Articles

Information literacy in the search for different supports

0000-0003-3674-0556Iliana Romero Lamorú^{1  *} 

¹Universidad de Guantánamo. Cuba.

ABSTRACT

Information literacy linked to the learning of users in libraries is a process that provides individuals with the appropriate skills for personalized decision-making based on information. This essay provides ways to search for information in different formats using two variants: traditional and digitized. To solve the problem, the Analysis-synthesis, Documentary Analysis, and Observation methods are used. The results achieved show the obtaining of information quickly and accurately, training competent users to carry out bibliographic searches according to their needs and access to the new technologies available.

Key words: User training; Scientific information; Information literacy; Digital library

Introduction

The information needs in the formation of social subjects, the permanent presence of new technologies and communication (ICT's), require them to learn how to learn and to learn skills as well as knowledge to achieve quick and timely access to relevant information.

In view of this situation, specialists, in fulfilling one of the functions that characterize university libraries -educational-, are obliged to educate those interested in the use of the tools and in the development of skills that will enable them to be apt people in the access and management of information.

University libraries play a significant role in the users, through the use of textbooks and other printed materials and in different formats, as one of the sources of acquisition of scientific information, for all types and levels of education, so it is a basic element in the educational teaching process.

The information is presented in different formats, first of all the knowledge that human beings have, then the different resources such as videos, books, digitalized format, but its effectiveness depends on the individual and the specificities of its use.

Development

With user training processes, both the library and the user obtain benefits in different ways. The library, for its part, fulfills the social and educational role of training people to know the value of information and even to transform it, taking as a principle the importance of handling the instruments to access the information available in the documentary systems, databases and communication and information networks, in their areas of interest and performance.

The user, on the other hand, because he learns to identify and value the information that is relevant to his needs and is able to use the means provided by the library, can act in an autonomous and freeway, developing his abilities, skills and knowledge in the information search process.

These are long-term training activities, and will be fully exploited if the users are "intellectually curious". The aim is to foster in the user a critical, analytical and reflective attitude towards the integral management of information.

In addition, they develop competencies to manage information in any place, medium and support; on the other hand, they take advantage of information and communication technologies -ICT's- to appropriate, generate and socialize knowledge, thus increasing the quantity and quality of information, with discussion groups and academic communities, among others.

The use of a conventional or electronic information unit has always required that the user is presented with tools to locate the information and that he/she has a series of skills to select, analyze and interpret the information contained therein, based on a series of semantic relationships between the different materials that the information unit possesses.

Based on the elements analyzed, several authors have written about skills and their classification. Among these authors is Montes, A. (1995) cited by ^{Matos Columbié, (2004}), who has included those of obtaining, using, producing and communicating information in the 2nd order.

Habilidades relacionadas con la obtención de información: consisten en procesar información gráfica, auditiva, impresa y visual; permiten descodificar variados signos de uso y evaluar apropiadamente la información: juzgar sus bondades y limitaciones; permite también procesar información para seleccionar fuentes, para memorizar la información e incorporarla a su esquema de conocimientos.

1. Skills related to the use of information: means using information in the solution of problems of any kind.

2. Skills to produce new information: consists of possessing scientific curiosity, the ability to observe and innovate, creativity and the possibility of using one's own knowledge and the information obtained in the search for alternatives to solve problems.

3. Skills to communicate information: implies reading, listening, writing and expressing oneself orally, having knowledge and awareness of what one is doing and the possibility of interacting with different interlocutors.

These skills allow acquiring the necessary knowledge or information and the convenient use of it.

This is why user training is seen as one of the programs of the information units that will allow rapid change towards new knowledge, being this the main professional challenge for librarians, leading them to be trained and remain linked to the functions of teaching, research and dissemination of culture, involving their work with that of teachers, students, researchers and citizens in general, as well as with institutional managers. The need to respond to new objectives and to offer new services has made the concept and the very reality of the library evolve.

At present, knowledge management has become a powerful tool for the development of society, so the functions to be fulfilled by a university library are inexcusably based on the existence of a librarian whose work is not only technical but also pedagogical, offering users all the opportunities for the proper use of information sources and access to reading as a form of entertainment and means of personal enrichment.

