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Tuesday 22 March 2016

#EBLIPRG 31 March

By Suzana Sukovic

#EBLIPRG (Evidence Based Library and Information Practice Reading Group) is meeting again on Twitter. For this meeting, we have tried to choose time to include colleagues from other parts of the world who have expressed interest in joining us. No time slot is good for all, but this should be doable for quite a few people on the Northern hemisphere as well as for Antipodeans.

WHEN? Thursday 31 March at 8 pm AEDT (Sydney-Canberra-Melbourne).

HOW TO JOIN? Use #EBLIPRG on Twitter and start chatting. Also check the LARK Diigo group (link on the left-hand side menu) for some useful tools and suggestions how to discuss on Twitter (tag "Twitter").

My chosen reading for this meeting should be of interest to library and information professionals who work with young people in high schools, at universities and public libraries. In Australia, academic year started a couple of months ago at schools and just weeks ago at universities. The question of how prepared high school students are for academic work is very relevant for many of us.

ARTICLE. 
Smith, Jorden K., et al. "Information literacy proficiency: Assessing the gap in high school students' readiness for undergraduate academic work." Library & Information Science Research 35.2 (2013): 88-96.
Available here

Abstract
This study examines how high school students' information literacy (IL) skills prepare them for academic work in the digital age. The project included: (a) an audit of university IL practices; and (b) the administration of the James Madison University (JMU) Information Literacy Test (ILT) to 103 twelfth grade students in Alberta, Canada. Due to the low stakes of the test, there was concern about the reliability of the results. Rapid guessing, response time effort, and motivation filters were applied to confirm the reliability of the results. Results indicate a gap between expectations of high school students and their skills. Using a standardized test, potential incoming undergraduate IL proficiency was identified, including student strengths and weaknesses. The audit identified IL policies and practices at the university, indicating discrepancies in the IL instruction students may receive. Findings indicate that students lack the IL proficiency required to succeed in the post-secondary educational environment, and the libraries are not prepared to effectively address this gap.

We would like to compare evidence from the article with your experience and discuss possible interventions. There is always a good question of how we can bring EBLIP into our information literacy work.

Hope to talk to you on Twitter.

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