. . INFORMATION LITERACY : DATABASES : INTERNET: SEARCH: TOOLS: INTERNET: SEARCH: TECHNIQUE : DATABASE: SEARCH: TECHNIQUE: Databases and Search Engines: Why Doesn't Information Literacy Literature Focus More on Them? . . . . information literacy in Dictionary of Information and Library Management/??nf? ?me??(?)n ?l?t(?)r?si/; noun the ability to find relevant information
for a particular situation or problem, and to interpret that information Title Dictionary of information and library management Specialist dictionaries Author Janet Stevenson Edition 2, revised, reprint Publisher A. & C. Black, 2006 ISBN 0713675918, 9780713675917 Length 229 pages . Information Literacy: a Critical Skill and a Strategic Commitment Definitions of Information LiteracyPlattsburgh State is committed to graduating students who are information-literate. The definitions below clarify the meaning of this critical skill and indicate why it is important for individuals as students, scholars, and citizens.
SNIPInformation Literacy constitutes the abilities to recognize when information is needed and to locate, evaluate, effectively use, and communicate information in its various formats. (SUNY Council of Library Directors, Information Literacy Initiative Committee, Final Report, September 30, 1997)
SNIPTo be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information. Producing such a citizenry will require that schools and colleges appreciate and integrate the concept of information literacy into their learning programs and that they play a leadership role in equipping individuals and institutions to take advantage of the opportunities inherent within the information society. (American Library Association, Presidential Committee on Information Literacy, Final Report , January 10, 1989)
. . Information Literacy http://www.collegeupgradingon.ca/current/infoliteracy/informationliteracy.pdf"Finding Information involves using any of a variety of sources including text, people, computerized databases or information systems. Finding Information is highlighted in this section of the Profile as an essential job skill. However, workers' use of various information sources may be referred to in other sections such as Reading Text, Document Use, Oral Communication and Computer Use"
. . Information Literacy and Research Guide - Locating Information South Dakota State University http://www.sdstate.edu/library/research/locatinginformation.cfm The only use of the word database in this document:"Each Internet search engine sends out "spiders" that travel the Web noting the contents (usually words contained in pages) of the sites they visit. The information is then compiled into a searchable database. When you using a search engine, it is the database that is searched and not the actual Internet. The "spiders" only visit a certain percentage of the millions of sites on the Web. The sites that are visited vary from search engine to search engine, as does the way in which the respective engines organize the information they find. As a result, there are significant differences between the various search engines. Look below for a selected list of search engines:
Gigablast Google Teoma Wisenut Yahoo! MSN Search" . .Most college and university libraries spend a large part of their budget and a large amount of money to procure access to bibliographic databases. These tools provide access to many types of resources and a large number of these tools provide access to research literature either in one or a range of subject disciplines. A substantial number of these tools permit multi-step searching and the facility to narrow searches to the subject heading and/or the title occurrences of one or more words or phrases. They may also permit searching for terms within so many words of each other. Groups of terms or sets of terms may be combined so that the values of more than one set can be blended to facilitate a more precise search.
.Here is an example of a search strategy or group of sets that are combined to find precise content on a topic, adolescents and informed consent:
S1 informed w0 consent S2 TI informed w0 consent S3 SU informed w0 consent S4 adolescen* or teen or teens or teenag* or youths or juveniles S5 TI adolescen* or teen or teens or teenag* or youths or juveniles S6 SU adolescen* or teen or teens or teenag* or youths or juveniles S7 SU adolescen* or teen or teens or teenag* or youths or juveniles S8 (s2 or s3) and (s6 or s7) S9 s8 and s2 S9 s8 and s2 . Each group of terms is limited to subject heading (SU) and title (TI).Combinations are made to produce results that have informed consent in either the title or subject heading and the terms for adolescent must be in the source title. This type of precise field searching is not possible in internet search engine tools.
This kind of precise searching leads to titles such as this:Informed consent in pediatric cancer clinical trials: giving adolescents a voice.
From chattel to consenter: adolescents and informed consentObtaining informed consent: observations from community research with refugee and impoverished youth
Intervention research with youths at elevated risk for suicide: meeting the ethical and regulatory challenges of informed consent and assent.
Electroconvulsive therapy in adolescents: Patient attitudes, satisfaction and informed consent procedures
. .While finding information is a core component of information literacy, searching for the consideration of databases and internet search tools in the information literacy literature yields a small percentage of the literature regarding information literature. A recent Alert Box asserts that student lack of searching skills is a serious problem in learning and education.
. Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, April 11, 2011 Incompetent Research Skills Curb Users' Problem Solving http://www.useit.com/alertbox/search-skills.html . ."Users increasingly rely on individual pages listed by search engines instead of finding better ways to tackle problems. Although some analysts questioned the finding of search dominance, it's a user behavior that gets stronger every year. Today, many users are so reliant on search that it's undermining their problem-solving abilities. Ironically, the better search gets, the more dangerous it gets as people increasingly assume that whatever the search engine coughs up must be the answer.
.One recent study participant referred to "my old friend Google" as the place to go when given a task - a remarkable indication of how closely people are tied to search these days.
.During our user testing in Asia-Pacific last month, I watched users conduct more than 100 searches for a broad range of tasks. Only once did I see a user change strategy.
.Given the rarity of strategy shifts, we'd need much more data to precisely estimate how often they happen. In this round of user research, our goal was to update the Fundamental Guidelines for Web Usability seminar, so we focused on website design, not on search engine statistics.
.Still, the rough estimate from our available data is obvious: users change search strategy only 1% of the time; 99% of the time they plod along a single unwavering path. Whether the true number is 2% or 0.5%, the big-picture conclusion is the same: users have extraordinarily inadequate research skills when it comes to solving problems on the Web. "
. . .Given students and other internet users rely on quick and intuitive searches in web search tools to meet their research needs, one could posit that training in the use of databases as well as training in specialized internet search tools would be a very important part of information literacy education and in particular internet literacy literature. Surprisingly this is simply not the case.
Consider these EBSCO database search results: These databases were searched:Database - Academic Search Premier;Agricola;Alternative Press Index;Alternative Press Index Archive;America: History & Life;American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies;ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials;Biological Abstracts;Business Source Premier;CAB Abstracts;CINAHL;Communication & Mass Media Complete;Communication Abstracts;Education Research Complete;ERIC;European Views of the Americas: 1493 to 1750;Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text;Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia;Garden, Landscape & Horticulture Index;GeoRef;GeoRef In Process;GreenFILE;Historical Abstracts;Hospitality & Tourism Complete;Index to Printed Music;International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance with Full Text;Legal Collection;LGBT Life with Full Text;Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts;MAS Ultra - School Edition;MasterFILE Premier;MEDLINE;Mental Measurements Yearbook;Mental Measurements Yearbook with Tests in Print;Middle Search Plus;Military & Government Collection;MLA Directory of Periodicals;MLA International Bibliography;Music Index;Primary Search;PsycARTICLES;Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection;PsycINFO;Race Relations Abstracts;Regional Business News;Religion and Philosophy Collection;Research Starters - Education;RIPM - Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals;RISM Series A/II: Music Manuscripts after 1600;Social Work Abstracts;SPORTDiscus with Full Text;The Nation Archive;The National Review Archive;The New Republic Archive;Urban Studies Abstracts;World History Collection;Readers Guide Abstracts (H.W. Wilson);American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 1;American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 2;American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 3;Criminal Justice Abstracts
with these results: S1 information w0 literacy (17738) S2 database* (3957601) S3 s1 and s2 (986)Less than one of seventeen articles that mention information literacy also mention databases in these articles.
Consider search results from Google Search Tools: Google Web Search "information literacy" About 3,840,000 results "information literacy" and (database OR databases OR "search technique") About 1,620,000 results "information literacy" and (database OR databases) About 1,620,000 results (0.26 seconds) . . Google Scholar "information literacy" Results 1 - 10 of about 50,200 "information literacy" and (database OR databases OR "search technique") Results 1 - 10 of about 23,200 "information literacy" and (database OR databases) Results 1 - 10 of about 22,800 . . Google Books "information literacy" About 38,200 results "information literacy" and (database OR databases OR "search technique") About 13,200 results "information literacy" and (database OR databases) About 12,700 results . . SCIRUS "information literacy" 319,704 hits "information literacy" and (database OR databases OR "search technique") 147,142 hits "information literacy" and (database OR databases) 147,125 hits . . Temple Summon "information literacy" returned 8,373 results"information literacy" and (database OR databases OR "search technique") returned 3,085 results
"information literacy" and (database OR databases) returned 3,040 results . .It would seem that a majority of articles that discuss information literature fail to consider databases despite finding information being a key component of the definition of information literacy. It has been my experience, as well, that use of databases is typically not a part of the teaching done at the high school level and that much of the teaching at the college level regarding how to use databases is done at a minimal level. The failure to teach more than the most rudimentary skills about searching to students in high school and college may be one of the major reasons why Johnny cannot do research and perhaps one factor in the success of term paper mills in selling their products.
