Information Literacy - From Preschool to High School

An article in School Library Journal publicises some online courses (using Moodle) for school librarians, provided by the Association of Library Service to Children (ALSC). They include Information Literacy - From Preschool to High School (6 weeks, from February 1—March 12, 2010) "Learn how to conduct information literacy instruction for all ages from preschool to elementary school to middle school and beyond". Cost is US $165, with discounts for members of ALSC and members of the American Library Association. The information page is at http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/
divs/alsc/edcareeers/profdevelopment/
alscweb/Information_Literacy.cfm
Photo by Sheila Webber: St Basil's Cathedral, Moscow, Russia, December 2009

Ensuring Information Literacy at UNC Charlotte

Via the Literacy news blog I found a link to a video from last June "What they lack is discernment" Ensuring Information Literacy at UNC Charlotte which "Summarizes the Library's current information literacy programs at UNC Charlotte. In FY09, librarians taught 490 information literacy sessions and reached 10,800 students, approximately 45% of current enrollment. " http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT9tpymNHgY
Photo by Sheila Webber: Kazan Cathedral, Red Square, Moscow, December 2009

An Information literate new year!

A belated Merry Christmas, and a happy new year to all readers of the information literacy weblog! I've been having a Christmas holiday, but normal blogging will resume shortly. This is me outside the Assumption Cathedral, in the Kremlin, Moscow just before Christmas.

Survey of Higher Education Faculty

There is a priced report about library use & training in US and Canadian universities. "The Survey of Higher Education Faculty: Use of Library Reference, Info Literacy and Subject Specialist Staff, ISBN 1-57440-138-6, presents data on how higher education faculty in the United States & Canada use the virtual reference services, subject specialists and info literacy staff of their academic library. It includes specific data on the percentage of faculty that use virtual reference, how often they use it, and similar data on awareness and use of library subject specialists, as well as data on contact with information literacy staff and tendency to incorporate info literacy concepts into teaching.The data is based on a survey of more than 550 higher education faculty in the United States and Canada. " There is some more information, and you can buy the report at http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/ced059/the_survey_of_high

Information literacy framework for Wales

Apologies for not posting for a few days: I'm in Moscow at the moment on a pre-Christmas break. I have been meaning to post about the meeting on an Information Literacy Framework for Wales that took place 30 Nov to 1st Dec at Gregynog Hall, but thought that I'd wait til I'd put my own powerpoint on Slideshare. I still haven't got round to doing that, so it is about time I said something on this excellent meeting (I will post the presentation when I get back to the UK). One of the good things about waiting is that other people do the blogging instead! Therefore I refer you to a very thorough post from Karl Drinkwater at the Regional Support Centre Wales at http://blogs.rsc-wales.ac.uk/lr/2009/12/01/an-information-literacy-framework-for-wales/ and one on the WHELF (Wales Higher Education Libraries Forum) blog at http://whelf.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/an-information-literacy-framework-for-wales-2/ They both feature the international information literacy logo, which I publicised as part of my presentation (I was talking about international perspectives). The meeting had representation from a variety of sectors (the workplace sector was the only one under-represented) and as well as presentations from each sector, there were productive group discussions (this shows one of the feedback sessions), and the outcome was a prioritised list of actions to work in a practical way towards a framework.

Overcoming barriers: access to research information

A new report from the Research Information Network is Overcoming barriers: access to research information. "Based on the findings of five studies, the report investigates the nature and scale of key restrictions on access to information resources of importance to researchers; the impact of these restrictions and the ways in which they might be alleviated or overcome."
http://www.rin.ac.uk/our-work/
using-and-accessing-information-resources/
overcoming-barriers-access-research-information
Photo by Sheila Webber: Sheffield, November 2009

Workshops in Japan

I am consumed with envy for Lisa Hinchliffe and Beth Woodard who are doing training workshops on teaching information literacy, in Japan
http://japan.elsevier.com/news/
events/lc2009/index.html

Photo by Sheila Webber: Noren, Gion quarter, Kyoto, Japan, 2005

Making It Count: Social Science Data Literacy as an Information Fluency

The Social Science Libraries Section and the Information Literacy Section are seeking proposals for a program to be held at the IFLA conference in Gothenburg, Sweden in August 2010. "Statistical and information literacy provide the basis for comparison, understanding, and forecasting conditions for economic and social development. Access to this type of data exists in a variety of venues from governments to multi-national corporations to small non-governmental organizations. Through formal presentations, this program will explore the availability of this type of information and the skills needed to access, understand and use statistical information for development." Papers should focus on the relationship between statistical literacy and how this skill can be applied to access to knowledge for development. Case studies, theoretical applications, and translational research will all be considered for inclusion in this program.
Papers should be in one of the IFLA official languages. Proposals for papers must be submitted by December 31, 2009. Please include a title, and abstract of no more than 300 words as well as a brief biography for the speaker or speakers. Abstracts should only be submitted with the understanding that the expenses of attending the Gothenburg conference are the responsibility of the author(s)/presenter(s). Send your proposals via email to Lynne Rudasill, rudasill@Illinois.edu
Photo by Sheila Webber: Misty autumn, Nov 2009.

