Este trabalho promoveu um estudo netnográfico para identificar, mapear e caracterizar literacias emergentes na perspectiva da inclusão digital no Brasil, considerando que as competências e habilidades comunicacionais e informacionais dependem de um processo interativo com as Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação que vão muito além do simples acesso às mesmas. Considerada uma nova abordagem no campo das Ciências da Comunicação, para os estudos sobre as tecnologias contemporâneas, as literacias, em suas mais variadas conceituações, trata das habilidades e competências para seu uso de maneira efetiva e criativa por diferentes atores em rede. Como lócus, o trabalho foi conduzido no âmbito do Programa AcessaSP de inclusão digital. De perspectiva netnográfica, a pesquisa tem cunho qualitativo e está apoiada nas técnicas de entrevistas e análises de conteúdo. Os resultados apresentam a descrição das literacias e interações dos frequentadores do Programa, discutidas a partir de indicadores de interatividade e de Media and Information Literacy, conceito filial desta tese que colabora para o entendimento das literacias em torno dos meios de comunicação e informação e de uma visão crítica e criativa em torno deles. Uma das conclusões é a de que não se trata de uma questão binária, entre ter ou não ter literacias, mas de compreender e descrever como elas se manifestam. Da análise de conteúdo pôde-se depreender alguns temas, considerados vetores por sua capacidade aparente de conduzir a experiências importantes no processo de desenvolvimento de literacias de uma forma autônoma, nomeadamente as redes sociais, os jogos, o celular, a comunicação interpessoal, a produção multimídia e trabalho e empreendedorismo. / This work promoted a netnographic study to identify, map and characterize emerging literacies from the perspective of digital inclusion in Brazil. This proposal considers that the communicative and information skills and abilities depend on a communicative process and interaction with the Information and Communication Technologies that go far beyond simple access. The digital literacies are considered a new aproach in the field of Communication Science, for studies about contemporary technologies. In its various conceptualizations, the literacy is related to the skills and abilities to use the technologies effectively and creatively by different actors in the network. As locus, this work is conducted in the Digital Inclusion Program AcessaSP. With an ethnographic perspective, it is a qualitative research, supported in techniques like interview and Content Analysis. The results present a description of digital literacies and interactions of AcessaSP Program goers, discussed from interactive and Media and Information Literacy indicators. This concept of literacies contributes to the understanding of literacies around information and communication medias and around a critical and creative vision. One of the conclusions found is that it is not a binary issue, between having or not having digital literacies, but to understand and describe how they manifest themselves. In the Contend Analysis, the research inferred some themes, considered vectors because they have an apparent ability to conduct to important experiences in the development process of digital literacies of an autonomous form. This vectors are the social networks, the games, the cellular phone, the interpersonal communication, the multimedia production and work and entrepreneurship.

The aim of this Master’s thesis is to examine how teachers of primary school students view the concept of information literacy and their classroom practices related to this subject. In addition, the study was designed to compare teachers’ understanding of information literacy in two European countries, Norway and Hungary. In spite of the fact that both countries are European developed countries with a similar culture and educational purposes, the economic difference can affect their possibilities to profit from the rapidly developing internet and information technologies. This study investigates the assumption that the differences between teachers’ answers in the two countries will be more and more significant on each further step of Van Dijk’s model of access: motivational, material, skills, and usage access. The study has a socio-economic perspective and the empirical data was collected through quantitative web-based questionnaire. The findings indicate that most of the teachers have a good understanding of the concept of information literacy and they are aware of the importance of information literacy skills to some level. Exploring the teachers’ classroom practices, I found that they do teach information literacy skills, and they do have classroom practices which can facilitate the improvement of information literacy skills, but there is a difference between the Norwegian and Hungarian teachers’ practices. The findings of the study confirm my initial assumption and are consistent with the pattern that I would expect to find according to the Van Dijk’s model, and thus, with the influence of the socio-economic features on teachers’ view on information literacy and their classroom practices related to teaching information literacy skills.

Information literacy is widely acknowledged as important for student success in higher education. Information literacy is the ability to sort through a large amount of available information, decide what is useful and believable, and apply it in an effective and ethical way. Faculty members have expectations regarding information literacy for students in the first year of college, while students have information literacy practices that may or may not match those expectations. In my study, I examined the alignment of faculty member information literacy expectations and student information literacy practices, focusing on freshman students and faculty members who teach freshman students in a required general education course at a public university in the northwestern United States. Using an exploratory sequential mixed methods research design, I began my study with qualitative interviews of students and faculty members, used data from the interviews to develop a survey instrument, conducted a pilot study with the survey instrument, and used the survey instrument to administer an online quantitative survey to 106 students and 10 faculty members. The survey consisted of 42 items pertaining to student practices and faculty expectations as identified by student and faculty member interview participants. Survey data showed the percentage of faculty members expecting a practice was generally higher than the percentage of students carrying out that practice. Overall, the study findings revealed a gap between faculty expectations and student practices.