Information specialists must become a true manager of scientific information, through user education and thus raise the informational culture of the members of the community, which will contribute to form in students, teachers and researchers the conceptual, procedural and attitudinal contents necessary to access, use and communicate information in any of its forms, for purposes of study, research in the field of education or in their exercise as professionals of the same, as well as for their cultural improvement.

It is important to recognize the need for change, the environment in which we find ourselves, to have a precise vision of where we should be heading and also to have the human potential capable of carrying out this task. The transformations and technological changes that are taking place, as well as the diversity of information and its continuous growth, must encourage the user to be updated in their training of the new approaches and modalities imposed by the development of Science and Technology in information matters, as well as the importance of their theoretical questioning and more analytical reflections, facing the librarian task in terms of education that will allow them to raise their cultural level.

It is of great importance the preparation that university teachers and students should have in the mastery of techniques to search, select and produce scientific and technical information in an intelligent way so that it fulfills the essential content of modifying to some extent, the knowledge structures of those who receive it and facilitate the understanding and transformation referred to.

User training covers everything related to obtaining the information needed to improve processes, products and services, with the objective of organizing and putting into use its resources through a set of activities carried out in order to control, store and later adequately retrieve the information.

In this regard, the main processes in the search for information are:

• Identification of information needs.

• Acquisition of information sources.

• Organization and storage.

• The development of products and services, in their distribution and use.

• The different types of information handled in the organization.

• The dynamics of their flows (represented in the different processes through which each information passes).

It should be noted that information specialists carry out a series of activities aimed at working with user training in order to achieve an efficient search in every sense. Examples:

In the printed catalogs, the librarian guides the operations to be performed to search for information quickly and efficiently in the different types of catalogs (author, title, subject). In the case of the author catalog, search by the author's first surname, then the second surname, then the first name. If the author has other published titles, you continue searching by the first letter of the title. In the title catalog, search in alphabetical order by the first letter of the title. If the title begins with an article and does not lose its meaning, the article is ignored by searching by the next letter. When the subject catalog is searched, it is searched for the desired subject. When you are able to identify it, read all the titles related to it, making a selection of the one you wish to consult.

According to the ^{ABCD User Manual (2018)}, for the search in digital catalogs; the University of Guantánamo (UG) has an online database system through the National University Network on the institution's website, which is visible so that all users can make use of it whenever they need, it contains all the bibliographic documentation that is available in this Center of the different specialties, showing as reference the fundamental data of the same as the classification, author, title, subject and also a summary of what the document is about. To access it from anywhere, students, professors and employees must be registered in the database of the university library with their university user account.

To perform this search in the ABCD, you must first visit the University's intranet where you will find the "online catalog" manual with all the steps configured. On the left side where it says "home", there is a drop-down menu that tells you what you want to search with, whether it is by any field, (title, author, subject, keywords, classification number or abstract). After entering your search expression, click on the little magnifying glass to search. You are invited to make use of this system to improve your research and information searches in the bibliographic collections of the University's Information Center.

The digital library is another search tool that can be used by interested parties and is available at the UG. To access it, they first make a request to the specialist in the center's library and he/she carries out the search according to their interests. The user can also go to the laboratories or the browsing room and directly access the digital library by locating it on the network and can see the entire collection that exists there. To access it, first go to the UG intranet, go to "Services" and in the bar go to "Scientific Information", then there you will find the "Digital Library" icon. The search is done by entering the author, title or subject of the desired bibliography in the search engine.

It is important to clarify that, from your cell phone you can access this service from anywhere in the country to perform bibliographic searches in different formats according to your needs.

Conclusions

Information literacy in the search for information in different media allows teaching students, teachers and researchers to contextualize, apply and value its social impact so that they can learn these contents in the professional contexts where they intervene.

Referencias bibliográficas

Matos Columbié, C. (2004). Una Alternativa didáctica para la estimulación del desarrollo intelectual de los escolares del proceso enseñanza- aprendizaje del Sexto grado de la Educación Primaria. (Tesis de Doctorado). ICCP.

Automatización de Bibliotecas y Centros de Documentación (ABCD). (2018). Manual de usuario ABCD. http://intranet.cug.co.cu/index.php/servicios/servicios-de-ict.

Received: January 17, 2022; Accepted: February 25, 2022

^*Autor por correspondencia: [e-mail]