Digital competence and information literacy: clarifying concepts based on a literature review

Figures & data

Table 1. Summary of the research process and selection of the corpus of the analysis.

Search expression	Databases	Results	Unrelated	Repeated	Pre-selected	Corpus
AB (‘information literacy’ or ‘digital competence’ or ‘digital competencies’ or ‘digital skills’ or ‘digital literacy’) AND AB (‘phd student’ or ‘doctoral student’ or ‘postgraduate research student’)	B-on	20	6	8	6	7
	EBSCO	26	9	14	3
	Scopus	19	0	6	13
	Web of Science	16	4	4	8
	Scielo	0	-	-	-
	RCAAP	0	-	-	-
		81	19	32	30

Table 2. Main definitions of digital competence.

Article	Definition	Terms used	Authors referenced
A1	‘The ability to use information and communication technologies to find, understand, evaluate, create, and communicate digital information, an ability that requires both cognitive and technical skills.’	digital literacy skills information technology skills	American Library Association (2013)
A2	‘the effective use of digital skills and technologies rather than a prescriptive list of core abilities.’	digital literacy	Gilster (1997, cited by Lankshear & Knobel, 2008)
	‘Digital literacy is the awareness, attitude and ability of individuals to appropriately use digital tools and facilities to identify, access, manage, integrate, evaluate, analyze and synthesize digital resources […].’		Martin (2006)
	‘in a wider context, it may be defined as a skill set or a range of competencies which enable individuals to live and contribute to the digital society.’		Jisc (2016); List (2019)
A4	‘the ability to use ICT tools to locate, evaluate, use, understand and create information and the ability to effectively perform tasks in a digital environment.’ ‘the capabilities which fit someone for living, learning and working in a digital society.’	digital literacy skills	Digital Literacy Definition and Resources (2008). Joint Information Systems Committee – Jisc (2015).

Table 3. Main definitions of information literacy (IL).

Article	Definition of IL	Terms used	Authors referenced
A1	‘A set of abilities requiring individuals to “recognise when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information’’	Information literacy	Association of College and Research Libraries [ACRL], 2000.
A2	‘Information literacy (IL) often refers to the ability to retrieve, evaluate, process, manage and disseminate research in all formats.’	Information literacy	CILIP Information Literacy Group (2018).
A3	‘recognition of the ability of people to “make effective and ethical use of information” and to “apply information to create and communicate knowledge”’	Information literacy	Catts & Lau 2008.
A4	‘Information literacy can be defined as the ability to define a problem, seek information, locate and access sources, use information, synthesize and evaluate information’	Information literacy skills	Big6 Skills Overview, 2014.
A5	‘information literacy is the capability to identify needed information, understand organisation of information, identify appropriate information sources, locate these sources, critically evaluate the sources, and disseminate such information.’	Information literacy	University of Idaho Information Literacy Portal, 2011.
A5	‘information literacy is the capability to identify needed information, understand organisation of information, identify appropriate information sources, locate these sources, critically evaluate the sources, and disseminate such information.’	Information literacy	University of Idaho Information Literacy Portal, 2011
A6	‘IL is defined as a conglomerate of self-directed learning and reflective judgment of the ability to plan and pursue information searches and skills for evaluating the accuracy of information and its sources.’ ‘the cognitive-affective network that enables individuals to recognize their need for information and understand it, evaluate it and use it by producing new knowledge, and use it to resolve problems by making decisions’	Information literacy Information literacy	American Library Association (ALA), 2000. Pinto, 2010 and Elmborg, 2006.
A7	‘Information literacy encompasses the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to be able to discover, evaluate and use information sources effectively and appropriately in order to answer questions, solve problems, create knowledge and learn.’	Information literacy	Nierenberg et al. (2021).

Table A1. List of articles analyzed.

Article	Author and year	Title	Scientificpublication	Keywords
A1	Alfonzo & Batson (2014)	Utilizing a Co-teaching model to enhance digital literacy instruction for doctoral students	International Journal of Doctoral Studies	Digital literacy, citation management, co-teaching, doctoral student learning
A2	Bell (2021)	A qualitative investigation of the digital literacy practices of doctoral students	Journal of Information Literacy	Digital literacy; digital skills; digital tools; information literacy; interviews; postgraduate research students; qualitative research; UK
A3	Han (2012)	Information literacy challenges for Chinese PhD students in Australia: A biographical study	Journal of Information Literacy	Information literacy; international HDR students; Chinese students; research education; English as a second language
A4	Ince et al. (2019)	The role of libraries in teaching doctoral students to become information-literate researchers: A review of existing practices and recommendations for the future	Information and Learning Sciences	Digital literacy, information literacy, doctoral students, graduate students, information problem solving (IPS), research workflow
A5	Israel & Nsibirwa (2018)	Information Literacy Skills in using Electronic Information Resources	Library Philosophy and Practice (e-Journal)	Information literacy, skills, electronic information resources, students
A6	Koler-Povh & Turk (2020)	Information literacy of doctoral students in engineering and the librarian’s role	Journal of Librarianship and Information Science	Engineering sciences, information literacy, librarian’s role, PhD students, Slovenia
A7	Nierenberg & Dahl (2021)	Is information literacy ability, and metacognition of that ability, related to interest, gender, or education level? A cross-sectional study of higher education students	Journal of Librarianship and Information Science	Dunning-Kruger effect, higher education, information literacy, interest, metacognition, testing

Nierenberg, E., & Dahl, T. I. (2021). Is information literacy ability, and metacognition of that ability, related to interest, gender, or education level? A cross-sectional study of higher education students. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 55(1), 57–69. https://doi.org/10.1177/09610006211058907

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Alfonzo, P. M., & Batson, J. (2014). Utilizing a Co-teaching model to enhance digital literacy instruction for doctoral students. International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 9, 61–71. https://doi.org/10.28945/1973

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Bell, D. L. (2021). A qualitative investigation of the digital literacy practices of doctoral students. Journal of Information Literacy, 15(3), 82–99. https://doi.org/10.11645/15.3.2829

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Han, J. (2012). Information literacy challenges for Chinese PhD students in Australia: A biographical study. Journal of Information Literacy, 6(1), 3. https://doi.org/10.11645/6.1.1603

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Ince, S., Hoadley, C., & Kirschner, P. A. (2019). The role of libraries in teaching doctoral students to become information-literate researchers: A review of existing practices and recommendations for the future. Information and Learning Science, 120(3–4), 158–172. https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-07-2018-0058

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Israel, O., & Nsibirwa, D. Z. (2018). Information literacy skills in using electronic information resources. Library Philosophy & Practice (E-Journal), 1947. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/1947

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Koler-Povh, T., & Turk, Z. (2020). Information literacy of doctoral students in engineering and the librarian’s role. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 51(2), 27–39. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000618767726

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