Search

Objective: This paper examines the ways in which young people in Eastern Canada learn about menstruation and construct personal period pedagogies through embodied experiences and encounters with digital and social media. Design: A qualitative exploratory approach was undertaken to elicit the stories and voices of young people who menstruate. Menstruation is conceptualised as a deeply bio-social phenomenon and knowledge was understood as created, contested and negotiated across settings and contexts. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine university students (ages 19-23 years) in Eastern Canada as part of a pilot project informing a broader study about menstruation education and menstrual experiences. To be eligible for inclusion, participants were required to have experienced one menstrual cycle in the past 6 months and engaged with social media at least once per week. Setting: This project was conducted in a small University town in Maritime Canada. Results: Young people interviewed learned about menstruation through knowledges assembled from conversations family members and peers, educational and medical settings and content encountered on social and digital media. Three themes were developed from the analysis. The first two capture how young people actively try to 'Fill in the Gaps' left by conventional menstrual education approaches and therefore turn to informal and narrative knowledges circulating on social media in efforts to answer the question 'Am I normal'. The third theme describes how participants actively 'Balance Authority and Intimacy' when seeking menstrual information that resonates with their embodied experiences. Conclusion: Substantial gaps exist in the menstrual knowledges available to young people, particularly in relation to the embodied and emotional dimensions of having and managing a period. Digital and social media have the capacity to contribute to personal period pedagogies by acknowledging and exploring aspects of menstruation not adequately addressed in other contexts.

The aim of this study is to contribute to a pragmatic understanding of critical information literacy (CIL) by positioning it as a context-specific interpersonal practice. Using phenomenography to explore how information work is experienced by social workers in social and health care settings, this paper provides an example of critical information practice that can be used to operationalise and activate CIL as a theory and inform approaches to critical pedagogy. CIL as a concept is generally theorised, practiced, and taught in academic contexts, and relatively few examples of how theory can be defined and put into practice outside a classroom setting are available. This study builds on our understanding of CIL by exploring professional information practice and suggests a model for teaching to engage learners in connecting information to action in social systems.

Canadian middle and high school students (N = 2,278) completed a "CTRL-F" curriculum teaching them how to evaluate online information by reading laterally to investigate sources, check claims, and trace information to original contexts. A subset of CTRL-F students (N = 316) were in classes with teacher-matched control groups (N = 287). Some CTRL-F students (N = 994) completed a delayed posttest. At pretest, students indicated preference for some lateral reading strategies, but preference rarely translated into use. Following instruction, CTRL-F students showed greater preference for and use of lateral reading than controls and greater alignment between preference and use. The curriculum's impact varied by demographic factors but not by differences in implementation. Gains were maintained from posttest to delayed posttest. Direct instruction and practice in lateral reading appear to strengthen connections between students' preferences and utilization of these strategies to evaluate online content relevant to academic and personal life.

Globalization has changed the landscape of higher education. The purpose of this study is to enhance understanding of how higher education leaders are engaging emerging questions about successful leadership, particularly when it comes to international student populations in times of crisis. Guided by the Intercultural Leadership framework, this comparative case study illuminates how university presidents from eight different countries were informed in their perceptions of international students and how they acted to support this vulnerable population. The results of this analysis highlight practical implications for higher education leaders to utilize when navigating global crises while protecting international student populations.

Employing a multiliteracies framework, this paper explores the ways in which literacy pedagogy might respond to the emergent challenges that the new information environment poses. We contextualize literacy as a socially constructed endeavor of meaning-making that ranges across multimodal texts and has implications for identity, society, and political engagement. This paper highlights findings from an in-depth qualitative case study, examining how senior high school students and their teachers contend with the new information environment--including information abundance, misinformation, and disinformation. Drawing on in-class observations, student surveys and interviews, and teacher interviews, we offer a window into the complexities of how students and teachers grapple with information at school and, in the case of students, their personal lives. Finally, we discuss some of the opportunities for future literacy pedagogy. We contend that, in order to be responsive and authentic, literacy pedagogy should seek to address: the changing ways students engage with information; the complexity of ideas of safety and risk; the potential for socially-situated multiliteracies pedagogy; and, finally, the possibilities for future research and development.

