence-based appreciation of the factors that influence or hinder the establishment of academic writing centres and academic writing services in Low- and Middle-income Countries (LMIC). This article aims to synthesise qualitative and mixed methods research on academic writing …

Information Literacy And Learning In The Emerging Digital Landscape: A Theoretical Review, Adeoye Augustine Bamgbose

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The 21st century has witnessed an unprecedented surge in information availability, catalyzed by rapid digital advancements. This paradigm shift has not only transformed how information is generated and accessed but has also fundamentally altered the learning landscape. Within this dynamic context, the intersection of information literacy and learning emerges as a critical area of inquiry. Information literacy, once confined to library sciences, has evolved into a multidimensional competency encompassing adept navigation, critical evaluation, and judicious utilization of digital information sources. This review delves into the intricate relationship between information literacy and learning in the digital age, drawing from various theoretical …

Assessing The Impact Of Library Orientations On Student Engagement And Academic Success, Shivanand Mulimani

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study investigates the influence of library orientations on student engagement and academic success within higher education settings. Using a mixed-methods approach involving surveys, interviews, and academic performance metrics, the research explores the correlation between participation in library orientations and students' familiarity with resources, research skills, and confidence in navigating scholarly databases. Findings indicate a positive relationship between attending orientations and improved academic performance, emphasizing the pivotal role of these programs in enhancing information literacy and shaping students' academic experiences positively. Recommendations include tailored, interactive, and ongoing orientation programs aligned with evolving student needs, aiming to optimize engagement and achievement …

Legal Research And The Declining Usefulness Of Google Search, Olivia Smith Schlinck

Library Staff Online Writings

A new year-long study on internet search engine results has rocked the librarian and information worlds: yes, Google really is getting worse.

Innovation And Responsibility: Librarians In An Era Of Generative Ai, Inequality, And Information Overload, Odin H. Halvorson

School of Information Student Research Journal

In an era marked by generative AI, widening inequality, and information overload, librarians with LIS training find themselves at the forefront of a changing landscape. The traditional paradigm in academia is challenged by new technologies and social shifts, prompting a reassessment the librarian's role as a public leader. This article discusses three perspectives on these issues, placing them within the larger conversation of the LIS field. Dr. Norman Mooradian lays the groundwork for a paradigm shift by exploring the intersection of knowledge and ethics in a knowledge economy. Boheme Morris delves into the complexities of inequality within the high-tech knowledge …

Using Early Responses To Wikipedia And Google To Consider Chatgpt, David A. Hurley

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

ChatGPT and other generative AIs are raising important issues in information literacy that are unique, but not without precedent. The rise of Google and Wikipedia were accompanied by similar paradigm shifts. Exploring librarians’ early responses to these tools allows us to use that history to inform our approach to generative AIs. This exploratory study looks at social media posts, including email listservs, as well as sampling the professional literature to see librarians’ reactions in terms of impacts on the profession and the resulting pedagogical approaches to teaching information literacy in the early days of Google and Wikipedia.

Teaching Inclusive Citation Through A Library Workshop, Andrea Baer

Libraries Scholarship

In response to calls for greater equity and inclusion in scholarly publishing and in academia in general, many academic instruction librarians are looking to ways to promote inclusive citation practices. Inclusive citation essentially involves citing sources that reflect a greater diversity of voices and perspectives, while being aware of how power and social structures have traditionally influenced what voices are amplified and which are often overlooked. Inclusive citation requires thinking creatively about how and where we search for information, since traditional scholarly practices and common structures and features of many search tools (e.g., citation metrics, relevance rankings) are part of …

Expressing Information Needs And Information Literacy Skills Amongst Final Year Undergraduate Students In Northern Nigeria, Zikrat Abdulsalam, Imoisili Ojeime Odigie

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Information literacy is the ability of an individual to locate, evaluate, and use information. This study expresses the conscious information needs and information literacy skills amongst final year undergraduate students of three Universities in Nigeria; being the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Federal University Lokoja (FUL), and Baze University. A survey research design alongside a questionnaire for the instrument were utilised on a sample size of 307 final year undergraduate students from select faculties within the above-mentioned universities. The findings of the study amongst other show that undergraduate students at the final year level had a conscious knowledge of their information …

Information Literacy, Self-Efficacy As Determinants Of Information Seeking Behaviour Of Mobile Telecommunication Personnel In South-East Nigeria., Ogochukwu T. Emiri, Christian Obisike Enyia

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study examined how information literacy, self-efficacy determine the information seeking behavior of the mobile telecommunication personnel in South-East Nigeria. The specific objectives of the study were to: determine how gender affect relationship between information literacy, self-efficacy and information seeking behavior of the mobile telecommunication personnel in South-East Nigeria and determine the difference between information seeking behavior of the mobile telecommunication personnel due to gender. The study answered four (4) research questions and two (2) hypotheses on information literacy, self-efficacy as determinant of information seeking behavior of mobile telecommunication personnel in South-East Nigeria. Descriptive survey design was used to carry …

