Recommended Reading – More by Melissa Gross

January 25, 2010

Recommended Reading – More by Melissa Gross

January is the time I catch up on my professional reading. Since I have a few weeks off between the holidays and the start of classes, I can work my way through the stack of journals I’ve been meaning to read, as well as organize all those articles I read during the fall and set aside in a pile vaguely labeled as “good – do something with.” This is one I read back in September (!) and am just now unearthing again.

Gross, Melissa and Don Latham. “Undergraduate Perceptions of Information Literacy: Defining, Attaining, and Self-Assessing Skills.” College and Research Libraries 70.4 (July 2009): 336-50.

In my reference and instruction courses, we read an article by Melissa Gross about competency theory (Gross, Melissa. “The Impact of Low-Level Skills on Information Seeking Behavior.” Reference & User Services Quarterly 45.2 (2005): 155-63). This article, which says that people with low level skills, the “incompetent,” generally do not recognize their own lack of skill, usually sparks a vigorous discussion.

Those of you who enjoyed that discussion may want to read this recent article. Here, Gross and Latham interview college students about their conceptions of information literacy and their experience conducting research. The article references competency theory, as well as the imposed query model and Christine Bruce’s The Seven Faces of Information Literacy. Very interesting article, especially for those of you interested in reading further research on some of the ideas touched on in class.

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