The role of libraries in teaching doctoral students to become information-literate researchers

Ince, Sharon; Hoadley, Christopher; Kirschner, Paul A.

doi:10.1108/ils-07-2018-0058

Cited by 33 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Among others, this includes awareness for the importance of adequate language to describe concepts, the ability to formulate comprehensive, yet precise search strings and the skills to search the most suitable systems. Who teaches it? University libraries can play a key role in making emergent and established researchers and professionals search literate 46 . In times where fewer people visit physical libraries, more advice is required in the online realm.…”

Section: Improving Academic Searching—setting An Agenda and Calls To mentioning

confidence: 99%

What every researcher should know about searching – clarified concepts, search advice, and an agenda to improve finding in academia

Gusenbauer

Haddaway

2020

Research Synthesis Methods

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We researchers have taken searching for information for granted for far too long. The COVID‐19 pandemic shows us the boundaries of academic searching capabilities, both in terms of our know‐how and of the systems we have. With hundreds of studies published daily on COVID‐19, for example, we struggle to find, stay up‐to‐date, and synthesize information—all hampering evidence‐informed decision making. This COVID‐19 information crisis is indicative of the broader problem of information overloaded academic research. To improve our finding capabilities, we urgently need to improve how we search and the systems we use. We respond to Klopfenstein and Dampier (Res Syn Meth. 2020) who commented on our 2020 paper and proposed a way of improving PubMed's and Google Scholar's search functionalities. Our response puts their commentary in a larger frame and suggests how we can improve academic searching altogether. We urge that researchers need to understand that search skills require dedicated education and training. Better and more efficient searching requires an initial understanding of the different goals that define the way searching needs to be conducted. We explain the main types of searching that we academics routinely engage in; distinguishing lookup, exploratory, and systematic searching. These three types must be conducted using different search methods (heuristics) and using search systems with specific capabilities. To improve academic searching, we introduce the “Search Triangle” model emphasizing the importance of matching goals, heuristics, and systems. Further, we suggest an urgently needed agenda toward search literacy as the norm in academic research and fit‐for‐purpose search systems.

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Section: Improving Academic Searching—setting An Agenda and Calls To mentioning

confidence: 99%

What every researcher should know about searching – clarified concepts, search advice, and an agenda to improve finding in academia

Gusenbauer

Haddaway

2020

Research Synthesis Methods

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“…Because research supervisors' own practices may not fully embrace the newest shifts in the knowledge production and dissemination landscape, libraries play a critical role. Librarians are often the only professionals in this ecosystem whose role requires currency not only in information practices but also in shaping and providing access to the technical tools scholars use (Ince, 2019).…”

Section: Faculty Influence and The Role Of Librariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Information Literacies of PhD Students: A Hermeneutic Dialectic Study within the Health Sciences

Nylander

Hjort

2020

New Review of Academic Librarianship

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Doctoral studies offer a unique phase in the development and legitimisation of researchers, in which PhD students shift from consumption to production of knowledge. While literature exists concerning the information behaviour of graduate students and researchers, there is little work which focuses specifically on the information literacies of PhD students within the health sciences. To better understand this user group, we undertook a qualitative study at the Research School of Health and Welfare in J€ onk€ oping, Sweden. Twelve open-ended interviews with both PhD students and their supervisors were conducted and analysed according to a hermeneutic dialectic process. Findings revealed that the supervisors commonly assumed that PhD students already have necessary information literacy skills. Yet some of the students self-reported feeling uncertain when searching and getting 'stuck' with one strategy. Responses also indicated that the PhD students and their supervisors were often unaware of what services and support the library could provide.

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“…They identified information literacy competence which entails the ability, skills and knowledge of analysing, synthesizing, evaluating, using and disseminating information. Skills required by doctoral students for research and scholarly communication also include information communication technology skills (to be able to manage research workflow, share research and archive information), ability to determine effective ways of disseminating research findings and ability to conduct efficient literature searches (Ince et al, 2018; O’Malley and Delwiche, 2012).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conceptual framework for scholarly communication guidance by the academic library: The case of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

White

King

2020

Journal of Librarianship and Information Science

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This article seeks to give academic librarians insight and guidelines into the provision of an effective scholarly communication guidance to doctoral students. The findings of the study showed that doctoral students had not received much training and guidance on research and scholarly communication practices from their supervisors and academic librarians. The study adopted a case study research design with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) as the research site and sequential explanatory mixed method approach. A proposed scholarly communication guidance model to be used by the academic library is presented. The model proposes that scholarly communication guidance should be offered to doctoral students immediately they enrol for their programmes, throughout their research process, and finally when the research is completed since they are expected to conduct original research. The model will guide the drafting of policies and the academic library in developing tailor-made channels and contents for scholarly communication guidance to doctoral students. The study has contributed to the body of knowledge on scholarly communication guidance by the academic library to doctoral students as previous studies recorded in the literature pertains mostly to faculty and not to students – particularly doctoral students.

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The role of libraries in teaching doctoral students to become information-literate researchers

Cited by 33 publications

References 43 publications

What every researcher should know about searching – clarified concepts, search advice, and an agenda to improve finding in academia

What every researcher should know about searching – clarified concepts, search advice, and an agenda to improve finding in academia

Information Literacies of PhD Students: A Hermeneutic Dialectic Study within the Health Sciences

Conceptual framework for scholarly communication guidance by the academic library: The case of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

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