Information literacy/user instruction

Introduction

 Health Sciences specialized libraries traditionally deal with several information sources for a group of specialists and experts. As the importance of information for the nonprofessional and lay people grows, blogs appear as an useful resource for health communication to the general public. This work aimed to analyze a serie of six posts from a Brazilian blog focused in health, called Ecce Medicus (http://scienceblogs.com.br/eccemedicus), enlightening on the A H1N1 Influenza Vaccine during the official national campaign in 2010, in order to verify the most frequent doubts from internet users on the vaccine, investigating their needs of health information.

Methods

The analysis was performed by a text mining in the comments into the Ecce Medicus’ six posts on the A H1N1 Influenza Vaccine, quantifying the incidences of words indicative of doubt (1), which allowed the segmentation of the internet users’ most frequent doubts in categories. The results were treated and the software NetDraw (2) was used for grouping the sample’s categories.

Results

The six posts have got 486 comments in total. The blogger’s responses to comments were excluded, resulting in a sample of 388 messages with 78 frequent relevant terms, which categorized by similarity resulted in 8 more evident categories: Vaccine and Alcohol; Vaccine and Components; Vaccine and Children; Vaccine and Dosing; Vaccine and Collateral Effects; Vaccine and Pregnancy; Vaccine and Quality; Vaccine and Fear. The analysis in the incidence of terms (total n=792) through networks of meanings allowed to visualize graphically the most relevant categories, indicating that Vaccine and Children (n=157), Vaccine and Alcohol (n=133) and Vaccine and Collateral Effects (n=131) have leaded the doubts about the A H1N1 Influenza Vaccine.

Discussion and Conclusion

These posts reached high flow in access and in number of comments, showing that the interactivity of the blog tools facilitate communication and encourages the lay public to manifest itself and interact. The analysis of comments showed many doubts about the vaccine, and the grouping of terms by relevance highlighted the categories which raised more questions, with Vaccine and Children, Vaccine and Alcohol and Vaccine and Collateral Effects leading in number of terms occurrences. This approach enlightens the internet blogs as useful tools for searching about health information by the lay public, indicating that the official health campaigns should reinforce their strategies to disseminate health information in a simple and understandable way to the general public, in order to inform and influence individual and community decisions that improve health. Also, Health libraries should consider these new sources of information, expanding the options for the lay public.

INTRODUCTION

Information Literacy (IL) teaching has been remodelled in Viikki Campus Library (part of the Helsinki University Library) from the Autumn term 2010. A follow up study started in August 2011 among the 1^st year students of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. In this paper, we present how Active Learning  method was applied to the orientation phase of the curriculum.

OBJECTIVES

We improved the Information Literacy training in Viikki Campus Library by adding the elements of the Active Learning practices into IL training, which is embedded in the curriculum of veterinary education. The program starts on the orientation week in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. The ICT Driving Licence study material includes a module called “Seeking information”; it is taught by the liaison librarian of veterinary medicine. The degree programme in Veterinary Medicine comprises a three-year Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and the students prepare a small written essay or article during their second year.

The students do information seeking exercises using their own topics given by the teachers. Thus the procedure of scientific literature search is guided by both the librarian and the teacher.

Like the other students of the Campus of Life Sciences the veterinary students participate in the library instruction course in the Viikki Campus Library during their orientation week. In the fall of 2011, for the second time, the introduction course was an activating one, i.e. the students followed an orienteering track in the library premises and collections with a questionnaire. The veterinary students were also given a feedback form. On the basis of this data, the Library evaluates its processes and developing new methods for IL training.

METHODS

In the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine there are early ca. 70 new students. Nearly half of them have studied two or more years in the University, some even have academic degrees. Some have years of experience in veterinary practices. The heterogeneity of the group challenges the Library in its IL training: how to keep all the students motivated in learning information seeking.

