Podcast: #LibrariansGuidetoTeaching

Amanda Piekart (Director of Research and Instructional Services at Berkeley College, USA) and Jessica Kiebler (Instructional Services Librarian at Pace University, USA) have run their podcast The Librarian's Guide to Teaching since October 2019, and have now reached episode 34 (23 February 2021, Tech tools roundup "Amanda and Jessica review some tech tools that can be used by library professionals in the classroom"). Episode 33 was on Teaching about algorithms, episodes 31 & 32 covered 21 instruction tips for 2021. The website for the podcast is here https://librariansguidetoteaching.weebly.com/

Photo by Sheila Webber: lost item series, glasses on a wall, February 2021

California Conference on Library Instruction registration open #ccli2021

The California Conference on Library Instruction (CCLI) takes place free online on 21 May, 2021, with the theme: Same, but different: How 2020 stretched our teaching capabilities and strengthened our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. "In 2021, the California Conference on Library Instruction (CCLI) seeks to focus more deeply on our professional commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in light of the rapid move to online instruction due to the pandemic. The extraordinary events of 2020 turned online instruction, sometimes viewed with skepticism, into the only viable way to reach our students. In the process of converting teaching and allied services from in-person to online, DEI issues have continued to disproportionately affect our most vulnerable populations of students. CCLI 2021 will provide a venue to reflect on the various ways we have responded to these very unique challenges." Keynote Speakers are Nisha Mody, M. Wynn Tranfield, and Doug Worsham. N.B. Remember that the times on the programme will be in US Pacific time (which is 8 hours behind UK time). Programme at https://www.cclibinstruction.org/2021-conference/, Registration at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/california-conference-on-library-instruction-2021-registration-136708776631

Photo by Sheila Webber: Broom, February 2021

Webinars: media literacy in Greece, Ireland

There is a series of webinars, each focusing on media literacy in a particular country. The next two are:

 - Webinar on Media Literacy in Europe: Greece at 10 Mar 2021, 15:00 – 16:00 (CET, which is, e.g., 2pm UK time), register at https://media-and-learning.eu/event/webinar-on-media-literacy-in-europe-greece/ 

- Webinar on Media Literacy in Europe: Ireland at 14 Apr 2021, 15:00 – 16:00 (CET), register at https://media-and-learning.eu/event/webinar-on-media-literacy-in-europe-ireland/  

There are videos of the previous webinars: go to https://media-and-learning.eu/series/wednesday-webinars-on-media-literacy-in-europe/ and click on the past webinars tab (webinars on Poland, croatia, Baltic States, Belgium). The webinars are organised by "The Media & Learning Association (MLA) .... an international, not-for-profit association set up in 2012 under Belgian law to promote and stimulate the use of media as a way to enhance innovation and creativity in teaching and learning across all levels of education in Europe."

Cyber Resilience and Internet Safety (CRIS)

Cyber Resilience and Internet Safety (CRIS) is an initiative from Education Scotland. They have produced some videos and other resources, and are running some challenges for Scottish children to do with cyber security and staying safe online. Go to https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/glowblogs/digilearn/remote/cyber-resilience-and-internet-safety/

eTwinning focuses on media literacy and disinformation

The European-funded eTwinning ongoing project (operating for numerous years) to virtually "twin" schools in different European countries "offers a platform for staff (teachers, head teachers, librarians, etc.), working in a school in one of the European countries involved, to communicate, collaborate, develop projects, share and, in short, feel and be part of the most exciting learning community in Europe." This year's focus for projects and activities is media literacy and fighting misinformation. There is a "group" page here that will be a focus for the projects, and there will be a launch in a couple of days, on March 1st 2021: https://groups.etwinning.net/151326/home . Sadly I don't think the UK can join these projects post-Brexit, but librarians in other European countrie should see opportunities here.
Photo by Sheila Webber: blood and ordinary oranges, February 2021

Webinars: Informed governments , citizens and societies

Two upcoming IFLA webinars: Strengthening Recovery and Accelerating Development through Informed Governments and Societies on 12 March 2021 at 12.15 CET (which is, e.g., 11.15 UK time). "This side-event of the UNECE Regional Forum on Sustainable Development will make the case for viewing information, including both access to it and the skills to use it, as a driver of recovery in the short term, and an accelerator towards UN 2030 Agenda success. It will draw on the experience of libraries and others working to improve access, hearing about their work in providing this service during COVID, and how more can be done to realise the potential of information." Speakers: Francisco Pisano (Director, UN Library, Geneva, Switzerland); Paolo Lantieri (World Intellectual Property Organization, Geneva, Switzerland); Raphaelle Bats (University of Bordeaux, France); Franziska Baetke (Komision Biblio2030, Switzerland). Organised by the IFLA Policy and Advocacy Team as a Side-Event of the UNECE Regional Forum on Sustainable Development 2021. Registration Link: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_8Cn2rRpKQlCPEQX9Kkf3wg  

