Effect of education on informational literacy of university newcomers

Information literacy is a set of skills and abilities for effective information search، evaluation and use. Vast volume of information is published in digital environment that make the necessity of electronic information usage inevitable. This research aimed to evaluate the information literacy and study the effectiveness of an intervention as a theoretical-practical information literacy workshop among newcomer students of Babol University of Medical Sciences. This quasi-experimental study was conducted among all newcomer students of Babol University of Medical Sciences who interested in participating in the workshop held in the central library in the academic year of 2011-2012. Among them، 50 students were selected by simple random sampling method. For data collection، a researcher-made questionnaire was designed with 3 sections including demographic information، familiarity with library activities and services، and information literacy level. Paired T and Wilcoxon tests were applied for data analysis in SPSS 16 software. The mean of students’ information literacy level was 0. 82±0. 98 before training which was increased to 4. 76±2. 60 after training (p=0. 008). Only 9 students (18%) were familiar with library activities before training which was increased to 38 students (76%) after training (p=0. 001). Educational intervention through library education affects newcomer students’ information literacy and increases it.