IATUL papers

The proceedings of the 2009 IATUL conference (June 2009: IATUL = International Association of Technological University Libraries) are on the web, with full text papers and presentations. This includes a couple of papers particularly relevant to information literacy:
- Elvira Basibas Lapuz: Teaching Web 2.0 applications in the planning and development of information literacy programs: reaching out to librarians and information professionals
- Tom Cochrane: High order literacy for the 21st century – improving the quality of library engagement
http://www.iatul.org/conferences/
pastconferences/2009proceedings.asp

Photo by Sheila Webber: Autumn mist, Nov 2009

Journal of Information Literacy

The Winter issue 2009 of the Journal of Information Literacy has been published.
Susie Andretta: The multifaceted nature of information literacy: solving the Rubik cube puzzle.
K. Stuart Ferguson: Information literacy and its relationship to knowledge management: A theoretical study
Andrew Whitworth: Teaching information literacy within a relational frame: the Media and Information Literacy course at Manchester
Audrey Marshall et al.: Information to fight the flab: findings from the Net.Weight Study
Christopher Guy Walker: Seeking Information: A study of the use and understanding of information by parents of young children
Jenny Foreman, Lesley Thomson: Government Information Literacy in the "century of information"
Nora Hegarty, Alan Carbery, Tina Hurley: Learning by Doing - Reactivating the Learning Support Programme at WIT Libraries
Peter Godwin: Information Literacy gets mobile in Vancouver
http://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/ojs/index.php/JIL/index

Picture by Sheila Webber: part of my installation of research quotations in Second Life

A Guide to Using Web 2.0 in Libraries

The Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) launched two new guidance toolkits at the annual SLIC Further Education Conference, on 3 December. One of them was A Guide to Using Web 2.0 in Libraries. It is at http://www.slainte.org.uk/
files/pdf/web2/
Web2GuidelinesFinal.pdf

Photo by Sheila Webber: Frosty leaf, Gregynog

Information Literacy Practitioner of the Year 2010

There is a call for nominations for Information Literacy Practitioner of the Year 2010 (A Joint CSG IL, CONUL and LAI Award). Individuals or groups may self nominate or may be nominated by a colleague. The award is open to all working within the UK or Ireland. The closing date for nominations is the 31st January 2010.
Further information http://www.lilacconference.com/
dw/awards/index.html

From Library 2.0 to Library 3D – Participatory Libraries of Today

Event in the virtual world, Second Life.
When: Monday 14 December 2009, 8am-9am SL time (for times elsewhere see http://tinyurl.com/yff6e96 )
Where: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Infolit%20iSchool/127/244/21/
You need a SL avatar and the SL browser to participate

Kim Zwiers (Kim Holmberg in RL) "Researcher, lecturer, entrepreneur" from Abo Akademi, Finland will give a presentation (in voice) and lead a discussion (in text chat).
See http://kimholmberg.fi/tag/library-2-0/
http://www.slideshare.net/kholmber/library-20-199312
and: Holmberg, K. (2009) "What is Library 2.0?" Journal of Documentation, 65 (4), 668-681.

Information Services for learners in Second Life

Information Services for learners in Second Life was an event held on December 7th. The presenters were all from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland: Pancha Enzyme, Lulu Quinnell, Frank Lassard and Clint Carpaccio (and featuring the IS [Information Services] Cream van). The session was introduced by Sheila Yoshikawa (me), owner of Infolit iSchool. It was part of the Centre for Information Literacy Research series. The transcript (chatlog) of this 7 Dec event is at http://sleeds.org/chatlog/?c=2119

SUILCoP

The next Staffordshire University Information literacy Community of Practice
(SUILCoP) event is on 3 February 2010, starting at 1.30pm. Professor Philippa Levy will present an interactive workshop focusing on inquiry based learning. The event takes place at Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, UK. There is a booking form at http://www.staffs.ac.uk/suilcop/
bookingform/index.php

Photo by Sheila Webber: Statue, Gregynog

ANTS

I think I have mentioned ANTS (Animated Tutorial Sharing Project) before. "The goal of the project is to create a shared repository of library, research, and information literacy tutorials created using screencast software such as Adobe Captivate, Qarbon Viewlet Builder, Techsmith's Camtasia Studio , or similar products." They recently announced that they have hit 99 tutorials and the tutorials can be accessed through various routes, including downloading the files and viewing them via http://liontv.blip.tv/ They are also starting to syndicate them via high definition on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/user/1LIONTV
The ANTS website is at http://ants.wetpaint.com/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Frosty Hedges, Gregynog Hall, Wales (sorry, I didn't get to write up the Welsh Information Literacy meeting yet...)

