Core descriptors of information literacy a subject content

Core descriptors of ‘information literacy’: a subject content analysis of the concept’s literature, 1974 -2008 Dr. OB Onyancha Dept of Information Science UNISA

Agenda • Introduction – Historical devts of IL • Research problem – Purpose of study – Objectives of study • Methodology • Results and discussions • Conclusions and recommendations

Introduction • The history of teaching people about information is tied to historical, social, and economic developments in society (Gilton, undated) – Agricultural, pre-industrial and pre-modern period – Industrial and modern period – Current information-based, post-industrial period • 1865 -1945 – Libraries were rare at the beginning of this period – Industrial and modern period brought about accelerated establishment of schools, universities, and libraries – American Library Association was established – Public libraries created both reference and children’s services

• Library instruction before 1960 s – B Lamar Johnson organized an instruction program at Stephens college in 1931 -1950 – Prefigured bibliographic instruction of the 1970 s and 1980 s by offering: orientations, instruction in the use of basic reference tools, point-of-use instruction, individualized instruction, courserelated instruction, and full courses • The Bibliographic Instruction (BI) Movement in Academic Libraries: 1960 -1989 – Attempts at integrating BI into college programs – Establishment of the Instruction Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries, and of the Library Instruction Round Table within ALA • 1970 s: Instructions consisted of tours and orientations – Zurkowski (president of the US Info Industry Association) coined "information literates" in 1974

• 1980 s – Pathfinder approach – Emphasis: conceptual frameworks and research strategies – ALA’s 1989 definition: “a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate and use effectively the needed information" • Traditional BI in academic libraries consisted of: – library tours and orientations, formal instruction in the form of courserelated instruction, course-integrated instruction, and full courses; informal instruction for interested individuals or groups, point of use instructions, the creation of bibliographies, etc • Beyond 1980 s – Internet connectivity resulted in invisible students and colleges; and distance education – Information is increasingly becoming electronic – Reference and instructional services are moving into the “ 24/7” world of the Internet

Research problem • These developments have resulted in: – New type of users and information which in turn require – New skills and competencies and therefore – New types of IL delivery The paper seeks to trace the development of the concept over time; to identify the most commonly used compound subject terms that are associated with the subject; to find out the core single terms that are used to describe IL; and to map the various concepts that describe IL.

Methodology • Databases – Academic Search Premier, Communication and Mass Media Complete, LISTA, and Master File Premier. • Search Query – DE “Information Literacy*” – within the subject field • Period of study: 1974 -2008 • Document types: ALL • Data extraction date: – March 2009 • Data analysis softwares – Bibexcel software

RESULTS

Information literacy timeline (Source: Google, 2009) Much activity was recorded between 1995 and 2009

Growth of IL publications 1800 1615 1600 No of records 1400 219% 1200 1000 524% 800 600 506 211% 300% 400 200 1 4 188% 125% 9 26 81 0 1974 -1978 1979 -1983 1984 -1988 1989 -1993 1994 -1998 1999 -2003 2004 -2008 Year of Publication

Number of terms per record 2500 Terms Records 4 Terms/record 4 3 3 1500 2 1000 2 Terms/record Records 2000 1 500 1 0 19741978 Terms 3 Records 1 Terms/record 3 19791983 14 4 4 1984 - 1989 - 19941988 1993 1998 25 58 73 9 26 81 3 2 1 Year of publication 19992003 469 506 1 NB: Number of terms include information literacy 20042008 1992 1615 1 0 Terms in other concepts (e. g. HIV/AIDS have grown over time

Top 15 most commonly used terms: 1979 -1983 Number of records INFORMATION SCIENCE 3 INFORMATION SERVICES 2 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 2 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT 2 MEDICAL ETHICS 1 JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS 1 INFORMATION RETRIEVAL 1 CONTENT ANALYSIS (COMMUNICATION) 1 CANCER 1 BIOETHICS 1 INFORMATION RESOURCES 1 ENCYCLOPEDIAS & DICTIONARIES 1 DATABASES 1 A total of 14 terms including information literacy were used Most terms recorded 1 occurrence each Knowledge management is a relatively recent concept but its appearance here is due to retrospective indexing of the literature

Top 15 most commonly used terms: 1984 -1988 Number of records INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 2 LIBRARY SCIENCE 1 MASS MEDIA 1 LIBRARIES 1 INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION 1 INVENTORS 1 UNITED STATES 1 UNIVERSITIES & COLLEGES 1 WORLD POLITICS 1 TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS 1 PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION 1 READING COMPREHENSION 1 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY 1 ARTICULATION (EDUCATION) 1 ASSOCIATIONS, INSTITUTIONS, ETC. 1 One of the activities that may reflect the IL focus area was Reading comprehension Library science and Libraries emerged in this period Except Information Technology, ALL terms recorded 1 occurrence each

