Report from the LILAC conference: in Second Life: May 1st

Hear first hand accounts of the UK's information literacy conference: for the 5th year running we will have an hour of reports and discussion in Second Life! All welcome!
When: 12 noon SL time (8pm UK time, 5pm US Eastern, see http://tinyurl.com/d9a7jrh for times elsewhere), Tuesday 1st May 2012.
Where: Infolit iSchool, in the virtual world Second Life, you need a SL avatar and the SL browser installed on your computer to participate. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Infolit%20iSchool/129/242/22/
What: Report from the LILAC (UK Information Literacy) Conference
Eleni Zazani, Birkbeck College (Loreena Sandalwood in SL) and Vickie Cormie, St Andrews University (Ishbel Hartmann in SL) will report back on highlights from the LILAC 2012 conference, that took place in Glasgow in April. This is the major British conference on Information Literacy: the website with powerpoint presentations is at http://lilacconference.com/WP/
A Sheffield iSchool Centre for Information Literacy Research event.

Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship IL special issue

There's an information literacy focus to volume 17, issue 1, 2012, of the Journal of Business and Finance Librarianship. Aryicles are:
- Information Literacy in the Workplace: Employer Expectations by Jason Sokoloff. There is an interesting blog post about this article (particularly interesting to me as my library doesn't subscribe to this publication): Cramer, S. (2012) "Information Literacy: Academia v. Workplace" This liaison life, April 10. http://liaisonlife.wordpress.com/2012/04/10/infolit_workplace/
- Workplace Information Literacy: A Neglected Priority for Community College Libraries by Nora J. Bird, Michael Crumpton, Melynda Ozan and Tim Williams
- Information Literacy in the Accounting Classroom: A Collaborative Effort by Wayne Finley and Tammy Waymire
- The Impact of Library Instruction on the Quality of Student Project Performance in an Advanced Financial Management Case Class by Michael Sherman, Julia A. Martin and Xiaoran An
- A Sustainable Approach to Teaching Information Literacy: Reaching the Masses Online by Camille Tooman and Julie Sibthorpe
- Developing and Assessing a Library Instruction Module for a Core Business Class by Connie Strittmatter
- Embedded Librarianship and Virtual Environments in Entrepreneurship Information Literacy: A Case Study by Hal Kirkwood and; Kelly Evans.
The home page is at http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/wbfl20/17/1
Photo by Sheila Webber: Arts tower, University of sheffield, April 2012.

Presentations from LILAC #lilac12

The powerpoints from the 2012 LILAC (information literacy) conference are online at http://lilacconference.com/WP/past-conferences/lilac-2012/ - too many to take in easily, lots of good stuff!
Just to add to the links to reports about LILAC, there is this prezi from Ida Kwan http://prezi.com/t9nv204ixmpg/idalilac2012/, a report by Sam Aston at http://www.infotoday.eu/Articles/Editorial/Featured-Articles/Digital-detoxing---librarians-and-information-literacy-81988.aspx and some posts from Fiona McLellan http://fionamaclellan.wordpress.com/tag/lilac12/
Photo by Sheila Webber: yet more cherry blossom (currently, in fact, being destroyed by the rain)

Survey on professional development needs

A survey is underway on behalf of ACRL’s Instruction Section [Association of College and Research Libraries, USA], to look at the continuing professional development needs of librarians engaging in teaching online, i.e. "any means of teaching through the web including online research guides, tutorials, online chat reference, asynchronous online classes, and synchronous online classes. The questions are not limited to librarians whose primary job responsibilities include online instruction, but to any librarian who participates in online instruction in any capacity. Findings may influence ACRL Instruction Section’s support of professional development in this area and will be presented at the 2012 ALA Annual meeting in Anaheim, CA." The survey of 12 questions is at http://svy.mk/HVWxwV The deadline is May 11 2012 and you can contact alael2012c@gmail.com with any questions.
Photo by Sheila Webber: My cherry blossom, April 2012.