The orientation track described in our previous presentation in 2011 is one answer. The active learning method lets the students to choose a suitable way to study the use of the academic library. During the track, the support to find the answers was available all the time.

The questions 1-6 of the orientation track were common to all the students; questions 6.a-c and Feedback P1-P3 was gathered from every veterinary student.

Questions:

1.      What is Helka? (Checkpoint 1.)

2.      Where do you find course books? (Checkpoint 2.)

3.      Where can you get help for IT problems? (Checkpoint 3.)

4.      At the ”New journals” area look for a journal that interests you.
Which journal did you choose? (Checkpoint 4.)

5.      How do you book a group work room? (Checkpoint 5.)

6.      What do you find at the library’s top floor (4^th)? (Checkpoint 6.)

6.a. Find shelf  classifications  619 – 619:618. What did you found? Give one example of the title :

6.b. In which class do you find the books of anatomy ? (4th Floor)

6.c. In which class do you find the books of physiology ? (4th Floor)?

Congratulations! You found all the  checkpoints.

 Feedback:

P1 Was the track  (  ) easy  (  ) difficult?

P2 Would you have preferred making the library tour with a guide ? (  ) yes  (  ) no

P3 Other comments and suggestions :

RESULTS

The hypothetical result was that the students would easily find the veterinary textbooks from the classified shelves, but the library classification appeared differently to the new students. Without prejudices, they found different shelf classes – a lesson to the librarians how browsing can be made possible in many ways. The majority of the student preferred the orientation track to the traditional librarian-led tour, but some of them wished, however,  to hear the guide’s voice.

The results give a very positive outlook for the future courses. The library became visible and useful source for learning material, as well as a good meeting point of other students. Apparently this method or a similar one could be used in following IL training.

DISCUSSION:

In veterinary education, the Active Learning method has been used e.g. in teaching pathology: case discussions enhance students’ understanding of important concepts by demonstration of practical applications and generate strong interest in learning the subject matter.  Veterinary students’ learning styles are active, visual and they prefer to process information when engaged in physical activity or discussion. They prefer to learn with understanding, i.e. meaningful learning, to achieve a level of scientific knowledge to solve problems relevant to the disciplines being studied.

A lot of feed-back is gathered during the six-year curriculum of the veterinary student and the library may use these results, too. The faculty is awarded many times of its quality processes. The IL teaching embedded in the curriculum is one way to add quality in the learning process of a veterinary student.

The idea of learning by doing and solving problems using library resources seems to be fruitful in veterinary science; the academic studies intent to prepare students to become veterinary practitioners. In practice the evidence based veterinary medicine requires the good skills of information seeking.

According to the results of feedback questionnaires, the library will continue in the way started in 2010: active learning is useful in library education and could be applied in other courses. Feedback gathered from the veterinary students will also continue to get data comparative to earlier queries.

Introduction

Information professionals are highly experienced in locating and handling information. However, the students, researchers and clinicians we support are often still developing these skills, and it is easy for information professionals to forget what it is like to be on the other side of this threshold of expertise. (1) In order to better support our communities, it is important to have insight into their perceptions and experiences of handling information. This study draws on interviews of researchers’ experiences of conducting large literature reviews, in which the study subjects used metaphorical language in discussing their experiences of handling information.

Metaphorical language has been studied this context before: prior research indicates that ‘novice searchers’ who have coherent metaphors or analogous mental models of the literature search process, despite unfamiliarity with computer-based search processes, may be more likely to report their searches as successful. (2) However, it is not the intention of this study to try to make handling information somehow less arduous for researchers by imposing metaphors on them. The primary reason for analysing personal metaphors is that they may be valuable in arriving at a more meaningful understanding of others’ perspectives. (3)

Objectives

This study had several aims: to better understand novice researchers’ approaches to and experiences of information handling as part of research-related use of literature through the metaphors they use to frame their work; to test the acceptability of users’ personal metaphors to information professionals; to pilot the research methods in preparation for a larger study.

