Information habits in continuously changing information environments : digging up the core of information literacy!

Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg

www.tub.tu-harburg.de

Information habits in continuously changing

information environments

Digging up the core of information literacy!

Hamburg University of Technology TUHH www.tub.tu-harburg.de TUHH University Library

Thomas Hapke - November 2013

Thomas Hapke University Library

Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH)



Put the three spheres of information literacy in order

of importance! 1) Find / access/ locate

2) Evaluate / discern / judge 3) Use / communicate / produce

123 231 312 132 213 321 ?

Idea: Geoff Walton, Mailing list [email protected], April 20, 2012, see also his LILAC 2012 presentation at http://www.slideshare.net/infolit_group/walton-12685154



Developments in modern information environments!

Social Web Discovery Systems Global players Mobiles Devices …

(Wenger, E; White, N. & Smith, J.D.: Digital habitats : stewarding technology for communities. Portland, OR : Cpsquare, 2009)



Social Web



Information system

Object

User

Subject

Search query

Search result

Information systems change: In the past user and system were divided!

Information specialist



Information system (e.g. Wiki, Blog,…)

User 1

User 3 User 2

„learns“ together with and from other users through the system

„learns from users“

changes through users permanently

e.g. „Tagging“

Users are co-producers of information

systems (Web 2.0)



Changing …

• the role of professionals and experts • the role of learning • the ways information literacy is learned • the contents from information literacy education

Information literacy is no product, good or commodity submitted from the expert to the layperson!

Preece, J. and B. Shneiderman (2009) “The Reader-to-Leader Framework: Motivating Technology-Mediated Social Participation,” AIS Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction, (1) 1, pp. 13-32, hier S. 16 http://aisel.aisnet.org/thci/vol1/iss1/5/



On the future of competences!?

„In diesen Tagen darf sich niemand auf das versteifen, was er ‚kann‘. In der Improvisation liegt die Stärke. Alle entscheidenden Schläge werden mit der linken Hand geführt werden.“ „These are the days when no one should rely on his ‚competence‘. Strength lies in inspiration. All the decisive blows are struck left-handed.“

Walter Benjamin, Einbahnstraße, 1928.



The library is a room for making experiences and learning, not a ware-house!

Consequences for libraries!?

Grainger Engineering Library, Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois

Graphics: D. Bieler



Discovery Systems



„Wir sind doch nicht blöd“

(We are not stupid, however)

From http://log.netbib.de/archives/2010/08/25/wir-sind-doch-nicht-blod/

Searching for a book by Clemens Knobloch in library catalogs!



„Wir sind doch nicht blöd“

(We are not stupid, however)

From http://log.netbib.de/archives/2010/08/25/wir-sind-doch-nicht-blod/

Searching for a book by Clemens Knobloch in library catalogs!



TUBfind The library catalog as search engine

Project with open source discovery software VuFind: Blog: http://www.tub.tu-harburg.de/tubfind-blog/

Software: http://vufind.org/



TUBfind search



TUBfind search



Catalog interfaces TUBfind Classical catalog interface

• Search engine for TUHH library holdings

• Including articles from journals and national licences

• Including TUB web pages and TUB blog posts

• Searching for all resources of GBV Common Library Network possible

• Search philosophy: Best match, relevance ranking

• Only TUHH library holdings

• No journal articles

• Searching for resources of GBV Common Library Network in other database interface

• Search philosophy: Exact match, Boolean combination of search terms



Bücher finden!



Information literacy and discovery systems

• Does the existence and use of discovery systems change information literacy?

• Is the need for information literacy a function of the user interface?

• How do indexing, data structure and links, cataloguing rules behind the user interface prevent optimal results when searching for information?

• Which components of information literacy are actually not necessary to get the best search result?

(See also the discussion at http://plan3t.info/2012/04/05/verbessern-discovery-systeme-die-informationskompetenz/)



The searchability of information depends on choices made by authors, publishers, database providers, users

and others

(Adapted from Falciola, 2009)



The social construction of search results

Results in a specific search system

Contents or documents in the system

• indexed content: bibliogr. description, abstracts, full text

• „enriched“ data

• controlled vocabulary included

Specific user and users

• information behaviour e.g. used search terms

• information literacy

• former searches of specific user and of other users

System‘s „properties“

• user interface

• indexing (Boole, best match)

• structure of data

• transfer of data to search system

• used cataloguing guidelines and its institutional or personal interpretation

Other impacts

• advertising economics of provider

• ...!?



