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The purpose of this paper is to assess knowledge of Singapore Grade 5 (11 years old) students’ understanding and proficiency in basic information literacy (IL) skills of defining information tasks, selecting information sources, seeking information from sources and synthesising and using information.

A 38-item multiple-choice question assessment instrument was used to assess the students’ IL skills based on the i-Competent IL model. The instrument first developed in 2010 was refined and expanded to increase the robustness and accuracy of assessment for the study. It was administered to 17 primary schools in Singapore in November 2015. The maximum possible score of 54 was scaled up to 100 to report the overall mean score for ease of reference and comparison. A total of 2,399 returns were obtained and analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 22.0 to compute the mean scores, IL stage-level scores. The study also investigated for any significant differences in performance between male and female students, and students with or without access to the internet at home.

The students achieved an overall mean score of 53.39 which is below a recommended acceptable score of 60 or 70 advocated in a number of past studies. The two worst performing areas of IL skills were synthesising and using information and seeking information from sources with mean scores of 45.89 and 48.81, respectively. A review of the highest number of incorrect answers suggests that students had difficulty in identifying key information from an information task narrative, understanding the use of reference sources and role of librarians, distinguishing between a fact and opinion, and adopting the best strategy for searching. Girls outperformed boys with an overall mean score of 55.38 vs 51.50. Students with internet access at home fared better than those without access to it with a score of 53.67 vs 45.81. The overall poor results of the survey suggest an urgent need to review the IL education landscape in the Singapore school system, revisit polices, priorities and assess the relevance and effectiveness of the IL curriculum, practical hands-on classes, and interventions that are currently employed in schools.

The study helped identify areas of IL skills strengths and weakness among Grade 5 students in Singapore schools. It provides recommendations for follow up actions for education authority and schools to improve the situation.

This study was prompted to provide an assessment after a national IL initiative was launched in 2012 to inculcate IL skills among the school-going children as part of creating a value-driven education system. This is the first reported set of findings for a large-scale survey conducted to measure and ascertain the IL skills level among Grade 5 students.

To investigate information literacy (IL) skills of secondary students in Singapore after integration of these skills into school curriculum. The study also explored cyber wellness skills of the students.

A survey questionnaire was used to collect data from 14 secondary schools, located in different geographical zones of the country. A total of 3,306 secondary students participated in this survey. A scoring scheme was devised to assess IL skills of the students.

The students achieved an overall mean score of 52.6%, which is considered as a “middle” level of IL competency. The students obtained high mean scores for two IL skills: “defining information task and analysing information gaps” (60.5%) and cyber wellness (60.1%). Lowest scores were achieved for two IL skills: “selecting information sources” (47.4%) and “appraising the information process and product” (48.0%).

This study has not investigated IL knowledge of teachers, responsible for teaching IL components. Similarly, content analysis of school textbooks, integrating IL skills, could be useful.

It appeared that integration of IL skills into school curriculum showed limited success in imparting these skills. This paper suggests measures for improving the integration of IL skills into school curriculum. Findings of this survey will be useful to curriculum planners, education administrators, instructors teaching IL skills and school librarians.

This study was unique as, in addition to standard IL skills, it also investigated cyber wellness skills. It was desirable as now social media have become a popular source for information seeking and sharing.

This study investigated those factors that contribute positively in shaping users’ perceptions of library effectiveness. A questionnaire‐based survey of five major agricultural libraries in Malaysia was conducted. It was found that the adequacy of collections, services and facilities were closely linked to the perceptions of library effectiveness. Certain other factors contributing positively to the perception of library effectiveness were the adequacy and effectiveness of library promotion, involvement of users in the selection of library materials, convenient library location, participation in user education programmes, availability of assistance for using library resources and facilities, and subject background of library professionals. The paper suggests that for any reliable library effectiveness study, all factors associated with user satisfaction should be investigated together.

Keywords search is intuitive, simple to use and convenient. It is also the de facto input interface for textual and multimedia retrieval. However, individuals often perform poorly when faced with exploratory search tasks that are common during learning, resulting in poor quality searches. The purpose of this paper is to examine how adolescent learners search and select videos to support self-learning. The findings allow for the identification of design concepts of video retrieval interface and features that can facilitate better exploratory searches.

Participants were assigned two customized video search tasks. The think-aloud protocol is used to allow participants to verbalize their actions, thoughts and feeling. This approach offered rich insights to the participants’ cognitive processes and considerations when performing the search tasks.

This study identified five themes for exploratory video search behavior: selection of internet resources, query formulation/reformulation, selection of the video(s) for preview, getting acquainted with the video content, and making a decision for the search task. The analysis of these themes led to a number of design concepts, ranging from supporting exploration of topics to better interaction with metadata.