Last issue of Internet Resources Newsletter

Roddy MacLeod has been masterminding the Internet Resources Newsletter for about 15 years, but he is now taking early retirement and the newsletter is retiring with him. The last issue is at
http://www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/irn178/irn178.html

Project Information Literacy update

The USA's Project Information Literacy has published its latest research report Lessons Learned: How College Students Find Information in the Digital Age, which describes results from a survey of 2,318 students carried out last Spring at six U.S. universities. There were also some follow-up interviews.
From a superficial skim I would say that in general the findings tally with those that have emerged from UK studies of student use of resources, e.g. the findings of the excellent JUSTEIS studies (see e.g. http://www.dlib.org/dlib/june03/urquhart/06urquhart.html or http://www.dil.aber.ac.uk/dils/Research/Justeis/JISCTop.htm ) and the report on the information behaviour of the researcher of the future (http://www.publishing.ucl.ac.uk/behaviour.html ) e.g. a reasonably narrow range of resources often used, use of search engines, lack of use of librarians, the importance of the lecturer in guiding behaviour, continued use of "traditional resources". I will certainly have a longer look, especially as it teases out some of these issues in more depth. Project homepage at http://projectinfolit.org/ and project report:
Head, A. and Eisenberg, M. (2009) Lessons Learned: How College Students Find Information in the Digital Age. Seatttle: University of Washington. http://projectinfolit.org/pdfs/PIL_Fall2009_Year1Report_12_2009.pdf
Photo by Sheila Webber: Library, Gregynog Hall, December 2009: I was there on Monday and Tuesday for a meeting about developing an Information Literacy Strategy for Wales: I will blog about that tomorrow!

Don't Wait to be Asked: towards next generation reference services and information literacy

There is a call for papers for the two hour session at the IFLA (World Library and Information) Conference which will take place in Gothenburg, Sweden, next August. This session is organised by the IFLA Reference and Information Services Section and the Information Literacy Section. Subjects of interest include: How do we transform and integrate reference and information literacy into new models of instruction and service? How can we identify and understand the future needs of our users? How will the relationship and collaboration between librarians and users change? What information skills will be needed in 2010 and beyond in all sectors of society? How do we transform our users' computer savvy into the ability to use and evaluate information efficiently, effectively, and ethically? What is the role of the library website? How can we move from passive pages to interactive learning tools and valued information assets? How can we deliver innovative and effective information literacy support, guidance and programmes to the right people at the right time? How will we define and develop the reference and instruction librarians of tomorrow?
Proposals should include: abstract of paper (max. 500 words); author details (name, institution, position) and brief biographical statement of no more than 50 words. The deadline for submitting proposals is January 22, 2010 and they should be sent via email to Amanda Duffy (burntoak@dsl.pipex.com) with "IFLA proposal" in the subject line.

Online courses from Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development

There are numerous short courses to do with learning and teaching, which can be taken online, including:
- Engaging students with assessment and feedback - Cost £295 (4 week
course). 13 Jan - 12 Feb 2010. Led by Chris Rust. http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/
ocsld/online/assessment/index.html
- Evaluating technology innovations in learning and teaching - Cost £295. (4 week course) 17 Feb - 19 Mar 2010. http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/
ocsld/online/evaluation_tech/index.html
- Engaging learning with social software - Cost £295 (4 week course); 3 Mar - 2 Apr 2010. http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsld/
online/social_software/index.html
- Digital literacies - Cost £100 (1 day course); 10 Mar 2010
http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsld/
online/digital_literacies/index.html

Alfabetyzacja Informacyjna

There is a new blog on Information Literacy, in Polish, Alfabetyzacja Informacyjna. The blog is produced by Ewa Rozkosz (or Saba Pearl in Second Life, which is where I met her recently!) The blog is at http://alfabetyzacjainformacyjna.
blogspot.com/
Photo by Sheila Webber: late autumn, November 2009 (a rare sunny moment)

TFPL course

TFPL is offering a course Promoting information literacy for £350 + VAT, in London, on 22 April and 21 October 2010. "This course will equip delegates with a 'how to guide' for promoting information literacy for their end users, tailored to their particular organisational environment." http://www.tfpl.com/training/courses/coursedesc.cfm?ID=TR1531&did=2

Improving Health Literacy

There is a "communications toolkit" for health literacy produced by the University of Michigan Library (with funding from the US National Institutes for Health etc. at http://guides.lib.umich.edu/healthliteracy The page has a number of tabs; when you click on them it brings up the relevant page of links and content. Pages include: How to write readable materials, Screening and Identification (diagnostic tools), Disease-specific resources, Health Provider Training Resources.
Photo by Sheila Webber: Beech mast, blue sky, November 2009

Ilene F. Rockman Instruction Publication of the Year Award

The ACRL Instruction Section Awards Committee is inviting nominations for the 2010 Ilene F. Rockman Instruction Publication of the Year Award. Nominations must be submitted by December 4, 2009, deadline. The Rockman Award recognizes an outstanding
article or book on instruction or information literacy in an academic library environment, published within the last two years, so publications from 2008 and 2009 are eligible for this award. There is more information at http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/
acrl/awards/publicationyear.cfm
Photo by Sheila Webber: yellow leaves, October 2009

