Information Pathways: A Problem-Solving Approach to Information Literacy

by Crystal Fulton

Overview

With the advent of the Information Society, access to resources is vital to the ordinary citizen, the academic, and the career professional, as well as in public administration and private enterprise. Information Pathways: A Problem-Solving Approach to Information Literacy is designed to serve as a textbook for courses that address the need of college students to develop a basic knowledge of the complex matrix of core resources for the retrieval, management, and exploitation of information. This book shows students how to:

•Build effective search strategies for solving information problems
•Evaluate and use information and information sources
•Apply information skills to the writing process
•Be at ease with numeric information
•Integrate information skills for smooth problem solving
•Maintain their new fluency with information

Organized into chapters that examine different ways in which information is structured, Information Pathways will help students develop and evaluate strategies for finding and adopting information.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780810874268
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	03/23/2010
Pages:	154
Product dimensions:	5.64(w) x 8.59(h) x 0.35(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Crystal Fulton is a faculty member at the School of Information & Library Studies, University College Dublin, where she teaches information finding and evaluating skills to both undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

1 Introduction: The Information Horizon 1

2 The Complex World of Information 5

3 Finding Factual Information 17

4 Selecting and Navigating Electronic Information Systems 39

5 Practices of Information Organization and Access 57

6 Channels of Communication 67

7 Researching for Writing 83

8 Counting on Our Numeric Literacy 99

9 Putting Our Information Skills to Use 113

10 Maintaining Information Literacy Levels in a Changing World 123

11 It's a Wrap! Some Final Thoughts on Finding and Using Information 133

Sources for Further Exploration 137

Index 141

About the Author 145

Editorial Reviews

Information Pathways is designed to assist every reader in improving their own level of information literacy. This phrase, information literacy, means developing and evaluating strategies for finding and adopting information. Each chapter covers a different group of resources, such as chapter 3, “Finding Factual Information,” and chapter 4, “Selecting and Navigating Electronic Information Systems.” The entries explain how this group is structured or organized. Each chapter has quick tips and explanations contrasting two different approaches to finding or negotiating your way to your desired answer. Each chapter offers a few exercises to improve your skills at the end of the chapter. Unlike bibliographic instruction classes, this resource does not cover specific titles and explain their benefits to find answers in a specific field of inquiry. It provides a much broader discussion of how to use competitive resources efficiently to retrieve information....This title is highly recommended for academic libraries teaching courses in bibliographic instruction and information literacy.

American Reference Books Annual

A reader-friendly layout including key concepts, quick tips, margin quotes, and numerous headings and subheads.

Inc. Book News

Information Pathways is designed to assist every reader in improving their own level of information literacy. This phrase, information literacy, means developing and evaluating strategies for finding and adopting information. Each chapter covers a different group of resources, such as chapter 3, “Finding Factual Information,” and chapter 4, “Selecting and Navigating Electronic Information Systems.” The entries explain how this group is structured or organized. Each chapter has quick tips and explanations contrasting two different approaches to finding or negotiating your way to your desired answer. Each chapter offers a few exercises to improve your skills at the end of the chapter. Unlike bibliographic instruction classes, this resource does not cover specific titles and explain their benefits to find answers in a specific field of inquiry. It provides a much broader discussion of how to use competitive resources efficiently to retrieve information....This title is highly recommended for academic libraries teaching courses in bibliographic instruction and information literacy.

American Reference Books Annual (ARBA)

Fulton (Sch. of Information & Library Studies, Univ. Coll., Dublin) presents a straightforward guide to conducting research and becoming information literate. Encapsulating several library school courses, the text is too basic for information professionals; however, it's a good vehicle for explaining library research to novice library users in high school and college settings. Divided into 11 chapters, the book addresses factual information, how to research writing, numeric literacy, and other information-literacy topics. Each chapter starts with an introduction and specific learning objectives before moving on to manageable chunks of information. There are also quotes and diagrams throughout to emphasize the details. What makes Fulton's book effective is the inclusion of exercises—this moves the content from theory to practice. VERDICT A useful tool for semester-long info lit courses or as a quick reference for students already familiar with the basics of research.—Nicole A. Cooke, Montclair State Univ. Lib., NJ

Library Journal