Abstract

Due to COVID-19, user instruction programs could not be conducted face-to-face, and the sessions have been moved online. The present study attempted to investigate how online user instruction influences the information literacy ability of college students. The study randomly selected college students (N=50) who completed online user instruction sessions and college college students (N=50) who did not complete them among freshment who went to to college in 2020 to measure their information literacy abilities. For this study, a tool for measuring information literacy abilities was developed by referring to several previous studies. The measurement results were analyzed by the independent samples t-test, and significant differences were found between students who completed online user instruction sessions and those who did not. The findings of the study have confirmed that it is effective in enhancing library users' information literacy abilities to provide user instruction online under the COVID-19 situation, and even in post-COVID 19 times, which helps them appropriately utilize the characteristics of digital libraries. The information literacy measurement tool used in the present study was developed to evaluate online information literacy, and thus contributed to the extension of the literature of digital information literacy and user instruction. The present study provided practical implications for how academic libraries will promote information services to cope with environmental changes in which contact-free (untact) services are obliged.