Tertiary Student Understandings of Information Literacy in a Digital Age

• Chief Investigator:   Dr Steve Wright

• Collaborators:   Dr Kirsty Williamson, Ms Vivienne Bernath (Monash University Library)

• Funder:   Monash University Small Grant ($10,000); Monash University Library ($3,000)

The purpose of this project is to explore students’ understandings of information literacy, in collaboration with staff from Monash University Library.

Interview Questions

• In what ways are today’s students required to be information literate in their study?

• What strategies do students develop in order to meet such requirements?

• In what ways has the growing accessibility of electronic materials changed the relations between students and academic staff within the learning process?

• What implications does the growing accessibility of electronic materials hold for students’ handling of more traditional information sources?

Methods

Fieldwork involved semi-structured individual interviews with a purposive sample of 15 Faculty of IT students, during which participants were asked to reflect upon their experience and understanding of information literacy.

Current Status

The project is completed but the results are still being disseminated.  To date there have been two seminar presentations: (1) In the Monash University Library in April 2004, and  (2) As part of the SIMS seminar series in May 2004.

One conference paper has been presented and the publication is 'in press':   Wright, S., Williamson, K., Bernath, V., & Sullivan, J. (2005). ‘The information literacy needs and practices of research students in the digital age’.  Paper presented at Research Applications in Information and Library Studies Conference, held at the National Library of Australia, 17-18 September 2005.