Demand for Change
The information specialists in Tritonia Academic Library, a joint library in a multilingual environment, are used to finding new and innovative ways to support students in the field of information literacy (IL). Our information specialists have given hands on tutorials, lessons on request, and one credit courses in IL for both first-year students and bachelor degree students for the past 15 years. Some courses are developed or held together with the teaching staff. The ever-changing scientific landscape demands a change in how we support the students’ IL (Lokse et al., 2017). As our IL teachers have the possibility for only one lecture of two hours per IL course, the risk of overloading students with information is imminent (Lokse et al., 2017). To keep the lectures quite light, our library offers as much IL support as possible in various other ways.
IL Services Close at Hand
Since the pandemic, students seem to prefer receiving library services online (Baker & Ellis, 2021). Therefore, IL questions and support takes place in channels preferred by the students. Our library has a live chat service for students, researchers, and staff. We feel that a chatbot does not empower students to evaluate, use, and create information effectively. Other ways of getting IL support is to use the Ask the library form or send us e-mail. Questions from both the form and e-mail go to a ticket system managed by information specialists. For these online library services to be successful, it is important to keep up with the evolving technology and to maintain and develop the information specialists’ knowledge and expertise through relevant training (Laaro, 2021).
We also offer a weekly drop-in thesis workshop together with the university’s study psychologist. The workshop aims to solve the students’ thesis-related problems regarding IL issues, time management, and writer’s blocks. Students also give and get peer support. Before the pandemic, the workshops were on campus, but now the workshops are held online.
In addition, students can get personal IL guidance by booking an appointment with an information specialist through the Book, a tutorial service. The service helps students with issues, such as finding suitable information resources, upgrading their search strategies, and creating literature reviews. These appointments are generally held online. The library gives open online sessions on subjects including e-books, reference and data management, and open science.
At Tritonia, we acknowledge that we have an important role in giving our university students sound IL support when they need it so that they can thrive in their academic studies and also later in their work life. Offering different kinds of easily accessible IL support services favors not only the students but the whole university. IL support does not have to be that complicated, but it needs professional and flexible information specialists.
References
- Atkinson, J. (2021). The times they are a-changin’: But how fundamentally and how rapidly? Academic library services post-pandemic. In D. Baker & L. Ellis (Eds.), Libraries, Digital Information, and COVID: Practical Applications and Approaches to Challenge and Change (pp. 303–315). Cambridge: Elsevier.
- Laaro, M. D. (2021). Library services amidst covid-19 pandemic: Adjusting to the new normal. Emperor International Journal of Library and Information Technology Research, 1(3), 24–27.
- Lokse, M., Lag, T., Solberg, M., Andreassen, H. N., & Stenersen, M. (2017). Teaching Information Literacy in Higher Education: Effective Teaching and Active Learning. Cambridge: Elsevier.
Heidi Janina Troberg, Pia-Maria Niemitalo
University of Vaasa, Finland
English 
French