Based on a study of the digital literacy practices of immigrant Filipino students in Vancouver, this paper focuses on how learners with unequal access to resources engage with different tools to locate information and find opportunities for language learning online. Data was collected through interviews and observations of participants as they used YouTube, Google Search, and Google Translate to decode unfamiliar words and find resources for learning. Framed through a materialist semiotic lens, this study examined how the students negotiated their resources on these platforms to achieve different intentions. Findings show that the way learners navigate these spaces can vary based on the devices they use (laptop vs. mobile phone), the user interface (browser vs. app), and the orientation they choose (landscape vs. portrait). The material dimensions of the screen determine the arrangement of semiotic forms, and varying configurations of devices, interfaces, and orientations shape the information made available to the learner and the digital literacy practices of scrolling, clicking, and shifting tabs. Recognizing how the online environment of a platform can shift across these layers of mediation, this paper conceptualizes the linguistic and semiotic forms that constitute design as sociotechnical structures which provide various learning affordances and constraints.

This study assessed the influence of information literacy training on graduate students' self-rated ability to search using academic databases and the internet to find information, as well as their objective information literacy skills through a survey in 2017 at the University of Windsor. After controlling for a comprehensive set of covariates, there was not a statistically significant difference in self-rated searching ability between students with training and those without any training. However, the trained students' average objective assessment scores in the five dimensions of information literacy were significantly higher than those of students without any training at the significant level [alpha]=0.05.

For decades, developmental psychologists and educators have emphasized that learning about counterintuitive phenomena may be a critical driving force for cognitive development. Thus far, little is known about the specific content that children seek to enrich their knowledge. Using a novel book-choice paradigm, we directly examine children's preference to engage with media that contains more mundane vs. more counterintuitive content. Children ranging from 3- to 8-years (N = 174), from the U.S. and Canada, were presented with pairs of books about animals. The two books in each pair were visually identical aside from their printed title. One book in each pair was described as presenting a fact that (according to validation data on children's and adults' beliefs in these facts) was relatively intuitive, and the other book was described as presenting a fact that was relatively counterintuitive. The youngest participants (3-4 years) demonstrated no preference in selecting books with intuitive vs. counterintuitive facts about animals, whereas older children (5-years onward) demonstrated an increasing preference for counterintuitive content. Combined with validation data on children's and adults' intuitions about the focal facts, these data suggest that children's preference to seek information that adults deem counterintuitive (at least in the domain of biology) increases with age as a function of changes in the strength of children's intuitions about what is possible.

FirstVoices is a technology-centered organization that works with forty-seven Indigenous language communities around British Columbia. One of its top priorities is providing high-quality technical assistance as well as accessible annual training sessions for the platform. This requires nuanced systems of support and adaptability within the methods we use. Over the last two years, its team has grown and modified its procedures with the goal of best serving the unique needs of different communities. With nearly 1,000 support emails in its Service Desk system since June 2018 and two years of regional training -- one in-person, one entirely online -- the team has tracked trends within technology-centered language requests. In this paper, we will conduct a mixed methods analysis of all the support tickets the team has received, as well as an analysis of the qualitative and quantitative feedback from training sessions in order to break down the patterns and themes that exist. We will also discuss the process of creating and maintaining a wiki-style Knowledge Base, the variety of techniques employed to assist remote users, and the potential for future growth in FirstVoices' networks of support. Our intentions with this paper are to provide insight for community groups, language organizations, and linguists alike around capacity-building opportunities in the field of digital language mobilization. As FirstVoices continues to grow and as technology becomes even more essential within the realm of language revitalization, it is crucial that we make note of these trends and prepare ourselves to adapt to the digital-based needs of language communities.

This replication-extension study (Earley & Galluzzo, 2015) examined the information seeking activities of British Columbia (BC) school trustees in an effort to understand the transmission of research. Trustees were asked to identify the sources they used for acquiring research and information in the process of decision-making. The frequency of use, believed most useful, and characteristics of information sources were examined as well as the influence of demographic and school district variables. One hundred and forty school trustees participated in this study. The most frequently used sources of information were briefing materials from the secretary treasurer, briefing materials from the superintendent, and members of the local school board. The source of information believed most useful was briefing materials from the superintendent. There were no differences between genders on most items, although females were more likely to consult with the community than their male colleagues. Trustees in smaller districts were more likely to turn to materials from provincial organizations and the Ministry of Education website whereas trustees in larger districts tended to turn to local and provincial newspapers. Research reports from university researchers or think tanks were not primary sources of information for BC school trustees who generally sought information that was in close proximity from their school board and community.

