1. Pavlinka Kovatcheva,
UJ Faculty Librarian: Sciences
E-mail: pkovatcheva@uj.ac.za
Presented at the UJ Faculty of Science
First Year Academy
31 October 2012

2.  Defining Information Literacy (IL) as applied to the
academic environment:
“It refers to skills that enable one to recognize when
they need information to solve a problem, how they
can formulate their search strategy and skills of
being able to identify the correct sources of the
relevant information they need from
books, journals, on-line databases, indexes, etc., and
conducting the search itself to yield useful
information. Their ability to evaluate the
documents/information they get. How to extract the
information they need, make proper references.”
(Baro & Keboh, 2012)

3.  Library Orientation and Tours in the Library
 Group Subject specific information skills sessions
 One-to-one library trainings
 Help with Searches, Assignments, Lab reports and
Research projects
 Online support with Subject guides (Portals)
 Online support via EduLink: Library Resources: Sciences
 Online tutorials (Subject portals; EduLink)
 Assessment methods: Test & Trainings feedback
 Use Social Networking for communicating and sharing
information and resources with users

4. According to the literature:
“ Subject-specific information literacy and its
integration into curricula, especially in the
sciences, benefit students” (Ferrer-Vinent &
Carello, 2011)
“ Collaboration between classroom faculty and
librarians has been identified as a key element in
the success of a library instruction program”
(Ferrer-Vinent & Carello, 2008)
“ Competency in science information literacy is an
objective of most undergraduate biology programs”
(Fuselier & Nelson, 2011)

5. Source

6.  Library Information sessions as part of the UJ
Faculty of Science Orientation
APK Campus DFC Campus
Date: 24/1/2012 Date: 30/1/2012
Number of students: ~ 650 Number of students: ~ 150
Power Point presentation Power Point presentation
Introduction to the: Introduction to the:
• APK Library facilities • DFC Library facilities
• APK Library services • DFC Library services
• Library Resources (print & • Library Resources (print &
online) online)
• Sciences Subject Portals & • Sciences Subject Portals &
Social Networking Social Networking

7.  Library Tours as part of the UJ Faculty of
Science Orientation:
APK Campus DFC Campus
Dates: 25/1/12 & 26/1/12 Date: 2/2/12
Groups: 11 Groups: 5
Number of students: ~ 300 Number of students: ~ 90
Assistants: Faculty & Library staff Assistants: Library staff
Print-out: Sciences brochure Print-out: Sciences brochure
The APK Library Tour included: The DFC Library Tour included:
• Library security; Information Point; • Library security; Information Point;
Lending Desk & Books on Reserve; Circulation Desk & Books on Reserve;
Computers; Printers & Photocopies; Computers; Printers & Photocopies;
Open Shelves Book Collections Open Shelves Book Collections;
(Sciences, Level 3); Journal Journal Collections; ILL & ICL;
Collections; ILL & ICL; Reference Reference Collection; Audio-Visual
Collection; Sciences Librarian desk Collection; Sciences Librarian desk

9. Comments:
 The 2012 Library Orientation was better presented to
the 1st year students than past years
 It weight more the value of the library, if it is in a slot
after the UJ Faculty of Science Dean’s speech…
 Thus, it shows student the recognition of the library
as an important component in their studies
 Better opportunity for the Librarian to meet with
higher number of students, compared to the small
groups before EduLink trainings(as in past years)
 The Library tours helped students to get to know
more about the library, available facilities, services
and resources.

10. Practical Report
writing, Plagiarism
and the use of
Library Resources

11.  Discussion with the lecturers to find a way to
incorporate the library instruction during the Biology
1A course in the 1st semester of 2012
 Purpose:
- For students to be able to develop library research
skill in finding and applying information for their Lab
report.
- To learn how to avoid plagiarism by citing and
referencing in the correct method

12.  Library Training Sessions; Feedback & Assessments
 Class list (133 students)
Writing Scientific report: Part 1 Writing Scientific report: Part 2
Finding & Accessing information Plagiarism, Citing & Referencing
2 Groups: 15/2 & 16/2 2 Groups: 20/2 & 21/2
Time slot: 1 hour for each group Time slot: 1 hour for each group
Venue: Labs Venue: Labs
Number of students attended: ~120 Number of students attended: ~110
Training content: Steps in Online Training content: What is Plagiarism &
Searching; Library Resources for Copyright; How to avoid Plagiarism by
Biology; How to write a report; Article citing and referencing; Practical examples
structure; Databases for e-books & of citing techniques; how to reference a
journals; EduLink access to resources book; journal article; Internet resource
EduLink : Library Resources; Both Assessment test after the sessions: To
presentations; Mastering Biology Online reference correctly a book & article
access
Incorporate library questions in the Questionnaire feedback for all the
Practical1 test training sessions

