Mandatory credited information literacy at the graduate level: Context and benefits for students and faculty

Since 2002, The Polytechnique Montreal Library has been offering mandatory and credited documentary training, and more than 5,000 graduate engineering students have participated. A survey conducted over the years shows that more than 90% of the student clientele is satisfied with the learning achieved during the courses. Students particularly enjoy learning how to create and execute a complex search strategy in a bibliographic database. as well as discovering new resources and learning more about plagiarism and copyright. Results of a faculty survey indicate that faculty members find these courses useful, with a large majority indicating that they have enabled their students to produce better literature reviews. Success factors for these training sessions include the credited and mandatory aspect, practical exercises on the research topic, and mentoring by librarians. In addition to the benefits for students and faculty, these information literacy sessions also contribute to the professional development of librarians and bring university libraries more into the equation to promote the success of their institution's research and teaching activities.