World Book and Copyright Day

Apologies, I missed marking the "real" World Book and Copyright day yesterday (23 April). Yerevan, Armenia, was named as World Book Capital for 2012. This year also marks the 80th anniversary of the Index Translationum, the international bibliography of translation. The UNESCO page has links to various resources and suggests some ways to celebrate the day. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/events/prizes-and-celebrations/celebrations/international-days/world-book-and-copyright-day-2012.

Journal Club: 25 April in Second Life

We will be discussing the paper “The implementation and evaluation of a new learning space: a pilot study” on Wednesday 25th April at 12 noon til 1pm Second Life time (that's starting 8pm UK time, see http://tinyurl.com/86c8uj7 for times elsewhere).
Where: In the virtual world, Second Life, http://slurl.com/secondlife/Infolit%20iSchool/106/208/30/ (in the Journal Club room, Infolit iSchool).You need a SL avatar, and the SL browser on your computer, to participate: otherwise, all welcome!
What: Lyn Parker (University of Sheffield, Maggie Kohime in Second Life) leads discussion on: Wilson, G. and Randall, M. (2012) “The implementation and evaluation of a new learning space: a pilot study.” Research in learning teachnology, 20 (1). http://www.researchinlearningtechnology.net/index.php/rlt/article/view/14431/html

Communications in Information Literacy new issue

Volume 5, number 2 (2012) of Communications in Information Literacy has been published. This is an open access journal. Articles include:
- Team-Based Learning in an Information Literacy Course: Trudi Jacobsen
- Share and Share Alike: Barriers and Solutions to Tutorial Creation and Management:Anne-Marie Deitering, Hannah Gascho Rempel
- Guiding Students from Consuming Information to Creating Knowledge: A Freshman English Library Instruction Collaboration: Carolyn B. Gamtso, Susanne F. Paterson
- Designing and Implementing an Information Literacy Course in the Humanities: Ellen Daugman, Leslie McCall, Kaeley McMahan
- Design to learn, learn to design: Using backward design for information literacy instruction: Bruce E. Fox, John J. Doherty
- Academic Libraries and the Credit-Bearing Class: A Practical Approach: Margaret G. Burke.
http://www.comminfolit.org/index.php?journal=cil&page=issue&op=current
Photo by Sheila Webber: Candytuft, Sheffield, April 2012

Social Media Use By Students With Disabilities

This looks an interesting article: Asuncion, J. et al (2012) "Social Media Use By Students With Disabilities." Academic Exchange Quarterly, 16 (1). http://rapidintellect.com/AEQweb/cho4973.htm They surveyed a convenience sample of 723 students/recent graduates with disabilities, in 2009, in Canada. They asked which social media they used, which were most difficult/easiest, what improvements could be made etc. The most used service was Youtube (91%). The top 5 recommendations were: Having a simpler or better layout; Improving privacy/ security; Fixing accessibility issues (e.g., CAPTCHA); Enlarging features on website; Having captions/ subtitles.
Photo by Sheila Webber: My daffodils, April 2012

Presentations from Missing Link conference

Powerpoints and a short abstracts from presentations at the Missing Link conference held at Birmingham City University in March 2012 are available. Presentations include: Creating a reusable, online information literacy tutorial for researchers: A collaborative approach; Getting your foot in the door – library liaison and research skills in university departments; Collaboration between Centre for Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT) and Library and Learning Resources to improve the Student Experience. http://library.bcu.ac.uk/conferencempapers.htm