Objective: To assess preferred sources of information for seeking physical activity (PA), and how PA information seeking may contribute to participation in a campus PA program. Participants: Students attending a large, Western Canadian university between April 2015 and April 2018. Methods: Secondary analysis of an annual campus-wide survey. Results: Students sought PA information for general health. Females sought information about weight loss for appearances; males sought information for muscle gain for appearance. Internet and friends were primary sources of PA information. Regression analysis indicated females 2.49 (95% CI 1.98-3.13), domestic students 2.86, 95% CI (2.04-4.02), and first year students 24.88, 95% CI (18.12-34.17) were most likely to participate in a campus PA program. Only health reasons significantly contributed to participation 1.42, 95% CI (1.06-1.89). Conclusions: Emerging adults attending university may benefit from PA promotion that makes use of their preferred information sources.

Student success in post-secondary education is an ongoing concern, however, research has focused on relatively homogeneous university samples. Moreover, Canadian research on predictors of student success is limited. Following recent trends, we examined non-cognitive, personal qualities, rather than cognitive predictors (e.g., IQ), of student success. Relying on a psychosocial model, we examined age, gender, perceived stress, maternal education, identity style, perseverance, and student engagement as predictors of student success in a multi-site sample of students attending a CEGEP in Quebec (N = 239; M[subscript age] = 18.6 years; 68.2% female) and a polytechnic school in Ontario (N = 209; M[subscript age] = 20.6 years; 71.3% female). Maternal education and perseverance emerged as significant predictors in both samples. Links between informational identity and cognitive engagement and student success differed by location. Our findings suggest the need to focus on student perseverance, and to consider identity and cognitive engagement dependent on the educational context.

To improve uptake of influenza vaccine in pregnancy, it is important to understand the factors that predict prenatal vaccination. The aim of this study was to test the capability of the theory of planned behavior, augmented with information constructs, to predict and explain influenza vaccination uptake in a sample of 600 pregnant individuals in Canada. A baseline survey at the start of influenza season assessed beliefs, norms, perceived control, and information-seeking behavior related to influenza vaccination in pregnancy, as well as respondent demographics. A follow-up survey at the conclusion of influenza season assessed self-reported influenza vaccine uptake as well as infant vaccination intentions. Multivariable analysis indicated that attitudes toward influenza vaccination in pregnancy, subjective norms, information seeking, and past vaccination behavior predicted intentions to be vaccinated, and intentions predicted vaccine uptake. Neither perceived control nor demographics were significant predictors of intentions or vaccine uptake. These findings suggest that presumptive offering of vaccination in pregnancy by health care providers, as well as patient and public health educational interventions, may be effective in communicating norms and strengthening positive attitudes and intentions concerning influenza vaccination in pregnancy, resulting in higher vaccine coverage.

Success in postsecondary education requires proficiency with academic online information seeking. Navigating the internet to find information is a complicated task that is vulnerable to lapses in attention. This study examined the relationships among Canadian graduate students' self-reported behavioral inattention symptoms, awareness and regulation of attentional focus (meta-attention), and online academic information seeking abilities. One-hundred and thirteen (99 female) graduate students (83 master's level, 27 doctoral level) completed an online self-report questionnaire examining domain- and strategic-experience, behavioral inattention symptoms, meta-attention, and online information seeking ability. Results indicated that self-reported inattention symptoms, both components of meta-attention and domain experience each significantly predicted unique variance in online information seeking ability. Implications for research and intervention are discussed.

