Student Information Search Skills and Help Acquisition
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Transcript of Student Information Search Skills and Help Acquisition
Student Information Search Skills and Help AcquisitionDifferences Across Three Faculties
Linda BedwellReference & Instruction LibrarianDalhousie UniversityNova Scotia, Canada
Dalhousie SOSA Majors-Killam Library Student Study•Partnership with 4th-yr class of Sociology
and Social Anthropology Majors•Students (Majors) co-designed and
conducted the studies•Provided a student-perspective
•Positive impact on participation rate and quality of data?
•Participant Observation (Space)•Learning Commons Computer
Workstation Survey (Space/facilities)•Website Focus Groups (Online presence)•Interview Survey (Learning/research
behaviours)
Studies Performed at Killam Library2009-10 Academic Year
Purpose of Interview Survey•Simply: To learn more about students in
the faculties served by the Killam Library▫Information seeking behaviours▫Search skills acquisition▫Help acquisition▫Impact of librarian-led instruction
(knowledge/confidence)•Measure impact of IL efforts and align
services with student work habits
Methodology•Semi-structured interview•15-17 questions•Interviewers (Majors) positioned in
‘neutral’ locations on campus – not the library
•“Toonie for your time” – incentive•Data analysis – Excel and SPSS (SOSA
prof.)
Interview Survey – Feb 3rd & 16th, 2010•97 respondents
▫36 Arts & SS▫19 Management▫23 Science▫5 Arts & SS and Science
▫64 Undergraduate; 19 Graduate▫56% Female, 44% Male
In-Class Library InstructionQ: We are interested in how you have
learned to find the books, journal articles, etc. you may need to complete your assignments. Have you received instruction on this during any of your classes here at Dal?(yes/no)
Q: Who provided this instruction?(someone from the library/professor/TA)
In-Class Library Instruction
Arts and SS Management Science0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
90.0%
TA-led Professor-led Librarian-led Received Library Instruction
Other Learning MethodsQ: How else have you learned how to find
information/sources?(open-ended)
Other Learning Methods
self-ta
ught
friend
s
profes
sor/TA
library
staff
library
website
intern
et
online
instr
uction
prev.
instru
ction
no ne
ed0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
35.0%
40.0%
Arts and SSManagementScience
Who Students go to for HelpQ: Who do you go to for help with finding
information/sources?(open-ended)
Who Students go to for Help
library staff professor/TA friends internet no one, n/a0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
Arts and SSManagementScience
How Students Find InformationQ: How do you approach finding
information to complete assignments?(open-ended)
How Students Find Information
datab
ases
nova
net
/int. s
earch
library
website
prowler
Scho
lar
prof/c
ourse
mat'
l
subjec
t guid
es
bibliog
raphy
wikiped
ia0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
Arts and SSManagementScience
Help Seeking MethodsQ: Have you sought help from the
Dalhousie library in person, online, and/or through email? (Select all that apply: in person, online, email, never.)
Help Seeking Methods
Self-Reported Knowledge ScaleQ: Where would you place yourself on a
scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being you know very little about how to find the sources you may need and 10 being you know everything you need to know about how to find the sources you may need?
Self-Reported Knowledge Scale
Arts and SS Management Science3
3.5
4
4.5
5
5.5
6
6.5
7
7.5
8
8.5
no library staff-led inst.library staff-led inst.
Conclusion•Different approaches for different faculties
▫Empower Arts and Social Sciences to help/teach each other
▫Partner with Mgmt and Science faculty to co-teach/co-produce online tutorials, etc.
•Should better support self-teaching•Students’ confidence increase with
librarian-led instruction – this should encourage additional outreach methods
Questions?
Thank you!
Linda BedwellReference & Instruction LibrarianDalhousie Killam [email protected]