LILi conference: It’s Not Just Academic

The 5th Annual LILi (Lifelong Information Literacy) Conference is on August 17 2018 at Glendale Public Library (California, USA). The theme is It’s Not Just Academic: Bridging Gaps with Information Empowerment in All Libraries and there is a nice variety of sessions. Registration is open, and further information is on the website at https://campusguides.glendale.edu/liliconference2018
Photo by Sheila Webber: cherries from my tree, July 2018.

Research Smarter resource sheets

The CILIP Information Literacy Group (ILG) has published revised versions of its Research Smarter resource sheets "designed to help secondary school students research effectively and be information literate". There are 10 of them, each 1 or 2 sides of A4, "made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence, so they can be shared, reproduced and re-used widely". Topics include: Referencing your research; Why do I need to research my topic?; Research is a messy process; What search engines are out there? They were originally developed for the TeenTech challenge: the Link your project to what your end user actually wants and needs sheet could have done with a little more work to make it generically useful, I think, but they generally look useful.
You can get the sheets at https://infolit.org.uk/information-literacy-group/school-resource-sheets/

Information Into Action? Reflections On (Critical) Practice #wilu2018

From the Canadian WILU conference: the full text of the keynote from Karen Nicholson (University of Guelph): Information Into Action? Reflections On (Critical) Practice which provides a useful critique of the focus on libraries and practitioners being "innovative" "active" and "shiny" rather than critical, reflective, meaningful etc. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/fimspres/51/
Photo by Sheila Webber: between Bergen and Stavanger, May 2018

7 Things You Should Know About Open Education Content #openaccess #oers

Latest in the EDUCAUSE "7 Things" series is 7 Things You Should Know About Open Education: Content. Just 2 pages long it addresses the questions (those are the "things") 1. What is it? (This starts "Open educational resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research materials in any medium that reside in the public domain or that have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation, and redistribution by others.") 2 How does it work? 3 Who’s doing it? (Giving examples of repositories and use: I think all the examples are North American) 4 Why is it significant? 5 What are the downsides? 6 Where is it going? 7 What are the implications for teaching and learning?
Obviously this is a simplification of the issues, but very handy if you are introducing people to the concept.
Download (open access) from https://library.educause.edu/resources/2018/6/7-things-you-should-know-about-open-education-content?
Photo by Sheila Webber: Honeysuckle, Lewes, July 2018

New articles: lessons from a viral cat; indigenous matters; buttons; distance learning outreach; popping in

The latest issue of open access journal College and Research Libraries News (volume 79 issue 7, 2018) includes:
- Going viral: Copyright lessons from Max the Cat by Rebecca S. Wingo, Alexis Logsdon, Christopher Schommer. This starts "On November 29, 2017, a photo of a sign asking library patrons “please do not let in the cat” went viral. It wasn’t long before the Internet lore surrounding Max the Cat exceeded the scope of the original post." One of the lessons is "If students see your slides without citation, and yet you dock their final grade because they didn’t cite their sources, then you’re not modeling good behavior"
- Collective leadership and participation with indigenous matters: Redefining indigenous literacy by Te Paea Paringatai
- Outreach, engagement, learning, and fun in 60 seconds: Button making at the Rutgers University Libraries by Megan Lotts, Tara Maharjan (that's pin-on buttons with slogans, pictures etc. on them)
- Being there at a distance: Connecting the academic library to students who study abroad by Celia Emmelhainz, Marilyn R. Pukkila
- Encouraging users to pop in: Popcorn Day in the medical library by Natasha Williams, Shalu Gillum
Go to https://crln.acrl.org/index.php/crlnews/issue/view/1099/showToc
Photo by Sheila Webber: Deck chair, Palace Pier, Brighton, July 2018

Global MIL week website #globalmilweek

UNESCO now have a website for their 2018 Global Media and Information Literacy (MIL) week/initiative, which is focused on media and information literate cities. Global MIL week is 24 - 31 October 2018. There is still time to respond to the call for papers (deadline 16 July) and they encourage people to organise events around the world in that week. The main MIL week website is at https://en.unesco.org/globalmilweek2018 and the call for papers is at https://en.unesco.org/news/call-papers-global-media-and-information-literacy-week-2018-feature-conference-and-milid

Surveys: scholarly communication; libraries' civic engagement

Two surveys underway in the USA. The US Association of College and Research Libraries is carrying out a survey to find out about academic librarians' views on open, inclusive, and equitable systems of scholarship, and priorities concerning the research environment and scholarly communications. Deadline is 13 July 2018. A recent presentation on the project this is part of is here https://youtu.be/loHQUQc8oa8, this is the project description and the survey is at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ACRLScholComm
I think that survey is open to anyone, but the next one is really focused on libraries (of any kind) in the USA only. The American Library Association (ALA) are updating their resource showing how libraries are supporting democracy and civic engagement in their communities, soliciting examples through a survey open until July 16 2018, Libraries, Democracy, and Civic Engagement: go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/X772PVH
Thanks to Esther Grassian for drawing my attention to these.