This study explored what effect information literacy instruction (ILI) may have on both a generalized anxiety state and library anxiety specifically. The population studied was international students using resources in a community college. Library anxiety among international students begins with certain barriers that cause anxiety (i.e., language/communication barriers, adjusting to a new education/library system and general cultural adjustments). Library Anxiety is common among college students and is characterized by feelings of negative emotions including, ruminations, tension, fear and mental disorganization (Jiao & Onwuegbuzie, 1999a). This often occurs when a student contemplates conducting research in a library and is due to any number of perceived inabilities about using the library. In order for students to become successful in their information seeking behavior this anxiety needs to be reduced. The study used two groups of international students enrolled in the English for Speakers of other Languages (ESOL) program taking credit courses. Each student completed Bostick's Library Anxiety Scale (LAS) and Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) to assess anxiety level before and after treatment. Subjects were given a research assignment that required them to use library resources. Treatment: Group 1 (experimental group) attended several library instruction classes (the instruction used Kuhltau's information search process model). Group 2 (control group) was in the library working on assignment but did not receive any formal library instruction. After the treatment the researcher and ESOL program instructor(s) measured the level of anxiety between groups. ANCOVA was used to analyze Hypotheses 1 and 2, which compared pretest and posttest for each group. Research assignment grades were used to analyze Hypothesis 3 comparing outcomes among the two groups. The results of the analysis ascertained that ILI was associated with reducing state and library anxiety among international students when given an assignment using library resources.

This dissertation reports on a study of the self-reported readiness of undergraduate first-year students at a very large distance teaching institution, the University of South Africa (Unisa). The Unisa library does not offer an online information literacy programme for distance students and has not conducted surveys on students’ needs and their readiness for using online information resources and an online learning management system. The main research question thus was: What are the information seeking behaviour and the readiness of Unisa distance students in using and accessing the library online resources? Sub-questions were: • What has been reported on information literacy and information literacy programmes for distance students, with special reference to online programmes? • What has been reported on virtual learning environments with specific reference to distance education? • What are the students’ self-rated perceptions of their information literacy skills? • What are the students’ information seeking behaviour and preferences in using online information resources? • What are the students’ self-rated perceptions in using an online learning management system in a virtual learning environment? The Unisa School of Accountancy served as case study. All students enrolled for first- year modules in the School of Accountancy (including the Departments of Auditing, Financial Accounting, Management Accounting and Taxation) were invited to participate in the survey. Data collection occurred in July and August 2015 by means of a self-administered, semi-structured online questionnaire survey. In total 587 students responded, resulting in 525 usefully completed questionnaires. Most of the students were geographically remote from the institution and the library and its branches. The study collected mostly descriptive quantitative data, with limited qualitative data. The quantitative data were analysed by means of a statistical package (SAS JMP version 12), and the qualitative data by means of thematic analysis. The questionnaire covered self-reported information seeking behaviour when using the library’s online resources, whether students had received training on information literacy skills, and if these skills were effective enough to assist them to locate and access the library’s diverse online information resources relevant to their studies. It also collected data on their readiness to use an online learning management system. The limitations of self-reporting are acknowledged; in this case it was considered appropriate to determine lack of skills. Although the findings cannot be generalised to all Unisa or all distance students, they can inform recommendations on the need for an online information literacy skills programme for distance students and methods to conduct similar studies of students’ readiness to use such a programme. Respondents lacked information literacy skills that could enable them to access or use the online library resources from a distance. They lacked skills in using the virtual learning environment system, experienced problems in accessing the library from a distance, could not use databases to access online full-text articles and were often not aware of the library website and how it could be used. It is recommended that the Unisa library consider developing an online information literacy programme that adheres to international standards and guidelines for information literacy, and that this be informed by the needs expressed by students from diverse disciplines and study years and their self-reported information-seeking behaviour. For distance students a programme must be available through a virtual learning environment and this must be linked to the library’s website and marketing efforts. KEYWORDS • Case study • Distance education • Distance libraries • Distance students • Information literacy skills • Information seeking behaviour • Online information literacy programmes • Online information seeking behaviour / Dissertation (MIS)-University of Pretoria, 2017. / University of South Africa (UNISA) / Information Science / MIS / Unrestricted

