Produced by Project Information Literacy, the Lessons Learned: How College Students Find Information in the Digital Age report (issued December 2009) has plenty of data for academic librarians to consider. Many of the findings are distressing for they show that students generally avoid librarians and have a very narrow view of the library’s services. Thank you Dr Allison J. Head and Dr Michael B. Eisenberg for doing this important research. Here are some of the key findings worth considering:

• Only about 25% of instructors advise students to recommended a librarian to do course-related research.
• “The relatively consistent pattern of information usage suggests that most students in our study favored a risk-averse and predictable information-seeking strategy. The student approach appears to be learned by rote and reliant on using a small set of resources nearly each and every time.” – page 32
• We see a perfect storm brewing on some campuses: (1) many students have imperatives to graduate in four years or less, because of the weak economy, rising tuition costs, and pressure from the institution and family; (2) many students take a brimming course load each term, which may require more work than they are capable of completing; (3) many students develop a work style that tries to get as much done in as little time as possible and work expands to fill the time allotted; and (4) many studentsʼ information-seeking competencies end up being highly contextual, a set of predictable skills developed for passing courses, not for lifelong literacy and professional goals beyond college… As a result, we see the very important pedagogical goals of deep learning and critical thinking are at risk of being greatly impeded within the academy.” – page 34
• “We see a trend that concerns us: Students in our study developed information strategy that was learned by rote, applied with dogged consistency, and resulted in respectable grades. Many studentsʼ research methods appear to be far from experimental, new, developmental, or innovative.” – page 34

There is much for librarians to think about here, not least of which is the question of student information habits. It strike me as likely that many students form their information habits prior to starting university or college and that they often do little to change. The report also found that students typically start their research process with assigned readings and a handful of other resources. Inspiring students to learn more deeply is part of the challenge that academic librarians face and I’m not sure how that can be achieved. One option is to work more closely with faculty members, many of which no doubt share the concern that students are not learning critical thinking skills in much depth.

Thanks , K.G. Schneider, (author of the excellent Free Range Librarian blog) for pointing this study out.