María Pinto

Design of the IL-HUMASS survey on information literacy in higher education: A self-assessment approach

The IL-HUMASS survey on information literacy has been designed, based on and aimed to be applied to a population of students, teachers and librarians holding various degrees in social sciences and humanities at Spanish and Portuguese universities. The case-study method, experts’ opinions, and a literature review were used to prepare an initial version that was refined through student focus groups, interviews with librarians, and academics’ reports. A final version contained 26 items grouped into four categories (information search, assessment, processing and communication/dissemination) and three self-reporting dimensions (motivation, self-efficacy and favourite source of learning). The self-reporting nature of the IL-HUMASS survey involves a self-assessment approach that has until now been proposed rarely and only in a limited way. This will enable a better understanding of user groups through a mixed analysis including two quantitative dimensions (motivation and self-efficacy) and one qualitative dimension (the preferred source of learning).

Thirty Years of Information Literacy (1977-2007): A Terminological, Conceptual and Statistical Analysis

Over the last three decades, promotion of information literacy has become one of the main goals of librarians and academics. As the emergence of information technologies has raised new challenges and roles for users, information literacy has shifted from the concept of simple training to the provision of the skills and competencies that are critical to the improved use of information. A terminological, conceptual and statistical analysis of the main subjects related to information literacy, as well as its evolution over the last 30 years, is provided with the aim of illustrating how information literacy has been progressively incorporated into the library and academic fields.

A research case study for user-centred information literacy instruction: information behaviour of translation trainees

From the vantage point of user studies and information literacy studies, an empirical case-study has been carried out (at the Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain) in order to establish a diagnosis of the information behaviour of translation students. It is hoped that this study will serve as a basis for the design and subsequent implementation of programmes of instruction (within the paradigm of information literacy) specific to this interdisciplinary field. The study is located within the qualitative paradigm (using techniques including expert panel and semi-structured questionnaires to obtain direct data from the student body). Also employed are quantitative techniques for the descriptive statistical treatment of the data collected via the questionnaire, but at all events the perspective of the analysis is qualitative. All in all, a positive evolution is identified within the student group (from first to second cycle) as regards the successful acquisition of information skills. The study highlights the progress registered by the translation students in their information competence and the resultant conceptualization: a development from knowledge towards strategy and lifelong learning.

Measuring students' information skills through concept mapping

This paper seeks to develop a methodology that will discover, specify and measure students’ abilities and skills in creating concept maps. Because competencies are the key factor in higher education, the paper analyzes the role of concept maps as a tool to diagnose and improve information analysis, synthesis, organization and representation skills and competencies. We propose a methodology that enables these skills to be evaluated by observing, analyzing and measuring the stages involved in creating a concept map: identification of the main and secondary subjects; subject codification by concepts; grading of concepts; and representation of the concepts and their relationships with labels. A case study using action research methodology tests its usefulness on a group of university students of library and information science. The method proposed provides information on the strengths and weaknesses of the students’ skills, thus enabling their training to be improved by means of specific actions.

Uncovering information literacy’s disciplinary differences through students’ attitudes: An empirical study

This paper uses a self-assessment questionnaire (IL-HUMASS) with a wide sample of university students. The questionnaire puts forward a scale of attitudes that aim to measure ‘belief in importance’ and ‘skills self-assessment’ regarding diverse information competences. We use a group of 26 information sub-competences gathered in four categories (searching, evaluation, processing and communication-dissemination). The results show some considerable differences in these categories when statistically comparing 17 university degrees related to five branches of knowledge. It is proved that attitudes appreciably vary between branches, in reverse relation to the interdisciplinary differences we have found. An improvement regarding students’ informational attitudes will help reduce the interdisciplinary differences. The results of this study suggest the feasibility of shared training actions for some information competences in the branches of Sciences, Engineering & Architecture, and Health Sciences. The branches of Arts & Humanities and Social & Legal Sciences show considerable widespread attitudinal differences that advise against that shared training.