The aim of the thesis is to gather data for the creation of information literacy standards for graduates of 9th grade of elementary school in the Czech Republic. The theoretical part contains the definition of information literacy, organizations in the field of information literacy, documents in the information society, as well as existing standards of information literacy in the Czech Republic and abroad. Finally, research activities in the field of information literacy in the Czech Republic are described. In the practical part, the analysis of the current situation in the information literacy development in the UK and Sweden is introduced. The analysis of the currricula of selected elementary and grammar schoools in Benešov distrikt is described as well. The main contribution of this thesis is the analysis of the selected schools and a proposal of the information literacy standards. Keywords information literacy information literacy standards education elementary education elementary school

Information fluency refers to the ability to recognize information needs and to gather, evaluate, and communicate information appropriately. In this study, I treat "information fluency" as both an overall competency and as a collection of knowledge and skills. The purpose of this study is to explore the specific workplace information fluency skills valued by employers of technical communicators, to find out how instructors perceive and teach these skills, and to suggest how these findings can inform our teaching practices. Within the framework of qualitative methodology, this study employs two data-collection instruments, including a content analysis of online job recruitment postings and a survey of technical communication instructors across the United States. The study discovers that when hiring technical communicators, employers require candidates to have skills in information processing, information technology, and critical thinking. Candidates must be able to identify their information needs, and must know how to use specified tools to gather, evaluate, and communicate information. It also reveals that although "information fluency" is a new terminology to a majority of instructors, the skill sets that constitute information fluency already existed in their knowledge. The study's last finding suggests that the opportunity for an internship is perceived as the most helpful in students' acquisition of information fluency skills. This dissertation concludes with a list of specific employer-valued information fluency skills, recommendations for program administrators and instructors for implementing information fluency, as well as recommendations for future researches on this subject.

<p>The aim of the research project is to investigate the effectiveness of an information literacy intervention for first year engineering students at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Information literacy has been identified as a necessary outcome of tertiary education. It refers to the life-long learning competencies of finding and using information in order to solve problems, to make decisions and to create new knowledge. Information literacy education has evolved from earlier forms of library user education, such as bibliographic instruction, and is central to the mission of academic libraries. However, librarians responsible for information literacy programmes seldom evaluate the effectiveness of their interventions. In today&rsquo / s climate of accountability and outcomes-based education, it is necessary to provide evidence of the benefits of the user education that libraries provide. The researcher uses the American College and Research Library (ACRL) Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, which are internationally recognized and widely used by South African academic librarians, as a benchmark to evaluate an intervention for a group of first year students enrolled for a mechanical engineering course. The intervention consists of two workshops which aim to teach the students to find information relevant to their essays via the university&rsquo / s OPAC, various engineering databases and to teach them how to reference and cite their sources in their essays. The research methodology assessed students&rsquo / information literacy before and after the two workshops with the use of a questionnaire consisting of a set of questions based on some of the ACRL standards. The questionnaire also gathered data on students&rsquo / prior experience of libraries, reading and computers, which might impact on their information literacy...</p>

<p>The aim of the research project is to investigate the effectiveness of an information literacy intervention for first year engineering students at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Information literacy has been identified as a necessary outcome of tertiary education. It refers to the life-long learning competencies of finding and using information in order to solve problems, to make decisions and to create new knowledge. Information literacy education has evolved from earlier forms of library user education, such as bibliographic instruction, and is central to the mission of academic libraries. However, librarians responsible for information literacy programmes seldom evaluate the effectiveness of their interventions. In today&rsquo / s climate of accountability and outcomes-based education, it is necessary to provide evidence of the benefits of the user education that libraries provide. The researcher uses the American College and Research Library (ACRL) Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, which are internationally recognized and widely used by South African academic librarians, as a benchmark to evaluate an intervention for a group of first year students enrolled for a mechanical engineering course. The intervention consists of two workshops which aim to teach the students to find information relevant to their essays via the university&rsquo / s OPAC, various engineering databases and to teach them how to reference and cite their sources in their essays. The research methodology assessed students&rsquo / information literacy before and after the two workshops with the use of a questionnaire consisting of a set of questions based on some of the ACRL standards. The questionnaire also gathered data on students&rsquo / prior experience of libraries, reading and computers, which might impact on their information literacy...</p>

1 online resource (xii, 184 leaves : ill.) / A high level of literacy is essential if a child is to be employable and determines the role a person will play in the globalised information age. In South Africa the literacy levels, including reading levels, of school children is extremely low. The study forms part of a longitudinal reading and literacy intervention project undertaken over a five year period in two disadvantaged primary schools in an urban township. The project focused on capacity building and resource building of the school community including the teachers, learners, school librarians and parents. This dissertation describes an action research study that focused specifically on setting up school libraries in each of these schools and the professional development of the teachers in order to contribute to the teaching and learning practices in the schools. It offers critical reflections on the process and findings and contributes to research on school libraries in South Africa. / Information Science / M.A. (Information Science)