Research Information Literacy: Addressing Original Researchers' Needs

Information literacy for faculty, doctoral students and other research-based graduate students, post-docs, and other original researchers is complex. There are fundamental differences between the processes of inquiry used by original researchers as compared to students or even faculty who are synthesizing information to find answers. Original research is different from information synthesis for discovery. Therefore, the information literacy processes to train and support those researchers are different. Analysis of the inquiry-oriented parts of the current and emerging information literacy Standards and Framework shows significant differences in the approach needed for teaching research information literacy. Promising instructional outcomes for information literacy training based around original research include gap analysis, theoretical and methodological discovery, and practical skills like funding search and analysis.