Photo by Sheila Webber: Spring ivy, April 2012

Academic Exchange Quarterly cfp

There is a call for papers for Academic Exchange Quarterly, Fall 2012. They see articles on various topics for the special section: The Many Faces of Information Competence. The feature Co-editors are Heidi Blackburn, Undergraduate Services Librarian, Assistant Professor, Kansas State University, hblackbu@ksu.edu and Lisa Craft, Graduate and Faculty Services Librarian, Assistant Professor, Kansas State University, lmccraft@k-state.edu "Academic librarians are increasingly instructing targeted groups within the academic environment. Such groups include freshman learning communities, international students, graduate students, and faculty. Each of these groups is far from homogenous because of the diversity of their expectations of libraries and their information-seeking experiences. Even into the twenty-first century, many faculty members, for example, are reluctant to use electronic resources. How can we develop instruction programs that will address the shared needs of such groups and the diverse needs of individuals? What assessment tools are available to measure the success of such programs? How can we identify constituencies being underserved? Manuscripts are sought that describe successful (and even unsuccessful) approaches to inform
ation literacy for targeted groups and/or diverse populations in higher education. Manuscripts are also sought that report on quantitative or qualitative evaluations of the impact of information literacy programs, courses, and components of courses." Submission deadline: 31 May 2012. The submission procedure is outlined at http://rapidintellect.com/AEQweb/rufen1.htm Photo by Sheila Webber: bluebells in bud, April 2012

Welsh Information Literacy Project Phase 3 starts

Phase 3 of the Welsh Information Literacy Project has been awarded to Coleg Llandrillo’s Library and Learning Technology Service (LLTS), led by Andrew Eynon. The main streams are concerned with Public Libraries, Schools/Education, and Information Literacy for Employability. Currently they are using their college's blog to report news http://liberace.wordpress.com/ and the previous website is at http://library.wales.org/informationliteracy/blog/
Yesterday they posted a reflection on Phase 3 of the Welsh Information Literacy project, reporting how information literacy is "mentioned specifically in the Digital Classroom task and finish group report [commissioned by the Minister for Education and Skills in the Welsh Assembly], as one of the core features of success for supporting the recommendations of change to drive forward the digital learning agenda in Wales" http://liberace.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/welsh-information-literacy-project-reflections-on-the-hwb/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Cherry blossom on my tree, April 2012

New Libri

There's a new issue of Libri (2012, Volume 62 issue 1). Articles include:
- Keller, A. "In Print or On Screen? Investigating the Reading Habits of Undergraduate Students Using Photo-Diaries and Photo-Interviews" (pp 1-18)
- Bankole, O. M., Oshinaike, A. B.and Banwo, C. O. "HIV/AIDS Knowledge, Attitudes and Sources of Information among Librarians in Southwestern Nigeria (pp 41-51)
- Tan, S., Gorman, G. and Singh, D. "Information Literacy Competencies among School Librarians in Malaysia" (pp 98-107)
The Libri website is at http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/libr (priced journal).
Photo by Sheila Webber: Daffodils, Botanic Gardens, Sheffield, April 2012.

Some changes to this blog

I have added a couple of pages (see the tabs above) with a list of my publications, and links to some of my other web-based content (Slideshare, Youtube etc.). I think I should probably also add a bit more about "what is information literacy", so I might put up a page on that in due course.
Also I rather liked the twitter feed widget I used during LILAC, and I have added a feed of tweets that have the hashtag #infolit to the sidebar (see right). This does slow down the loading of the page a little and I'm not sure if I've got the best position for it yet. I haven't focused on my own Twitterfeed, as that mostly tweets posts on this blog!
Comments are, of course, welcome and I may have a user survey when I have tweaked the page a bit more.
Photo by Sheila Webber: Japanese Quince blossom, Sheffield Botanic Gardens, April 2012

Some more LILAC links #lilac12

Here are some more links to reports and content from the LILAC information literacy conference last week. Blog posts include:
- Melissa Highton: http://blogs.oucs.ox.ac.uk/melissa
- Reluctant librarian: http://reluctantlibrarian.tumblr.com/
- Peter Reid (CILIP Scotland President): http://www.cilips.org.uk/presidentshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif-blog-2012/2012/4/13/the-colour-lilac.html
- Sarah Faye Cohen: http://thesheckspot.blogspot.co.uk/
And a couple of ppts
- Angela Newton and Dan Pullinger: powerpoint from the workshop Acting on PhD student feedback to create new learning resources http://www.slideshare.net/LULSci-EngTeam/acting-on-phd-student-feedback-to-create-new-learning-resources
- Alan Carbery: powerpoint presentation, Information literacy through inquiry: using problem-based learning in information literacy instruction: http://www.slideshare.net/acarbery/information-literacy-through-inquiry-using-problembased-learning-in-information-literacy-instruction
Top photo (parrot tulips) by Sheila Webber, April 2012.
2nd photo by Ruth Stubbings (on Flickr) showing the LILAC team with speaker Tara Brabazon. target="_blank"