Reference Services Review

The latest issue of Reference Services Review volume 37 issue 4 includes the following articles:
- Anna Marie Johnson, Claudene Sproles, Latisha Reynolds "Library instruction and information literacy, 2008" pp. 463-553 (This is the extremely useful annual annotated bibliography)
- Amy Hoseth "Library participation in a campus-wide teaching program." pp. 371-385
- Stephanie Simard "An information literacy program built for relevance and purpose." pp. 386-394
- Christopher Chan, Dianne Cmor "Blogging toward information literacy: engaging students and facilitating peer learning" pp. 395-407.
- Kate Gronemyer, Anne-Marie Deitering. “I don't think it's harder, just that it's different”: Librarians' attitudes about instruction in the virtual reference environment." pp. 421-434
Photo by Sheila Webber: Yet more autiumn leaves (off the trees now...), October 2009

RIN report

A couple of weeks ago the Research Information Network published a report about the way in which researchers in different life-sciences specialisms used information (one of the key points being that there were differences in practice). They have previously published a similar report about information use in the humanities.
Life sciences: http://www.rin.ac.uk/our-work/using-and-accessing-information-resources/disciplinary-case-studies-life-sciences
Reports page: http://www.rin.ac.uk/our-work/using-and-accessing-information-resources
Photo by Sheila Webber: Sheffield, November 2009

Sophie Bury's talk

On October 26-27 we were happy to have a visit from Sophie Bury, from York University in Canada. Whilst she was here she gave a talk based on her research, for our Centre for Information Literacy Research: An Investigation of the Information Literacy Instruction Practices, Attitudes, and Knowledge of University Faculty: Results of a Web-based Survey at York University, Canada . The presentation, and the audio of the talk and subsequent discussion, have now been uploaded.
You can find an account of her visit on Sophie's blog at http://sophiebury.ca/ and the slideshow and the audio can be downloaded from http://hdl.handle.net/10315/2895
This is the abstract of her talk: "This presentation provides an overview of key findings and recommendations of a survey of full-time faculty at York University, which investigated their information literacy instruction practices, attitudes, and knowledge. The session examines the extent to which the findings of this study either corroborate or differ from results of similar studies uncovered by a recent review of the LIS literature. Findings regarding faculty perceptions of the importance of information literacy instruction, and of information literacy competency levels among students are discussed. Data regarding levels of faculty engagement in teaching information literacy competencies, either by themselves or in collaboration with a librarian, are also shared. Findings are also highlighted regarding the nature of information literacy instruction typically incorporated within the classroom by faculty, as well as their general experiences and estimation of it. Results regarding faculty awareness of, and support for different formats and methods of instruction delivery are summarised. Based on these survey results, the researcher’s summary of implications for practice and research are shared."

Information Literacy Tutorial

Thanks to Sophie Bury for highlighting this online tutorial for postgraduate research students and staff which has "Ruth" as your guide (a professional actress, and less irritating than many such guides). It was funded by the Irish Higher Education Authority, with NUI Galway, Trinity College Dublin and University College Cork partnering to produce it. http://www.informationliteracy.ie/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Botanic gardens, autumn, November 2009

Recent articles

At least recent or fairly recent.
- Shenton, A. (2009) "Information Literacy and Scholarly Investigation: a British perspective " IFLA journal, 35 (3). http://www.ifla.org/files/hq/
publications/ifla-journal/ifla-journal-35-3_2009.pdf (that's the complete issue, there is also an Editorial about "Reading, Information Literacy and Professional Development"
- Koltay, T. (2009) "Abstracting: information literacy on a professional level." Journal of documentation, 65 (5), 841 - 855. "It is found that verbal communication and especially analytic-synthetic writing activities play an important role in information literacy at the level of everyday language use." (We reintroduced an abstracting session for our postgraduate students a few years ago, it does encourage skills which are useful in the workplace too, i.e. being able to sum up a complex document briefly and accurately)
- Oakleaf, M. (2009) " The information literacy instruction assessment cycle: A guide for increasing student learning and improving librarian instructional skills" Journal of documentation, 63 (4) 539-560.
- Lloyd, A. (2009) "Informing practice: information experiences of ambulance officers in training and on-road practice." Journal of documentation, 65 (3), 396 - 419
- Cullen, R et al. (2009) "The impact of information literacy training of clinicians entering the workforce" In: Positioning the Profession: Proceedings of the 10th International Congress on Medical Librarianship. pp1-21. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/
eserv/UQ:184350/n4_2_Thurs_Cullen_46.pdf

Thursday in Information Literacy Week in SL

Today there is an orientation event, but this is now full. There are ongoing exhibitions as follows. The pictures are of the HIV and health literacy exhibits.

