I will be doing a number of blog posts from the
World Library and Information Congress: 76th IFLA General Conference and Assembly, held 10-15 August 2010, in Gothenburg, Sweden. The conference site is at
http://www.ifla.org/en/ifla76. A few thousand librarians from (literally) all over the world have gathered together for these few days.
I hope to be doing some liveblogging, but the wifi connection today was poor quality so instead I rattled in some notes and am posting them tonight. The conference session I attended today was organised by the Information Literacy Section and the Reference and Information Services section. With most of the sessions I blog, I already linked to the full papers in previous pre-view posts, but I will link again for your convenience.
The session was introduced by Amanda Duffy and she emphasised the value and relevance of information literacy. She also identified a number of challenges e.g. identifying: the required information skills for users, the role of the library website and the way in which we can educate the reference librarians of the future. Amanda stressed that librarians were no longer “tucked in the corner” but now needed to come forward and take the initiative.
The first paper was from
Sheila Corrall (Head of my Department at the University of Sheffield):
Developing inclusive models of reference and instruction to create information literate communities. The full paper is at
http://www.ifla.org/files/hq/papers/ifla76/74-corrall-en.pdf
Additionally there is a very clear
podcast of Sheila's talk
here, recorded by
Niels Damgaard (pictured) for his
school libraries Ning, who I met as I was sitting next to him for this session!
Since it was a joint session Sheila thought it was a good opportunity to explore the connection between these two areas of practice: i.e. reference and information literacy (IL). She identified that they are both central to professional practice: however we are not always inclusive in the way we deal with them. There are some questions that come up e.g. Does reference include IL teaching? Does IL include informal approaches on the reference desk?
Sheila noted that there are different interpretations in different countries: e.g. with "reference" in the UK the focus is on services from the reference desk, whereas in the USA “reference” is usually taken to include IL elements. However, there is common ground in definitions of IL (e.g. CILIP, UNESCO and ALA).
In terms of trends and developments: technology has had the biggest impact in both reference and IL. Another factor has been growing awareness of pedagogical issues amongst librarians, and more stress on independent learning by educationalists. The formalisation of librarians' training roles is also significant.
There is recognition of the changing role, e.g. as represented in the conceptof the blended librarian. However there may be less acknowledgement of the expansion of the skillset of reference desk staff, including the skills of paraprofessionals.
Sheila referred to the model identified in the
Fielden Report, which sees "learner support in the LIS context as embracing a grid of activities along two matrices, one relating to the support skills and competences needed (whether LIS or academic) and the other to the style of support (whether structured or unstructured)." She found this model useful to consider the spectrum of interventions that exist (for example, the "teachable moment" would be academic/ unstructured).
Sheila identified a number of questions, for example: a strategic issue is staffing: who should be involved in reference services and what skills do they need? What mix of competencies is required for current information teaching roles?
Also, how should libraries articulate their roles and goals: one issue is that theses statememnts tend to focus on formal (or "structured") interventions in learning, rather than informal (or "unstructured"). There is also the issue of responsibility for the lifelong learning of those people that librarians support.
Sheila identified some examples of successful practice: Firstly the
Scottish Information Literacy project (often featured on this blog!), stressing how they have a comprehensive approach, from small children to the workplace, involving partners in different sectors
The second example was at Oxford University, where they explicitly include all staff in their impressive staff development programme. Finally, at Sheffield University she noted the identification of IL as a graduate attribute in the university's Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy. She also talked about the
course in Inquiry Based Learning that the librarians took, and now a second innovative programme which includes the IT support and paraprofessionals in training about IL and learning, so that they can understand and support the students’ needs better.
Sheila concluded by identifying technical impact on reference service and IL education; noting that paraprofessionals are often involved in informal learning, but not often included in pedagogical development programmes; identifyng that policies tend to address formal rather than informal teaching strategies, and stating that there is a need to connect up across sectors.
