Call for papers: Western Balkans Information & Media Literacy Conference

There is a call for papers for the Western Balkans Information and Media Literacy Conference, to be held June 20th – 21st 2019, at the Hotel Opal, Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The theme is Freedom, Accuracy and Truth. There are numerous themes and topics to do with IL and MIL. Keynote speakers are Ismail Serageldin (Emeritus Librarian of Alexandria and the Founding Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina) and Professor Tefko Saracevic. The deadline for abstracts is 10 April 2019, and for full papers the deadline is 10 May 2019. Full information is at http://www.wbimlc.org
Photo taken by Sheila Webber in Second Life

Nominations invited for the 2019 Information Literacy awards

The CILIP Information Literacy Group invites nominations for the 2019 Information Literacy awards. The deadline is March 1st 2019. The results are announced at the LILAC conference in Nottingham, UK, in April 2019. There are two awards: The IL Award honours an individual or team whose work has made a significant contribution to IL over the past 3 years (this is " open to all practitioners, researchers and academics working in the IL field within the United Kingdom"). The Digital Award rewards the best online educational resource supporting IL in 2018 (this is also restricted to those in the UK). You can nominate others or self-nominate. Go to https://www.lilacconference.com/awards for more details.
Photo by Sheila Webber: Lewes, January 2019

Call for papers #ASIST2019

There is a call for papers for the 82nd ASIS&T (Association for Information Science and Technology) Annual Meeting, which will be held on  19-23 October 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. Full papers have to be submitted by 10 April 2019.
"We invite original submissions to the ASIS&T Annual Meeting that will shed light on any aspect of information production, organization, discovery, analysis, storage, representation, retrieval, visualization, manipulation, dissemination, use, evaluation, management, and consumption. With a long tradition spanning more than 80 years, the ASIS&T community draws from and contributes to a wide variety of methods, theories, and approaches and we encourage authors to employ the best approach to address their information-centric research questions. Submissions that emphasise how the place, time, and the way in which information is delivered can galvanize or disenfranchise communities are particularly encouraged. Submissions can take the form of a paper, panel, workshop, tutorial or poster/visual presentation, and this year we will introduce an alternative event category."
Go to https://www.asist.org/am19/proposals/
Photo by Sheila webber: birds on Thames beach, by the O2, December 2018

Recent articles: Digital media and learning

The latest issue of open access journal, Comunicar has just been published with the theme Digital media and learning: Emergent forms of participation and social transformation. It is Vol. 27, no. 58, January 2019. All articles are available in both Spanish and English language version - if you follow the HTML link you will see the links to both pdfs. This issue includes:

- Designing for deep learning in the context of digital and social media by James-Paul Gee, Tempe (United States) & Moisés Esteban-Guitart, Girona (Spain) https://doi.org/10.3916/C58-2019-01  "Deep learning and change are hard, and people will avoid them unless they are highly motivated to take on the challenge. The very basis of effective deep learning design is to attract and hold (some) people in space/site/activity through an emotionally-charged socially-shared “affinity” for a cause, idea, or endeavor and with the sorts of people who pursue that idea, endeavor, or cause. However, to truly motivate humans, that affinity needs “legs”, it must offer to take them to better places, to transport them on a journey with others with whom they feel valued and vice-versa."

- Google or Gutenberg Generation: Chilean university students’ reading habits and reading purposes by Giovanni Parodi, Valparaíso (Chile), Tomás Moreno-de-León, Valparaíso (Chile), Cristóbal Julio, Valparaíso (Chile) & Gina Burdiles, Concepción (Chile). https://doi.org/10.3916/C58-2019-08
- Connected learning ecologies as an emerging opportunity through Cosplay by Sophia Bender, Bloomington (United States) & Kylie Peppler, Irvine (United States). https://doi.org/10.3916/C58-2019-03
- Young people learning from digital media outside of school: The informal meets the formal by Sara Pereira, Braga (Portugal), Joana Fillol, Braga (Portugal) & Pedro Moura, Braga (Portugal). https://doi.org/10.3916/C58-2019-04
- Distributed digital contexts and learning: Personal empowerment and social transformation in marginalized populations by Arul Chib, Nanyang (Singapore), Caitlin Bentley, Canberra (Australia) & Reidinar-Juliane Wardoyo, Nanyang (Singapore). https://doi.org/10.3916/C58-2019-05
- Exploring the influence of the teacher: Social participation on Twitter and academic perception by Sonia Santoveña-Casal, Madrid (Spain) & César Bernal-Bravo, Madrid (Spain). https://doi.org/10.3916/C58-2019-07
- Multiple intelligences and video games: Assessment and intervention with TOI software by Pablo Garmen, Oviedo (Spain), Celestino Rodríguez, Oviedo (Spain), Patricia García-Redondo, Oviedo (Spain) & Juan-Carlos San-Pedro-Veledo, Oviedo (Spain). https://doi.org/10.3916/C58-2019-09