HIV Testing and Information Literacy
Karuna Island is the Second Life sim devoted to celebrating the lives of those dealing with HIV/AIDS and making information, support, and creative services available to them in the SL community. Robin Mochi, Karuna Island Consumer Health Librarian, has created an interactive mindmap on HIV Testing using the SCONUL 7 Pillars of Information Literacy.
Location: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Karuna/52/32/34/

Student exhibition of Information Literacy
First year BSc Information Management students at the University of Sheffield display the models of the "SCONUL 7 Pillars of Information Literacy" which they have adapted with examples from questions to do with Swine Flu.
Location: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Infolit%20iSchool/136/211/351/

Health Literacy exhibit
Health Literacy is important to help you understand and manage your health care decisions and needs. Our interactive exhibit will test your knowledge about stroke (brain attack), heart attack and some common medical terminology. Come learn at our Health Literacy exhibit at Health Info Island! Exhibit organised by Brielle Coronet, Medical Librarian
Location: http://slurl.com/secondlife/healthinfo%20island/18/25/22/

Library Trends cfp

There is a call for papers for a special issue of Library Trends: Information literacy beyond the academy: towards policy formulation. It will be edited by Dr John Crawford, Glasgow Caledonian University. It calls for papers in areas such as information literacy in "career choice and management, employability training, skills development, workplace decision making, adult literacies training and community learning and development, public libraries, school and further education, lifelong learning and health and media literacies." Proposals of no more than 300 words to be sent by 15 January 2010 to John Crawford at jcr@gcal.ac.uk or polbae2003@yahoo.co.uk Author guidelines at http://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/
library_trends/guidelines.html
Photo by Sheila Webber: War memorial, Western Park, October 2009

Hispanic Information Literacy, and 7 pillars model

On Monday Information Literacy Week in Second Life was launched. One event was a Spanish-language discussion of information literacy, attended by people from a number of countries, including Colombia, Puerto Rico and Spain. The first picture shows the discussion. Alejandro Uribe Tirado had organised this event, and he has also launched a new blog, aimed at academics and librarians who work in Spain, Portugal or Latin America: called Alfabetización Informacional / Iberoamérica it is at http://alfiniberoamerica.blogspot.com/ (Alfabetización Informacional, or Alfin for short, is a Spanish translation of "Information Literacy)

My first year BSc Information Management students also had an exhibition: in a group exercise they had produced powerpoints which gave their solution to an information problem to do with swine flu. They then transferred this (with embellishments in some cases) to a 3D model of the SCONUL 7 Pillars of Information Literacy, in Second Life. There are 6 groups, so there are six of these models, linked to a central platform in the sky above our Second Life island, infolit iSchool. If you have a SL avatar & browser you can still visit this at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Infolit%20iSchool/136/211/351/

Information Literacy Week in Second Life

I have been organising Information Literacy Week in Second Life, which runs 9-15th November 2009. You will be able to participate if you have a SL avatar and have the SL browser installed on your computer. The website for the event is at http://infolit-week-in-SL.ning.com/ and that is where updates to the programme will be. The following events are scheduled
-----------------------Monday November 9th
Student exhibition of Information Literacy
4-5am SL time (noon-1pm UK time, for times elsewhere see
here)
First year BSc Information Management students at the University of Sheffield display the models of the "SCONUL 7 Pillars of Information Literacy" which they have adapted with examples from questions to do with Swine Flu.
Location: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Infolit%20iSchool/136/211/351/

Evento en español: Lecciones aprendidas y buenas prácticas en programas de Alfabetización Informacional-Spanish Event: Lessons learned and best practices in INFOLIT programs
7-9 am SLT (3-5pm UK time, for times elsewhere see
here)
Se pretende reunir a diferentes profesionales que estén desarrollando programas de Alfabetización Informacional con el fin de compartir algunas lecciones aprendidas y buenas prácticas que dichos programas han dejado, y que sirvan de guía para otros profesionales y programas.
Location: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Infolit%20iSchool/191/194/26
Organized By: Alejandro Uribe Tirado

ACRL IL in SL Week event
6pm SLT (and ongoing to 15 November) 2am in UK, for other times see
here)
MLIS students at the University of Hawaii collaborate with Alexandria Knight of UCLA on an IL exhibit and event at the ACRL site on ALA Island
Location: http://slurl.com/secondlife/ALA%20Island/217/42/61

---------------------Tuesday 10th November

Health Literacy exhibit: launch!
9-10am SLT and then ongoing (5pm UK time, for times elsewhere see
here)
Health Literacy is important to help you understand and manage your health care decisions and needs.
Our interactive exhibit will test your knowledge about stroke (brain attack), heart attack and some common medical terminology.
Come learn at our Health Literacy exhibit at Health Info Island!
Exhibit organised by Brielle Coronet, Medical Librarian
Location: http://slurl.com/secondlife/healthinfo%20island/18/25/22/

Second Life Education Roundtable: Information Literacy

2.30-3.30 SLT

The regular series of Tuesday roundtable discussions, led by AJ Brooks, will feature Information Literacy as the discussion topic. Discussion leaders Lori Bell, Sheila Yoshikawa, and Marty Snowpaw. The SLER website is at http://virtualworldsedu.info/

Location: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Montclair%20State%20CHSSSouth/129/158/22

