Graduates

Dissemination• Western Sydney University

Professional Staff Conference• ALIA National Conference• Journal article (pending)

Research Questions:• What perceptions do employers have of

information skills in the workplace?

• Do graduates think they have the right information skills in the workplace?

• Are we teaching the right information skills at university to prepare graduates?

Literature Review

• Our research in an Australian setting has similar aims to recent studies on the transfer of IL skills into the workforce such as Head (2013, 2015) in the US and Goldstein (2014) in the UK. These studies both look at IL skills from the perspective of employers and students/graduates.

• The findings are valuable in mapping the specific

challenges of the workplace which can inform more relevant course content and activity. Our research will build on their work and focus on the Australian context in Greater Western Sydney (GWS).

Methodology• Data collection via semi-structured interviews

• 12 Employers (from big corporations, SME’s and non-profit)

• 12 Graduates (mix of student/grads and those who graduated in the last 5 years)

• Ethics approval granted

Aim: The projects aim is to investigate the transferability of Information Literacy (IL) skills from university to the workplace. The intention is to find out what IL skills are of practical value to newly graduating students in the workplace and their employers. The information gathered will inform how we develop best practice in preparing Western Sydney business students with the information literacy skills they need for a successful career. Graduate Attribute: IL is just one of the skills identified in the Western Sydney Graduate Outcomes: “A Western Sydney Graduate … accesses, evaluates and uses relevant information to solve problems and to continue learning”. By focusing on this attribute we hope our research will assist with how the library at a school and curriculum level can support this competency.

Other Outcomes• Investigating innovative approaches to

IL at new PAR City Campus• West Project• Launch Pad

Employers

Preliminary Findings Employers• Graduates need to immerse themselves more in

business news• Collating the information collage is good but need to

improve synthesising information for business context

Graduates• Recognise ‘its important to know how and where to

access information’ and acknowledge the importance of an ‘ability to critically evaluate information’

• Peers and other people in industry are a common source of reliable /quick information

• Important to know context and why learning certain skills at university are important in the workplace

Information Literacy and Employability for Business Graduates in Western Sydney

‘Using external research really liberates the business to see new opportunities’‘The market moves quickly... important to do new research and keep that fresh’‘Context ...important to know where to go, important to intuitively and inquisitively how to ask the question and then more importantly how to analyse it and make sense of it’. (employer R)

‘…the gathering of the data but also making informed decisions with that and putting that to the board these are the options and these are the decisions from a business sense moving forward…. Must look at analysis of the data and see where the need is so we have a better opportunity of success’. (employer M)

‘In the workplace when we look at the data and information and make decisions it has real economic, legal and social implications…information is power.’ (employer K)

‘Evaluating information is key in a business setting as it forms your credibility and reliability on observations and recommendations’. (graduate E)

‘…information from the library was much more valuable than what we could find via google scholar which is available to everybody so I was able to utilise the information to put together a business case’. (graduate T)

‘There is too much information...so it's a given that you need to know how to do it and how to research and how to filter it efficiently…in a lot of industries that are knowledge based industries…its almost all I do really: processing, finding information, processing it, interpreting and then providing that (info skills) through advice directly to a client’. (graduate Ti)

Enterprise and Acumen: Real World Information Skills and

Employability for Business Graduates

Paul Jewell, Business Librarian (principal researcher) Western Sydney University Library; Judy Reading, Library Services Coordinator Macquarie University Library (principal researcher); Dr Louise Kippist, Lecturer School of Business Western Sydney University (associate researcher); Melissa Donald, Teaching Team Member Office of PVC Western Sydney University (associate

researcher) Background:Library (New Information Literacy Framework)School of Business (New Bachelor of Business BBus)

Picture courtesy of P Jewell – eclipse tower Parramatta Picture courtesy of P Jewell – street art Newtown by Fintan Magee