Walsh and Leeds team award winners

Announced at the LILAC conference last week, the winner of the Information Literacy Practitioner of the Year award was Andrew Walsh, Academic Librarian, University of Huddersfield. The winners of the Credo Reference Digital Award for Information Literacy award were Carol Elston, Jade Kelsall, Michelle Schneider and Lizzie Caperon (University of Leeds), for their Library Guide – an online introduction to the library.

High profile plagiarism example!

"Hungary President Schmitt quits in plagiarism scandal" as it says in the BBC story of 2nd April 2012 (he was found to have copied chunks of material in his PhD) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17586128. Thanks to my colleague Peter Willett for drawing this to my attention.

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy: presentations from 2011

19 Presentations from the 2011 Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy can be found at http://dspaceprod.georgiasouthern.edu:8080/jspui/handle/10518/4361. Mostly powerpoints, they include "Adventures in assessment: LIB100 @ Clemson University" (this includes a handout of tests/questions used), "Better beginnings: The link between a library skills class and student success rates", "Fade to black: The study of black popular culture for information literacy instruction", "Information: A literature review" (extended notes plus a powerepoint), "Planning a two-day workshop for graduate students writing theses and dissertations" (includes examples powerpoints used, sample letter etc as well as main presentation), "Turning students into ethnographers: A library discovery tour". The last named is not specifically about information literacy, but it is an interesting variation on the "induction session" as students are sent out with floor maps of the library and told to act as ethnographers, reporting on the activitiees etc. that they discover. The students also take pictures and produce quick presentations on their findings.
Photo by Sheila Webber: Parrot tulip, April 2012

PRIMO (Peer Reviewed Instructional Materials Online) nominations

April 25th 2012 is the next deadline for nominations for inclusion in Peer Reviewed Instructional Materials Online (PRIMO). You can nominate online information literacy tutorials, virtual tours, or other online information literacy project "for review and possible inclusion in PRIMO: Peer-Reviewed Instructional Materials Online." "Site submissions for PRIMO are accepted continually, but are reviewed for possible inclusion twice per year." I have blogged about PRIMO before and it is worth bookmarking for the links and reviews, including teh "site of the month". Information at: http://www.ala.org/acrl/aboutacrl/directoryofleadership/sections/is/iswebsite/projpubs/primo
Photo by Sheila Webber: my cherry blossom, April 2012

Some links from the LILAC conference #lilac12

Here are some links that I picked up from the LILAC Twitterfeed:
- Dave Pattern's graphics of library impact data: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davepattern/sets/72157629087302688 (an example is on the right)
- A video introducing "ANCIL - A New Curriculum for Information Literacy", aimed at university administration/faculty http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY-V2givIiE
- A LibGuide from Newcastle University Library: A guide to mobile apps and resources for study and research http://libguides.ncl.ac.uk/mobile
- A LibGuide from Loyola Marymount University, William H. Hannon Library, An Introduction to the Research Process, and this page is about forming the question: http://libguides.lmu.edu/content.php?pid=10084&sid=1965230
- Free version of the article by keynote-r Megan Oakleaf: "Are They Learning? Are We? Learning Outcomes and the Academic Library." The Library Quarterly, 81 (1), 61-82. http://www.meganoakleaf.info/aretheylearningoakleaf.pdf
- ACRL Value of Academic Libraries report: http://www.acrl.ala.org/value/?page_id=21
- A couple of powerpoints are already there including:

