Examining public librarians’ information literacy, self-directed learning readiness, and e-learning attitudes: A study from Taiwan

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the current situation of public librarians’ information literacy, self-directed learning readiness and e-learning attitudes in Taiwan. It also sought to identify the relationships among the three variables and the predictive ability of information literacy and self-directed learning readiness on e-learning attitudes. This study employed a survey questionnaire that contained the following: information literacy scale, self-directed learning readiness scale and e-learning attitude scale. The subjects were 385 public librarians from three cities: Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung. The research results showed that, public librarians’ perceptions toward information literacy, self-directed learning readiness, and e-learning attitudes were positive. Statistical analysis revealed that public librarians’ who hold a library science degree performed significantly better than those who had graduated from non-library science departments on three sub-factors of information literacy (information querying, information organisation and information evaluation). Respondents who had received more training had better information evaluations and love of learning scores. The stepwise regression analysis indicated that the information evaluation was the strongest predictor in determining public librarians’ e-learning attitudes followed by creative learning, love of learning, and independent learning.