Assessment of the effectiveness of the Information literacy workshops held for research staff of Regional Information Center for Science and Technology

This paper aims at offering a series of syllabi for information literacy workshops for research staff of libraries and information centers, on the basis of the results of a research project executed by the first author of the paper entitled ' Improving information literacy skills of research staff of libraries and information centers: a case study of the research staff of Regional Information Center for Science and Technology' and information literacy competency standards for higher education. Besides, the effectiveness of the syllabi of the held information literacy workshops will be assessed. In this study, first, the level of participants’ information literacy skills was measured and then their emotional intelligence, critical thinking and creative thinking were determined because of the significant relationship between these three skills and information literacy. Second, participants were surveyed on the basis of their gender, degree level, field of study, graduation time and working experience. In addition, their prior knowledge, expertise and experience were measured. Finally, the statistical population of the study was decreased to 30 participants out of 35 after normalization. In the next phase of the study, a series of syllabi was offered by the project executor after surveying pretests. It was tried to minimize the impact of external and internal factors on this experiential research. In order to assess the effectiveness of the suggested syllabi, participants were given evaluation forms after every workshop. Finally, the post-tests showed a significant difference between information literacy skills of participants before and after their attendance in workshops. They considered these syllabi effective and advantageous. The significant relationship between pre-test and post-test scores supports the effectiveness of the suggested syllabi in improving their information literacy skills.