Information Seeking Behaviour
A common lesson I teach as a librarian is finding reliable sources for inclusion in assignments. In these sessions I will provide a demo, include time for students to explore a database on their own or in groups, and students will report back what they have found and whether it would be useful for their assignment. I try to instill in students that searching takes more time than Google would have us believe. There is time needed to evaluate a source of information and also search for other connected sources that may not be available in a typical web search. If I do end up seeing student assignments, I have noticed over time that some students will primarily rely on the first few results of a Google search. My goal is to encourage persistence and searching in a variety of places to locate the most relevant and reliable information available.
Some solutions I’ve used in the past include:
- Practice time built into lessons
- Analogy of databases being like movie subscription services (e.g. Disney+ has different films than Netflix)
- Pulling up an example of a report or document that requires payment through a Google search, but is free through the library
- Connecting information from these databases directly to requirements of the assignment
An additional barrier with my teaching is that I tend to only see students one time during the term, which limits how much content I can cover, and also how much influence I have over where to search for information. I’ve tried to overcome this by providing extra learning materials that can be reviewed at any time within the LMS, providing opportunities to meet with me to discuss their search strategy, and encouraging positive discussion within the session so that students feel more comfortable contacting me for support.
TweetExample for "Information Seeking Behaviour":
n/a
Leave a Reply