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Introduction: Use of the Internet for open Web searches is common among university students in academic learning tasks. The tools used by students to find relevant information for online assessment tasks were investigated and their information seeking behaviour was documented to explore the impact on assessment design. Method: A mixed methods approach was followed, using recorded observations of online sessions and retrospective interviews. Ten students who recently started university undertook two online assessment tasks where all online interactions were digitally recorded, followed by retrospective interviews to gain insight into their behaviour. Analysis: The observations were analysed together with the interview responses to develop categories and themes of information tools usage, with a particular focus on assessment design in higher education. Results: Most participants preferred to seek information using basic tools and approaches, and did not maximise the capacity of information tools to improve quality and synthesis of discovered information. These novice readers showed a need for instruction in speed reading and information tool usage to improve their learning. Conclusions: Findings suggest that improvement in assessment design and subsequent student learning may be achieved by providing guidance to university students in information tools usage during the design of learning tasks.

Studying via the Internet using information tools is a common activity for students in higher education. With students accessing their subject material via the Internet, studies have shown that students have difficulty understanding the complete purpose of an assessment which leads to poor information search practices. The selection of relevant information for particular learning assessments is the topic of this paper as it describes a case study that focuses on the information tool use of a small group of participants and is a continuation of similar research studies. The study and discussed research findings point to the benefit of students use of a visualisation tool to provide relevant learning cues and to transition to improved engagement with online assessment.

In the northern areas of Pakistan, the use of Artemisia based therapeutics is a common practice. Plants of genus Artemisia are known to possess anthelmintic and therapeutic effect. Infections caused by gastrointestinal nematodes are major threat to livestock industry across the world resulting in loss of production and indirect economic losses due to high cost of anthelmintic drugs. Present study was carried out to evaluate in vitro and in vivo effect of Artemisia sieversiana and Artemisia parviflora on Haemonchus contortus, a parasitic nematode of small ruminants. Methanolic plant extract was tested against three different developmental stages using an egg hatch assay, infective larvae and adult worm motility assay. Different concentrations were used for the bioassays and post exposure mortality was recorded after 8 hr for adult worms and infective larvae, while egg inhibition percentage was observed after 27 hr. A highly significant ability to inhibit the egg hatching (100 %) was recorded for both plant extracts while, the highest activity for adult worm assay and larvicidal assay was 90 % for A. sieversiana. The highest activity for adult motility and larvicidal assay for A. parviflora was 89 % and 86.6 % respectively. For in vivo trials maximum parentage reduction was 77.0 % for A. sieversiana and 73.6 % for A. parviflora. It is concluded that selected plant extracts were effective in reducing worm burden in animals.

This study investigated the news-seeking and browsing behaviours of young adults, partly in the context of everyday life information seeking (ELIS), in order to explore their perceptions of and attitudes towards print and online news media. The study is significant because traditional print newspapers face a steady decline in their readership with the growth of free online content. Therefore, it is important to understand the online news-seeking behaviours of young adults to try and predict changes and trends in this field. A qualitative (interpretivist) approach was adopted and twenty university students were interviewed. Findings indicate that, contrary to expectations, print newspapers were still favoured by young people in this sample and the most successful online news disseminators were the ones who have attached themselves to a popular website. Finally, the impact of newspaper reading and publishing trends on library reading rooms is also discussed.

This article proposes five information-based Golden Rules in intercultural education that represent a holistic approach to creating learning corridors across geographically dispersed academic communities. The Golden Rules are generated through qualitative analysis, grounded theory application, reflective practice, and critical research to scrutinize significant moments of interactions between faculty/students at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and the University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, over two years. The Golden Rules focus on spirit, practice, implementation, desired outcomes, and deeper knowledge and understanding. Interpretation of these Golden Rules helps generate culturally relevant information that provides a framework for understanding the meanings and characteristics of intercultural education. Classroom instructors can encourage acceptance in students towards all forms of diversity through information-based lessons. Other suggestions include planning of intercultural events and activities, key questions to address, and resources to develop.

This paper presents five tools for librarians to use in building effective intercultural communication that reaches out to diverse populations. Librarians can more successfully cross intercultural boundaries if they are aware of the key tenets of intercultural communication and information provision, and then apply the five leadership tools in extending traditional information creation-organization-dissemination processes. The five tools are derived from an extensive literature review and from findings from seminar discussions with library and information science students. (Contains 1 footnote.)