Lifting Information Literacy in Ergonomics – A Case Study of Master Degree Projects Presented at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

Aim: The aim of this study is to analyse the effect of integrated information literacy teaching activities in project and theses courses from the 2 cycle at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. The effect is studied by analysing a set of master theses in Ergonomics presented during the years 2010-2016. This time frame coincides with an increase in the integrated information literacy teaching provided by the KTH Library for the master program in Ergonomics. Method: We use an interpretative content analysis and a dynamically developed coding scheme to extract data concerning how the master theses incorporate and use earlier research in the theses. We use data collected from interviews with the Ergonomics faculty at KTH and responses to a survey of other Swedish technical university libraries to further analyse strengths and weaknesses in the information literacy teaching provided. We study the master theses in Ergonomics and Human-Technology-Organisation (HTO) presented at KTH and a selection of older master theses from Linköping University. Results: The analysis shows that the increased presence of integrated information literacy teaching activities, together with a curriculum development made by the Ergonomics faculty, has led to improved master theses at KTH. We therefore claim that there is an increase in information literacy skills over time in students who completed the master degree in Ergonomics. Our preliminary recommendation is that our teaching approach can be fruitfully implemented in other master programs at Swedish technical universities, but there is a need for further studies. Novelty: This is one of the first studies of the impact of integrated information literacy teaching activities on Swedish thesis works. It adds knowledge on the quality of master students’ use of scientific information in thesis writing. Limitations: This study does not investigate information literacy skills obtained during candidate or PhD-studies, and it does not discuss possible impacts of academic information literacy teaching on the life-long learning process in students. 1 The theses are both from one-year and two-year master degrees; see detailed description under data collection. It would therefore be better to refer to them as “degree project works on the second-cycle level”, but we settle for “master theses”.