Introduction: This article explores parental perceptions of young children's everyday life information practices related to their hobbies and interests. Method: Thirty-one parents of children between the ages of four and eight years old completed a survey about their children's hobbies and interests. Questions were related to the nature of the children's activities and the ways in which children seek, use, and share information related to their hobbies and interests. Analysis: Survey responses were analysed for common themes in information seeking, information use and information sharing. Information practices of children with intense interests were compared with information practices of children with more typical hobbies and interests. Results: Findings indicate that young children exhibit a heavy reliance on interpersonal interactions for information seeking and information sharing, while information use is more likely to be an individual activity. Children with intense interests did not engage in information practices of a different nature from those with more typical hobbies and interests. Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that children as young as four years of age engage in observable information practices related to their hobbies and interests. Additional research is needed to better understand young children's everyday life information practices.

How well students conduct research online is an increasing concern for educators at all levels, especially higher education. This paper describes the evolution of a course that examines confirmation bias, information searching, and the political economy of information as keys to becoming more information and media literate. After a key assignment in which students assess their own tendency to engage in confirmation bias, students research a social justice issue across web, news and academic research resources. Designed to build good analytical skills in assessing the trustworthiness of a variety of sources of information, the course empowers students as researchers, citizens and consumers.

Networks are frequently cited as an important knowledge mobilization strategy; however, there is little empirical research that considers how they connect research and practice. Taking a social network perspective, I explore how central office personnel find, understand and share research knowledge within a research brokering network. This mixed methods case study focused on the first two cohorts of school district Mental Health Leaders participating Ontario's Child and Youth Mental Health program (N = 37). Data were collected and analyzed in two phases: 1) the administration of a social network survey to all participants (response rate = 97%), and 2) follow-up interviews with key informants identified by the social network analysis (N = 11). The findings indicate that this is a sparse network and the pattern of incoming ties tends to focus on a subset of individuals. When the identified key players (who are sometimes but not always program staff) are removed, network activity is cut by more than half; the removal of the remaining program staff members renders the network virtually non-existent. Research knowledge typically flowed in a single direction as there were few reciprocal ties within the network. Interview data yielded some important insights indicating that participants perceived formal CYMH events as their main access points to research knowledge and that Mental Health Leaders who were identified as prominent sources of research knowledge had pre-existing relationships with CYMH program staff.

This study involves an in-depth examination of Canadian elementary teachers' cognitive processes and metacognitive strategies they used during a self-directed online learning experience. The virtual revisit think aloud, a methodology that combines a retrospective procedure with screen recording technology, was used to capture verbalisations from 13 elementary teachers as they used an online database. Resulting think aloud protocols and post-task interviews were analysed using qualitative methods. An inductive approach to analysis led to six themes related to the types of cognitive processes and metacognitive strategies teachers use during self-directed online learning: connecting to practice, tweaking and adapting, narrowing the focus, skimming through, reading for depth, and source credibility. The teachers in this study demonstrated a non-linear iterative process in which they continuously planned, monitored, and evaluated their learning during the self-directed online learning experience. Implications for teacher learning and research are discussed.

Introduction: The article contributes to the conceptual studies of affective factors in information seeking by examining Kuhlthau's information search process model. Method: This random-digit dial telephone survey of 253 people (75% female) living in a rural, medically under-serviced area of Ontario, Canada, follows-up a previous interview study to examine with a larger sample issues related to searching for and using health information. Analysis: Concept analysis focusing on the ways in which the categories of feelings and mood are explicated in the information search process model. In addition, it was examined how the motivational elements of information seeking are conceptualised in the categories of feelings and mood. To this end, the present study drew on the ideas of the appraisal theories - a major approach to the study of the affective phenomena. Results: Kuhlthau's model provides a rich and credible picture of feelings experienced by information seekers at various stages of the information search process. However, the category of feelings is approached descriptively. Within this category, the motivational elements are incorporated in the factor of interest. In the information search process model, the category of mood is conceptualised more analytically by drawing on Kelly's ideas. The findings indicate that the picture of the motivational elements of mood can be elaborated by examining the invitational and indicative mood in terms of action readiness. Conclusions: The model provides a pioneering contribution to the conceptualisation of the affective factors in information seeking. The picture of these factors can be elaborated further by conducting comparative studies and making use of the ideas obtained from psychological and cognitive theories of emotion. [This paper was published in: "Proceedings of ISIC: The Behaviour Conference" (Leeds, England, Sep 2-5, 2014), Part 2, Paper isic28.]

