Information literacy training in Canada's public libraries

摘要

The purposes of the study were to explore the role of Canada's public libraries in developing the public's information literacy (IL) skills, to explore current IL training practices, and to explore the perspectives and IL experiences of individuals who visit public libraries to access the Internet. This article documents the second phase of a larger study, which included semistructured interviews of library staff (n = 28) and customers (n = 25) as well as site observations conducted at five public libraries. Analyses were conducted qualitatively within a phenomenological framework. Results show that the primary use of the Internet in public libraries is communication. Customers reported confidence in using the Internet, while library staff indicated that customers' IL skills were poor. Greater attention needs to be paid to connecting to customers who believe they are highly information literate yet may lack sufficient skills.