Ongoing exhibitions:
= = Student exhibitions of Information literacy

-------------- Wednesday 11th November

HIV Testing and Information Literacy
9-10am SLT launch and then ongoing (5pm in UK, for other times see
here)
Karuna Island is the Second Life sim devoted to celebrating the lives of those dealing with HIV/AIDS and making information, support, and creative services available to them in the SL community. Robin Mochi, Karuna Island Consumer Health Librarian, has created an interactive mindmap on HIV Testing using the SCONUL 7 Pillars of Information Literacy.
Location: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Karuna/33/50/23

Ongoing exhibitions:
= = Student exhibitions of Information literacy
= = Health Literacy

-------------- Thursday 12th November

SL orientation for librarians
6.30-8.00 am SLT (2.30 pm UK time, for times elsewhere see
here)
New to Second Life? Learn some SL basics in this virtual workshop. It will be led by Sheila Yoshikawa (Sheila Webber in Real Life, Department of Information Studies, Sheffield University) and Kitty Mumfuzz (Keri Gray in Real Life, who runs Weekes Gray Recruitment (http://www.weekesgray.com/ )
To book a place, please email keri@weekesgray.com with your real life and second life names and you will given the landmark

Ongoing exhibitions:
= = Student exhibitions of Information literacy
= = Health Literacy
= = HIV Testing and Information Literacy

-------------- Friday 13th November

Opening of "What it means to me": an exhibition on the way people think about information and information literacy
1am-2am SLT then ongoing
This is the opening of an exhibition drawing on quotations about what informationand information literacy mean to different people. The aim is that this will be a growing 3D exhibition that will be flown up to a sky platform at the end of Information Literacy week.
Location: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Infolit%20iSchool/42/48/20/

Information Literacy Panel: "Web 2.0 Approaches to IL"
Noon SLT (8pm in UK, for other times see
here)
Information Literacy Panel produced by MLIS students at the University of Hawaii. Moderator: (Alexandria Knight) Esther Grassian, UCLA
Panelists: (Sheila Yoshikawa) Sheila Webber, U. Sheffield, Marsha Schnirring (Buk Binder)
Location: http://slurl.com/secondlife/ALA%20Island/56/191/28

Ongoing exhibitions:
= = Student exhibitions of Information literacy
= = Health Literacy
= = HIV Testing and Information Literacy

-------------- Saturday 14th November

Ongoing exhibitions:
= = Student exhibitions of Information literacy
= = Health Literacy
= = HIV Testing and Information Literacy
= = What it means to me": an exhibition on the way people think about information and information literacy

-------------- Sunday 15th November

Information Literacy week: Closing party!
1pm SLT (9pm in UK, for other times see
here)
Come to a party to celebrate the close of the first annual Information Literacy Week in SL, hosted by Sheila Yoshikawa (Info Lit Island) and Adra Letov, at the beautiful Jazz Cat.
Location: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Info%20Island%20International/118/28/35/

WILU 2010

The 39th Workshop on Instruction in Library Use (WILU) will be held at McMaster University, Hamilton, near Lake Ontario, Canada, from May 12 – 14, 2010. This year’s theme is Design Play Learn, and "explores best practices in instructional design, gaming and more". The call for papers is now up: Deadline December 15th. There are call for paper sessions, "lightning strike" and carnival booths. http://wilu2010.blog.lib.mcmaster.ca/
Photo By Sheila Webber: Western Park, Sheffield, October 2009

Creating Knowledge VI

The call for papers is now open for the Creating Knowledge conference that takes place in Bergen, Norway, September 8-10 2010. The conference title is Information Literacy and diversity in Higher Education: mapping the Learning Environment and the themes are: The challenges posed by diversity; and The creation of effective learning environments. The call for proposals for papers, posters and workshops ends 10 January 2010. The home page is: https://ck-vi.uib.no/index.php/creatingknowledge/2010

Photo by Sheila Webber: Sheffield, October 2009

Núria Ferran Ferrer

From August to October my Department/ Centre for Information Literacy Research was visited by Núria Ferran Ferrer, an academic in Information and Communication Science Studies, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Open University of Catalunya). Núria has been involved in research projects related to cultural heritage (COINE), and open educational content (OLCOS). Núria is pictured here with Sheila Webber (i.e. me, centre), and (on the right) Phussadee Dokphrom, one of my doctoral students, who is investigating information literacy needs of undergraduate students. A very recent article by Núria is:
Ferran-Ferrer, N. and Pérez-Montoro, M. (2009) "Gestión de la información personal en usuarios avanzados en TIC (Personal information management of ICT-intensive users)" El profesional de la información,18 (4), 365-373.