Foutch, L. (2010) "Joining forces to enlighten the research process: a librarian and writing studio integrate." College & Research Libraries News, 71 (7), 370-373. http://crln.acrl.org/content/71/7/370.full
On Tuesday August 31 there will be a discussion in the virtual world, Second Life: Contribute your ideas for future events on Infolit iSchool (our SL island devoted to literacies and learning)
DSS Research specialises in market research for the healthcare industry in the USA; therefore it aims (I assume) to show how it can help them maximise profits, which can be done by keeping those who take out health insurance healthier, so people don't make so many claims (or am I being cynical here?) Anyway, this "Health Care Engagement Index" did seem interesting and relevant to those aiming to improve health information literacy. Also, for those interested in information literacy indicators, the inclusion of "behaviours" and "attitudes" is interesting (i.e. it isn't just a matter of testing skill and knowledge).
Conference on 26 November 2010 at UWE Conference Centre, Bristol, UK: Partnerships for HE in FE: the library perspective. "The conference will cover many aspects of supporting Higher Education in Further Education students, and in developing the HE/FE partnerships to best advantage. Book at https://www.formstack.com/forms/uwe-heinfepartnerships Full info at http://www.uwe.ac.uk/library/info/academic/docs/he-fe-programme.pdf Blog at http://heinfelibrary.wordpress.com/
In this post I will describe some key items that came out of the IFLA Information Literacy Section committee meetings that took place during the IFLA conference held in Gothenburg, Sweden, 11-15 August (the poor pictures were takenat the section committee dinner). IFLA (International Federation for Library Associations and Institutions) has a very small headquarters in the Hague, Netherlands, and most of its work is done by its members. IFLA has many sections and divisions, representing different regions of the world and different subject areas. One of the sections is Information Literacy and I am a member of its Standing Committee. As with all IFLA comittees, it is truly international, with members from Africa, Australia, Asia, North America, South America and Europe (though there is a bit of a bias towards Europe).
Half day seminars: 1) Plagiarism: Stopping it before it Begins (morning, led by Anne-Marie Tarter; Marianne Bradnock and Nazlin Bhimani) and 2) Transliteracy and Web 2.0 (afternoon, led by Phil Bradley) both on 22 October 2010 at CILIP, London, UK. Cost is £75 ILIG member, £85 CILIP member, £50 concession, £110 otherwise. Discounts if you book for both events, or for multiple bookings. Enquiries about the programme and bookings to Norman Briggs, email: nwbriggs@iliacuk.co.uk
At the IFLA 2010 conference, there was a session on health information. I'll pick out two presentations:
IFLA announced the launch of its new World Report. "For the first time, the World Report is being made available online in a fully searchable database, complete with graphical map interface. By clicking on a country's marker, you can either select "View individual report" if you would like to view a single country's report or "Add to report list" in order to view multiple countries in one report. The report includes questions on: Internet access in libraries; Copyright; Library initiatives for providing information to different categories of citizens (such as senior citizens, women, the disabled and visually impaired); The role of libraries in universal primary education and environmental sustainability; And much more!" http://ifla-world-report.org/
Howard, J. (2010) "A blended librarian talks about information literacy." Chronicle of Higher Education, August 2. http://chronicle.com/blogPost/A-Blended-Librarian-Talks/25938/ (short article reporting on a "Library 300" class at Buffalo State College of the State University of New York).
The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) Information Online Group are presenting an award to acknowledge excellence/innovation in performance by an information professional, primarily based on a project undertaken individually or in collaboration. The award supports travel and attendance at a conference, up to the value of $10,000 Aus. This is not just about information literacy, but I think a number of Australian information literacy specialists might be eligible! Deadline 31st August and more info at http://www.alia.org.au/awards/merit/IOG.excellence/index.html
Niels Damgaard has posted a number of podcasts, and in many cases accompanying slides, from the IFLA conference that took place last week in Gothenburg, on his Ning for Nordic school librarians, SBNING: http://skolebibliotek.ning.com/. The page that links to each session that is podcast is at http://skolebibliotek.ning.com/profiles/blogs/listen-to-iflasessions
A break from IFLA reports: think I missed this PhD when it came out: an interesting study of the legal context.
