Project Information Literacy: A large-scale study about early adults and their research habits

Project Information Literacy is a national study about early adults and their information-seeking behaviors, competencies, and the challenges they face when conducting research in the digital age.

The large-scale and collaborative research initiative investigates how early adults from different college campuses conduct research for coursework and how they conduct "everyday research" for use in their daily lives ... more >

What Is PIL? >

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What is PIL? Check out an infographic with key findings from our research. Tune in and watch a short video to see what we have discovered about how today's college students find information and conduct research for coursework and in their everyday lives. Read a summary about all of our studies (11 pages, 160KB).

Smart Talks >

In our latest "Smart Talks" interview, we talk with Howie Schneider about why news literacy matters more than ever today. Howie explains, "the hyper-accelerated news cycle and unprecedented competition for our most valuable commodity - our attention span - has put even more of a premium on speed, with accuracy often being the first casualty." more...>

Day after Graduation Study >

How do college graduates make the critical information transition from the campus to the workplace? What needs and expectations do employers have for how college hires solve information problems? Read PIL's 2012 research report with findings from interviews with 23 employers and 33 recent graduates in the U.S. (38 pages, 5.8 MB). Watch the preview video.

The latest coverage:

Tune In: PIL Videos >

Tune into PIL's Information Literacy Dialogs (ILD), a series of short videos about research and writing assignments, finding context for research tasks, the strategies students use for finding information, their frustrations with research, their use of Wikipedia, and procrastination. You can also subscribe to the PIL ILD channel for our future releases. (See the PIL video page for compressed WMV formats; no permission needed for re-use.)

Who's in the Sample? >

See which community colleges, public colleges and universities, and private colleges and universities in the U.S. have already joined the volunteer sample. Want to find out more about joining the sample?

At a Glance

Inception: 2008
Goal: PIL is a public benefit nonprofit that works in partnership with the University of Washington's Information School to conduct ongoing research about how early adults conceptualize and operationalize research tasks in the digital age.
PIL Passage Studies: In August 2012, we began a new research initiative, "The PIL Passage Studies," which are a series of studies investigating the critical information transitions early adults go through in their lives.
Recently Released: In October 2012, PIL published a research report from an exploratory study that investigated how college graduates solve information problems once they leave campus and join the workplace (38 pages, 5.8 MB). For the first six months in 2012, the PIL Team conducted 23 telephone interviews with employers across the U.S. and held five focus groups with a total of 33 recent graduates from four colleges and universities.
In the Works: We are conducting a study that asks how do first-time college students make the critical transition from high school to college as information seekers, users, and creators? The study is being conducted in affiliation with the University of Washington's iSchool with support from Cengage Learning and Imagine Easy.
Upcoming Speaking Events: > Georgia Intl. Conference on Information Literacy
Savannah, GA, August 23, 2013 (AJH)
> 2013 Johannah Sherrer Memorial Lecture
Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR
September 20, 2013 (AJH)
Director: Dr. Alison J. Head

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