Introduction: This research investigates paratextual acknowledgements in published codices in order to study how relationships inform the information-seeking habits of authors, an understudied group in library and information science. Method: A purposive sample consisting of the books from the 2010 nominations list of the Canadian Governor General's Literary Awards was chosen. An in-hand examination of the books was performed to identify the acknowledgement paratext. The sum of these paratextual parts formed the dataset. Analysis: A qualitative content analysis of the acknowledgement paratext was performed. Throughout this inductive analysis, memos were used to record the creation and refinement of categories, as well as the emerging results. Results: The research reveals that authors rely on people as information resources as well as for moral and emotional support. Sources include personal allies, communities, and publishing staff. Libraries and informational professionals are generally absent from the acknowledgement paratext. Conclusion: Authors seek and find support in their local or personal circles and in global or distant horizons. An information model, based on Robert Darnton's communication circuit, is proposed. Information practitioners may be able to build on cues from the acknowledged relationships in order to tailor services to this group of users.

Using randomly ordered name generators, we tested the effect of name generators' relative position on the likelihood of respondents' declining to respond or satisficing in their response. An online survey of public health staff elicited names of information sources, information seekers, perceived experts, and friends. Results show that when name generators are asked later, they are more likely to go unanswered and respondents are more likely to respond that they do not know anyone or list fewer names. The effect of sequence was not consistent in different question types, which could be the result of the moderating effect of willingness to answer and question sensitivity.

With an increasing volume of health information online, it becomes critical for consumers to improve their search and evaluation skills to retrieve reliable information. The Patient Information Aid (PIA) program is aimed to facilitate information seeking, potentially leading to positive outcomes of online consumer health information and the reduction of negative outcomes. This program consists of an educational website based on findings from a systematic literature review and a qualitative research. By teaching information evaluation skills at-the-point-of-search, the general objective of the PIA website is to improve users' e-health information literacy. Adopting user-centered design methods, we ran two focus groups with users having various literacy levels. We applied usability heuristics and information architecture strategies to design the PIA website, and developed "personas" and task scenarios to inform the wireframing. In this paper, we share our experience and insights on designing an educational information literacy program, which can be useful for information professionals working in all areas.

Online consumer health information (OCHI) is being used at an unprecedented rate, and this trend is expected to continue. Most people have used OCHI, and many may have seen the outcomes of this use (either positive or negative or both). Education and income, as indicators of socioeconomic status, are important contextual factors influencing OCHI outcomes. Much of the literature states that individuals with higher income and education are more likely to access OCHI and with this, experience better health outcomes. On the other hand, our research shows that when OCHI websites offer high-quality information that is accessible to those with low literacy levels, individuals with low socioeconomic status report as many benefits as those with higher income and education. In this commentary, we will describe the context of our research and present our findings. This work is relevant to information professionals (librarians) working with health professionals and the public, those teaching information literacy and health literacy, as well as researchers interested in information literacy and information use.

Introduction: Women are active information seekers, particularly in the context of managing health for themselves and their families. Rural living may present particular challenges and opportunities for women in their health information seeking. Method: Forty women living in a rural part of Ontario, Canada were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. They were asked about their health information seeking for both chronic and acute concerns. Analysis: Interview transcripts were organized using NVivo software (version 6) and analysed using a coding scheme iteratively developed by both authors. Results: Emerging themes included--the context of rural living, information and health literacy, the role of unanticipated information intermediaries in the search process, and the mis-match between assumptions made by the system about sources of information, and women's lived realities. Conclusions: There are unique challenges and enablers to health information seeking for women living in rural areas, including the role of formal, informal and ICT-based information intermediaries, the availability to women of required literacies for health information seeking and uptake. Research findings such as those presented in this paper can assist in better understanding both the contexts of information seeking, as well as the preferences and behaviour of those with information needs.

This paper reports the findings of a study undertaken in four Nova Scotia public schools of twelfth grade students' information seeking strategies when they use the Internet as an information source. Various Nova Scotia Department of Education curriculum documents hold high expectations of students' information seeking strategies when using the Internet for educational purposes. This study looks at whether these expectations are being realized. The results include the students' use of specific information seeking strategies, knowledge of World Wide Web Search engines, as well as how students acquired their Internet information seeking knowledge, and students' perceptions of their ability to locate information on the Internet. The results of the study have important implications for Internet education and the role of information professionals in public schools.

