Subramanyam Revisited: Creating a New Model for Information Literacy Instruction

Abstract

Krishna Subramanyam arranged scientific and technical literature in a circular model in the 1970s. As a pedagogical construct, the circle con ceptualizes the processes of producing and consuming information. Al though more than twenty years old, the model is still valid. Can it be adapted to help undergraduate students of today's information literacy curriculum understand the structure of the information they need to be able to use to succeed as students and as professionals? This paper presents the model, the revision, and its application to the information literacy curriculum for engineering and technology students. In this model, information produced as part of the re search and development process devel ops clockwise around the circle. Indi viduals move counterclockwise around the same circle to consume information products or to conduct research. This fea ture makes it ideal to use in designing information literacy instruction. Subramanyam's model has been used by science and engineering librarians to provide a framework for designing bib liographic instruction for years. Al though the book and the encyclopedia articles it sprang from have been widely cited, no one has revisited the model or described its use or application to bib liographic instruction. This paper describes the original model and the revision used as a model for undergraduate instruction for engi neering technology students. It addresses the importance of fitting the instruction to the audience and the adaptability of the model itself.There are other models of the literature of science and technology (for example, those presented by R. T. Bottle, Brian Vickery, and William D. Garvey), but these linear models are not as useful as Subramanyam's circular model.

The role of electronic preprints in chemical communication: Analysis of citation, usage, and acceptance in the journal literature

“…On its route to the journal, the research may be communicated in many other forms, including conference proceedings, technical reports, and preprints (Garvey, Lin, & Tomita, 1979;Subramanyam, 1979). Recently, models of scientific communication have been updated to include electronic submission of manuscripts, virtual conferences, e-mail, and on-line journal publication (Curl, 2001;Hurd, 1996;Tenopir & King, 2000). In fact, electronic preprints, primarily those from the server at Los Alamos National Laboratory (http://xxx.lanl.gov) and Stanford Public Information Retrieval System's database of high-energy particle physics literature (http://www.slac.…”

Toward a unified theory of business information

“…An early attempt to model the flow of information was Krishna Subramanyam's model of the evolution of scientific information designed (Subramanyam, 1981) and then subsequently revisited by Curl (2001). The original model showed the changing type of information while an inner circle tracked the passage of time.…”

Embedding Lifelong Learning Skills into a First-Year Engineering Course through Introduction of an Independent Research Project and Information Literacy Skills

“…Information literacy instruction and engineering students. Curl [16] outlines a model for IL instruction that gives a nod to Krishna Subramanyam"s circular model of scientific and technical literature production and consumption from the 1970s, and adapts it to the realities of engineering students" curricular and future professional needs. The goal of IL instruction for engineering students must be, in her view, the production of information-savvy professionals, Page 22.555.6…”