Evolution Characteristics of the Information Literacy Education Policy for Chinese College Students

In order to cultivate information literacy among college students,the Chinese government has formulated a series of relevant policies as well as revised and adjusted the policy priorities along with the times.Guided by co-word and social network analysis,this study analyzes 170 policy texts that have been promulgated by the Chinese government from 1981 to 2020.Based on the clustering results of high-frequency keywords,this study explores the characteristics of policy evolution and its influencing factors from three dimensions:policy themes,contents of information literacy education,and the methods for cultivating information literacy education.Several suggestions have also been put forward in this article to improve the information literacy education policy for Chinese college students.

A comparative analysis of information literacy curriculum standards in the educational programs of high schools in China and in the United States

Our study aims to take a closer look at China's current information literacy(IL) program standards at secondary schools and to analyze their level of success and/or failures in a comparative way with those of the United States in terms of fulfilling their each other's mission-oriented mandates. Our research findings show that China's current IL standards of high schools contain a disproportionate emphasis on information technology(IT). Moreover, the stipulations of these IL standards are narrowly construed and without being solidly grounded on a broad and comprehensive educational perspective. We also suggest that there are two underlying causes for this set of unsound IL standards in China.Firstly, there is a lack of collaboration between two major competing forces engaged in the curricular development and research of IL in China: Those professionals in educational IT discipline vis-à-vis those in Library and Information Science. Secondly, library professionals have a very limited influence on major socio-cultural policies, even at their own institutions. As a result, this paper recommends the following three possible measures,which may help remedy this situation strategically: 1) Establishing a set of new IL curriculum standards based on an IL-centered educational perspective; 2) establishing a teacher-librarian's training program to promote school librarians' role in IL education; and 3) strengthening the research and development of an online IL education program and an accompanied evaluation mechanism.

Developing the information-seeking behavior scale for undergraduates

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to develop a standardized and reliable measurement tool for assessing information-seeking behavior of undergraduate students.Design/methodology/approach: Based on information literacy and information-seeking behavior theories, expert advice and students' interview, items of undergraduates' informationseeking behavior indicators were selected. With the analysis of homogeneity reliability, item analysis and factor analysis, this study constructs an assessment system to evaluate reliability and validity of the scale.Findings: The information-seeking behavior scale for undergraduates has divided undergraduates' information-seeking behavior into seven dimensions, which include 46 items. The reliability analysis of Cronbach's α was 0.910, and the coefficient of split-half reliability was0.817. The results of factor analysis showed that Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin(KMO) was 0.864,which indicates 55.536% of the total variation could be explained by the above seven dimensions.Research limitations: Due to a small sample size and limited sample distribution, further research need be conducted in an expanded sample size in order to explore the application scope of this evaluation system; in addition, the stability of the scale also need be confirmed.Practical implications: The paper sets up an information-seeking behavior evaluation system for undergraduates and explores the characteristics of their information-seeking behavior.This study provides guidance for the development of future information literacy education and the improvement of the information literacy level of undergraduates.Originality/value: An information-seeking behavior scale for undergraduates has been developed, which comprehensively covers information need, information source, information evaluation, information retrieval, information management, information utilization and information morality. The scale is proved to have good reliability, validity, popularity anddiscrimination that it is qualified to be an assessment tool of information-seeking behavior for Chinese undergraduates.