Display Of Plenty: Addressing Food Insecurity On Campus, Adrienne Warner, Sarita Cargas, Sarah Johnson

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

This chapter describes how undergraduate students created an interactive display in an academic library to address food insecurity among students at their university. In the 2021 fall semester, students in the Honors College course, The Human Rights of Students, created a visual display to present and refine their work on raising awareness of food insecurity. Spurred by the 2020 University of New Mexico Basic Needs Report, they engaged others in conversation through digital and analog media to dispel stigma and promote resources. Not only did it raise awareness, their undergraduate research project embodies several social justice tenets found in the …

Prison Libraries, Intellectual Freedom And Social Justice In Nigeria, Olusegun Adebayo Opesanwo, Oluyomi Abidemi Awofeso Phd

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This paper deployed a systematic review to examine prison libraries and intellectual freedom towards attaining social justice in Nigeria. Information resources used cover the periods of 2010 and 2020 to articulate the necessary development in prison libraries, intellectual freedom and social justice in Nigeria. Search engines such as Google scholar, Semantic Scholar, and RefSeek were used to retrieve information and through different queries yielded several results but very few of them were selected to fit in the study due to limited studies directed to address the focus of this study particularly in the Nigeria scenario. Information obtained were subjected to …

Information Literacy Skills And Use Of Electronic Information Resources (Eirs) By Undergraduates In Federal University Otuoke, Bayelsa State, Nigeria, Raphael Ebiefung, Catherine Okafor

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study investigated the level of information literacy skills and use of EIRs by undergraduates in the Federal University Otuoke, Bayelsa state, Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive research design and questionnaire as a data collection instrument. From a population of 3043 undergraduates, a multi-stage random technique was used to select a sample size of 242 undergraduates for the study. The results indicated that 131 (51.4%) of the respondents “Strongly agreed” that they use the Internet in the course of their stay at the university. Some 89 (27.7%) respondents strongly disagreed that they use online databases. It was also found …

Usage Of Library Collections And Services By First Year Medical Undergraduates : A Case Study At University Of Peradeniya Sri Lanka, Harshani Dissanayake

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The Medical Library of University of Peradeniya serves the staff, students and the researchers of the Faculty of Medicine. The library has a good collection of text books, monographs, journals and other information resources in print and electronic forms. The library provides services such as lending, reference, photocopy, inquiry, literature survey and user education programmes.The main objective of carrying out this study was to determine the usage of library facilities by first year medical undergraduates. The specific objectives are to find out the usage of print and electronic resources and the usefulness of user education programmes. A structured questionnaire was …

An Assessment Of Information Literacy Competence Of Doctoral Students In Universities In Ogun State, Adesola Adekunle, Ezinwanyi Madukoma

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Information is the foundation upon which all academic activities are built. The quality of teaching, learning and research is a function of the quality of information available to practitioners. While the current information landscape is characterized with information adequacy made possible by the application of ICTs to information handling, the sheer magnitude of available information tending towards overload is itself a challenge in the current technology-driven world we live in. In response to this challenge, academic institutions all over the world came up with what is known as information literacy described as an intellectual framework which enables individuals to identify, …

Information Literacy, Critical Thinking And Research Productivity Of Doctoral Students In Universities In Ogun State, Nigeria, Ezinwanyi Madukoma Dr., Adesola Paul Adekunle

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Research productivity is one of the major determinants of the prosperity and academic status of a nation. To ensure its continuity, universities have put in place doctoral education meant to initiate doctoral students into the research culture; nurture and groom them until they become productive researchers. However, evidence from the literature indicated that doctoral students in universities in Ogun state are experiencing low research productivity which poses a threat to the sustenance of scholarship and prosperity of the nation. Several studies have examined the research productivity of scholars and factors that are likely to enhance it. Some of these studies …

Information Literacy Skills Vis- A-Vis Information Utilization Of Students Of Polytechnics In South East Nigeria, Ndu Maria Ogonna Mrs, Ifeyinwa Blessing Okoye Dr, Agbagha Mercy Mma Miss

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This work examined the extent of information literacy skills of polytechnic students as regards to their information utilization on their academic work in southeast Nigeria .Three research questions guided the study. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study with the population of 398 from four polytechnics institutions in southeast Nigeria. Structured questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection and reliability of the study was established using conbach Alpha. Data collected was analyzed using arithmetic mean. From the analysis, a grand mean score of the extent students possess in information literacy skill points to the fact that students possess …

Academic Libraries And Writing Centers: Collaborations At Us Public Research Universities, Mary K. Bolin

