Information literacy perceptions and behaviour among history students

(Maria Pinto, 2012)

The problem statement of this research paper is that in the particular context of history students,
limited international studies have concentrated on Information literacy (IL), and none has been published
in Spain. Besides, earlier study has more focused on the objective compared to subjective standards
students need to reach in order to become literate individuals and unaware of any information literacy
survey specifically applied to history students. The main objective of this research is to discover Spanish
history students subjective perception of their information literacy (IL) status in order to find and suggest
some academic and individual improvement actions.
There are three research questions in this study. First, which are the perceived levels of
information literacy from historys students with regard to the different competencies of the IL-HUMASS
questionnaire? Second, which is the preferred learning habits concerning these competencies? Third, Can
this self-perceived status of historys students assist the policy makers and the instructors toward the best
planning and development of information literacy learning? Whereas the hypothesis of this study is there
exists some relationship between the dimensions of belief in importance and skills self-assessment.
Data were gathered primarily from students at these universities, but also from faculty and
librarians, although the present paper is concerned only with the student responses. The research, limited
to Spain, was concentrated on higher education within the field of History. The implementation of the ILHUMASS survey offers analytical data on two IL quantitative dimensions (belief in importance and skills
self-assessment) and a third qualitative dimension (learning habits) deployed along 26 variables, which
are grouped into four categories (search, evaluation, processing, and communication-dissemination of
information). The findings of this study affirms that variables identified with information processing most
importantly schematizing and abstracting information show high scores of acceptance in significance and
abilities self-appraisal among students. However, variables related to technological advances over all the
utilization of bibliographic reference managers demonstrate the most exceedingly poor results. There is
an absence of subjective digital literacy in a set of skills related to the technologies of search, processing
and communication of information. Amongst a smaller amount of valued skills, independent learning
reaches an excessive priority.
The significant contribution of this paper to the Library and Information Science (LIS) is that this
study is a pioneering study that approaches IL from a triple perspective which are belief in importance,
skills self-assessment, and learning habits. Thus, researcher can use this study as a reference and a
guideline for them to make a further research in this field as it has received little research attention.

Evaluation of e-learning course, Information Literacy, for medical students

(Jir Kratochvl, 2013)
The problem statement of this study is that the author of this article, who works at one of the
library at the Masaryk University (MU), Czech Republic, is conscious of the information literacy
essentials. This is because in 2008 Information Education and Information Literacy Working Group
(IVIG) have issued the information literacy strategy for the Czech universities (ALCU, 2008) which is
based on the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. Masaryk University
Campus Library (MUCL) has offered the course Information literacy (VSIV021) as an e-learning course
for medical students at Faculty of Medicine (FM). The main purpose of this article is to describe and to
evaluate the results of evaluation of the e-learning course, Information Literacy, which is taught by the
librarians at the Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University.
In this study there are no research questions that are been provided. However there are five main
hypotheses that are being mentioned in this study which are first, Medical students are satisfied with the
e-learning form of VSIV021 because of the flexibility of time and space, the interactive character of the
study materials etc. Second, the tasks, training and gradual accessing of the study materials are the main
motivation factors for students continuous learning. Third, obtaining credits and learning to work with
information were the main motivation factors behind the students enrolling in the course. Fourth, Medical
students are satisfied with the topics taught. Fifth, all tasks were found to be beneficial.
The medical students who registered on the course between autumn 2008 and autumn 2010 were
asked to fill the questionnaire designed in Google Documents and based on the quantitative method,
including a five-point Likert scale combined with closed and open ended questions. The findings show
that the students are satisfied with the Information Literacy e-learning course. Majority of the students
were pleased with the topic that are being taught such as methodology of searching in the databases Web
of Science, Scopus and medical databases, using EndNoteWeb and citation style ISO 690. Moreover,
searching in online databases, working with EndNoteWeb or find a journal impact factor has been rated as
advantageous.
The significant contribution of this paper to the Library and Information Science (LIS) is that the
paper explains one of the first involvements with the e-learning course Information Literacy for medical
students in the Masaryk University, Czech Republic. The outcomes and its argument can assist other
librarians in preparing a similar e-learning course in planning the conception of their course. Besides,
researcher also can use this study as a reference and a guideline for them to make a further research in this
field.