Methods

Three semi-structured interviews of researchers were conducted: one masters student (business studies), one doctoral student (education), and one established academic (veterinary medicine). The interviews were transcribed and coded for metaphorical phrases. The metaphorical phrases were extracted and used as the topic of discussion in a focus group of three academic liaison librarians covering several different disciplines (arts, education, health sciences, law, physical sciences). During the focus group, the researcher metaphorical phrases were tested for meaningfulness, whether any were already used, or whether the librarians felt they could incorporate any new ones into their own teaching.

Results

The researchers used a variety of metaphorical phrases that can be loosely grouped into being about the processes, purposes and experiences of using information and sources (including affect) as part of their research. As part of testing meaningfulness, the librarians were asked to choose among the metaphorical phrases and match them against the SCONUL pillars of information literacy. (4) The librarians reported little difficulty in matching the phrases to the pillars, and also noted in discussion that often a single phrase could fit against more than one pillar. There were differences in interpretations of meaning, and some of the metaphors only became meaningful to one or two of the librarians during the course of the discussion. Only a small proportion of the metaphors were identified as already used by the librarians, and few were identified as metaphors that the librarians would use themselves. There was a reluctance to use metaphors that did not feel ‘natural’.

Discussion

The researchers used a wide variety of metaphorical phrases about process (immerse yourself, keeping my eye open), purpose (ladder, skeleton) and experiences (winding path, roller-coaster). The librarians observed similarity of expression between researchers, for example, the process of gathering and assimilating the literature being like ‘swimming around’ and having ‘kind of clear path’ and interpreted some phrases as indicating strong (or weak) planning skills. The SCONUL pillars were familiar to the focus group participants as ways of conceptualising process and skills of handling information. In general, the researchers’ metaphorical phrases were not difficult to match to the pillars, though it was observed that the phrases could be mapped equally to different pillars and that sometimes a single phrase combined different pillars, articulated in the discussion as implying a simultaneous set of activities or processes.  Correlation in matching against the SCONUL pillars by the focus group participants was not measured - what is more important than correlation of interpretations is whether the researchers’ personal metaphors gave the librarians new insight into the experiences of handling information. On the basis that one of the expressions caused ‘shock’ to the librarians, and that a few were identified illuminating but previously unused, it may be argued that the interview extracts did give the focus group participants new understanding. One limitation of the study is that it is difficult to say whether the researchers' statements themselves, regardless of any metaphorical language, gave these insights - or whether the metaphorical phrases were particularly helpful in giving the librarians perspectives from the other side of a threshold.

Introduction

Information Behaviour research shows that people is often unaware of their information needs (i.e. dormant information needs). They do not attempt to seek information, because they do not realise a gap between what they know and what they need to know. (Case, 2012; Fourie, 2008).

Purpose of paper

The paper intends to suggest ways of raising awareness for dormant information needs: first by recognising that this often happens, and secondly by considering various means of addressing this.

Brief review of gaps, information needs, and stakeholders’ awareness

Gaps can be on the level of factual knowledge (cognitive information needs) such as knowing about cancer genetics or side effects of diseases or treatments, or the danger of combining treatments; emotional knowledge such as coping, adapting and grieving (affective information needs), and physical knowledge such as stress-relief and adjusting to the loss of a body part (psychomotor knowledge).

Healthcare professionals are not always aware of their patients’ information needs (Fourie, 2008). In communicating with patients/families and in providing information they are influenced by their training and perceptions of what patients/families should know and how such information should be shared. There are thus a number of problems: (1) patients/families do not always realise a gap in their knowledge and that they need information; thus they do not ask questions or seek information; (2) healthcare providers do not always realise that patients/family members do not recognise gaps in their knowledge and thus do not ask questions; (3) healthcare providers do not always realise that their provision of information may not stimulate and enable patients/families to recognise what they need to know; (4) patients/family members do not always realise that their ability to recognise information needs may differ for each person, and that this can be turned into a benefit (Clayton, Butow & Tattersall, 2005; Fourie, 2008). More detail can be offered by a content analysis of literature on the information needs of patients/families as well as the awareness of healthcare professionals on patients information needs. The paper will focus on breast cancer. Such evidence should be sufficient to support the perception that healthcare professionals depend too much on patients’ and families’ abilities to ask questions and their awareness of needs (Fourie, 2008).

