This webinar, hosted by the Australian Library and Information Association, is relevant to library staff.

Since 2008, Project Information Literacy (PIL), a national nonprofit research institute in the U.S., has conducted national, ongoing scholarly studies about how students find, use, evaluate, and create information as they progress through, and beyond, their higher education years.

In this webinar, Dr. Alison Head highlights five major research takeaways about students’ research habits that PIL researchers have learned from conducting a total of 22,500 interviews and surveys with students enrolled at nearly 100 different colleges and universities across the U.S. PIL’s ongoing research, resulting in 14 large-scale and open access research reports, provides opportunities for widening the lens of information literacy in order to improve instruction and student success with coursework as well as lifelong learners navigating a rapidly changing information landscape.

This event is part of a larger Australian tour celebrating the 50th anniversary of information literacy. Western Sydney University Library is hosting the Project Information Literacy (PIL) Tour from October 22 – November 4, 2024, consisting of six symposium-style events at universities around Australia. Her participation is made possible by support from the Fulbright World Learning Program. Full tour details can be found here.

Alison J. Head, Ph.D. is the Founder and Director of Project Information Literacy. Alison is an information scientist and social science researcher. She is the founder and director of Project Information Literacy (PIL), a research institute based in the San Francisco Bay Area that studies what it is like to be a student in the digital age. In a series of groundbreaking studies, PIL has investigated how university students and recent graduates utilize research skills, competencies, and strategies for completing course work and for solving information problems and engaging with news in everyday life. Her research about today’s students and their information practices began with a small study at Saint Mary’s College of California, where she taught new media as the Roy O. Disney Visiting Professor in New Media for 10 years. More about Dr. Head’s research and PIL is available at: http://projectinfolit.org/

This event is free for ALIA members or $22 for non-members.

>>Register here