Georgia Conference on Information Literacy

There is a call for papers for the Georgia Conference on Information Literacy, which takes place 1-2 October in Savannah, Georgia, USA. The keynote speaker is Esther Grassian. Proposal deadline is April 15th 2010. For more information go to http://ceps.georgiasouthern.edu/
conted/infolit.html

Photo by Sheila Webber, October 2009

Social networking and Web 2.0

I did some updates to my set of pages on Netvibes about social networking and Web 2.0. One nice thing I found was a 50 second interview with Tim O'Reilly in which he defines Web 2.0, and also last month he and Batelle revisited their Web 2.0 definition. You can find the links on the Web 2.0 page of my Netvibes space .... it can be a bit slow to load as it has got various feeds coming into the page http://www.netvibes.com/sheilawebber
Photo by Sheila Webber: Squash, farmers' market, October 2009

ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology

Fairly new out is the ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students [in the USA] and Information Technology, 2009. "It is based on quantitative data from a spring 2009 survey of 30,616 freshmen and seniors at 103 four-year institutions and students at 12 two-year institutions; student focus groups that included input from 62 students at 4 institutions; and review of qualitative data from written responses to open-ended questions. In addition to studying student ownership, experience, behaviors, preferences, and skills with respect to information technologies, the 2009 study also includes a special focus on student ownership and use of Internet-capable handheld devices."
http://www.educause.edu/Resources/
TheECARStudyofUndergraduateStu/187215
Photo by Sheila Webber: plums, Farmers' market, October 2009

Web 2.0 tools for Professional Teaching Associations

There is an excellent website that Judy O'Connell produced for a meeting of the (Australian) Professional Teachers Council in August. Called Web 2.0 tools for Professional Teaching Associations it has a series of pages in which she combines narrative, links and embedded videos. The pages include: Media Revolution; Cloud Computing; Got Google?; RSS; Tagging to Share; Social Bookmarking; Communication; Personal Learning Network. Go to http://sites.google.com/site/ptcweb2/home
Photo by Sheila Webber: Western Park, October 2009

Coverage of Information Literacy Awareness Month

One of my students used a recent article as the subject for a review they submit (so thank you, Akanksha) and it is one of a number that shows that US librarians are taking advantage of US Information Literacy Awareness Month to get in the press. This article is
Small, R.V. and Arnone, M.P. (2009) Information literacy is essential for the 21st Century. Syracuse.com. 23 October. http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2009/10
/information_literacy_is_essent.html (this is the website of the local newspaper)
Doing a quick Google news search on "information literacy" obama I quickly found a number more e.g.
Bridges, F. (2009) Information literacy more than just Googling. jconline.com (Journal Courier online)13 October. http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009910120320 (interview with Sharon Weiner)
Westport news. (2009) Parsing information. Westport news. 23 October. http://www.westport-news.com/opinion/ci_13623497

Photo by Sheila Webber: in my garden, earlier in the month.

Social Media Seminar Series

There is a Social Media Seminar Series: Trends and Implications for Learning, with the next session tomorrow, Friday October 30 at 9pm Eastern time in the USA (1am in the UK at the moment - World Clock Calculator: http://url.aace.org/ft/200910302100) This is organised by the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Its a series so if you miss this one there could be more: http://AACE.org/GlobalU/seminars/socialmedia/
Seminar Recordings: http://EdITLib.org/GlobalU/
Seminar Community: http://www.AACEConnect.org/group/socialmedia

Photo by Sheila Webber: statue of Elliot (a Sheffield worthy), Western Park, October 2009

SCIL Works 2010

SCIL (Southern California Instruction Librarians) Works 2010: Practice, Practice, Practice (P3): Reinvigorating ILI Pedagogy takes place at CSU Chancellor's Office, Long Beach, USA on February 5, 2010. There is a call for proposals on one of these themes: Reinventing "Sessions"; Rethinking Relationships; Reinterpreting/Reframing the Standards (plus, for poster sessions only: Really! Less is More) The submission deadline is November 20, 2009, email Marsha Schnirring at mschnirring@oxy.edu. For poster session guidelines, visit http://clics.ucsd.edu/scil/poster . There are some presentations from SCIL Works 2009 at http://carl-acrl.org/ig/scil/scilworks/index.html

Photo by Sheila Webber: Hathersage, September 2009

AASL conference

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) annual conference takes place in Charlotte, USA, November 5-8. Registration is on-site only at this point, but there are also some virtual options (see web addresses at the end). Information Literacy is always a key theme, especially as the Standards for the 21st-Century Learner put more emphasis on inquiry skills.
Some relevant sessions include:
Collaborating to Fuel Student Achievement (Joyce Needham, Springfield Public Schools)
Developing Discriminating Users of Information: 3 Unique Approaches to "The Real World" (Sheila Brennan, Library Media Specialist, Academy of Holy Angels, Richfield; Judith Roggow, Librarian, DeLaSalle High School, Minneapolis; Kathleen Roy, Library Media Specialist, Cretin-Derham Hall High School, St. Paul,)
Information Literacy: An Online Library Media Course for High School Students (Margaret Lincoln, School Library Media Specialist, Lakeview High School)
Learning Commons, Information Commons, Library Media Center - What's in a Name? (Alison Ernst, Northfield Mount Hermon School; David Loertscher, Professor, San Jose State University; Patt Moser, Sidwell Friends School)
Marketing Information Literacy (Paige Jaeger, Coordinator of School Library Services, WSWHE BOCES)
No Restrictor Plates: Speeding Toward Information Literacy (Marnie Utz, & Steven Yates, Librarians, Spain Park High School, Hoover)
Research Matters! Becoming the Key Component in Your School's Research Curriculum (Jana Brawner, Theresa Gosnell, Carrie Turner, Westside High School, Omaha)
The conference website is at
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/
conferencesandevents/national/charlotte2009.cfm
There are some virtual options to participate http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/
conferencesandevents/national/charlotte2009
/forattendees/bthere/bthere.cfm