Libguides - LILAC 2012

Following the LILAC conference #lilac12

The UK's major information literacy conference, LILAC, is on for the next 3 days. The hashtag is #lilac12 https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23lilac12 and I have put up a widget on this blog for the Twitter feed for the duration of the conference (I am not attending it this year). LILAC also has its own Twitter account at https://twitter.com/#!/LILAC_2012. The conference website is http://lilacconference.com/WP/ and there is a facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/lilacconference (there is currently a picture of last year's conference - I'm crouching in the front, 5th right)

Reflecting through a digital lens: how can Libraries support learning? 11th May

On 11 May at Leeds Trinity University College, UK, is the event Reflecting through a digital lens: how can Libraries support learning? Cost £20 (includes lunch). Organised by the Yorkshire Universities Information Skills Group To book the event email Janice Lavigueur at j.lavigueur@leedstrinity.ac.uk with: Your name; Institution name; Contact Number; Additional requirements, e.g. diet/access/parking:
Programme includes presentations on: The SCONUL 7 Pillars of Information Literacy through a Digital Literacy Lens; Using technology to enhance student learning; Delivery of library services via mobile devices; The Roving Librarian Project; and a technology showcase (three short presentations followed by an opportunity for participants to see how different institutions have used technology to support student learning as well as getting some hands on practice with the technology).
Photo by Sheila Webber (photoshopped): Plum blossom, April 2012

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy, cfp

September 21-22 2012 is the date of the 9th Annual Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy, held in Savannah, Georgia, USA. The deadline for proposals for workshops and presentations is April 15, 2012. The keynote speaker is Joyce Valenza. Full information at http://ceps.georgiasouthern.edu/conted/infolit.html

CILIP IL Group committee seeks members

The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) CSG Information Literacy group (UK) is actively seeking enthusiastic information literacy champions from the following library sectors to join the group: Commercial/ Specialist; Further Education; Health. The role entails promoting information literacy and the group to colleagues in their sector, as well as keeping the group up-to-date with issues in the specific library sector. A job role ilg_jobdescription_sectorreps is available that outlines in detail the groups expectations of a Sector representative. If you wish to be considered for one of these voluntary roles, please send a short personal statement (no more than 500 words) indicating your ability to undertake the activities listed in the job description. Please send this personal statement, together with a CV to Ruth Stubbings, r.e.stubbings@lboro.ac.uk, indicating clearly which of the three roles you would like to be considered for. The deadline for applications is Monday 30th April 2012.
Photo by Sheila Webber: spring steps, April 2012

Library Trends: 2nd infolit special issue

The 2nd special issue of Library Trends (volume 60, issue 3, 2012) to focus on information literacy has been published. This is a priced journal at http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/library_trends/
Articles include:
Exploring health information use by older Australians within everyday life by Christine Yates et al.
Information and health literacy in the balance: findings from a study exploring the use of ICTs in weight management by Audrey Marshall et al.
Supporting informed learning in the twenty-first century by Christine Bruce et al.
The information world of parents: a study of the use and understanding of information by parents of young children by Christopher Walker
Teen content creators: experiences of using information to learn by Mary Ann Harlan et al.
Helping the non-scholar scholar by Lark Birdsong and Jennifer Freitas
From Lampitt to libraries: formulating state standards to embed information literacy across colleges by Jacqui Weetman DaCosta and Eleonora Dubicki
Student learning and workplace IL: a case study by Barbara D’Angelo
Photo by Sheila Webber: Garlic mustard, Hailsham, April 2012.

