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Psychology: Information literacy

Information literacy

Academic work requires students to possess the ability to find, assess, and use the information and sources in an efficient and responsible manner. According to the definition of the American Library Association (ALA) from 2000, a person who possesses those skills is information literate. The Prague Declaration from 2003 on the enhancement of information literacy in society and the Alexandria Proclamation on Information Literacy and Lifelong Learning from 2005 on information literacy and lifelong learning might also be of interest.

The Icelandic Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture refer to information literacy in its National Qualification Framework from 16 May 2011 where it is stated for example, that students who complete a Bachelor's degree from a university accredited by the Ministry according to the Higher Education Institution Act no. 63/2006 shall be able to apply applicable methods of their field or profession. This consists of students being able to “… recognise when further data is needed and have the ability to retrieve it ... use reliable data- and information resources in the relevant scientific field …”

 The library offers diverse instruction designed to promote information literacy.

 Instruction provided by the library:

  • Introduction to the library and its services on orientation day
  • First-year students. Instruction with an emphasis on searching key databases in the relevant academic field. The instruction is carried out in consultation with each School and/or individual instructors.
  • Review in connection with final theses: searching for sources, citing sources, submitting to Skemma, etc. The instruction is carried out in consultation with Schools and/or individual instructors.
  • Instruction designed to the needs of the respective course according to the wishes of the instructor.
  • Instruction on using the reference tool Zotero and the Turn-it-In plagiarism detection software.