Virtual references services: defining the criteria and indicators to evaluate them

Purpose – This paper aims to analyse the common features of the virtual reference services provided by European and American libraries in order to evaluate the service from the users perspective, taking into account the potential of Web 2.0 applications.Design/methodology/approach – This research adopts a quantitative approach, to contribute to better understanding of the problems currently facing virtual reference services and offers solutions to them. The study also combines qualitative methodologies.Findings – The study reports that virtual reference services in university communities have not changed significantly since they first appeared, and highlights the need to incorporate new technologies.Originality/value – The paper draws attention to certain features of virtual reference services that are undervalued or have not attracted research interest, and calls for a technological shift in the services provided to users from the academic communities involved in this study.

The role of information competencies and skills in learning to abstract

The ability to abstract information is a basic competency in todays knowledge society, characterized by the mass diffusion of information and the need to manage and access it effectively. Yet abstracting is not an easy task, and requires a specific learning process. This paper examines the process of abstracting information from the perspective of competencies and skills-based learning of students of information and documentation. The competencies and skills necessary in this process, which are drawn from European sources on library science and documentation, are identified by analysing in detail the various stages and processes involved in writing an abstract. The general skills required for the whole process, as well as the specific skills for each stage, are determined. Guidelines and recommendations are put forward to facilitate the learning of these skills in the context of abstracting.

Towards User-centred Information Literacy Instruction in Translation

Abstract This paper is part of a broader research project currently in progress, the main goal of which is to provide translators and interpreters with a solid grounding in information literacy. To this end, the broader project attempts to describe students’ conceptions of information needs, search and use (that is, their information behaviour), and also the views of both the community of translator trainers and the community of professional translators and interpreters. The results analyzed here provide the view of trainers, by means of a qualitative case study (using a semi-structured questionnaire for data gathering). They highlight the strengths and weaknesses indicated by the translator trainers regarding students’ actual information competences and the importance of each in their overall training needs. It is hoped that these results, when fully complemented with the views of students and the profession, will provide a more sound, more empirically-grounded basis on which to build efficient syllabuses, and teaching and learning practices for information literacy in translator training.

Viewing information literacy concepts: a comparison of two branches of knowledge

An integrative approach is taken to mapping the field of research on information literacy in health sciences and social sciences. The objective was to identify the conceptual structure of these areas, and to determine their main research fronts and descriptors, and the relationships between them. A further objective is to determine whether information literacy is a consistent area. The basis of the study is the use of the program VOSViewer to analyse the co-occurrence of the areas’ descriptors, grouping them into clusters and generating a map of their connections. Information retrieval was by retrospective searches of the Web of Science (Thomson Reuters) and Scopus (Elsevier). The results for the health sciences area yielded four clusters. The centralmost descriptor was Education (with a total link strength of 1,470), which was strongly linked to the descriptor “Information retrieval”, and weakly linked to “Information skills”, “Information seeking”, and “Information Science”. In social sciences, there were six clusters. “Information literacy” was now the descriptor with most occurrences (812) as well as having the greatest weight—a total link strength of 2,340—followed by “Education” with 839 occurrences. The resulting maps provide a graphical identification of the main research issues and trends in information literacy in these two areas of expertise which, according to the data of the present study, correspond to lesser (health sciences) and greater (social sciences) scientific production. Information literacy was seen to be conceptually more consistent in health sciences than in social sciences. However, at least for the moment, it is a still growing conceptual space that is in need of solider indices of consistency and specificity.

Insights into translation students' information literacy using the IL-HUMASS survey

In the context of information literacy studies, the research put forward in this paper is focused on the individual and subjective levels of motivation and self-efficacy, together with the sources of learning used by a population of translation students from three Spanish universities. The data were collected by means of the self-evaluating and specific IL-HUMASS survey, and are analysed using a mixed (quantitative and qualitative) case study methodology. From the 26 variables of the survey, the most and least consistent and important ones with regard to motivation and self-efficacy are detected. In general, central tendency scores regarding motivation and self-efficacy increase as respondents advance academically. The most striking opportunities for improvement emerged in relation to the following issues: using bibliographic reference managers, knowing the laws on the use of information, using database managers and communicating in other languages. The surveyed population prefer autonomous learning, with the library being a much underused source of learning.