Contents page at https://www.revistacomunicar.com/index.php?contenido=revista&numero=58&idioma=en
Photo by Sheila Webber: Maryon Park, December 2018

Social justice in library instruction: call for proposals

The ACRL Instruction Section Conference Program Planning Committee is calling for proposals to talk on social justice in library instruction, for a virtual program in "late spring 2019". "We invite proposals from diverse voices and institutions that demonstrate engaging and practical applications of the the successful integration of social justice in library instruction. Proposals should specify how attendees can utilize these approaches and could include lesson plans, classroom activities, demonstrations, or course syllabi. We will ask you to share an artifact or document of your lesson plans, activities, demonstrations, or syllabi with the audience for practical application and adaptation. Each panelist will have 10-15 minutes to showcase their approach (e.g. a lesson plan, classroom activity, demonstration, course syllabi, etc.). There will be a Q&A period following all presenters." The deadline for proposals is 1 February 2019, and the form is here: http://goo.gl/WGoQCV
Photo by Sheila Webber: Canary Wharf in the mist, December 2018

New articles: pharmacy students; evaluation of teen #healthliteracy projects

- Conlogue, B.C. (2019). Information literacy instruction for pharmacy students: a pharmacy librarian reflects on a year of teaching. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 107(1), 98–102. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6300225/ "Librarians have ever-expanding teaching responsibilities in many academic disciplines. Assessment of learning outcomes requires longitudinal evaluation to measure true retention of skills and knowledge. This is especially important in the health sciences, including pharmacy, where librarians take an active role in teaching students to help prepare them for a profession in which solid information literacy skills are required to safely and effectively provide evidence-based care to patients. In this commentary, I reflect on a year of teaching in a pharmacy program and consider the outcomes of my instruction, areas for improvement, student retention of learning, assessment challenges, faculty-librarian collaboration, and continued support for library instruction in the pharmacy curriculum."
- Keselman, A., Chase, R. A., Rewolinski, J., Dutton, Y. C., & Kelly, J. E. (2019). Lessons learned from multisite implementation and evaluation of Project SHARE, a teen health information literacy, empowerment, and leadership program. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 107(1), 72-79. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6300228/ "Teens at six sites across the country participated in a multi-week curriculum that focused on various aspects of health literacy, information literacy, and leadership. Lesson topics addressed personal health, social determinants of health, information quality, and communication and advocacy skills. Program evaluation included both quantitative and qualitative components and focused on multiple knowledge and skills outcome variables. Results suggested that while teens at all sites showed improvement, particularly with respect to engagement and interest in the topics, the degree of gains in knowledge and information literacy measures varied significantly from site to site. On-site implementation planning, cohesive integration of added activities, and emphasis on retention can contribute to implementation and evaluation effectiveness. This work also underscores the limitation of a purely quantitative approach to capturing the impact of health information and stresses the importance of supplementing numerical scores and statistics with qualitative data."
Photo by Sheila Webber: Marmite jar collection, December 2018

Booking opens for #LILAC19

Booking for the UK information literacy conference LILAC (taking place in Nottingham, UK, 24-26 April 2019) has started (though the programme isn't up yet). Go to https://www.lilacconference.com/lilac-2019/book-your-place

Pew Research report on USA consumption of news

In December 2018 Pew Research Center published a report with results of research into the preferred mode of consuming news (of people in the USA). "Overall, 47% of Americans prefer watching the news rather than reading or listening to it. That is unchanged from 46% in 2016 and outpaces the 34% who prefer to read the news and 19% who prefer to listen to it – both of which also remain on par with 2016 figures." "Television continues to rank first as the preferred platform. Just over four-in-ten U.S. adults (44%) prefer TV, compared with about a third (34%) who prefer the web, 14% who prefer radio and 7% who prefer print. The only meaningful shifts since 2016 are a small increase in online and decrease in print news consumption." "Adults younger than 50 are more likely than those ages 50 and older to prefer the internet as the platform for getting news, regardless of which format (reading, watching or listening) they enjoy most." Full information at http://www.journalism.org/2018/12/03/americans-still-prefer-watching-to-reading-the-news-and-mostly-still-through-television/
Photo by Sheila Webber: festive/non-festive doors of South London, December 2018

Re-theorizing #Literacy Practices

An interesting book published right at the end of 2018: Bloome, D., Castanheira, M.L., Leung, C., & Rowsell, J. (Eds). (2018). Re-theorizing Literacy Practices: Complex Social and Cultural Contexts. Routledge. information here (or rather interesting-looking book: unfortunately, like all academic looks, it is not cheap, so I'm not sure yet whether I'll buy it and the library doesn't have it yet).
It focuses on literacy as a social practice: for me this connects, or should connect, with the work which looks at information literacy as a social practice (but I don't think the authors make that connection). The book is a tribute to the work of Brian V. Street, author of, for example, Social Literacies: Critical Approaches to Literacy in Development, Ethnography and Education (1995, Routledge) (information here).
Photo by Sheila Webber: Canary Wharf from the O2, December 2018