The findings can inform future development of dedicated video retrieval systems interfaces that seeks to facilitate effective exploratory searches by learners.

This study contributes by suggesting design concepts for video retrieval system developers to support exploratory video searches.

The integration of the Internet has affected all functions of the library, particularly reference services. In the reference department, this integration has led to the utilisation of new tools and methods for providing information to library users. This study investigates the effect of the Internet on reference services in Malaysian academic libraries. The objective of the study was to find out how the integration of the Internet has affected reference professionals and services. The study also investigated respondents’ perceptions of the importance of the Internet in reference work. A total of 40 library professionals working in the reference department of nine Malaysian academic libraries participated in the study. Respondents felt that the Internet has contributed positively to reference work and has enhanced their effectiveness and efficiency. However, a majority of them disagreed that the Internet should completely replace traditional reference tools. Respondents also felt that reference librarians should possess good computing and Internet use skills for providing effective reference services.

Picture archival and communication systems (PACS) are being widely used in radiology departments for the storage and archiving of medical images of patients. On‐site training for PACS users is often carried out shortly after the hardware installation. PACS users are considered proficient when the number of errors or “unspecified” examinations is minimized. Explores the potential of the Internet as a training medium for PACS applications. Three hospitals participated in this study. It was found that the rate of errors at two of the hospitals reduced considerably after the Web‐based training. The third hospital maintained its consistently low rate of errors both pre and post Web‐based training. Concludes that the Internet can be used as an effective medium for PACS applications training as well as for other similar systems.

High hopes were attached to CD‐ROM technology at its inception in bridging the gap between ‘information rich’ and ‘information poor’ countries. However, this is technology is entering the libraries of developing countries at a much slower pace than expected. This paper explores the use of CD‐ROM in academic libraries of three South Asian countries, namely Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. A questionnaire was used for data collection and 39 academic libraries participated in the study. It was found that only one‐half of the libraries were using CD‐ROM technology and 65% of these were facing financial difficulties in sustaining it. TWO‐thirds of the libraries have only up to two CD‐ROM workstations and, on average, libraries have just over four CD‐ROM titles. Most of the library staff was self trained and only libraries were undertaking promotional and user education activities. This paper suggests that donor agencies and leading publishers should pool their resources to develop full‐text CD‐ROM products to help sustain the flow of digital information to these countries.

Special libraries are undergoing some fundamental changes which require redefinition of the competencies of information professionals. The contextual variables necessitate identification of competencies in relation to the peculiarities of a situation. Some methodological improvements were also attempted to arrive at a reliable body of knowledge and skill competencies. Fifty top and middle managers of the ten largest special libraries in Malaysia were interviewed to validate competencies by using a scale indicative of the perceived extent of importance of each competency. The validated competencies have been presented in the following six areas: foundation, cataloguing, circulation, information service, collection development and serial control. Capabilities to relate information facility to the organizational mission and profile, managerial competence, effective exploitation of information technology, subject expertise, and a great deal of emphasis on service aspect figure as the most important arsenal for the future information professionals.

This study investigates the information needs and information seeking behaviour of computer engineering undergraduate students at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. The purpose was to investigate the types of information sources used by the students, their preferred information formats, the importance of and reasons for using certain information sources and the use of various electronic information sources. A questionnaire was distributed to 200 randomly selected students and 102 completed questionnaires were returned. The study found that printed materials were the most preferred information format among the students. The top five most preferred information sources, in the order of importance, were books, lecturers, the Internet, friends and manuals. Unexpectedly, the use of databases and electronic journals was quite low among the computer engineering students. The study recommends a promotional campaign for introducing electronic information sources to the library users.

This study aimed to acquire knowledge about Singapore secondary school (ages 13 to 16 years old) students' skills in searching, evaluating and using information.

A comprehensive instrument encompassing the basic information literacy (IL) skills, as well as a new dimension of ethical usage of information and collaborative information seeking was used for data collection. From August to November 2010, a total of eight schools comprising 3,164 students participated in this study.

It was a matter of concern that various kinds of libraries, including school libraries, were found to be under-utilized. From the test that was administered to assess the IL skills of students, the results were found to be generally unsatisfactory as each of the major categories of IL skills recorded a score that is below 50 (out of a maximum of 100) except for “task definition”. For skills related to “information seeking strategies”, “location & access” and “information use”, the types of schools, academic streams of study, and students' family background seemed to have significant influences.

This study is the first large-scale survey conducted in Singapore that sought to test the IL skills of secondary school students. The findings are useful in assessing the current effectiveness of IL integration, and the need for a more planned approach towards IL competency training within the school curriculum in Singapore.