Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes of Librarians in Developing Library Users’ Information Literacy

Conference paper
First Online:
Part of the Communications in Computer and Information Science book series (CCIS, volume 552)

Abstract

The objective of this study was to explore how Estonian librarians assess their information literacy (IL) and which knowledge, skills and attitudes they consider important in facilitating the development of IL of library users. The research strategy chosen was a multiple case study. Document analysis, semi-structured interviews, and expert interviews were the main data collection methods. The study results revealed that librarians needed knowledge and skills in pedagogy and andragogy, instructional design, information technology, foreign languages, marketing, information sources and databases as well as on the learning domain. They also highlighted social skills and found that personal characteristics and attitudes of librarians were very important in facilitating IL. The study participants expressed the view that all librarians and information professionals must be able to advise users individually to facilitate their IL, but not all should be required to deliver courses and lectures for a group of students or library users.

Keywords

Information literacy Librarian Information professional Vocational schools Higher education institutions Universities Competencies Teaching Facilitating Training 
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Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015

Open Access This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Institute of Information StudiesTallinn UniversityTallinnEstonia

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