Books and their reviews: Threshold concepts, Google Scholar; Undergraduate research

I don't usually include the book reviews when I list new journal articles, so I thought for a change I would pick out three of the books reviewed in the issue of Journal of Academic Librarianship (JAL) that I posted yesterday. Since JAL is a priced publication, I set myself the challenge of finding an open access review for each book as well. Here they are.
- Francis, M. (2017). The fun of motivation: Crossing the threshold concepts. Association of College and Research Libraries, Chicago, IL (2017), 168 pp. $48.00. ISBN 978-8389-8933-3. Information available here.  Reviews of the book: JAL review (priced article); C&RL review (open access)
- Alfonzo, P. (2016). Teaching Google Scholar: A practical guide for librarians. Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, MD, 188 pp. $65.00. ISBN 978-1-4422-4358-3. The site with information on the Practical Guides series is here.  Reviews of the book: JAL review (priced article); Library Quarterly review (priced, but the first page free); Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship review (open access version here)
-  Hensley, M. & Davis-Kahl, S. (2017). Undergraduate research and the academic librarian. Association of College and Research Libraries, Chicago, IL, (348 pp. $65.00. ISBN 978-0-8389-8908-1). Available here and as an open access edition. Reviews of the book: JAL review (priced article); C&RL review (open access)
Photo by Sheila Webber: winter branches, Brunswick Square, December 2018.

Recent articles: Collage effect; Engineering IL; International students; LibGuides; Embedded librarians

Volume 44 issue 6 of the priced Journal of Academic Librarianship includes the following articles:
- Effective Engineering Information Literacy Instruction: A Systematic Literature Review by Margaret Phillips, Amy Van Epps, Nastasha Johnson, Dave Zwicky
- How Are We the Same or Different: Information Needs and Barriers of Domestic and International Students by Sei-Ching Joanna Sin, Kyung-Sun Kim
- Lessons Learned From a Failed Research Project: An Informal Examination of LibGuide Design and Use Became a Professional Growth Opportunity by Doris Van Kampen-Breit, Renée H. Gould
- The “Collage Effect” – Against Filter Bubbles: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Combating the Pitfalls of Information Technology by Péter Kiszl, János Fodor. "Based on our experiences we believe that current and future readers can be reached through intriguing collages of credible information. The use of collages can compensate for the effects of filter bubbles, and librarians may become the masters of creating digital information collages."
- Embedded Librarianship in Research in Nigerian Universities: Practices and Sources of Practice Knowledge by Samaila Inuwa, A. Abrizah. "Six themes that emerged from the embedding practices are (a) doing research and publishing papers; (b) being editor of a national journal/reviewing manuscripts of publication; (c) managing the life cycle of data; (d) disseminating research output; (e) providing scholarly publication service and bibliometrics analysis; and (f) conducting research method course."
Go to https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/the-journal-of-academic-librarianship/vol/44/issue/6
Photo by Sheila Webber: sprout stalks, December 2018

New Book: Transforming Information Literacy Instruction

A recent publication from Libraries Unlimited is Transforming Information Literacy Instruction: Threshold Concepts in Theory and Practice by Amy R. Hofer, Silvia Lin Hanick, and Lori Townsend. ISBN 978-1-4408-4166-8 (pbk) and 978-1-4408-4167-5 (ebook) and price US $65.00. It is drawing on their own research into academics librarians' conceptions of threshold concepts for teaching information literacy. https://www.abc-clio.com/LibrariesUnlimited/product.aspx?pc=A4947P
Photo by Sheila Webber: wreaths of South East London, December 2018

(Mis)informed podcast #misinformation

Two more podcasts have been published by the Poynter Institute in their series (Mis)informed "a podcast about fake news, fact-checking".
The 2nd episode, published on 19th December was Debunking vs. amplification "It's our job to fact check the news. But what is the line between correcting misinformation and amplifying it? In this episode, we'll talk to Ben Collins about how he reports on online extremism for NBC News. Then, we'll speak with Whitney Phillips of Syracuse University about her guidelines for journalists covering misinformation."
The 3rd episode is Is fact-checking the antidote to misinformation? "It's way easier to post fake news on social media and get a ton of clicks than it is to publish a fact check. So is fact-checking always the best way to fight misinformation? In this episode, we'll talk to Giovanni Luca Ciampaglia at the University of South Florida about how hoaxes and fact checks spread online. Then, we'll learn how Maldito Bulo founder Clara Jiménez Cruz is copying the format of misinformation to get more reach." They are at https://radiopublic.com/misinformed-GABqNj and the 3rd one is embedded below.