Information literacy training

Information literacy training for healthcare providers as well as patients/families can address problems such as not recognising information needs. It can raise awareness for the fact that recognition of a need for information is a pre-requisite for asking questions, and that means need to be identified to avoid dormant and unrecognised information needs in healthcare contexts – as far as possible. In fact, it needs to raise awareness for the need to guide people in recognising knowledge gaps, and thus needs for information.

In information literacy training it is standard to stress the ability to recognise a problem and the need for information (i.e. realising the gap between what is known and what needs to be known). People are advised to describe a problem in terms of a question or statement, then to identify the main concepts and keywords and how to combine these, then selecting appropriate information resources and search strategies to explore these, etc. If people do not realise a problem or a gap in their knowledge, none of these can materialise.

Apart from healthcare professionals not always admitting patients’ and families inability to recognise their information needs and to express this clearly, they often are unable to recognise their own needs for information, and may experience many barriers in honing their own information skills. This is also evident from a report by Fourie and Claasen-Veldsman (2011) where they report on nurses expressing deep concern for the suffering of patients and patients’ interest in using the Internet, but not linking this to needs for information on supporting patients in using the Internet appropriately to find information.

Suggestions on means to raise awareness of information needs

Various means can be used to raise awareness of information needs such as browsing resources such as websites and encountering information, as well as abbreviated visual means of sharing information. Examples will be offered of what can be noted with regard to breast cancer when considering: browsing recommended websites, using mind maps, visualisation as abbreviated resources of information, narratives of other people’s experiences, fiction e.g. as in stories, movies and popular TV programmes, content analysis of blogs, and patients’ discussion lists.

Conclusion

Serious complaints are raised about patients’ and families’ information needs that are not met. One reason is their inability to recognise such needs and to adequately explain these. Information literacy programs should prepare healthcare professionals to be alert to this problem and to explore all possible means to raise patients’ and families’ awareness of their needs, and especially situations where information may help them. This should also feature in any attempts of patient education and in communication with patients/families.

Abstract

The FMUL Central Library, has always played a role at the Faculty, as a key element in the support of education-related activities.  Although user training has always been part of library competencies, it is now an emerging area, representing one of the main and most important performance strategies, especially in the current context of Bologna process. The main objective of this project, developed in the context of a Master of Library and Information Sciences, was to restructure the existing training program, by the use of  Web tools promoting distance education.  A brief review of the literature, and a quantitative analysis of the Portuguese situation regarding the training of users in Portuguese health academic libraries has been done. The results show that the integration of this type of training in the academic curriculum is already happening in some cases. However, there are still some barriers to overcome, such as the poor perception of the library and librarians major role, in the faculty environment.

Introduction

The new learning environment promoted by Bologna, presents new challenges that libraries and librarians should look at as potential opportunities to reinforce their role. The autonomy that is required by the new teaching model for students, causes them to approach the library (physical or virtual), looking for updated information, and to develop skills to interpret assignments, conceptualize topics, devise search strategies, and evaluate retrieval content. Academic librarians have the background and knowledge to provide that support, getting in the front line developing of information literacy programs, and slowly incorporating it as an academic discipline in the curricula.

More than accept the challenge,  we believe librarians have to be entrepreneurial in developing user training programs with the increasingly collaborative learning models which know no physical boundaries.