Global players



How full text have been found from TUHH

Access to full texts 2012 at TUHH as a function of the information source („Clickthroughs“ of the linkresolver SFX used by TUB HH)



A critical view on discovery systems:

“Thinking the unthinkable: a library without a catalogue” - Simone Kortekaas, Utrecht University Library, Netherlands, 2012 [1] „Giving up on discovery“ – Dale Askey, McMaster University Library, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, 2013 [2]

How to improve delivery of materials purchased and licensed by the library? [1] http://www.libereurope.eu/blog/thinking-the-unthinkable-a-library-without-a-catalogue-reconsidering-the-future-of-discovery-to [2] http://taiga-forum.org/giving-up-on-discovery/



„On the shoulder of“ Google Scholar

Ca. 1410 Quelle: http://lccn.loc.gov/50041709


www.tub.tu-harburg.de Google Scholar http://scholar.google.com

Finding full texts



Finding full texts

Google Scholar http://scholar.google.com



Using hidden services!



Via linking service to the catalog!



Via linking service to the catalog!

Classical interface of the catalog!



A further example



Via GBV database!



Full text via interlibrary loan



Full text via interlibrary loan!

Ordering!









Finding full texts at a publisher



Function of Link Resolvers

Cited source

Link Resolver

Source of full text

Knowledge base with local

holdings data

Catalog data, maintenance through

library

Meta data (in OpenURL)

URL of source, e.g. DOI (in OpenURL)

Search in catalog, interlibrary loan database

Meta data (in OpenURL)



Thinking about information literacy!



Classical view Critical view Emphasis on competences, standards for

information use understanding process or system of information

Concept of education, Bildung

transfer of knowledge from the knower to the learner

creating ability for reflection and critical awareness

Concept of knowledge independent of knower result of a social process

Concept of inf. process linear not linear, complex

Emphasis on information literacy

how to find how to produce and share

View of the user customer, needy person patron, co-producer

View of the library storehouse room for experiences

View of the librarian teacher consultant for learning

Critical view on information literacy



Being modest: Information literacy is one of many key competencies and literacies!

Media literacy

Writing competencies

Intercultural competencies

Didactical competencies

Decision-making and responsibility

Soft skills

Academic literacy

Computer literacy

E-literacy

Visual literacy

(Martin, A.; Madigan, D.: Digital literacies for learning. London : Facet Publ., 2006. Knobel, M; Lankshear, C.: A new literacies sampler. New York Lang, 2007. Selber, S. A.: Multiliteracies for a digital age. Carbondale : Southern Illinois Univ. Press, 2004)



Information literacy is a … !?

critical view

new literacy

transliteracy

multimodal literacy

meta competence

second-order literacy

multi-literacy (Lloyd, A.: Information literacy landscapes : information literacy in education, workplace and everyday contexts. Oxford: Chandos, 2010)



Different views on information literacy

Information literacy

Acquistion of ‚information age‘

skills

Cultivation of habits of mind

Engagement in information-rich social practices

(According Addison, C. & Meyers, E.: Perspectives on information literacy: a framework for conceptual understanding. Information research 18 (2013) 3)

ACRL, Big6 Skills, …

Kuhlthau, Dervin, … „Multiliteracies“, Lloyd, …



Different views on information literacy

Discuss the three views on information literacy in relation to the following aspects: Key statements Advantages Challenges Role of information professional

(According Addison, C. & Meyers, E.: Perspectives on information literacy: a framework for conceptual understanding. Information research 18 (2013) 3)



A further proposal: A cultural view on information literacy!

La culture de l'information

Culture informationnelle

(Olivier Le Deuff)

In French „culture“ also means education or „Bildung“!

Thinking about the other, the difference!



• to create and develop oneself • diversity (in contrast to Google‘s monoculture) • being different and viewing oneself different • importance of context and relations, e.g. with a disciplinary culture • a more phenomenological or ethnological view on information behaviour and information literacy • a not library-related view on information literacy

Information culture implies ...



Key aspects of information culture include …

Textuality Authenticity

Knowledge Power

Identity Memory

(According Tredinnick, L.: Digital information culture, 2008)



Distinctions

Object

Material

Subject

Form

Stability Variability

Data Interpretation, Transformation Representation

Knowledge

Culture Technology

Presence Absence

INFORMATION

COMMUNICATION



Prerequisites to develop information literacy!?

