The aim of this research is to develop and validate a scale for the evaluation of medical students’ information literacy self-efficacy beliefs, as this plays a crucial role in the development of lifelong learning objectives. Curriculum developers and medical educators need to have a good understanding of information literacy in order to decide when specific support and training should be integrated in the curricula. The use of a trustworthy, user-friendly tool in a large population able to detect different aspects of students’ information literacy self-efficacy beliefs could help to evaluate an entire curriculum. A 5-factor model was developed and validated within a 6-year medical curriculum (n=1252). Internal consistency of the subscales was high (α: 0.845-0.930). In conclusion, the Information Literacy Self-Efficacy Scale for Medicine (ILSES-M) could be an added value for evaluating medical students’ information literacy self-efficacy beliefs. Furthermore, it could form the basis for curriculum development as well as a guideline for critical curriculum reflection.

This article is part of a new series in this regular feature. The series intend to serve as a road map by sharing expertise and drawing together trends that are relevant to both health science librarians and health informatics professionals. The present article is a collaboration of six medical and health sciences libraries in Belgium and the Flemish library and archive association (VVBAD, n.d., https://www.vvbad.be/). It aims to elucidate the extended, user‐tailored approach provided by medical and health sciences libraries in Belgium motivated by the recent changes in user expectations and behaviour.

A study was conducted of all medical students (n=1253) in the five first years of the medical curriculum of Ghent University. The study focused on the effect of learning in a medical undergraduate curriculum, in relation to the results of information literacy self-efficacy (ILSE) beliefs and information literacy skills. All students were invited to participate in an ILSE questionnaire and a progress test of information literacy (PTIL). Mean scores of ILSE and PTIL were evaluated. Spearman correlation was used to evaluate the consistency between ILSE and PTIL. Our findings indicate that the PTIL did not further increase after the second year, while the ILSE beliefs did. This brings us to the conclusion that information literacy training should be boosted throughout the entire curriculum.

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