There will be a one-hour session in Second Life, the virtual world next Thursday August 19th, starting at 12 noon Second Life time (this is the same as Pacific time in the USA, see http://tinyurl.com/2wge69r for start time in other countries. Sheila Webber (Sheila Yoshikawa in Second Life) will report backgive a brief report from the World Library and Information (IFLA) main Conference, 11-15 August, and in particular report with material from the pre-conference satellite meeting 8-9th August on Information Literacy: Context Community Culture (see the conference blog: http://infolitsatellite.blogspot.com/
Kerry Smith was just talking at the IFLA conference about about Researching the Information Commons (RIC). There is a section on defining the IC on the website, including
The IFLA IL section published its newsletter just before the IFLA conference. It includes short reports on information literacy in various countries e.g. Spain, Italy. You can find the newsletter at http://www.ifla.org/files/information-literacy/newsletters/Newsletter-v8n2.pdf
Ann-Louise de Boer presented a paper which she has coauthored with Pieter du Toit and Theo Bothma (all from University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa), Multidisciplinary collaboration: A necessity for curriculum innovation. The full paper is at
This is the final post about the panel session organised by the Informtion Literacy Section and Reference Section at the 76th IFLA General Conference . If you are wondering why I have been quite so conscientious about blogging it all, I was asked to take notes, so obviously I am doing that via this blog! This last post covers the questions after the papers from Sheila Corrall, Vicki McDonald, Cathy Palmer, Huy Nghiem,Kaijsa Calkins and Cassandra Kvenild. Once again they are included in the podcast of this talk at this location, courtesy of Niels Damgaard.
This report on a talk by Kaijsa Calkins and Cassandra Kvenild yesterday continues blog posts from the 76th IFLA General Conference and Assembly, held 10-15 August 2010, in Gothenburg, Sweden. The conference site is at http://www.ifla.org/en/ifla76. There is a podcast of this talk here, courtesy of Niels Damgaard. The full text of the paper is:
This report on a talk given by Vicki McDonald yesterday continues blog posts from the 76th IFLA General Conference and Assembly, held 10-15 August 2010, in Gothenburg, Sweden. The conference site is at http://www.ifla.org/en/ifla76. There is a podcast of this talk here, courtesy of Niels Damgaard. The full paper is available as follows:
This report on a talk by Huy Nghiem continues blog posts from the 76th IFLA General Conference and Assembly, held 10-15 August 2010, in Gothenburg, Sweden. The conference site is at http://www.ifla.org/en/ifla76. There is a podcast of this talk here, courtesy of Niels Damgaard. The full paper is:
This report on a talk by Cathy Palmer continues blog posts from the 76th IFLA General Conference and Assembly, held 10-15 August 2010, in Gothenburg, Sweden. The conference site is at http://www.ifla.org/en/ifla76. There is a podcast of this talk here, courtesy of Niels Damgaard. The full text paper is:
I will be doing a number of blog posts from the World Library and Information Congress: 76th IFLA General Conference and Assembly, held 10-15 August 2010, in Gothenburg, Sweden. The conference site is at http://www.ifla.org/en/ifla76. A few thousand librarians from (literally) all over the world have gathered together for these few days.
There are already the abstracts of this conference and the posters from the first workshop session on the conference blog for Information Literacy: Context, Community, Culture, held 8-9 August in Gothenburg, Sweden, organised by the IFLA Information Literacy Section (I was conference chair).
Vitae, the body in the UK concerned with developing researchers, has published its 
This is another batch of papers online for the World Library and Information Conference (or IFLA conference) which takes place 10-15 August.
The Pew Research Center has published results of a survey of "895 internet experts and other internet users" to ask their opinion about (essentially) whether the millennial generation will do less social networking as they get older. There were respondents who thought that they would use sites like Facebook less, but the majority position was that millennials "will retain their willingness to share personal information online even as they get older and take on more responsibilities. Experts surveyed say that the advantages Millennials see in personal disclosure will outweigh their concerns about their privacy." The report is at
A second batch of papers online from the World Library and Information Conference (or IFLA conference) which takes place 10-15 August..
A new book is: Secker, J. (2010) Copyright and E-learning: A guide for practitioners. London: Facet. ISBN: 978-1-85604-665-7