Photo by Sheila Webber: Beech tree, Western Park, October 2009

Information Economy 2009

The Information Economy report 2009 has been published by UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development). This focuses on the technology side of the information economy, but is very interesting in its global coverage e.g. the significant use of mobile communications in the developing world. This is an extract from the start of the Executive summary:

"In the context of analyzing ICTs for development, this report takes stock of recent trends with regard to extending connectivity worldwide (chapter I). Special attention is given to the challenge of providing broadband access to the Internet. Chapter II monitors developments in enhancing the use of ICTs among enterprises and chapter III looks at how international trade in ICT goods and in IT (information technology) and ICT-enabled services is evolving. As the report was prepared in the midst of the most turbulent economic times since the Great Depression, potential implications of the economic crisis are discussed in all chapters."
Go to http://www.unctad.org/Templates/webflyer.asp?docid=11915&intItemID=2068&lang=1 - for the full report free online click on Downloads

Photo by Sheila Webber: Western Park, Sheffield, October 2009

CILIP CoFHE and UC&R Joint Conference

The CILIP CoFHE and UC&R Joint Conference 2010 has the title: Futureproof: making libraries indispensible to learning, teaching and research. It will be held at Exeter University, 21-23 June 2010. There is a call for papers for conference workshop presentations and topics/themes include learning, research and information literacy (and a number of other themes). The deadline for proposals is 4th December 2009. For further info see http://www.cilip.org.uk/specialinterestgroups/
bysubject/ucr/Conference
Photo by Sheila Webber: beech tree, Sheffield, October 2009

Transliteracy conference

There is a Call for Presentations for the Transliteracy Conference being held 9 Feb 2010in Leicester, UK. Themes include: transliteracy and libraries or the arts; transliteracy in education or the workplace or communications; transliteracy and trandisciplinarity; transliteracy in action e.g. digital fiction, networked arts projects, or library resources.
Deadline for 250 word abstracts is 1 December, 2009, emailed to transliteracy@googlemail.com For more info go to http://nlabnetworks.typepad.com/transliteracy/conference2010.html
see also http://transliteracy.ning.com/

Photo by Sheila Webber: transliterate writer's retreat, Second Life

PRIMO call

The Peer Reviewed Instructional Materials Online (PRIMO) Committee of the ACRL (American College and Research Libraries) Instruction Section invites you to submit your online information literacy tutorial, virtual tour, or other online library instruction project for review and possible inclusion in PRIMO: Peer-Reviewed Instructional Materials Online. Deadline for autumn 2009 are: Nominations: October 31; Submissions: November 14. Additional information about PRIMO, as well as the submission and nomination forms, is at http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/
divs/acrl/about/sections/is/projpubs/
primo/index.cfm
Photo by Sheila Webber: autumn arrangement, October 2009

Canadian presentation at Sheffield, 27 October

If you live/work near Sheffield you may like to attend the following presentation at 3pm-4pm on Tuesday 27th October 2009. It will be in Room 204, 2nd Floor, Department of Information Studies, Sheffield University, Regent Court Building, 211 Portobello Street, Sheffield S1, UK. The Google Maps reference is at http://tinyurl.com/yg32ubp No need to book in advance. The nearest tram stop is West Street. Any questions email me (s.webber@sheffield.ac.uk) This is a Centre for Information Literacy Research event.

Sophie Bury, Business Librarian, York University, Canada, will present on An Investigation of the Information Literacy Instruction Practices, Attitudes and Knowledge of University Faculty: Results of a Web-based Survey at York University, Canada. "This presentation will provide an overview of key findings and recommendations of a survey of full-time faculty at York University, which investigated their information literacy instruction practices, attitudes, and knowledge. The session will also examine the extent to which the findings of this study either corroborate or differ from results of similar studies uncovered by a recent review of the LIS literature. Findings regarding faculty perceptions of the importance of information literacy instruction, and of information literacy competency levels among students will be discussed. Data regarding levels of faculty engagement in teaching information literacy competencies, either by themselves or in collaboration with a librarian, will also be shared. Findings will also be highlighted regarding the nature of information literacy instruction typically incorporated within the classroom by faculty, as well as their general experiences and estimation of it. Results regarding faculty awareness of, and support for different formats and methods of instruction delivery will also be summarised. Based on these survey results, the researcher’s summary of implications for practice and research will be shared."