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