Undergraduate information behaviour: 2 new articles

Latest issue of Information Research (volume 17 no. 1), the open access journal,includes:
A study of the information search behaviour of the millennial generation by Arthur Taylor. "The longitudinal study discussed here examined the information behaviour of undergraduate college students who were members of the millennial generation. Data were collected from the students using surveys throughout an information search process as part of an assigned research project. [...] Statistically significant findings suggest that millennial generation Web searchers proceed erratically through an information search process, make only a limited attempt to evaluate the quality or validity of information gathered, and may perform some level of 'backfilling' or adding sources to a research project before final submission of the work."
Information resource selection of undergraduate students in academic search tasks by Jee Yeon Lee, Woojin Paik and Soohyung Joo. "A self-generated diary method was employed with 233 undergraduate students in achieving their academic search tasks. [...] This study reaffirmed recent information usage trends that online sources are preferred by university students in their academic searches. This study identified twenty nine factors in four different dimensions, including information type, resource feature, search strategy, and interaction with others. Moreover, perceptions of users were investigated quantitatively focusing on usefulness, credibility, accessibility, familiarity with source, satisfaction, and intention of continuous use."
Go to http://informationr.net/ir/17-1/infres171.html
Photo by Sheila Webber: Sheffield Botanic Gardens, March 2012.

2012 Horizon Report

Another report I should have blogged earlier is: Johnson, L., Adams, S., and Cummins, M. (2012). The NMC Horizon Report: 2012 Higher Education Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.
This is a collaborative publication from the New Media Consortium and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI). The report identifies the following trends (I must say they don't seem very new to me - perhaps we are ahead of the trend here in my iSchool ;-)
1. "People expect to be able to work, learn, and study whenever and wherever they want to.
2. "The technologies we use are increasingly cloud-based, and our notions of IT support are decentralized
3. "The world of work is increasingly collaborative, driving changes in the way student projects are structured.
4. "The abundance of resources and relationships made easily accessible via the Internet is increasingly challenging us to revisit our roles as educators
5. "Education paradigms are shifting to include online learning, hybrid learning and collaborative
models.
6. "There is a new emphasis in the classroom on more challenge-based and active learning."
In terms of technologies: Near-term ("within the next 12 months") are mobile apps and tablets; mid term (2-3 years) are game-based learning and learning analytics; and on the far horizon are gesture-based computing and "the Internet of Things" ("the latest turn in the evolution of smart objects — a category of small devices or methods that enable an object to be assigned a unique identifier.")

The official place to get the report is here: http://www.nmc.org/publications/horizon-report-2012-higher-ed-edition (have to register) I got it directly here http://microsites.csusm.edu/sysnews/files/2012/02/2012-Horizon-Report-HE.pdf There is also the Horizon Report wiki at http://horizon.wiki.nmc.org/ The following video introduces the report.

Media and Information Literacy Recommendations from IFLA

In cooperation with UNESCO's Information for All Programme (IFAP), the IFLA Information Literacy Section drafted new Media and Information Literacy Recommendations which are now available in several languages: here http://www.ifla.org/en/publications/ifla-media-and-information-literacy-recommendations. These recommendations were endorsed by the Governing Board of the International Federation of Library Asjavascript:void(0)sociations and Institutions (IFLA), at its meeting in Den Haag, The Netherlands, 7 December 2011. The recommendations will also be a topic at an international conference of Media and Information Literacy for Knowledge Societies on 24-28 June, 2012, in Moscow, Russia.
As already noted on theis blog, UNESCO has combined media literacy and information literacy into Media and Information Literacy (MIL). This new document from IFLA reasserts that MIL is a " basic human right in an increasingly digital, interdependent, and global world". It defines MIL as consisting "of the knowledge, the attitudes, and the sum of the skills needed to know when and what information is needed; where and how to obtain that information; how to evaluate it critically and organise it once it is found; and how to use it in an ethical way. The concept extends beyond communication and information technologies to encompass learning, critical thinking, and interpretative skills across and beyond professional and educational boundaries. Media and Information Literacy includes all types of information resources: oral, print, and digital"

European Conference on Information Literacy

The European Conference on Information Literacy (ECIL), organised by the Department of Information Management of Hacettepe University and Department of Information and Communication Sciences of Zagreb University, will take place in Istanbul, Turkey, 23-25 October 2013. The first call for papers opens in May 2012. The website is at http://www.ilconf.org/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Cherry blossom, Sheffield, March 2012