School of Information Student Research Journal

The websites of 71 US research universities were the source of data on the relationship of academic libraries and campus writing centers, which provide support for developing written communication skills. All 71 institutions have writing centers, generally administered by the academic success operation, the English department, or a college such as arts and sciences. Just under half (n=35) of the institutions have a writing center located in the library. In 16 of those institutions, the library is the only location of the writing center. The general issues of academic success and “library as place,” as well as the space that …

Information Literacy Skills Influence On The Utilisation Of Electronic Information Resources Among Nigerian Students: Polytechnic Experience, Ganiyu Oluwaseyi Quadri, Sekinat Abiodun Alasa Mrs

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study investigates information literacy skills influence on EIR utilisation among two polytechnics students in South-west Nigeria. The descriptive research design was employed for this study and the population consisted of polytechnic students from The Polytechnic, Ibadan and Federal Polytechnic, Ede. There were 7610 students from both polytechnics. Simple random technique was employed with a sample fraction of 5% was drawn amounting to 381. The questionnaire was the main instrument used for data gathering and the questionnaire was pre-tested using Cronbach-alpha to determine the reliability co-efficient. Data collected was analyzed using SPSS and PPMC. It was found in the study …

Assessment Of Information Literacy And Fake News Identification Of Benguet State University Freshmen: Implications For Library Literacy Program, Daniel Jr Balbin

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The world is experiencing a rapid and massive spread of misinformation referred to as “infodemic” (WHO, 2020, cited by Salvi, et al., 2021). Despite information literacy had been a long-offered solution to information problems (Horton, 2007) and studies discovered that accurate identification of fake news was significantly associated with information literacy (Jones-Jang, et al., 2021), approaches to IL instruction must be updated and must adapt to the changing information society and environment (SCONUL, 2018; Rutledge and LeMire, 2017).

It aimed to determine the level of information literacy and fake news identification of the students. It also determined if there is …

Is “Just Googling It” Good Enough For First-Year Students?, Maureen Richards

Publications and Research

This study analyzes citations by first-year students to determine what content they were citing and whether it was available through the open web or the library. Examining the role of these two places as content providers for academic work fills a gap in the literature. Most of the cited works were available through the library and the open web. As the line between content providers continues to blur, these results can help academic libraries prioritize what to teach students about information literacy, where to focus collection development efforts and how to promote the discovery of library resources.

Information Literacy Skills Of Pre-Service Music Teachers, Edith Nwakaego Nwokenna, Ogechukwu Vivian Amanambu, Blessing Chisom Umeano, Frances Jumoke Oloidi

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Information literacy enables students to develop critical skills that will help them to become independent lifelong learners. The information literacy skills of pre-service music teachers from public and private tertiary institutions in Nigeria's southern region were assessed in this study. In this study, a survey research method was used. The study's population consisted of all pre-service music teachers in the region. Participants received an electronic copy of the researcher-created questionnaire. A total of 450 completed questionnaires were returned by participants. This study's data was analyzed in IBM SPSS. The finding of this study revealed that pre-service music teachers had moderate …

Student Research Journal, Volume 10, Issue 1, Student Reseach Journal

School of Information Student Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Information Privilege, Jessica Dai

2020 Library Immersion Program for Graduate Students

This discussion-based session will focus on the ways that access to information is dependent on status, power, and affiliation.

Innovation In The Teaching Reform Of Literature Retrieval Course For Postgraduates In The New Era, Shu-Qing Li, Jie Cao, Ling-Bo Liu

Journal of Scientific Information Research

[Purpose/significance] Literature retrieval course is of great positive significance for postgraduates to write academic papers and carry out scientific research. Based on summarizing a large number of relevant literature researches，this paper summarizes the relevant teaching reform contents in detail under the background of big data and mobile Internet，with a view to providing ideas and inspiration for the teaching reform and innovation of literature retrieval course for postgraduates in China.[Method/process]By means of literature research，this paper summarizes the current situation of the development of literature retrieval course for postgraduates in China，and analyses the teaching characteristics of literature retrieval course for postgraduate from …

Ischool Student Research Journal, Vol.9, Iss.2

School of Information Student Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Information Literacy At The Intersection Of Scholarly Communications And Social Justice, Sarah Appedu

All Musselman Library Staff Works

Undergraduate outreach about Open Access (OA) lies at the intersection of information literacy and Scholarly Communications. Reframing undergraduates as current and future scholars allows us to treat them as agents within the Scholarly Communications network. Students who have mastered fundamental research skills are prepared to view them through the critical lens of Scholarly Communications in order to learn both how to locate resources and how those resources are created. This educational approach highlights the various barriers scholars can face in the research process, as well as provides an awareness of information privilege.

This poster will provide a model for how …