Information literacy strategy development in higher education: An exploratory study

Abstract

Information literacy (IL) is recognised internationally as an essential competence for participation in education, employment and society. Communities and organisations need strategies to ensure their members are efficient and effective information users. An investigation of formal IL strategies in UK universities was initiated to examine their content and presentation. The study breaks new ground in undertaking an in-depth qualitative analysis of 10 institutional cases, evaluating IL practice from a strategic management perspective and discussing how corporate strategy concepts and models could increase effectiveness in this emerging area of professional practice. Its insights and suggestions contribute to the development of IL and related strategies at both conceptual and practical levels.The study found that all the strategies aimed to integrate IL into subject curricula by engaging stakeholders in collaborative partnerships. Common approaches included the adoption of professional standards and development of new methods of delivery, including e-learning. The majority of strategies covered IL of academic and other staff in addition to students. Most strategy documents provided extensive contextualisation, demonstrating the relevance of IL to corporate concerns; many included case studies of good practice. Few documents conformed to strategic planning norms: none provided mission or vision statements and several contained poorly specified objectives. The study concluded that corporate strategy tools, such as stakeholder mapping, portfolio analysis and customisation models, could strengthen IL strategies. Future research could test the use of such analytical techniques to advance IL strategies in higher education and other sectors. r

Learning strategies and motivational factors predicting information literacy self-efficacy of e-learners

“…Therefore, in higher education, instructors should give their lectures, develop methods and arrange curricula in a manner that students acquire those skills (Feast, 2003). As access to information becomes easier and less expensive, the skills and competencies relating to the selection and efficient use of information become more crucial (Corrall, 2008).…”

“…Therefore, in higher education, instructors should give their lectures, develop methods and arrange curricula in a manner that students acquire those skills (Feast, 2003). As access to information becomes easier and less expensive, the skills and competencies relating to the selection and efficient use of information become more crucial (Corrall, 2008)."Information literacy is a survival skill in the information age", say Breivik & Gee (1989, p. 12), and should help keep one from "drowning in the abundance of information" that floods our lives. It is not only important in the workplace but also in personal life.…”

Designing Libraries for Research Collaboration in the Network World: An Exploratory Study

“…1 The use of websites and web-based documents as sources of data and objects of analysis has been recognized as an appropriate method of investigation for contemporary researchers, particularly in relation to organizational research (Bryman, 2004). Previous studies have used this type of Internet-based research to investigate library strategy documents, either as the sole method of data collection (Corrall, 2007;Pacios, 2004), or as the first phase of a multi-method study (Aldrich, 2007;Corrall, 2008;McNicol, 2005).…”

A Strategic Approach to Curriculum Design for Information Literacy in Teacher Education – Implementing an Information Literacy Conceptual Framework

“…This approach acknowledges and articulates the importance of IL and related skills for the learning experience of higher education students by making them more visible within student learning as attributes that are required by graduates (Barrie, 2007;Corrall, 2008;George et al, 2001;Shapiro & Hughes, 2996). Regrettably, the most common practice in making IL more visible in students learning has been and is currently the ground up approach, which involves librarians working with individual faculty teaching staff to deliver IL instruction within isolated units of study (Badke, 2008;Cochrane, 2006;Cox & VanderPol, 2004;Farber, 1999;Hearn, 2005;Jacobson & Mark, 2000).…”