Informed Citizens, Societies and Governments for Sustainable and Resilient Recovery on 23 March at 02:15-03:45 CET/UTC+1 (which is, e.g., 11.15am -1.15pm in Sydney, 1.15am to 3.45am UK time) "Governments, communities and individuals across the Asia-Pacific region will have many tough decisions to make if we are to achieve sustainable and resilient recovery from COVID-19. A precondition for doing this well will be to be well-informed. . This side event, held at the time of the 8th Asia-Pacific Forum for Sustainable Development, will draw on experience from civil society, government and the research field to explore the case for a holistic approach to promoting meaningful and equitable access to information, and the challenges to overcome. It will look, in particular, at the role that libraries of all types can play in helping the region, and the world, to build back better." Organised by the IFLA Policy and Advocacy Team as a Side-Event of the 8th Asia-Pacific Forum for Sustainable Development. Registration Link: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_KZYgSQGgRVKTotG4VCufUQ
Photo by Sheila Webber: winter dusk, February 2021

Recent articles: IL of Slovakian students; Information overload; information behaviour; fact-checking

The latest issue of the priced Journal of Documentation, Volume 77 Issue 2, includes:
- Modelling the information seeking and searching behaviour of users with impairments: are existing models applicable? by Gerd Berget, Andrew MacFarlane, Nils Pharo
- Information experiences of Bangladeshi immigrants in Canada by Nafiz Zaman Shuva
- Tag analysis as a tool for investigating information behaviour: comparing fan-tagging on Tumblr, Archive of Our Own and Etsy by Ludi Price, Lyn Robinson
- An emerging genre of contemporary fact-checking by Amalia Juneström
- Information cultures and strategies for coping with information overload: case of Estonian higher education institutions by Liia Lauri, Sirje Virkus, Mati Heidmets
- Social aspects of personal information organization by Kyong Eun Oh
Go to https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/0022-0418/vol/77/iss/2

The previous issue (vol 77 issue 1) included:
- Technologies, knowledge and truth: the three dimensions of information literacy of university students in Slovakia by Jakub Fázik, Jela Steinerová
- Searching, sharing and singing: understanding the information behaviors of choral directors by Christine Fena
- Affordances for information practices: theorizing engagement among people, technology, and sociocultural environments by Yuxiang Chris Zhao, Yan Zhang, Jian Tang, Shijie Song Go to https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/0022-0418/vol/77/iss/1  

Photo by Sheila Webber: goslings! February 2021

Articles on Information, Diversity, & Inclusion

The open access International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion (IJIDI) "presents wide­ ranging and multidisciplinary perspectives on the intersection of equity, social justice, and information."
Taking up the theme from my blog post 2 days ago, volume 4 no 2 (2020) included:
- Mind the Five Card Game Participatory Games to Strengthen Information Practices and Privacy Protections of Migrants by Ricardo Gomez, Bryce C Newell, Sara Vannini (Sara is a colleague of mine in the Information School ;-)
- Situational Information Behaviour Exploring the Complexity of Refugee Integration by Olubukola Oduntan, Ian Ruthven
Volume 4 issue 3/4 includes:
- Facts, Truth and Post-truth Access to Cognitively and Socially Just Information by Rachel Fischer, Erin Klazar
- How the Botswana International University of Science and Technology Library Engages its Stakeholders in Connecting Information Resources, Services, and Space by Ayanda Agnes Lebele
- Bridging Information Worlds Talking to Northern Students and Southern Scholars About Global Inequities in Scholarly Communication by Laurie Kutner
The latest issue is Vol 5 No 1 (2021), a Special Issue on Diversity, Recordkeeping, and Archivy

Photo by Sheila Webber: winter dusk, February 2021 

Registration open for Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

The Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy (online, 26 March 2021 - that's Georgia, USA) is open for registration. It costs US $50 til March 1st and US$55 til March 26 2021. Register here https://academics.georgiasouthern.edu/ce/conferences/infolit/registration/. The programme was not available when I looked today. Judging from the 2020 programme, it should be interesting, I think. The 2020 conference programme with many presentation materials available is here https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gaintlit/2020/