Photo by Sheila Webber: Brighton, July 2018

cfp: From Transmissive to Transformative Pedagogies

There is a call for proposals for a conference taking place 15-17 November 2018 in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India: From Transmissive to Transformative Pedagogies: Digital Technologies for Fostering 21st Century Competencies (TECH2018) (TECH = Transforming Education Conference for Humanity). The proposal deadline is 1st August 2018. The conference "aims to showcase the role of games and digital learning in enabling a shift from “transmissive pedagogies” to “transformative pedagogies” to create peaceful and sustainable societies."
It is organised by the UNESCO MGIEP: The Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP), which "is UNESCO’s category 1 Research Institute that focuses on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4.7 towards education for building peaceful and sustainable societies across the world. In line with its vision of ‘Transforming Education for Humanity’, the Institute employs the whole-brain approach to education, with programmes that are designed to mainstream Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in education systems, innovate digital pedagogies and to put youth as global citizens at the centre of the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development." The themes are:
Theme 1: Transformative Gaming and Digital Pedagogies for SEL
Theme 2: Beyond Four Walls of the Classroom
Theme 3: Transformative Gaming and Digital Pedagogiesfor STEM+
Theme 4: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Education
Theme 5: The Institutional Framework for Application of Digital Technologies in Education: Towards Surveillance or Collaborative Intelligence?
Further Details: http://bit.ly/2LRQED1 Conference Website: http://mgiep.tech
Application Form: http://bit.ly/2LRQfjZ
Photo by Sheila Webber: Brighton, July 2018

New articles: misconceptions; IL testing; artists' IL

There is a new issue of the open access journal Communications in Information Literacy; Volume 12, Issue 1 (2018). The articles are:
- Predictable Information Literacy Misconceptions of First-Year College Students by Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe, Allison Rand, and Jillian Collier
- SAILS, Take 2: An Exploration of the “Build Your Own Test” Standardized IL Testing Option for Canadian Institutions by Rumi Y. Graham, Nichole Eva, and Sandra Cowan
- Crossing the Studio Art Threshold: Information Literacy and Creative Populations by Sarah Carter, Heather Koopmans, and Alice Whiteside
Go to https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/comminfolit/vol12/iss1/
Photo by Sheila Webber: travellers in Stavanger, May 2018

Health Information Week 2018 #HIW2018

This week is Health Information Week, 2-8 July 2018. The website is at http://kfh.libraryservices.nhs.uk/patient-and-public-information/health-information-week-2/ and includes a template powerpoint slide which health library and information professionals are encouraged to fill out to promote their own successes and stories here
There was a #ukmedlibs chat about the week which is archived here and there is a post about health literacy on the ILG blog here. There are evidently loads of local activities going on - examples are here http://www.sssft.nhs.uk/librarycontact/health-information-week-2018 and https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/health-information-week-tickets-47070566331
Use the hashtag #HIW2018

Recent articles: Trends in academic libraries; collaboration; students in the conversation

The latest issue of open access journal College and Research Libraries News (volume 79 issue 6, 2018) includes:
- 2018 top trends in academic libraries: A review of the trends and issues affecting academic libraries in higher education ("Every other year, the ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee produces a document on top trends in higher education as they relate to academic librarianship.") One of the top trends concerns information literacy and fake news.
- Academic collaboration for experiential learning: Perspectives on using archival collections and information literacy in history education by Abigail P. Dowling, Kathryn Wright, Kristen Bailey
- Who’s left out of the conversation: The problem of marginalizing students in the scholarly conversation by Allan Van Hoye
Go to https://crln.acrl.org/index.php/crlnews/issue/view/1097
Photo by Sheila Webber: summer flowers, June 2018

Recent articles: Outcomes assessment; Boolean or not; perspectives on IL; EBLIP

The latest issue of open access journal College and Research Libraries (volume 79 issue 4, 2018) includes:
- Outcomes Assessment in Undergraduate Information Literacy Instruction: A Systematic Review by Allison Erlinger
- The Boolean is Dead, Long Live the Boolean! Natural Language versus Boolean Searching in Introductory Undergraduate Instruction by M. Sara Lowe, Bronwen K. Maxson, Sean, M. Stone, Willie Miller, Eric Snajdr, Kathleen Hanna
- Three Perspectives on Information Literacy in Academia: Talking to Librarians, Faculty, and Students by Anna Yevelson-Shorsher, Jenny Bronstein
- Experiencing Evidence-Based Library and Information Practice (EBLIP): Academic Librarians' Perspective by Lili Luo
Go to https://crl.acrl.org/index.php/crl/issue/view/1094
Photo by Sheila Webber: used plate, Munch Museum, May 2018

Command-line searching and acoustic couplers: BBC Computer Literacy Project videos

A large number of 1980s videos have been put on line documenting the "state of the art" and issues of the day, in the BBC Computer Literacy Project 1980-1989 website at https://computer-literacy-project.pilots.bbcconnectedstudio.co.uk/ There were a number of BBC TV series associated with the project. If you were (like me) around then, this will be a source of nostalgia. If not,  these could be a prompt for discussion around the impact of technology on our lives and work, and to highlight aspects of daily life that are taken for granted now, but which were seen as novel then.

