Retreat on Core Competencies: Critical Thinking and Information Literacy

The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (USA) has a Retreat on Core Competencies: Critical Thinking and Information Literacy on 11-12 October 2012 in Anaheim, USA. The facilitators are Carol Ann Gittens and Patricia Iannuzzi. Cost is $485 per team member, registrationby 20th September 2012. More info at http://www.wascsenior.org/content/retreat-core-competencies-critical-thinking-and-information-literacy
Photo by Sheila Webber: Convolvulus and bee, Hailsham, July 2012

Latest issue of Reference Services Review

Volume 40 issue 3 is the latest issue of the priced publicaion of Reference Services Review. Articles include:
- Relationship Building with Students and Instructors of ESL: Bridging the Gap for Library Instruction and Services: Julia A. Martin, Kathleen M. Reaume, Elaine M. Reeves, Ryan D. Wright
- Outreach Initiatives in Academic Libraries, 2009 - 2011: Melissa Dennis
- Reaching Out: Connecting Students to Their Personal Librarian: Cynthia L. Henry, Kimberly K Vardeman, Carrye K Syma
- Post-graduate health promotion students assess their information literacy: Catherine Hodgens, Marguerite C Sendall, Lynn Evans (there is a free pre-print version of this article archived here: http://eprints.qut.edu.au/50319/)
- "It’s Research Made Easier!" SMS and Chat Reference Perceptions: Margie Ruppel, Amy Vecchione
- A LibGuides presence in a Blackboard environment: Aaron Bowen
The home page for the journal is here: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=0090-7324
Photo by Sheila Webber: Wild rose, Hailsham, July 2012

Project Infolit: Interview with Barbara Fister

Barbara Fister is a writer, blogger and a teacher of information literacy, and she is Professor and Academic Librarian at Gustavas Adolphus College, USA. She always has interesting things to say, so it is worth reading the interview with her, just published as part of Project Information Literacy. She talks, for example, about the a Reading Workshop and "an upper-division class called Information Fluency" that she runs at the college. http://www.projectinfolit.org/st/fister.asp
Photo by Sheila Webber: George Square, Glasgow, today - I'm not sure whether this object is to do with celebrating the opening day of the Olympics or the Merchant City festival that's on at the moment.

relationship between Internet user type and user performance when carrying out simple vs. complex search tasks

New-ish article: Singer, G. et al. (2012)'The relationship between Internet user type and user performance when carrying out simple vs. complex search tasks' First Monday, 17 (6).
"It is widely known that people become better at an activity if they perform this activity long and often. Yet, the question is whether being active in related areas like communicating online, writing blog articles or commenting on community forums have an impact on a person’s ability to perform Web searches, is still unanswered. Web searching has become a key task conducted online; in this paper we present our findings on whether the user type, which categorises a person’s online activities, has an impact on her or his search capabilities. We show (1) the characteristics of different user types when carrying out simple search tasks; (2) their characteristics when carrying out complex search tasks; and, (3) the significantly different user type characteristics between simple and complex search tasks. The results are based on an experiment with 56 ordinary Web users in a laboratory environment. The Search–Logger study framework was used to analyze and measure user behavior when carrying out a set of 12 predefined search tasks. Our findings include the fact that depending on task type (simple or complex) significant differences can be observed between users of different types."
http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/3960/3245
Photo by Sheila Webber: cherry blossm, March 2012

Moscow Declaration on Media and Information Literacy

Just released is a declaration from the meeting sponsored by UNESCO and other bodies, in Moscow, held in June: the Moscow Declaration on Media and Information Literacy. I was invited to this meeting, but was unfortunately unable to attend, though I did prepare a video which was presented at the meeting.
The Moscow Declaration is an important document: it starts by asserting some fundamental, first of which is:
"Media and Information Literacy (MIL) is a prerequisite for the sustainable development of open, plural, inclusive and participatory knowledge societies, and the civic institutions, organizations, communities and individuals which comprise these societies."
It then goes on to make some robust proposals for heads of state etc. about what should be done.
The declaration is here: http://www.ifla.org/en/publications/moscow-declaration-on-media-and-information-literacy

