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European Conference on Information Literacy

ECIL 2015: Information Literacy: Moving Toward Sustainability pp 499–508Cite as

Evaluation of Information Literacy of Slovenian University Students

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Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 552))

Abstract

This contribution summarizes the results of the evaluation of information literacy (IL) of 677 higher education students enrolled in study programs of life sciences, health, technologies, and social sciences at six Slovenian faculties. The information literacy test (ILT) that was developed, verified and validated by the authors in a previous work served as the IL measuring instrument. Statistical analyses of ILT responses were performed in SPSS. The results suggest that, on average, Slovenian students’ IL is satisfactory and improves with years of education. On average, students know information sources and adequately evaluate the collected information. They possess skills to use the information in academic work and to synthesize data into knowledge. However, students are less proficient in advanced search strategies available in scientific and patent databases. The main deficit in students’ knowledge is evident in topics related to intellectual property rights and in ethical issues related to acquisition and use of information. Students that participated in an IL-specific study course significantly improved their ILT achievement, most significantly in topics where their pre-knowledge was lower.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the university professors who participated in testing: Saša Aleksej Glažar, Vesna Ferk Savec, Mojca Juriševič, Irena Sajovic and Margareta Vrtačnik from the University of Ljubljana; Alenka Baggia, Mirjana Kljajić Borštnar and Andreja Pucihar from the University of Maribor; and Blaž Rodič from the Faculty of Information Studies in Novo mesto. The authors would also like to thank all of the students who participated in the survey. The study was financially supported by the Slovenian Research Agency, project J5-5535 entitled “Development of information literacy of university students as a support for solving authentic science problems”.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Bojana Boh Podgornik & Danica Dolničar

  2. Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics/Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia

    Andrej Šorgo

  3. Department of Agronomy, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Tomaž Bartol

Authors
  1. Bojana Boh Podgornik
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  2. Danica Dolničar
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  3. Andrej Šorgo
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  4. Tomaž Bartol
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bojana Boh Podgornik .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Information Management, Hacettepe University, Beytepe, Ankara, Türkiye

    Serap Kurbanoglu

  2. DICEN IDF EA 7369, Université Paris Descartes DICEN IDF EA 7369, Paris, France

    Joumana Boustany

  3. University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

    Sonja Špiranec

  4. University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Esther Grassian

  5. University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Diane Mizrachi

  6. School of Information, The University of Texas School of Information, Austin, TX, USA

    Loriene Roy

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© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Podgornik, B.B., Dolničar, D., Šorgo, A., Bartol, T. (2015). Evaluation of Information Literacy of Slovenian University Students. In: Kurbanoglu, S., Boustany, J., Špiranec, S., Grassian, E., Mizrachi, D., Roy, L. (eds) Information Literacy: Moving Toward Sustainability. ECIL 2015. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 552. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28197-1_50

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28197-1_50

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28196-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28197-1

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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