Information Literacy Skills of Social Work Students

Abstract

In information society, the individuals have to constantly renew their knowledge to develop their information and skills so as to perform their work better. In order to be able to achieve this, the individual must be information literate to access to information and know how to apply this information. Within this context, concepts of information skills and value are important in professional practice for social workers who can work in many institutions. As social works include a wide range of workplaces from child care and development to elderly care, social workers must be equipped with background knowledge and have the capability to hold this knowledge. The aim of this research is to examine information literacy of the students in the Social Work department of Kocaeli University, Faculty of Health Sciences in 2017-2018 academic year in terms of various variables. Students’ levels of information literacy have been analyzed by gender, sources of information research and software they use to process the data and present it. It has been found out that the students are information literate at good level and they mostly use internet to search for information. Also, it has been understood that information literacy levels of girls are better compared to boys, those who use institutions and experts as resources of information researches, and benefit from scientific databases and libraries have better literacy levels than those of ones who do not. When students’ level of information literacy are examined according to how often they use the software developed to process and present the data, it is concluded that level of information literacy increases as programmes such as word processor, number processing, photo editing, presentation, film or sound and video process are used more. In order to improve students’ skills of information literacy, practical training programmes prepared by libraries can be organized regarding how to access to academic databases, resources in the libraries, the right information in these resources and how to assess these findings, how to benefit from different institutions and experts or a course called “Information literacy” can be included in the curriculums. Moreover, within the scope of this course, instructors should raise awareness of students about how they will access to the data regarding the subjects and apply it, how they will make use of scientific databases.

Keywords

• social work student,information literacy,information technology,sources of information

References

1. Akdağ, M. & Karahan, M. (2004). Examining the information literacy level of undergraduates through a number of variables. Education and Science, 29(134), 19-27.
2. American Library Association/ Association of College and Research Libraries (2016). Framework for information literacy for higher education. Association of College and Research Libraries. http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework
3. Bausman, M. & Ward, S.L. (2016). The Social Work Librarian and Information Literacy Instruction: A Report on a National Survey in the United States. Behavioral & Social Sciences Librarian 35(3), 109-122.
4. Bellard, E.M. (2007). Information literacy needs of nontraditional graduate students in social work. Research Strategies, 20(4), 494-505.
5. Bruce, C. S. (1994). Information Literacy Blueprint. Griffith University, Division of Information Services. (17.03.2004).
6. Eisenberg, M.B. & Johnson, D. (2002). Learning and Teaching Information Technology Computer Skills in Context. Syracuse. New York: ERIC Clearinghouse on Information Resources.
7. Fraillon, J., Ainley, J., Schulz, W., Friedman, T. & Gebhardt, E. (2013). Preparing for life in a digital age: The IEA international computer and information literacy study international report. International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-14222-7.
8. Keten, B. (2012). Bilgi erişim sürecinin problem çözme ve karar verme üzerindeki etkisi: Kuramsal bir çalışma. (Effects of information retrieval process on decision making and problem solving: An emprical study). Türk Kütüphaneciliği, 26(3), 476-500.

9. Kurbanoğlu, S.S. (2010). Information Literacy: A Conceptual Analysis. Türk Kütüphaneciliği, 24(4), 723-747.
10. Önal, N. & Çetin, O. (2014). Examination of pre-service teachers’ information literacy in terms of various variables. Mehmet Akif Ersoy Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 29, 1–30.
11. Özsoy, S. & Özsoy, G. (2013). Effect Size Reporting in Educational Research. Elementary Education Online, 12(2), 334‐346.
12. Polat, C. (2005).Bilgi okuryazarlığı ve üniversiteler. Prof. Dr. Nilüfer Tuncer’e Armağan. Türk Kütüphaneciler Derneği, pp. 261-277. [Book chapter] http://eprints.rclis.org/8145/1/Nil%C3%BCfer_Tuncer%27e_Armagan.pdf
13. Silfen, K. & Zgoda, K. (2008). Evidence-Based Practice and Information Literacy in Social Work: An Assessment of Students' Reference Lists. Behavioral & Social Sciences Librarian, 27(2), 104 -115.
14. Şahin, F. (2001). Sosyal hizmette güçler perspektifi ve çözüm odaklı mülakat. Aile ve Toplum Eğitim Kültür ve Araştırma Dergisi. Başbakanlık Aile ve Araştırma Kurumu Yayınları, 1 (4), 59-73.
15. http://ailetoplum.aile.gov.tr/data/54293f63369dc32358ee2b2e/aile_ve_toplum_4_aile_ve_toplum4.pdf
16. Taylor, A. R. & Dalal, H. (2017). Gender and information literacy: Evaluation of gender differences in a student survey of information sources. College & Research Libraries, 78(1), 90-113. DOI:10.5860/crl.78.1.90.
17. Zurkowski, P. G. (1974). The information service environment relationships and priorities. Related Paper No. 5. National Commission On Libraries and Information Science.
18. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED100391.pdf
19. Türkiye Felsefe Kurumu Derneği, (2017). Sosyal Hizmet Uzmanları İçin Etik Kılavuz. Ankara.
20. http://sosyalhizmetlerdeetik.org_doc/pcp10_etik_kilavuz.pdf