Presented at LILAC 2024.

1. We revised our induction script and included a much stronger emphasis that there is
more to the library than the physical resources we were showing them. We did not have
time to include a demonstration of these in the induction, but we ensured that students
were at least made aware of them.
In information literacy sessions librarians included discussion about the differences be-
tween the wider Internet and subscribed resources.
In revising inductions, we included more emphasis on subject librarians and how we
can help students. We have also tried to raise our profile with academic staff who are
often unaware of everything that we can offer, especially associate lecturers, who
come in and work on very temporary contracts.
Performance students’ perceptions of
information literacy Alice Bloom
One very strong theme was students not seeing themselves as academic. One interviewee drew a distinction between dissertation or essay writing and design briefs, stating
that the former is academic, and the latter is not. They compared themselves to friends at other universities saying, “Yeah we’re artists… when you’re speaking to an academic per-
son…”. By which they clearly meant they were not.
All students said they were visual people and/or that words are not their first language. This has big implications for how they feel about text-based research and the library
and how welcoming a space they might view it as, and how the prospect of engaging with research resources makes them feel. The interviews did in fact reveal feelings of be-
ing overwhelmed at the start of the research which would be consistent with this. There was also uncertainty and embarrassment about some of the sources they used such
as Trip Advisor (for images)
In discussing their tutors, they talked about how they were experts in their field but there was
very little understanding that support from librarians goes much further than being able to help
with finding “a book” or maybe recommending a book but certainly not an awareness of help-
ing with constructing searches or search techniques.
HOW WCA LIBRARY RESPONDED
The findings of this research fell into the following categories:
Despite being on visual courses and talking about themselves as visual people there was a
particular lack of awareness of image databases.
This was linked with a reliance on sources such as Pinterest. This quote came from a student
about Pinterest:
“The quality of Pinterest is fine, like it does the job when you need it to.”
Students showed a real hatred of referencing. They accepted it as a requirement, but as an
obligation and without exception expressed negativity. One interviewee said:
“I guess I just don’t like the way referencing is done at universities... need to put the exact line and the
exact page um no I don’t believe in that I don’t like it, I think it’s just useless.”
Academic Support Librarian
To address the negativity around referencing, various approaches have been taken.
One is to introduce more referencing support sessions, both workshops and 1-1 drop-
ins. These have included a stronger focus on the reasons for referencing so that it is
less of an abstract requirement. These workshops are backed up with recordings and
documentation for students to refer to afterwards. Another approach has been to dis-
cuss this with academic and academic support staff to establish a consistent approach
and messaging across the school and the wider college.
In the Survey results there were 2 mentions of online resource and 35 mentions of books.
Students seem to conflate these with the wider Internet or are unaware of them at all.
This quote comes from one of the interviews when asked about what resources they use:
“I think probably books and the Internet”.
• Lack of understanding that library resources go beyond physical resources.
• Lack of awareness of the subscription resources.
• Lack of knowledge of image databases.
• Negativity towards referencing
• Lack of full understanding of what Library staff can provide
Librarians have included more focus on image databases not just highlighting their ex-
istence but comparing them to results from Google Images including comparing the
range of results found and copyright implications.
THEMES THAT EMERGED FROM THE RESEARCH
AREAS OF CONCERN HOW WCA LIBRARY RESPONDED
CONCLUSION
• Understanding of shared perceptions that performance students have regarding research and themselves in relation to study. To address this, we have worked with tutors on the
creative research units to establish the Library as part of the creative process. We have encouraged students to view the Library as an extension of the studio and their creative and aca-
demic work as intertwined. It is interesting to compare this with research around Art and Design students. There are enough similarities to mean the literature on this is a valuable source
of research, but also differences to consider.
• Identifying specific areas of development that the Library can address as shown in the Areas of Concern and How WCA Library Responded sections. These are mostly about
raising awareness of resources. More research is needed both to establish how much these findings go beyond the data sample in this study and to establish if the actions we have taken
to address areas of concern have been effective.
Costumes for Theatre and Screen 38
Acting and Performance 21
Technical Arts for Theatre and Performance 14
Theatre Design 8
Contemporary Theatre and Performance 5
Production arts for Screen 2
Theatre Design 1
Acting and Performance 1
Students interviewed 4 Students surveyed 86
There were 90 students who took part. The table below shows which
course they were from.
The investigation was a mixed methods qualitative investigation using interviews
and surveys. The interviews took place in the academic year 2021-2022 and the
surveys followed up on the themes that arose from the interviews in the begin-
ning of the academic year 2022-2023.
METHODS
This project was inspired by the creation of the School of Performance at
Wimbledon College of Arts (WCA) at University of the Arts London, where I am
an Academic Support Librarian, and the need to consider how best to support
its students, within the context of an Art and Design institution.
The School of Performance is made up of 7 BA courses and 3 MA courses.
Although the invitation to participate was sent to all courses, the only respond-
ents were BA students. At the time of the study these courses were divided
into 2 programmes; Performance Design and Technologies, Acting and Perfor-
mance. Part of the purpose of the study was to look for differences between the
two programmes.
The study’s aim was to understand how these students feel about re-
search and information literacy rather than to judge their competencies.
INTRODUCTION