Council of State University Libraries (CSUL)Public Services Planning Committee & Information Literacy SubcommitteeJune 2011

Kristy Padron, Information Literacy Subcommittee Chair (‘10 & ‘11) & Assistant University Librarian, FAU LibrariesContributions by Jim Alderman (UNF), Alyse Ergood (FAU)

& Carol Maksian (FGCU)

Source: Florida Board of Governors, http://www.flbog.edu/resources/iud/enrollment_search.php

Top program areas:Health Professions to Clinical Sciences

Education

Business Management/ Marketing

Engineering

Biological/Medical Sciences

Physical Sciences

Recent Graduates with Bachelor Degrees

Returning Adult Students

Women**

Increasing Numbers of Blacks & Latinos**

International Students **May depend on program.

else

What does this influence?What does this influence?Class Environment

o Instructor-Student Interactions (Formal vs. Friendly)

o Motivation (Competitive vs. Cooperative)

Andragogy: Adult Learning Practices

o Respecting prior knowledge & life experience

Communication & Cultural Exchange

“…I had to change my teaching,” said one professor.

What does this influence?What does this influence?Class Environment

o Instructor-Student Interactions (Formal vs. Friendly)

o Motivation (Competitive vs. Cooperative)

Andragogy: Adult Learning Practices

o Respecting prior knowledge & life experience

Communication & Cultural Exchange

“…I had to change my teaching,” said one professor.

^

and

^

Professors and faculty influence their students to use the library; if they do not mention it, then students do not use it.

Students lack knowledge of library resources and services; this usually comes later in their course of study.

Students possess varied abilities and comfort levels with using the library, doing research and also with using technology.

Students rely on the Internet for information and are more likely to use Google instead of library resources.

◦ If something isn’t available online, it’s ignored.

◦ Some studies suggest that despite instruction on scholarly research, students avoid using library tools because of their difficulty.

Level and scope of degree◦ Ph.D/ Ed.D, Masters Level, or Certificate /

Credentials Type of Enrollment

◦ Full-Time, Part-Time, or Accelerated Subject area and discipline research methods

◦ Lab-based, field work, literature reviews, case law, etc.

Overall program environment◦ Formal/informal; Competitive/Cooperative;

Supportive/”Survival of the Fittest”

Basic knowledge of and confidence in subject area resources.

Active relationships with faculty liaisons. Knowledge and application of andragogy. Flexible communication skills: asking questions,

listening, cultural/gender norms. Technological expertise to recommend (or “sell”)

library tools and resources to students and faculty alike; helps with assisting in times of need.

Advising on search strategies, vocabulary, and other resources; leave the topic development and refinement to the professor who is a subject expert.

Library catalog and local services most used by graduate students (interlibrary loan, consultations, etc.)

Multidisciplinary databases (ProQuest Central, Academic Search Premier) are not sufficient resources for a comprehensive graduate-level literature review.

Introduce and demonstrate subject-area databases and Web of Science or other citation databases.

Additional information sources: WorldCat, SUL Union Catalog, dissertation databases (ProQuest & WorldCat), controlled vocabulary sources (MeSH, CINAHL headings, thesauri)

Bibliographic management software (RefWorks, EndNote)

Advise students to identify and read literature reviews by others within their subject area; approach the literature toward finding something new.

Ask questions that could help the student discover his or her own refinements.

Subject and research areas are becoming increasingly multidisciplinary; suggest related areas and resources as needed.

Suggest to researcher that consultation with the faculty adviser might be the next step in the process.

The Purpose of the Literature Review: Set the background on what has been researched

on a topic. Show why a topic is significant to a subject area. Discover relationships between ideas. Identify major themes & concepts. Identify critical gaps & points of disagreement. Help the researcher turn a network of articles into a

coherent view of the literature.

Selected Articles

Blummer, B. (2009). Providing library instruction to graduate students: A review of the literature. Public Services Quarterly, 5(1): 15-39.

Harkins, M.J., Rodrigues, D.B., and Orlov, S. (2011). Where to start? Consideration for faculty and librarians in delivering information literacy instruction for graduate students. Practical Academic Librarianship: The International Journal of the SLA Academic Division, 1(1), 28-50.

Williams, H.C. (2000). User Education for Graduate Students: Never a Given, and Not Always Received in Teaching the new library to today's users: reaching international, minority, senior citizens, gay/lesbian, first-generation college, at-risk, graduate and returning students, and distance learners.  Trudi E. Jacobson (ed.). New York: Neal-Schuman, pp 145-172.

Web Pages & Tutorials

Florida Gulf Coast University Library. Conducting & Writing Literature Reviews (LibGuide). http://fgcu.libguides.com/litreviews

North Carolina State Libraries. Literature Reviews: An Overview for Graduate Students. http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/tutorials/lit-review/

The University of Arizona University Libraries. Researching and Writing Literature Reviews. http://www.library.arizona.edu/help/tutorials/litreviews/index.html