The Australian Library Journal
volume 49 issue 3
[editorial] John Levett
Information literacy programs and research: An international review
Christine Bruce
This paper provides an overview of contemporary information literacy research and practice. While the content is highly selective, the intention has been to highlight international and Australian developments which have achieved significant recognition, which are representative of similar trends in other places, or which are unique in some way. There are three main foci in the paper. Firstly, an exploration of ways of interpreting the idea of information literacy. Secondly, a synthesis of various efforts to seek new directions in educational, community and workplace contexts, beginning with the major initiatives being undertaken in the United States of America. Thirdly, an introduction to some recent research, concluding with a summary of my own investigation into different ways of experiencing information literacy.
Information literacy lessons from EdNA Online
Jillian Dellit
The National Rifle Association's slogan Guns don't kill people. People kill people is a telling example of what we might call the myth of neutral technology, the idea that artefacts are not political because they can not do anything on their own. It is a presumption whose folly is matched only by its opposite: the notion that political outcomes can be determined solely by a technology. A more fruitful way to think about technology's impact is that it depends on a combination of design, use, and the environment in which it is deployed. [Shapiro 1999, p13]
Institutional in-sites: The role of the National Library of Australia
Anne Galligan
The cultural politics associated with the National Library of Australia (NLA) as a storehouse of the national textual capital, are today infused with a symbolism and rhetoric that exert considerable power in any discourse concerning the cultural state of the nation. The National Library of Australia has been described as 'the apex of the national library network' (Allan Horton Report into Public Libraries 1976 p8), and Warren Horton, the recently-retired director-general has claimed that, 'The strategic directions of the Library cannot be separated from its leadership role in the broader library and cultural sectors' (Horton qtd National Library of Australia 36th Annual Report 1995-1996, p2).
Graduate employment outcomes for qualifying library and records management courses at Curtin University of Technology
Paul Genoni, Maggie Exon, Kit Farrelly
This paper reports on the results of a postal survey of graduating students from courses offered by the Department of Information Studies at Curtin University of Technology for the years 1993-1997. The survey recorded, inter alia, categories of graduate employment, perceptions of the relationship between the knowledge acquired in the course and the employment outcome, and levels of satisfaction with the course. The results of the survey are compared with those obtained in a previous survey which recorded similar data for the graduating classes of 1988-1992.
Racist disinformation on the World Wide Web: initial implications for the LIS community
Sally Skinner and Bill Martin
This paper has emerged from an Australian-based doctoral research program investigating the presence of racist disinformation on the World Wide Web (WWW) and the extent to which, if any, such material can be balanced by the content of anti-racist sites. Prior research about racism on the internet has rarely dealt specifically with the World Wide Web. Much of what has been written has focused on pornography in the censorship/free speech debate, with racism treated as an adjunct. Whereas previous researchers have raised the potential of the internet as a source of disinformation, there has been little in the way of specific studies of racist disinformation on the World Wide Web. This paper addresses a number of issues emerging from the relevant literatures and clarifies important points of terminology. Finally it considers possible implications for the role of the LIS community as use of the World Wide Web by racist groups increases (Institute of Race Relations 1999).
Evidence-based medicine: an opportunity not to be missed
Ruth M Sladek
EBM (Evidence Based Medicine), is now an unavoidable issue within healthcare. It is dependent upon accessing 'evidence', that is, both published and unpublished research, and as traditional suppliers of information services, health librarians now have excellent opportunities to define and assert their roles in the health care industry. We need to understand EBM not only in order to continue to provide relevant services, but so as to explore current opportunities in extending and promoting our roles. This article will introduce the concepts of EBM, and identify key areas for our involvement.
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