The document discusses topics and programs of study that are in high demand among university students in Florida, including health professions, education, business, and engineering. It also provides guidance and recommendations for librarians to effectively support the research needs of graduate students, such as understanding their disciplines, building relationships with faculty, and demonstrating subject-specific databases and resources. Tips are offered on conducting literature reviews, including setting background, identifying major themes, and discovering gaps in the existing research.

1. Council of State University Libraries (CSUL)
Public Services Planning Committee & Information
Literacy Subcommittee
June 2011
Jim Alderman (UNF), Alyse Ergood (FAU),Carol Maksian (FGCU)&
Kristy Padron, Information Literacy Subcommittee Chair (‘10 & ‘11)

2. Source: Florida Board of Governors,
http://www.flbog.edu/resources/iud/enrollment_search

3. Top program areas:
Health Professions to
Clinical Sciences
Education
Business Management/
Marketing
Engineering
Biological/Medical
Sciences
Physical Sciences

4. else
^
 Recent Graduates with What does this influence?
Bachelor Degrees
Class Environment
 Returning Adult o Instructor-Student Interactions
Students (Formal vs. Friendly)
^
a o Motivation (Competitive vs.
Cooperative)

n
Women** Andragogy: Adult Learning
 d
Increasing Numbers of Practices
o Respecting prior knowledge & life
Blacks & Latinos**
experience
Communication & Cultural
 International Students
Exchange
**May depend on program.
 “…I had to change my teaching,”
said one professor.

5.  Professors and faculty influence their students to use the
library; if they do not mention it, then students do not use it.
 Students lack knowledge of library resources and services;
this usually comes later in their course of study.
 Students possess varied abilities and comfort levels with
using the library, doing research and also with using
technology.
 Students rely on the Internet for information and are more
likely to use Google instead of library resources.
◦ If something isn’t available online, it’s ignored.
◦ Some studies suggest that despite instruction on scholarly research,
students avoid using library tools because of their difficulty.

6.  Level and scope of degree
◦ Ph.D/ Ed.D, Masters Level, or Certificate /
Credentials
 Type of Enrollment
◦ Full-Time, Part-Time, or Accelerated
 Subject area and discipline research methods
◦ Lab-based, field work, literature reviews, case law,
etc.
 Overall program environment
◦ Formal/informal; Competitive/Cooperative;
Supportive/”Survival of the Fittest”

7.  Basic knowledge of and confidence in subject area
resources.
 Active relationships with faculty liaisons.
 Knowledge and application of andragogy.
 Flexible communication skills: asking questions,
listening, cultural/gender norms.
 Technological expertise to recommend (or “sell”)
library tools and resources to students and faculty
alike; helps with assisting in times of need.
 Advising on search strategies, vocabulary, and other
resources; leave the topic development and
refinement to the professor who is a subject expert.

8.  Library catalog and local services most used by graduate
students (interlibrary loan, consultations, etc.)
 Multidisciplinary databases (ProQuest Central, Academic Search
Premier) are not sufficient resources for a comprehensive
graduate-level literature review.
 Introduce and demonstrate subject-area databases and Web of
Science or other citation databases.
 Additional information sources: WorldCat, SUL Union Catalog,
dissertation databases (ProQuest & WorldCat), controlled
vocabulary sources (MeSH, CINAHL headings, thesauri)
 Bibliographic management software (RefWorks, EndNote)

9.  Advise students to identify and read literature
reviews by others within their subject area;
approach the literature toward finding something
new.
 Ask questions that could help the student discover
his or her own refinements.
 Subject and research areas are becoming
increasingly multidisciplinary; suggest related areas
and resources as needed.
 Suggest to researcher that consultation with the
faculty adviser might be the next step in the
process.

10. The Purpose of the Literature Review:
 Set the background on what has been researched
on a topic.
 Show why a topic is significant to a subject area.
 Discover relationships between ideas.
 Identify major themes & concepts.
 Identify critical gaps & points of disagreement.
 Help the researcher turn a network of articles into a
coherent view of the literature.

11. Web Pages & Tutorials Selected Articles
Florida Gulf Coast University Library. Blummer, B. (2009). Providing library
Conducting & Writing Literature Reviews instruction to graduate students: A review of
(LibGuide). the literature. Public Services Quarterly,
http://fgcu.libguides.com/litreviews 5(1): 15-39.
Harkins, M.J., Rodrigues, D.B., and Orlov, S.
North Carolina State Libraries. Literature (2011). Where to start? Consideration for
Reviews: An Overview for Graduate faculty and librarians in delivering
Students. information literacy instruction for graduate
http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/tutorials/lit-review/ students. Practical Academic Librarianship:
The International Journal of the SLA
The University of Arizona University Academic Division, 1(1), 28-50.
Libraries. Researching and Writing Williams, H.C. (2000). User Education for
Literature Reviews. Graduate Students: Never a Given, and Not
http://www.library.arizona.edu/help/tutorials/litreviews/index.html
Always Received in Teaching the new
library to today's users: reaching
international, minority, senior citizens,
gay/lesbian, first-generation college, at-risk,
graduate and returning students, and
distance learners. Trudi E. Jacobson (ed.).
New York: Neal-Schuman, pp 145-172.