Uruguay

Resumen: El propósito de este proyecto de investigación en ALFIN fue averiguar qué habilidades de información poseen los niños uruguayos, ofreciendo así un valioso aporte a una temática no estudiada antes en Uruguay. Un cuestionario fue desarrollado y aplicado a 250 niños que cursaban 6to. año (11-12 años) en 7 escuelas públicas (seleccionadas de modo de representar diversos contextos socioeconómicos) y 3 privadas de Montevideo. El estudio, de carácter descriptivo y exploratorio, se basó en el punto de vista del niño primariamente, pero también se exploran impresiones de maestros y bibliotecarios. English Abstract: The purpose of this INFOLIT (Information Literacy) research project was to assess what information skills Uruguayan children have, offering valuable insight on issues never studied before in Uruguay. A questionnaire was developed and applied to 250 children in 6th grade (11-12-year-old) in 7 public and 3 private schools (selected to represent different socioeconomic contexts) in Montevideo. This study was based primarily on the children point of view, but also explores librarians and teachers impressions, and it´s exploratory and descriptive in nature.

The information literacy field has many contributors nowadays, but undoubtedly one of the most prolific and interesting writers is Dr. Andrew K. Shenton. Dr. Shenton is a former lecturer in Northumbria University’s School of Computing, Engineering and Information Sciences. He is one of the leading researchers in the LIS field, studying mainly the information-seeking behaviour of children and young people. He gained a doctorate in 2002 after investigating “The characteristics and development of young people's information universes”, which innovatively draws on the ideas and points of view of youngsters and investigates how these universes develop during childhood. One of his passions is writing and he has published over 70 papers in a wide range of publications around the world. His work helps us gain a better understanding of young people’s “information universes”, as well as their attitudes and strategies related to finding and using information. Among his research lines you will find youngster’s use of other people as an information seeking method, an information resource quite underestimated by the professional literature, which in fact is a valid and very much used information seeking strategy. Our questions for Dr. Shenton aimed to know what he thinks about the competencies an information literate person should possess, the implications of infolit in people’s quality of life, young people’s skills to recognize and satisfy their information needs and wants and more.