Chinese Students in KSU Libraries: Their Information Needs and Seeking Behaviors

Type of Presentation

Individual paper/presentation (20 minute presentation)

Target Audience

Higher Education

Location

Room 217

Abstract

Universities and colleges in the United States have seen a drastic enrollment increase of Chinese students over the past decade. According to the Open Doors Data by the Institute of International Education, there were 304,040 Chinese students studying in the United States in academic year 2014/15 which increased 10.8% from the previous year and made up 31.2% of international students studying in the United States. China remains the leading country for students coming to the United States for the sixth year in a row. The same enrollment trend is also found at the colleges and universities of the Georgia University System.

As librarians, we are facing the challenges of how to serve this ever increasing user group on campus and to develop the most effective means to enhance and improve their information literacy skills. To meet these challenges, we need to understand these students’ information needs and seeking behaviors.

The purpose of the study is to gain insight into the Chinese students’ experience of using Kennesaw State University (KSU) libraries. By surveying the Chinese students on KSU campus, we hope to identify the unique characteristics of this user group and understand their information needs and seeking behaviors. We also hope that the findings can serve as a foundation to develop and implement information literacy strategies to meet the group’s needs.

Presentation Description

In this presentation, we will introduce our research findings of Chinese students’ information needs and seeking behaviors in Kennesaw State University libraries and provide a platform for more discussion on developing and implementing strategies to enhance and improve information literacy skills of this special library user group.

Keywords

Chinese students, Information literacy, Academic library, Library instruction, Information seeking, College students

Publication Type and Release Option

Presentation (Open Access)

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Sep 30th, 2:45 PM Sep 30th, 4:00 PM

Chinese Students in KSU Libraries: Their Information Needs and Seeking Behaviors

Room 217

Universities and colleges in the United States have seen a drastic enrollment increase of Chinese students over the past decade. According to the Open Doors Data by the Institute of International Education, there were 304,040 Chinese students studying in the United States in academic year 2014/15 which increased 10.8% from the previous year and made up 31.2% of international students studying in the United States. China remains the leading country for students coming to the United States for the sixth year in a row. The same enrollment trend is also found at the colleges and universities of the Georgia University System.

As librarians, we are facing the challenges of how to serve this ever increasing user group on campus and to develop the most effective means to enhance and improve their information literacy skills. To meet these challenges, we need to understand these students’ information needs and seeking behaviors.

The purpose of the study is to gain insight into the Chinese students’ experience of using Kennesaw State University (KSU) libraries. By surveying the Chinese students on KSU campus, we hope to identify the unique characteristics of this user group and understand their information needs and seeking behaviors. We also hope that the findings can serve as a foundation to develop and implement information literacy strategies to meet the group’s needs.