Ross J. Todd

Bio: Ross J. Todd is an academic researcher from Rutgers University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Information literacy & School library. The author has an hindex of 16, co-authored 51 publications receiving 919 citations. Previous affiliations of Ross J. Todd include University of Technology, Sydney & Information Technology University.

Student Learning through Ohio School Libraries, Part 1: How Effective School Libraries Help Students

Abstract: This article provides an overview of the Student Learning Through Ohio School Libraries research study undertaken from October 2002 through December 2003. The study involved 39 effective school libraries across Ohio; the participants included 13,123 students in grades 3 to 12 and 879 faculty. The focus question of the study was: How do school libraries help students with their learning in and away from school? The findings, both quantitative and qualitative, showed that effective school libraries help students with their learning in many ways across the various grade levels. Effective school libraries play an active rather than passive role in students' learning. The concept of help was understood in two ways: helps-as-inputs, or help that engages students in the process of effective learning through the school library; and helps-as-outcomes/impacts, or demonstrated outcomes of meaningful learning-academic achievement and personal agency. The study shows that an effective school library is not just informational, but transformational and formational, leading to knowledge creation, knowledge production, knowledge dissemination, and knowledge use, as well as the development of information values. Introduction Historically, library services worldwide have been based on the assumption that they contribute to the social good, facilitating personal decision-making, societal well-being, the growth of democracy, and the development of a knowledgeable society (Kranich, 2001). Yet understanding how libraries actually help people remains a vexing question. Increasingly, service providers, funding authorities, and publics are calling for clear evidence that expended resources actually produce benefits for people (Durrance & Fisher-Pettigrew, 2002). School libraries are not immune to such calls. In an environment of reduced budgets and staffing, and a prevailing public perception that school libraries are marginal rather than integral to student learning outcomes, there is an urgent need for school librarians to demonstrate and substantiate the vital effect of their school library program on student learning and to take an evidence-based approach to practice (Todd, 2002a, 2002b). How Do School Libraries Help? The central concept of this research is help, and it is embedded in the focus question: How do school libraries help students with their learning in and away from school? Help refers to both the institutional involvement through advice and assistance in the information experiences of people (helps-as-inputs) and the effect of this involvement on the people it serves (helps-as-outcomes/impacts). This study has been informed by four streams of literature: the information search process, information intents, outcomes measurement, and information literacy standards. Each is briefly elaborated here to establish the theoretical underpinnings and research base of this study. The Information Search Process Kuhlthau's research (1991, 1994, 1999, 2004) provides an understanding of the cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions of the information search process and presents an understanding of the information-to-knowledge experience of people. This work emphasizes how people may be enabled and supported in their quest to seek meaning and develop understanding through information-seeking and use. Mediation and intervention as key help mechanisms are central to this process. Kuhlthau (2004) defines mediation as the "human intervention to assist information seeking and learning from information access and use.... a person who assists, guides, enables, and otherwise intervenes in another person's information search process" (p. 107). Intervention centers on how "mediators become involved in the constructive process of another person ... in information seeking and use" (p. 127). Kuhlthau's research shows that most interventions tend to be based on source and certainty orientations, that is, matching a person's query with the organized collection and often with little attention given to the holistic experience of users in the process of constructing new understandings and meanings. …

Back to our beginnings: information utilization, Bertram Brookes and the fundamental equation of information science

Abstract: This analytical paper is in three parts. Firstly, it provides a brief review of the terrain of information utilization, a fundamental concept in the discourse of information seeking and use behavior. This review identifies dominant conceptualizations of information utilization, and identifies a research gap in relation to the cognitive dimensions of information utilization. Secondly, against this backdrop, it posits and examines Bertram Brookes' fundamental equation of information science as a theoretical framework for furthering our understanding of, and research into, the cognitive aspects of information utilization. Thirdly, it discusses some methodological aspects for investigating Brookes' equation in order to build a cumulative knowledge of the cognitive dimension of information utilization.