Objectives

The project we propose is quit relevant to  main competency of the reference service which is user support. The reference service had to adjust to a new kind of users, with new kinds of needs, mostly related to quick access to relevant information and updated resources. On this basis, more than providing information access, our user training program will give users the skills they need to manage their learning process. In order to satisfy user’s needs, and to empower their autonomy, the User Training Program, main goal is to restructure and reorganize the existing program, adopting distance learning options. New areas were created on the web site (htpp://www.biblioteca.fm.ul.pt) and on the UL e-learning platform (http://elearning.ul.pt), for better user support. In this context, to support teaching, learning and research needs, the project must:

• Have a procedure manual;
• Have a quality management system;
• Plan, develop or adapt training materials, specific modules and tutorials;
• Set an annual training calendar;
• Develop an Information Literacy module in the e-learning platform of UL (Moodle);
• Develop a new tab in the Library homepage, to promote and support Information Literacy training;
• Develop a marketing strategy to promote this new service / area;
• Reinforce the trainers team and their competences;
• Establish and strengthen partnerships with other units of FMUL, involved on the learning process;
• Develop a Bench Learning platform with other health academic libraries to share training materials.

The project development and implementation should be complete until September 2012. Most of all, it is our ambition that this work becomes a support base to further integration of information literacy training programs in the academic curriculum of FMUL.

Methods

A review of Portuguese and international  literature has been made, including articles published in the last ten years, however, due to its importance, some bibliography published before the defined period, was included too. The intention of the review was to find guidelines, best practices and models which could be adapted to our needs.

In addition to this method of investigation, to reinforce or change our empirical view, a quantitative analysis of the Portuguese situation has been done, running an online survey through the platform Monkey Survey http://pt.surveymonkey.net/, regarding the training of users in Portuguese health academic libraries. More than analyzing the results for each particular library, our goal was to get a general view of Portuguese reality concerning information literacy projects. Ten basic questions were sent in an anonymous questionnaire to 35 Portuguese academic health libraries (66% of which responded).

Results / Conclusions

The results obtained from the questionnaire help us on developing the project, by knowing similar programs implemented in Portugal, and complemented  our knowledge of the state of the art worldwide obtained from our own study of the literature on the subject. In the Portuguese case, the few studies that we found were related to academic libraries in general, and not specifically to health libraries.

Thus, it should be noted that, although our investigation did not explore all possible areas of research and focused only on basic questions, it still reveals the current situation, in which the asymmetry of the different attitudes toward the problem is evident. The “no answers” section, with 34% of the answers, may indicate a lack of conscience that still exists about how important is this area.

On the other hand, 91% of those who answered, state user training programs as very important (Table 1), and for 78% it is a way of enhancing the quality of university education, and to promoting the image of academic libraries and librarians.

About integration of information literacy training programs in the academic curricula, there was only one answer. However, it is known that in some cases (30%) there is collaborative work between librarians and teachers, concerning the curricula planning and development. Thereby, the advantages of this kind of support / partnership are starting to be recognized, reinforcing education quality, and mostly investing in student’s empowerment.

Concerning the adopted teaching models, the most frequent is still the traditional in class model, with 94.7% of responses, but there is also a tendency for the adoption of e-learning (15.8%), although one should not replace the other. The blended learning option, was not checked, but we believe this teaching methodology will be widely implemented, combining classroom teaching and distance learning, overcoming the image of the “lonely learner” associated with e-learning. As reinforcement of the questionnaire, some telephone calls were made to some of the libraries involved, to check the attitude and experience of other librarians regarding the development of projects in this area. There is  clear awareness of the importance of developing user training programs, but in some cases there are still some barriers to overcome, like the poor perception of the value of libraries and librarians in the university environment.

Although much of the literature reviewed, reflects the existence of a pronounced gap between the Portuguese reality and that of other countries, in which we find most of the published works and implemented projects, the situation tends to change. There is now a real effort to integrate information literacy in the academic curricula, and some Portuguese academic libraries (74% of responses) are already developing valuable projects (Figure 1), which is a strong motivation to other libraries to follow this path.