15. Some of the feedback from Biology 1 students. They
found the training sessions:
 Informative and helpful;
 Need more practice;
 The librarian was good and she met all our
expectations; Pavlinka was perfect 
 The training really helped, because now I know how
to reference a book and also how to search for article
and books online
 I wish I knew all this earlier. After I saw these
presentations everything was easier
 The information provided was good and helped with
the practical and now we understand the concept of
plagiarism

17.  Training sessions were requested by the Academy of
Computer Science & Software Engineering.
 Students were given an assignment to find 2 articles
and answer the research question
Informatics 1B: Library training
“How to find Information for your Research project”
Training sessions: 31/7/12 & 2/9/12 (2 sessions)
Time slot: 1 hour each
Venue: Lecture Halls
Training content: How to access library resources (Subject Portal;
EduLink); How to Search for print & Online books; How to search for
journals; How to search the Databases for articles; Citing & Referencing
Comments: There was no formal assessment or feedback

19.  The Statistics 1B students had no formal library
training.
 The lecturer requested that I’m available for students
to meet and help.
 +- 80 students
 First 2 weeks in October 2012
 2 Assignment topics:
- Find the name of the Science librarian @ APK; which
floor are the statistics books; the Classification
number range
- To find a scientific article on a topic (hypothesis
testing).

20. •Library presence at the
Virtual Learning
Environment: EduLink
•EduLink Statistics

28.  Discussed at the UJ Faculty of Science Teaching and
Learning meeting and the Deans’ Committee
meeting to present the workshop to Sciences First
Years
 The only classes where we reach all our students
will be in the Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics and
Computer Science.
 An hour of lecturer’s time, where the Faculty
librarian: Sciences & Copyright officer will do
training sessions.
 This is a credit bearing and the students will
complete an Edulink test after the sessions.
(Melanie Jacobs, Faculty of Science)

29.  The trainings took place in the first 2 weeks of
October 2012
 With my colleague Thapelo Mashishi, UJ Copyright
Officer we trained 12 classes – 804 students
 Both APK & DFC Campuses 1st year Science students
 Power Point Presentation that covers:
- What is Plagiarism & Copyright
- How to avoid Plagiarism by Citing & Referencing
- 4 videos were played to enhance the presentation
and to provide visual explanation

30.  Created on EduLink test- 30 questions, which
students needed to complete and have a minimum
of 50% to pass the course, by 31st October. The
questions were equally distributed to cover all the
training material
 The Presentation and additional Plagiarism
Resources were added to EduLink
 Link to the UJ Sciences Librarian Plagiarism
Portal is available to students to watch relevant
videos and practice their knowledge.

32.  780 registered students for the CSIT02 course
 436 completed the Plagiarism test by 30/10
111
100
97
93
90
87
82 83
80
77
73
70
67
64 Pass %
Students
48
21
16 16
2 1

33.  Most of the students who completed the
test, answer correctly between 25 and 29
questions
Grade Value
35
30
25
20
Grade Value
15
10
5
0
100
111
122
133
144
155
166
177
188
199
210
221
232
243
254
265
276
287
298
309
320
331
342
353
364
375
386
397
408
419
430
1
12
23
34
45
56
67
78
89

35. http://ujsciencelibrarian.pbworks.com/w/page/6193643/FrontPage

36. Way forward and recommendations:
 Close collaboration and partnership between the
Faculty and the Sciences Librarians
 Need to look at all possible ways to improve the
teaching of IL skills for undergraduates
 To adapt 1st year Orientation to more practical and
efficient training and assessment
 To work closely with lecturer and implement IL into
the subject instructions, such as
Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths, etc.
 To provide throughout the year training courses
based on need analysis

37.  Baro, E.E. & Keboh, T. 2012. Teaching and Fostering
Information Literacy Programmes: A Survey of Five
University Libraries in Africa. Journal of Academic
Librarianship, 38(5):311-315
 Ferrer-Vinent, I.J. & Carello, C.A. 2011. The Lasting
Value of an Embedded, First-Year Biology Library
Instruction Program. Science & Technology
Libraries, 30:254-266.
 Ferrer-Vinent, I.J. & Carello, C.A. 2008. Embedded
Library Instruction in a First-Year Biology Laboratory
Course. Science & Technology Libraries, 28(4):325-351
 Fuselier, L. & Nelson, B. 2011. A Test of the Efficiency
of an Information Literacy Lesson in an Introductory
Biology Laboratory Course with a strong Science-
Writing Component. Science & Technology
Libraries, 30:58-75