• Curiosity • Skill to play and to explore • Having the time for it • Critical attitude • ...?



What is the core of information literacy?

What is the real, the characteristic, the „Eigentliche“ of information literacy?



Proposals for the core of information literacy/culture

• Don‘t trust only one information source.

• Be prepared for constant change.

• Know your skills and limits!

• When searching: „Bullshit in, bullshit out“.

• Tolerate ambiguity and differences.

• Don‘t give up too early.

• Be aware that every fact is the result of an act, that information has been created by somebody with a certain purpose.



Information literacy in academic education

Part of academic research methods and writing!

Made with http://www.wordle.net



IL challenges and concerns for engineering students and scholars

• Availability of full texts • Uncertainty to miss important information • Coping with information overload • Uncertainty about the quality what found • …

Matej Krén, Idiom, Town Library Prague (1998), Photo 2009



How to reduce uncertainty to miss important information?

• Using different databases. • Using subject-specific databases. • Reflecting on appropriate search terms. • Knowing how to logically combine of search

terms within a specific database interface. • Keeping overview through effective reference

management. • …



Recipes and/or reflection!?

An important recipe:

Recipes don‘t work in any context!

(Antranikian, G.: Science meets cooking – Wenn Wissenschaftler kochen. Hamburg : TuTech Innovation, 2006)



Reflecting on science and scholarship

? ?



The core of information literacy/culture in

academic education

Critical and reflected handling of data, information and communication processes as well as epistemological processes



The core of information literacy/culture in

academic education

How to name this? One proposal by Wayne Bivens-Tatum, Princeton University Library:

“scholarly habitude”

From: http://blogs.princeton.edu/librarian/2013/10/some-context-for-the-latest-p2p-review-column/



An example for information literacy content written for a special

„disciplinary culture“ Hapke, T.: Appendix I. The world of biotechnology information: seven points for reflecting on your information behavior. In: Buchholz, K., Kasche, V., Bornscheuer, U.T.: Biocatalysts and Enzyme Technology. 2. ed. Wiley-VCH, October 2012. Preprint available at: http://www.chemie.uni-greifswald.de/~biotech/assets/downloads/Information_BuchholzKascheBornscheuer.pdf



Information literacy/culture and creativity

How can information systems increase individual creativity?

(For a view from history see: Hapke, T.: Wilhelm Ostwald’s Combinatorics as a Link between In-formation and Form. Library Trends 61 (2012) 2, 286-303. Also online at http://doku.b.tu-harburg.de/volltexte/2013/1192/ )

E.g. through enabling and enhancing combinatorics and remixing!



Further reading

Addison, C. & Meyers, E.: Perspectives on information literacy: a framework for conceptual understanding. Information research 18 (2013) 3 Hapke, T.: Informationskompetenz in einer neuen Informationskultur. In: Handbuch Informationskompetenz, pp. 36-48. Ed. W. Sühl-Strohmenger. Berlin: de Gruyter Saur, 2012. Preprint at http://doku.b.tu-harburg.de/volltexte/2013/1204/ Falciola, L, Searching biotechnology information: A case study. World patent information 2009, 31, 1, 36-47 Le Deuff, O.: Culture de l’Information. Espace d’Olivier Le Deuff. http://www.culturedel.info/ Lloyd, A.: Information literacy landscapes : information literacy in education, workplace and everyday contexts. Oxford: Chandos, 2010. Tredinnick, L.: Digital information culture : the individual and society in the digital age. Oxford: Chandos Publ., 2008.



Contact

Thomas Hapke Web: http://www.tuhh.de/b/hapke/ Blog: http://blog.hapke.de Slidespace: http://www.slideshare.net/thapke Tweets: http://twitter.com/thapke

„ Informing – Points to survive“ at http://www.tub.tu-harburg.de/en/subject-information/informing-points-to-survive/

Hamburg University of Technology TUHH www.tub.tu-harburg.de

TUHH University Library

Thomas Hapke – November 2013

http://www.tuhh.de/b/hapke/

http://blog.hapke.de/

http://www.slideshare.net/thapke

http://twitter.com/thapke

Education

Information habits in continuously changing information environments : digging up the core of information literacy!