Information Literacy of Physical Science Graduate Students in the Information Age

Abstract

This article reports on findings from a survey exploring the information literacy of physical science graduate students. The study also describes the graduate students’ perceptions of the physical and psychological components that enhance or detract from their ability to find, appraise, and use information and how they feel during the various stages of an information search. This snapshot investigation illustrates that physical science graduate students form an information-literate microcosm despite the lack of formal library instruction. The students offer a small number of reasons why they may be inhibited from locating an information source and report experiencing little anxiety as they search for information. They also describe their ideal information-seeking environment as being within the comfort of their home or the convenience of the library. Further, they place some emphasis, but not total reliance, on the capability to connect to the Internet quickly. Relevance, quality, and speed are the cornerstones of a successful search quest. Recommendations for outreach to graduate students who are not native speakers of English are made. Also, suggestions are proposed for library instruction that is specifically designed for, and attracts a greater number of, physical science graduate students.