Mind the five

An interesting initiative to protect the data privacy of the vulnerable is Mind the Five. It lays out five principles that should be learned and understood by those dealing with vulnerable people, notably migrants "it is easy to overlook the additional vulnerabilities and unintended risks that the careless collection, storage, and use of personal information about migrants can cause. The use of information and communication technologies also involves data- and privacy-related risks, as electronic data can be subject to security breakages, leaks, hacks, inadvertent disclosure, and disclosure through legal processes ..." The 5 principles are:
"1. Exercise prudence. Limit the collection of personal information; include only information that is necessary.
"2. Protect and secure information from and about migrants. Pay attention to mitigating risks from both technological and human factors.
"3. Provide training. Ensure that volunteers and staff are aware and trained regarding privacy- and security-related protocols. Empower migrants to be more privacy aware.
"4. Share-alike. Work with collaborators and partners to improve privacy and security practices, based on ongoing evaluation and refinement.
"5. Practice non-discrimination. Provide humanitarian services to everybody, including those who prefer not to share their personal information."
There are materials (flyer, poster, leaflet and card game) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-commercial license. Go to https://sites.uw.edu/rgomez/mind-the-five/

The Connection

The Library Collective has organised a CPD event in March 2021, The Connection, - with events programmed throughout the month. There's an interesting variety of events, many asynchronous and some synchronous (they are in US EST. 1st-13th and 28th-31st March this is 5 hours behind UK time, 14th-27th March it is only 4 hours behind, because the USA and the UK go over to summertime on different dates, sigh) You register here https://www.thelibrarycollective.org/register and the schedule is here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BwSTQtTpNfLeMCAnsU_MHJj3WzWiTh7et461igvuQ70/edit#gid=0. It costs US $90 for Regular Registration (full access to 30 days of events and content + 30-day access post-event to all asynchronous content and recordings) and US $60 discounted Registration for members of the League of Awesome Librarians

Students' information literacy; Escape room for infolit

Recently published is the French language priced journal Documentation et bibliothèques, Volume 66, Number 3 (2020) which has a couple of interesting articles if you read French and have access:
- Portrait des compétences informationnelles des étudiants du réseau de l’Université du Québec - Résultats d’enquête [An Overview of the Information Literacy profile of the Université du Québec system students - Survey results] by Michel Courcelles, Dominique Papin, Catherine Séguin, Félix Langevin Harnois and Eve-Lyne Rondeau ("Three quarters of the questions were successfully answered by less than 50% of respondents. Overall, the respondents use strategies that engage their information literacy skills. However, they would benefit from using more precise and effective strategies, which seem unknown or poorly contained.") (
- Un jeu d’évasion pour développer les compétences informationnelles [An Escape Room to Develop Information Literacy Skills] by Mylène Pinard ("Eighty (80) McGill University students tested an escape room game created specifically to cater to their needs. The game design, as well as the obtained results, are described in this article, which explains how an escape room can benefit replacing a more traditional information literacy training to develop the [information literacy] skills of users.")
The abstracts (free) and articles (priced) are at https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/documentation/2020-v66-n3-documentation05468/
Photo by Sheila Webber: willow leaves, December 2020

ACRL: New: Research Agenda for Library Instruction & Information Literacy

ACRL has released a revised Research Agenda for Library Instruction & Information Literacy. I think it may be open for consultation but I have only managed to locate the pdf (and not a linking story) which was circulated via a discussion list. From a quick read, the agenda looks a bit more wide ranging than the previous version, and has divided the agenda into sections called Ways of thinking and knowing, Ways of teaching, Ways of Growing (assessment), Ways of engaging, and Ways of collaborating. The document says that in drawing up the agenda "the committee reviewed and synthesized the following materials: meta-analyses of information literacy trends, recent Instruction Section Needs and Interest Group Surveys, and San Jose State’s MLIS Skills at Work reports. The committee also distributed a survey to editors of library and information science journals asking for trends they are seeing or types of research they wished to see." Since this is the US Association of College and Research Libraries, it is logical that there is a focus on higher education, practice, and the North American context, but I think it still a pity that they don't seem to look beyond to research that has already taken place outside that region. The pdf is at http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/acrlsections/is/research_agenda_IL_2021.pdf and I will add any further links as I find them.

Photo by Sheila Webber: mimosa tree, February 2021