Taking a Lead on Digital Literacy for Students—A Case Study from the Library at the University of Limerick

Abstract

This study will provide some inspiration and practical insights to academic libraries and educators within tertiary education who wish to experiment with digital upskilling programmes in their institutions. 2,661 students registered for extra-curricular digital skills workshops over a three-week period in the spring of the 2021 academic year, at a time when Covid19 meant that students were already spending a lot of time learning online. Focus groups conducted with workshop attendees revealed their motivation and some of the benefits that accrued to them from participating in the digital skills workshops. This study provides a blueprint for academic libraries who wish to develop or collaborate on digital skills programmes and reflects on how a refresh of library workshops to emphasize digital literacy skills can not only meet the contemporary learning needs of their students but also boost the attendance at other, more traditional library workshops. This study will outline how a collaboration on digital skills provision can benefit both libraries and students describe how topics were selected for the digital skills workshops discuss how the workshops were delivered and how this method of receiving digital skills instruction was perceived by students report on attendance rates and how traditional library workshops experienced a ‘boost’ when offered as part of a digital skills series address limitations of the study and make recommendations for further research.