Web-scale discovery systems are becoming prevalent in research libraries. Although a number of studies have explored various impacts of discovery systems, few studies exist on user satisfaction. The investigators of this study evaluated user satisfaction with the discovery service Summon at Ryerson University, using online questionnaires and in-person focus groups. Results indicated a high level of satisfaction overall, although this was heavily influenced by the quality of search results over ease of use. The study provides insight into the information-seeking behavior and search preferences of a user when a discovery layer is implemented in a research library

Education research has shown the importance of helping students develop comprehension skills. Explanation-seeking rather than fact-seeking pedagogies have been shown to warrant deeper student understanding. This study investigates the use of Knowledge Forum (KF) in K-6 classrooms (n = 251) to develop students' explanation skills. To this end, we conducted pre- and post- activity interviews with students who used KF to investigate various topics. Their online collaborative discourse was also analyzed. Our results show that: 1) students' explanations improved significantly between pre- and post-activity interviews, 2) active KF users scored higher than less active users on the post-activity interviews, and 3) students who had the best written explanations on KF scored much higher on the post-activity interviews even when they had scored much lower than less active students in the pre-activity interviews.

The need for twenty-first century information skills in engineering practice, combined with the importance for engineering programmes to meet accreditation requirements, suggests that it may be worthwhile to explore the potential for closer alignment between librarians and their work with information literacy competencies to assist in meeting accreditation standards and graduating students with high-level information skills. This article explores whether and how information use skills are reflected in engineering programme accreditation standards of four countries: Canada, the USA, the UK, and Australia. Results indicate that there is significant overlap between the information use skills required of students by engineering accreditation processes and librarians' efforts to develop information literacy competencies in students, despite differences in terms used to describe these skills. Increased collaboration between engineering faculty and librarians has the potential to raise student information literacy levels and fulfil the information use-related requirements of accreditation processes.

Laboratory studies of visual search are generally conducted in contexts with a static observer vantage point, constrained by a fixation cross or a headrest. In contrast, in many naturalistic search settings, observers freely adjust their vantage point by physically moving through space. In two experiments, we evaluate behavior during free vantage point (FVP) search, using observer-controlled zooming to simulate movement toward or away from search objects. We focus on "scope fluctuations"--repeated reversals in the direction of zooming during search. We found increased fluctuation when search items were sparse (Experiment 1) or of mixed size (Experiment 2). We propose that during FVP search, observers attempt to maximize the number of simultaneously discriminable items. Scope fluctuations emerge when maximizing does not enable simultaneous access to all search items, or when observers become disoriented in the search environment, necessitating repeated switches to a broad scope to reorient. (Contains 7 figures and 4 footnotes.)

The present study investigated the processes information professionals, working in a business environment, follow to meet business clients' information needs and particularly their involvement in information synthesis and analysis practices. A combination of qualitative and quantitative data was collected via a survey of 98 information professionals across North America and follow-up interviews with eight Canadian information professionals. It was found that there is an increasing need for value-added services, which incorporate synthesis and analysis but the level of information professionals' involvement differs depending on a range of factors such as clients' needs and attitudes, information professionals' knowledge of the subject area and their length of time working in a particular organization. Information synthesis and analysis in a business context is mostly a collaborative process and principles of analysis are required throughout the entire cycle of information seeking. For the effective transition of information professionals to information synthesists and analysts more effective support may be required to develop a set of essential skills and knowledge. (Contains 4 figures.)

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the educational advocacy experiences of 36 adoptive parents of adolescents and young adults with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). The participants responded to a questionnaire and 29 of them also engaged in an in-depth individual interview. Data were analysed inductively. Emerging from the data were four dimensions of advocacy: awareness, information seeking, presenting the case and monitoring. It was also found that the Internet was an essential tool for parents to seek information and support from others, and that in some cases advocacy was a means for parents to obtain respect from educators and programmes and services for their children. (Contains 2 tables.)

