Findings and recommendations from 2012 Project Information Literacy national study of workplace information literacy. Presented at the 2013 California Conference on Library Instruction.
Learning Curve: How College Graduates Solve Information Problems in the Workplace
1. Learning Curve
How College Graduates
Solve Information Problems
in the Workplace
Michele Van Hoeck
CSU Maritime and Project Information Literacy
California Conference on Library Instruction
San Jose State University, April 5, 2013
2. Ability to obtain and process information
Ranked 4th : “very to extremely important”
4. Who?
Director:
Dr. Alison Head
Research Team:
Beth Black
Ohio State University Libraries
Sue Gilroy
Harvard University Libraries
Michele Van Hoeck
CSU Maritime Library
Jordan Eschler
University of Washington
Sean Fullerton
University of Washington
12. We asked employers about:
• Expectations
• Strengths
• Struggles/challenges
for college grads “doing research” or
“solving information problems” at work
13. Coding
• 14 ACRL Information Literacy
performance indicators
• 16 Habits of Mind
(Art Costa, CSU Sacramento)
15. Baseline Expectations
• How and where to find information online,
without much guidance
• Use a search strategy that goes beyond first
page of Google results
• Articulate a “best solution” and conclusion
from all that was found
20. 1. Engage team during
research process
“We need someone who will go
out and explore on their own and
then come back to the team and
say, ‘Here'ʹs my best take, what
do you think?’ They need that
ability to invite discussion and
be able to redirect on the fly.”
21. “They believe the computer is their
workspace, so basic interactions
between people are lost. They won’t get
up and walk over and ask someone a
question. They are less comfortable and
have some lack of willingness to use
people as sources and also have a lack
of awareness that people are a valid
source of information.”
22. 2. Use variety of formats
“There were many graduates
who just looked in one place—
the Internet—and that was the
problem. It’s a whole bag of
tricks you need for doing
research today.”
23. 3. Find Pa]erns
“difficulty distinguishing
the noise from the
solid material”
get stuck in the mud
trying to figure out
what it all means”
24. 4. Being thorough
“I don'ʹt think there'ʹs a lot of
that desire to go deep. They expect
information to be so easy to get,
that when it'ʹs not,
it'ʹs frustrating to them.”
27. Workplace research:
• Is social (and socially iterative)
• Uses a variety of sources and source types
• Seeks pa>erns
• Requires persistence
• Means being open to continuous learning
30. Focus group questions
• What is challenging about solving
information problems in the workplace?
• Which college learning experiences have
been most applicable?
• What strategies do you use to solve
information problems?
31. “My job feels like there’s a
perpetual thesis due, but my job
is literally about finding
information that does not exist.
My information needs have
changed and intensified since
when I was an undergraduate.”
32. Workplace research challenges
1. Increased sense of urgency
2. Li]le structure or direction
3. Highly contextual and
fundamentally social
33. What transferred well?
Ability to:
• Systematically evaluate sources
• Critically read and analyze published sources
• Synthesize large volumes of content and
extract quality information
34. Overlap: Workplace research is social
The biggest hurdle
for me was ge]ing
used to talking to
strangers.
They need to look
beyond their
computer screens.
Recent graduate
Employer
35. Opposing views of
workplace research
Grads perceive:
fast pace
Employers need:
persistence,
thoroughness
42. How many ACRL
Info Lit learning outcomes
are social?
14 of 87
43. Social side of research
• Encourage team consultations with
librarians
• Teach identification of experts as sources
• Discuss tools/sources that make iterative,
team-‐‑based research more transparent:
Google Docs, Zotero, Wikipedia
44. Motivation and authentic tasks
• Use data from NACE or PIL to talk about the
workplace value of information literacy
• Partner with faculty to design research
assignments that reflect workplace realities
• Reach out to extracurricular groups on campus
46. Resources
Alison Head, Project Information Literacy (2012). Learning Curve.
http://projectinfolit.org/pdfs/PIL_fall2012_workplaceStudy_FullReport.pdf
National Association of Colleges and Employers (press releases)
http://www.naceweb.org
Art Costa, Habits of Mind
http://www.instituteforhabitsofmind.com/
Bill Coplin. (2012). 10 things employers want you to learn in
college. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.
Head, Van Hoeck, Eschler, Fullerton. What information
competencies matter in today’s workplace? (May 2013), Library
and Information Research, http://www.lirgjournal.org.uk