Top 15 most commonly used terms: 1989 -1993 No of Records LIBRARY ORIENTATION 6 ACADEMIC LIBRARIES 5 INFORMATION SCIENCE 4 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 3 INFORMATION SERVICES 3 LIBRARY SCIENCE 3 LIBRARIANS 3 COMPUTER LITERACY 2 CONGRESSES & CONVENTIONS 2 EDUCATION 2 LIBRARY SCIENCE -- SOCIETIES, ETC. 2 TRAINING 2 LIBRARIES 2 LIBRARY SCHOOLS 1 LIBRARIES & INDIANS 1 Information Technology means new methods of IL delivery and focus in terms of needed skills NEW TERMS THAT EMERGED DURING 1989 -1993

Top 15 most commonly used terms: 1989 -1993 No. of records LIBRARY ORIENTATION 17 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 12 LIBRARIANS 5 UNIVERSITIES & COLLEGES 5 ACADEMIC LIBRARIES 5 INFORMATION SOCIETY 4 COMPUTER LITERACY 4 EVALUATION 3 EDUCATION 3 LIBRARY USERS 3 INTERNET 3 INFORMATION RETRIEVAL 3 BOOKS 2 TRAINING 2 DATABASE SEARCHING 2 New Terms

Top 30 most commonly used terms: 1999 -2003 Records LIBRARY ORIENTATION 103 INFORMATION SCIENCE 79 LIBRARIANS 44 LIBRARIES 37 EDUCATION 32 ACADEMIC LIBRARIES 29 LIBRARY SCIENCE 28 LITERACY 25 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 23 EDUCATION -- CURRICULA 23 INFORMATION SOCIETY 20 STUDENTS 18 SCHOOL LIBRARIES 18 PUBLIC LIBRARIES 15 EDUCATION, HIGHER 15 Records EVALUATION 15 GENERAL EDUCATION 13 INTERNET 13 DISTANCE EDUCATION 13 UNIVERSITIES & COLLEGES 13 LEARNING 12 INFO RESOURCES MANAGEMENT 11 INTERNET IN EDUCATION 11 COLLEGE STUDENTS 11 SCHOOL LIBRARIANS 10 INFORMATION RETRIEVAL 10 CONTINUING EDUCATION 10 LITERACY PROGRAMS 10 COMPUTER-ASSISTED INSTRUCTION 10 CONGRESSES & CONVENTIONS 10 Life-long learning

Top 30 most commonly used terms: 2004 -2008 Records INFORMATION SCIENCE 450 LIBRARIES 203 LIBRARIANS 198 EDUCATION 163 ACADEMIC LIBRARIES 156 LIBRARY SCIENCE 146 UNIVERSITIES & COLLEGES 138 LITERACY 132 STUDENTS 123 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 117 INFORMATION RESOURCES 110 EDUCATION -- CURRICULA 109 LEARNING 108 INFORMATION SERVICES 108 INTERNET IN EDUCATION 102 Records LIBRARY ORIENTATION 100 EDUCATION, HIGHER 95 INFO LITERACY -- STUDY & TEACHING 88 RESEARCH 80 INFO RESOURCES MANAGEMENT 79 INFORMATION RETRIEVAL 75 TECHNOLOGICAL LITERACY 73 MEDIA LITERACY 73 ELECTRONIC INFO RESOURCE LITERACY 65 LITERACY PROGRAMS 60 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT 59 EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY 58 GENERAL EDUCATION 55 LIBRARY EMPLOYEES 52 SCHOOL LIBRARIES 52 The focus centers around (about and by) Libraries

Conclusions • Interest in IL seems to have increased in the second half of the 1990 s – Can be attributed to the Internet and WWW technologies which brought about various challenges in information handling • IL delivery modes have remarkably changed – 1989 -2003 : Library orientation played a great role in the delivery of IL as shown by its popularity among scholars • IL programs centered around libraries • The term ‘Librarians’ featured prominently indicating that the librarians have a big role to play in the delivery of IL programs • Information technology as enabler of IL programs delivery and tools for handling information (E-information) – focus research area from mid 1980 s to date

• Information literacy is tied more to electronic information and computers • Today, practitioners are concerned with core competencies of information users, learning theories, conceptual frameworks, active learning, and critical thinking

Recommendations • Collaboration between librarians and LIS schools in the provision of IL programs? • What will be the role of society for which the programs are intended, i. e. in terms of their input into what is offered? • What are the core topics of IL, i. e. topics that MUST be included in the curriculum? Can the core/periphery model of the full-text IL literature provide the answer? – Area for further research

THANKS