Certainly a stimulus for then-and-now discussion is the episode Changing with the Times (1984), which looks at the changes in use of technology in producing newspapers at the New York Times and the implications for news production.

The episode on Electronic Information (1986: warning: it is narrated by Andrew Neil) includes an explanation of why legal information benefits from being searchable online, the dismal state of the UK database industry (LEXIS having taken over and closed down Eurolex), and the impact of Eddy Shah on the way news is produced.

The one prompting most nostalgia for me was It's on the computer (1982) "Storing information is what the great majority of computers are used for. But how much can they hold, and how can the stored information be easily retrieved?" This includes a trip to The British Library's science reading room** (I worked for the BL in the 1980s, including at this site) and later on a demonstration of searching, carried out by a former colleague (very slowly, command line, on a small screen).

The episode on Email (1986), includes a demonstration text search of World Reporter, and a presenter using a public telephone to send an email:  dialling up the local PSS (Packet Switched Network) node and embedding the handset into the acoustic coupler (see photo) of a portable terminal carried around in a small suitcase (I used one of those, too).

Most of you probably don't remember videotex (my history includes designing the British Library's Prestel database), but again the episode on Prestel,  and the more successful French Minitel videotex service, demonstrate one step on the path to online for everyone (it was text on your TV! you could go through a load of menus to try and find the information you wanted (no searching)!)

There are many, many more topics covered including gaming, use of technology at work, women and IT, and educational software.

**I note that the description mis-names the library as the "British Museum Library" which was a common problem in those days, when the British Library was less than 10 years old.

Photo by secretlondon123 "analogue modem", downloaded from Flickr at made available under a CC BY-SA 2.0 license

Recent articles: employability; collaboration; First Year Experience

The latest issue of the open access journal Collaborative Librarianship (Volume 10, Issue 1, 2018) includes:
- Librarians and ESL Instructors as Campus Partners in Collaboration and Alliance Building by Karen Bordonaro
- What we can learn from Wikipedia: Why we should jump on board by Lori Bowen Ayre
- An Exploration of Academic Librarian Positions Dedicated to Serving First Year College Students by Katelyn Angell
Go to https://digitalcommons.du.edu/collaborativelibrarianship/vol10/iss1/
Additionally, a paper from my university:
- Mawson, M. and Haworth, A.C. (2018). Supporting the employability agenda in university libraries: A case study from the University of Sheffield. Information and Learning Science, 119 (1-2),  101-108. https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-04-2017-0027 open access version at http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/128909/
Photo by Sheila Webber: bicycles in the park, Oslo, May 2018

Frameworks for Blended and Online Course Design

The latest in the ACRL Instruction Section, Instructional Technologies Committee Tips and Trends series is Frameworks for Blended and Online Course Design (by Sarah McDaniel). As usual it is a concise (3 page) document, summarising key ideas and giving some links and references. Download it at http://bit.ly/tipsandtrendswi18 and the whole series is listed at https://acrl.ala.org/IS/instruction-tools-resources-2/technology/tips-and-trends/

Digital footprint awareness & Digital assembly 2018 #DA18eu

Firstly, today and tomorrow (Tuesday 26 June 2018) there's the Digital assembly 2018 "a major annual forum that gathers more than 1,000 stakeholders and high-level policymakers to debate the EU digital policy and the implications of recent technological developments". It is too late for today's livestreaming (sorry) but there are more events tomorrow. Go to https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/events/digital-assembly-2018-sofia for the programme and links to the livestream.

Secondly, EAVI – Media Literacy and Citizenship and DLEARN - European Digital Learning Network are running a survey about awareness of your digital footprint. It is a research survey, so it can't be used as a self-education tool, but the research will contribute to a report which will be publically available (also, you may find the questions interesting if you are thinking of setting up digital footprint awareness quizes!) "This survey is designed to collect data relating to individuals’ awareness about their digital footprint. It will also assess the current and desired level of control exercised by citizens over their digital footprint, as well as the protections and safeguards they would like to implement in the future. The final report will be shared and discussed with the European Commission and freely available for everyone." The survey is at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CFXJHK3

Katharine Macy - Featured Teaching Librarian

Katharine Macy (Business & Economics Librarian, Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis) is the latest ACRL Instruction Section Teaching Methods Committee’s Featured Teaching Librarian. The interview with her is here: https://acrl.ala.org/IS/featured-teaching-librarian-katharine-macy/
Photo by Sheila Webber: white lilac in Oslo, May 2018