Utilization of heroin information by adolescent girls in Australia: a cognitive analysis

Abstract: This article reports on a study that investigates how older adolescents cognitively utilize information on the drug, heroin. With a small group of four girls in their final year of secondary education, the study sought to: (a) establish the perceived effects of exposures to information ; (b) establish how the perceived effects are associated with changes to the girls' knowledge structures; and (c) establish any patterns in relation to changes in knowledge structures and perceived effects. The study employed a quasi-experimental, repeated-phase approach. The girls' existing knowledge structures about the drug, heroin, were elicited and mapped, as were knowledge structures after each of three exposures to different information on heroin. The knowledge structures after each exposure were shown to change by cognitive strategies of appending, inserting, and deleting. Five types of effects, as types of cognitive information utilization, were identified, these being: Get a complete picture, get a changed picture, get a clearer picture, get a verified picture, and get a position in a picture. The study also showed that there was coherence between the effects and how these effects were manifested in changes to the girls' knowledge structures. This article also discusses important implications for information practice and instructional design.

Library and information professionals and knowledge management: conceptions, challenges and conflicts

Abstract: The level of interest suggests that knowledge management needs to be taken seriously as an issue for information professionals and for the fields of librarianship and information science. Knowledge management is perceived to offer a substantial enhancement of the role of the information professional. However, the confusion, variations and concerns expressed indicate that knowledge management is a difficult area still requiring significant exploration and development. The definition of the area is still very open and in some ways quite problematic. There is an understandable desire for this to be resolved. A recognised definition provides people with a more substantive base to explain the concept and to argue for its adoption. It enables them to establish their identity with respect to a specific concept, program or set of tools. Further, the current lack of status of many information professions, and the pervasive uncertainty in many industries suggest substantial reasons for developing a more coherent an...

Educating for a knowledge management future: Perceptions of library and information professionals

Abstract: The emerging diffuse and complex discourse on knowledge management has, amongst many things, given some focus to the nature of education and training for professionals engaged in managing knowledge. The complexity of charting an educational and training pathway becomes apparent when considered against the plethora of perspectives of what constitutes knowledge management, as well as the various underpinning assumptions about its nature, contextualisation, role, and indeed, the meanings of its constituent terms ‘knowledge’ and ‘management’. This paper is the second part of the findings of a research project undertaken in 1999 and 2000 to identify the perspectives of experienced professionals working in the library and information sector in relation to knowledge management, and in particular to identify directions for the education and training of library and information professionals who wish to be engaged in managing knowledge. Part 1 identified considerable variation in levels of awareness of the term ‘kn...

The knowledge-creating company : how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation

Abstract: How has Japan become a major economic power, a world leader in the automotive and electronics industries? What is the secret of their success? The consensus has been that, though the Japanese are not particularly innovative, they are exceptionally skilful at imitation, at improving products that already exist. But now two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hiro Takeuchi, turn this conventional wisdom on its head: Japanese firms are successful, they contend, precisely because they are innovative, because they create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. Examining case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, 3M, GE, and the U.S. Marines, this book reveals how Japanese companies translate tacit to explicit knowledge and use it to produce new processes, products, and services.

Looking for Information: A Survey of Research on Information Seeking, Needs and Behavior

Abstract: Abbreviated Contents Figures and Tables Preface Introduction and Examples Concepts Relevant to Information Behavior Models, Paradigms, and Theories in the Study of Information Behavior Methods for Studying Information Behavior Research Results and Reflections Appendix: Glossary Appendix: Questions for Discussion and Application References Index

A Review of the “Digital Turn” in the New Literacy Studies:

Abstract: Digital communication has transformed literacy practices and assumed great importance in the functioning of workplace, recreational, and community contexts. This article reviews a decade of empirical work of the New Literacy Studies, identifying the shift toward research of digital literacy applications. The article engages with the central theoretical, methodological, and pragmatic challenges in the tradition of New Literacy Studies, while highlighting the distinctive trends in the digital strand. It identifies common patterns across new literacy practices through cross-comparisons of ethnographic research in digital media environments. It examines ways in which this research is taking into account power and pedagogy in normative contexts of literacy learning using the new media. Recommendations are given to strengthen the links between New Literacy Studies research and literacy curriculum, assessment, and accountability in the 21st century.