Background: Teenagers need information about their changing bodies. Many young people do not receive adequate or accurate puberty/sexuality education from their parents or school, so many teenagers are going online to have their sexuality questions answered. Purpose: This research examines teenagers' web questions on sexuality, and an example of the puberty and sexuality education content that some may learn in school. It looks for evidence of heteronormative conceptualisations of gender and sexuality, using a theoretical framework based on the Four Discourses of Sexuality Education. Sample: This includes the web questions (n = 200) of an evenly gendered sample of 13-15-year-old students (n = 180) from four English-speaking nations, namely UK, USA, Canada and Australia, selected from a reputable puberty/sexuality education site, and, for comparison, an example of an age-representative public school Health and Physical Education (HPE) puberty/sexuality education curriculum. Method: A gendered and narrative-thematic Content Analysis was undertaken, using the Four Discourses theoretical framework, on the students' sexuality web questions, and also on the school HPE curriculum. Results: The discourse of Victimisation was evident in nearly half of all students' web questions, and over a third of the HPE curriculum. The discourse of Individual Morality was present in a quarter of both students' questions and the curriculum, while the discourse of Desire was evidenced in a fifth of students' questions and almost a third of curriculum content. Somewhat surprisingly, the discourse of Violence was present in 9% of exclusively female students' web questions, and in 12% of the curriculum. Conclusion: It is recommended that the sampled HPE curriculum, and similar curricula in these sampled students' countries, need explicitly to address gender differences in students' metacognition and conceptualisations of puberty and sexuality. This may enable students to embrace their entitlement to sexual subjectivity, in education and across the lifespan, thus helping to ensure students' healthy, positive and purposeful life outcomes. (Contains 2 figures.)

Objective: To explore older adults' (55-70 years) health information-seeking behaviors. Methods: Using a qualitative methodology, based on grounded theory, data were collected using in-depth interviews. Participants were community-living, older adults in Toronto, Canada who independently seek nutrition and health information. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a qualitative thematic coding framework. Results: Twenty participants were interviewed, at which point theoretical saturation of data was achieved. Three themes describing older adults' health information-seeking behaviors emerged. This article will focus on one theme: the enabling and disabling experience of seeking nutrition and health information to support an understanding of successful aging in this population. Conclusions and Implications: These findings are framed within the context of supporting older adults' information-seeking behaviors to contribute to their health and well-being. This is a relevant issue to public health professionals given the global emphasis on successful aging strategies.

This research examined the advocacy experiences of 16 parents of adolescents and young adults who had been assessed as intellectually gifted. The purpose was to determine the applicability of the four dimensions of advocacy to their experiences (awareness, information seeking, presenting the case, and monitoring). Participants responded to a questionnaire and 14 also participated in individual interviews. The parents advocated individually to have their own children identified as intellectually gifted, to have them placed in specific programs, and, in the case of a dual diagnosis, to have accommodations written in the Individual Education Plans. It was also found that their experiences could be categorized according to the dimensions of advocacy and that there was a process involving a series of key events that triggered activities associated with each dimension. (Contains 3 tables.)

This article presents student perceptions about different types of web-based activities used to seek information for French language learning. Group interviews were conducted with 71 students in five Canadian universities to elicit data on their use of the Internet for information-seeking activities. These students use the Web for three main purposes: firstly, to expand their knowledge base by searching for information for language projects; secondly, to concentrate on form-focused activities by consulting online dictionaries or translation software; and finally, to organize their studies by consulting language course management websites. Our results are presented in a continuum of characteristics articulated by the students. Four continuums were identified: the first is goal-related (maintain/improve); the second is action-oriented (check/gather); the third involves the engagement of the students (receive/search), while the fourth one relates to the nature of the information (fact/culture). (Contains 4 figures.)

This paper reports on a research study investigating the role of pleasure reading in the lives of 12-15 year old residents of an eastern Canadian regional municipality. Pleasure reading was found to fulfill three broad functions: it enhanced academic performance, social engagement and personal development. In conclusion, the study confirms that teens, like adults, unconsciously use pleasure reading as a means of everyday life information seeking and the reasons for personal salience identified in the foregoing discussion have a strong developmental theme: in their pleasure reading, teens gain significant insights into mature relationships, personal values, cultural identity, physical safety and security, aesthetic preferences, and understanding of the physical world, all of which aid teen readers in the transition from childhood to adulthood. (Contains 1 note.)