Students Lack Basic Research Skills, Study Finds Wired Campus The Chronicle of Higher Education April 11, 2011 http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/ students-lack-basic-research-skills-study-finds/28112 . A shorter URL for the above link: . http://tinyurl.com/26lzrr8 . . Information Illiterate or Lazy: How College Students Use the Web for Research Christen Thompson Libraries and the Academy 3.2 (2003) 259-268 . . Making the leap from high school to college: Three new studies about information literacy skills of first-year college students Fitzgerald, MA Journal: Knowledge quest ISSN: 1094-9046 Date: 2004 Volume: 32 Issue: 4 Page: 19 . . Desperately seeking citations: Uncovering faculty assumptions about the undergraduate research process Leckie, GJ Journal: The Journal of academic librarianship ISSN: 0099-1333 Date: 1996 Volume: 22 Issue: 3 Page: 201 . . Research Skills and the New Undergraduate. Quarton, B Journal: Journal of instructional psychology ISSN: 0094-1956 Date: 2003 Volume: 30 Issue: 2 Page: 120 . . "Of course it's true; I saw it on the Internet!" critical thinking in the Internet era Graham, Leah Journal: Communications of the ACM ISSN: 0001-0782 Date: 2003 Volume: 46 Issue: 5 Page: 70 . . Information-seeking behavior in generation Y students: Motivation, critical thinking, and learning theory Weiler, A Journal: The Journal of academic librarianship ISSN: 0099-1333 Date: 2005 Volume: 31 Issue: 1 Page: 46 . . The land of confusion?: High school students and their use of the World Wide Web for research Lorenzen, M Journal: Research strategies ISSN: 0734-3310 Date: 2001 Volume: 18 Issue: 2 Page: 151 . . How do we bridge the gap between what we teach and what they do? Some thoughts on the place of questions in the process of research Bodi, S Journal: The Journal of academic librarianship ISSN: 0099-1333 Date: 2002 Volume: 28 Issue: 3 Page: 109 . . Writing a research proposal: The role of library anxiety, statistics anxiety, and composition anxiety Onwuegbuzie, AJ Journal: Library and information science research ISSN: 0740-8188 Date: 1997 Volume: 19 Issue: 1 Page: 5 . . College knowledge : what it really takes for students to succeed and what we can do to get them ready Author: David T Conley Publisher: San Francisco : Jossey-Bass, 2005. . . WEBBIB1011 . . Sincerely, David Dillard Temple University (215) 204 - 4584 jwne@xxxxxxxxxx http://daviddillard.businesscard2.com Net-Gold http://groups.yahoo.com/group/net-gold http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/net-gold.html Index: http://tinyurl.com/myxb4w http://groups.google.com/group/net-gold?hl=en General Internet & Print Resources http://guides.temple.edu/general-internet COUNTRIES http://guides.temple.edu/general-country-info EMPLOYMENT http://guides.temple.edu/EMPLOYMENT TOURISM http://guides.temple.edu/tourism DISABILITIES http://guides.temple.edu/DISABILITIES INDOOR GARDENING http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/IndoorGardeningUrban/ Educator-Gold http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Educator-Gold/ K12ADMINLIFE http://groups.yahoo.com/group/K12AdminLIFE/ The Russell Conwell Learning Center Research Guide: THE COLLEGE LEARNING CENTER http://tinyurl.com/yae7w79 Nina Dillard's Photographs on Net-Gold http://tinyurl.com/36qd2o and also http://gallery.me.com/neemers1 http://www.flickr.com/photos/neemers/ Twitter: davidpdillard Bushell, R. & Sheldon, P. (eds), Wellness and Tourism: Mind, Body, Spirit, Place, New York: Cognizant Communication Books. Wellness Tourism: Bibliographic and Webliographic Essay David P. Dillard http://tinyurl.com/p63whl http://tinyurl.com/ou53aw INDOOR GARDENING Improve Your Chances for Indoor Gardening Success http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/IndoorGardeningUrban/ http://groups.google.com/group/indoor-gardening-and-urban-gardening SPORT-MED https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/sport-med.html http://groups.google.com/group/sport-med http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sports-med/ http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/sport-med.html HEALTH DIET FITNESS RECREATION SPORTS TOURISM http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/healthrecsport/ http://groups.google.com/group/healthrecsport http://healthrecsport.jiglu.com/ http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/health-recreation-sports-tourism.html . . Please Ignore All Links to JIGLU in search results for Net-Gold and related lists. The Net-Gold relationship with JIGLU has been terminated by JIGLU and these are dead links. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Net-Gold/message/30664 http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/healthrecsport/message/145 . .