A Three-Year Mixed Methods Study of Undergraduates’ Information Literacy Development: Knowing, Doing, and Feeling

Abstract

This article reports results of a mixed-methods study following the development of undergraduates’ information literacy over three years. Information literacy knowledge and skills in this sample (n = 116) increased with time, as did information literacy attitudes when measured by interest and information literacy’s perceived usefulness and importance. Correlations among students’ information literacy knowledge, skills, and attitudes also increased with time, implying a progressively stronger integration of the three. Complementary interviews with 13 students revealed that they became more interested in being information literate. Some experienced an identity change as a result of this development, indicating that transformative information literacy learning can occur.