What do Google Maps and a library's Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) have in common? Google Maps provides users with all the information they need for a trip in one place; users can get directions and find out what attractions, hotels, and restaurants are close by. Librarians must find the ultimate OPAC that will provide, in one place, all the information and services patrons will need for their searches. As a former and current patron of libraries, the author offers important criteria for an OPAC from the patron's point of view, and discusses additional criteria that librarians should take into consideration while deciding the format of the OPAC. (Contains 4 figures.)

This study explores how non-native speakers of English think of words to enter into library databases when they begin the process of searching for information in English. At issue is whether or not language learning takes place when these students use library databases. Language learning in this study refers to the use of strategies employed by students to develop English vocabulary knowledge. This study found that international students do seem to engage in language learning when using library databases, and it identifies and describes their strategies.

This paper presents a pilot study that examined the information seeking behaviors of Chinese graduate students at the University of Windsor. Findings on current Chinese students' perceptions, expectations, and use of library services are highlighted including implications for academic libraries to meet international students' information needs.

This article investigates the intersection between the in-school information literacy practices and out-of-school (i.e. home and community) information literacy practices of a third grade student and examines how this intersection may be contributing to his overall literacy learning. Data collected from field notes; observations of in-school and out-of-school information literacy practices; video-tapings of the home and classroom domains; drawings and writings from the home and the classroom; and interviews with the focal participant were analyzed and organized into recursive themes illustrative of in-school and out-of-school information literacy practices. Analysis revealed that the out-of-school and in-school information literacy practices of the focal participant ran parallel to each other and only intersected in ways in which school practices took precedence. The participant's out-of-school information literacy practices were not strongly recognized or valued in the classroom. (Contains 4 figures.)

This article presents three research methods--Think Alouds, Think Afters, and Think Togethers--as ways of gathering data to describe the experiences of adolescents during instructional activities. These verbal report methods were used in two studies that examined the information-seeking processes of adolescents in Inuvik, Northwest Territories and Beaumont, Alberta. The first study revealed that participants needed both mediation (instruction and support) and practice to develop the skills and strategies needed for full-text searching of electronic encyclopedias. The second study revealed that students needed mediation (instruction and support) throughout an inquiry-based learning experience and that using Kuhlthau's (1993) Information Search Process model as a guide for cognitive and affective mediation was useful. The Think Alouds, Think Afters, and Think Togethers allowed the researcher to collect data about the adolescents' experiences of information-seeking; the data-gathering processes also provided the participants with a deeper understanding of their own experiences of instructional activities. The article concludes with recommendations to enhance researchers' use of verbal report methods with adolescents.

For many years academic librarians have been involved in the delivery of library instruction programs. Most of these librarians however have the impression that when students arrive at the university their knowledge of the information seeking process is quite limited. This paper presents a summary of a research which took place in the province of Quebec (Canada). As stated in the title, in essence the research question was: When entering the first year of undergraduate study, how information literate are the students? Over 3,000 participants returned a mail questionnaire representing a response rate of 56.9%. While 12 of the 15 universities participating to the study were French speaking, 3 of them were English speaking, adding bilingualism (French/English) to an already distinctive, highly cooperative, research design. Despite the limited number of variables (20), the results indicate that for many respondents, their knowledge of the basic elements characterizing the information seeking process is rather limited. For example, it was found that for 11 of the 20 variables under study, the highest rate of correct answers provided was less than 36%. For these variables, the rate of correct responses ranged from 12.7% to 35.8%. (Information Literacy Study Questionnaire is appended. Contains 17 tables.)

Reports the results of an empirical study into gender differences in collaborative Web searching, conducted in a Canadian school. Searches undertaken by same-sex groups of two or three sixth-grade students. Analysis of search sessions reveals the boys formulated queries comprising fewer keywords than the girls; boys spent less time on individual pages; boys clicked more hypertext links per minute; and boys were more active when online. (Contains 12 references.) (AEF)

This study explored information-seeking behavior of mature undergraduates at a Canadian university based on the study of everyday life information seeking (ELIS). Findings include the role of social and cultural capital, ways that everyday and academic contexts inform one another, and the importance of not separating the everyday from other life situations. (Author/LRW)