Assessing disciplinary differences in information literacy teaching materials
| Date | 20 May 2019 |
| Pages | 392-414 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-07-2018-0183 |
| Published date | 20 May 2019 |
| Author | Stefan Dreisiebner,Christian Schlögl |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management |
Assessing disciplinary
differences in information
literacy teaching materials
Stefan Dreisiebner and Christian Schlögl
Department of Information Science and Information Systems,
University of Graz, Graz, Austria
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to uncover similarities and differences among emphasized
information literacy (IL) skills for the disciplines of political- and social sciences, economics, educational
sciences, law sciences, mathematics, life sciences, history and German studies, based on an analysis of IL
teaching materials.
Design/methodology/approach –Eight issues of the German language publication series Erfolgreich
recherchieren (Succesful Research Strategies) are compared by using a structuring content analysis. The
category system is based on the IL standards and performance indicators of the Association of College and
Research Libraries (2000), extended with additional categories.
Findings –The results, first, suggest that the biggest similarities and differences among the disciplines are
found concerning the determination of the nature and extent of the needed information, especially in the area
of identifying potential sources of information. Second, some of the disciplines focus more on international
sources, whereas others focus on country- and language-specific sources. Third, the criteria to define the
appropriate retrieval system differ among the various disciplines. Fourth, approaches to narrow the search
results differ among the various disciplines. Fifth, the critical evaluation of sources is addressed in all
disciplines but relates to different contexts.
Research limitations/implications –This approach only addresses one book per discipline out of a
German language book series. Further research is needed.
Originality/value –This paper is unique in its approach and one of few papers on disciplinary differences
in IL perception.
Keywords Content analysis, Information literacy, Perceptions, Assessment, Disciplinary differences,
Teaching materials
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Emerging from its early origins in the user training in libraries (Tiefel, 1995), the concept of
informationliteracy (IL) has seen constant developments. Today, there are several definitions
for the termIL, which overlaps with theconcepts of media literacy, computerliteracy, internet
literacy and digital literacy (Ala-Mutka, 2011). A common definition of IL has been published
by the American Association of College and Research Libraries, which was last updated in
2016. Accordingly, “Information literacy is the set of integrated abilities encompassing the
reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and
valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in
communities of learning”(ACRL, 2016). This definition is also the relevant IL definition used
for this study. Today, IL can be considered as a necessary skill of the white-collar workforce
(Bruce, 1999; Edmunds and Morris, 2000; Klusek and Bornstein, 2006). Nevertheless, sev eral
studieshave found IL skillsof students to be weak. Forexample, studentsseem to have trouble
Aslib Journal of Information
Management
Vol. 71 No. 3, 2019
pp. 392-414
Emerald Publishing Limited
2050-3806
DOI 10.1108/AJIM-07-2018-0183
Received 31 July 2018
Revised 15 December 2018
8 April 2019
27 April 2019
Accepted 28 April 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2050-3806.htm
© Stefan Dreisiebner and Christian Schlögl. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is
published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce,
distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article ( for both commercial & non-commercial
purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this
licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
392
AJIM
71,3
using Boolean operators, organizing literature and tend not to know the appropriate sources
for finding scientific literature (Skipton and Bail , 2014; Maurer et al., 2016). Additionally,
students tend to overestimate their IL skills (Mic halak and Rysavy, 2016). Libraries are aware
of this issue and makeefforts to develop solutionsin order to remedy the situation butare not
always successful due to a lack of awareness by students and the incompatibility of such
programs with their needs (Yevelson-Shorsher and Bronstein, 2018). Web-based approaches
through freely accessiblemassive open online courses (MOOCs) are increasingly discussed as
a possible solution to improve student learning (Gore, 2014; Massis, 2013).
Recent literature on developing IL of students suggests that curricula should involve not
only generic skills but also knowledge of discipline-specific content and research practices
(Grafstein, 2002; Secker and Coonan, 2013). Additionally, IL teaching in a discipline-specific
context is considered beneficial to students, as discipline-specific contexts create motivating
authentic settings and thus allow students self-reflective learning (Farrell and Badke, 2015;
Rubinićet al., 2013). The research process is not identical in different disciplines and thus
influences IL facilitation in a discipline-specific context: “the ways in which knowledge is
organized in different disciplines determine, among other things, the scope of the research
questions that can be asked, the rules of evidence that are recognized within the discipline as
valid for supporting claims, the kind of criteria that can be used to evaluate claims critically,
the sources researchers consult to find information, and the nature of the statements that
must be cited”(Grafstein, 2002). Nevertheless, research on disciplinary differences in IL
perception is still rare. While existing studies tend to approach the topic through surveys or
interviews of faculty members (Bury, 2011; Pinto, 2016) or students (Pinto and Sales, 2015;
Maurer et al., 2016), so far, no study has been performed assessing disciplinary differences in
IL perception by a thorough analysis of IL teaching materials. Therefore, the aim of this
study is to answer the following research question:
RQ1. Which similarities and differences among emphasized IL skills exist between
various disciplines, based on an analysis of IL teaching materials?
By conducting a structuring content analysis of eight issues of the German language
publication series Erfolgreich recherchieren (Succesful Research Strategies) covering the
disciplines of political and social sciences, economics, educational sciences, law sciences,
mathematics, life sciences, history and German studies, this paper contributes to current
literature on discipline-specific IL facilitation. It aims to enhance the understanding of
discipline-specific differences and thus to enhance IL instruction targeting students from
different disciplines to ultimately improve student learning outcomes. Generic IL trainings
proved to be less efficient for students with different disciplinary backgrounds. Williams
and Evans (2008) found that, after attending an IL module, students showed uneven IL
gains among disciplines, which they explained with different disciplinary information
needs. Already Plum (1984) argued that the nature of disciplines should figure heavily the
nature of bibliographic instruction. Thus, the ACRL (2000) standards, as well as the ACRL
(2016) framework, emphasize heavily discipline-specific instruction. Grafstein (2002)
suggested that IL teaching should be shared among an academic institution rather than
limited to the library to allow the classroom faculty to provide their discipline-specific
background. Nevertheless, this requires an experienced faculty since a novice might not
have the specialized knowledge of the discipline to do so. The results of this study can help
to adopt generic IL instructions to discipline-specific student needs.
Literature review
Several recent studies compared the perceptions of scholars toward IL among different
disciplines. Interviews with academics in the UK showed that their perception of IL is
partly similar to but partly also significantly different from librarian-generated frameworks
393
Assessing
disciplinary
differences
in IL
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