Alfabetización digital y competencias informacionales: substantial Spanish publication on Info and digital literacies

The Fundación Telefónica, Spain, has published (free online) a substantial item:
Area Moreira, M., Gutiérrez Martín, A. and Vidal Fernández, F. (2012) Alfabetización digital y competencias informacionales. [Digital and Information Literacy] Madrid: Fundación Telefónica. ISBN: 978-84-08-00823-1
My Spanish is poor, but I can report that there are three chapters: one on the importance of (in particular) digital literacies in society today, one on education of the faculty in multiple literacies (including how teachers need to use technology in teaching) and one on informed homes and families, looking at digital and information literacies as regards members of the family, school etc. There is an introduction which identifies that there are new definitions of literacy and illiteracy, which are no longer just to do with reading and writing, and introduces the main topics of the book. I think there is rather more emphasis on digital literacy than information literacy, but still this seems a very useful work. One of the authors has blogged about the book here (in Spanish)http://ordenadoresenelaula.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/libro-alfabetizacion-digital-y.htmlThis is the book in pdf format https://ddv.ull.es/users/manarea/public/libro_%20Alfabetizacion_digital.pdf
Photo by Sheila Webber: graduation on Wednesday, Sheffield University

An Essential Partner: The Librarian’s Role in Student Learning Assessment

Published in April, a 24-page booklet from the USA: Gilchrist, D. and Oakleaf, M. (2012) An Essential Partner: The Librarian’s Role in Student Learning Assessment. Champaign: National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment. http://www.msche.org/publications/LibraryLO_000%5B1%5D.pdf

Presentation skills for your IL training: 23 August Manchester

The CSG Information Literacy Group is holding a workshop on 23 August 2012: Presentation skills for your IL training. "In the morning, Emily Shields will facilitate a workshop on intermediate PowerPoint, this will give you tips and tricks on how to enhance existing PowerPoint knowledge. In the afternoon Ned Potter will give you an introduction to using Prezi including how to create interactive library maps. You can choose to book either the morning session or the afternoon session or you can come to the whole day." Free to IL group members, modest charges to non-members. More information at http://www.informationliteracy.org.uk/develop-professional-practice/training-events/events-2012/ Booking form at: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDBSRS1JSXAwWGpONzY5blBrMENrcHc6MQ
Photo by Sheila Webber: Salad Bowl, July 2012

Research Information and Digital Literacies Coalition (RIDLs)

RIDLs was established last month, coordinated by the Research Information Network, with SCONUL, RLUK, CILIP and the Special Libaries Association, BAILER, the British Library, the Digital Curation Centre, the Higher Education Academy, JISC, Jorum, the UK Council for Graduate Education and Vitae. I won't spell out all the acronyms! You can check on the website for that. They aim to "promote the value of information and research data literacy for academic researchers; and to enable activities which help to advance this knowledge and skills." Professor Pam Denicolo (Universities of Surrey and Reading) is the chairperson, and there is one year's funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England. The funding will be used to support a programme of six broad activities:
- "establishing RIDLs and endowing it with mechanisms which enable it to function as a collaborative venture"
- "setting out, testing and disseminating criteria that can be used to describe and review training courses" etc.
- "identifying and promoting good practice in information literacy training"
- "supporting the use of the Researcher Development Framework and the Seven Pillars of Information Literacy"
- "supporting small-scale project work to advance the evidence base in this area"
- "developing links with relevant information literacy projects and initiatives in other countries"
More detail on the website: http://www.researchinfonet.org/infolit/ridls/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Water feature, Sheffield Station, July 2012

New articles in Nordic Journal of Information Literacy in Higher Education

The Nordic Journal of Information Literacy in Higher Education 4 (1), 2012 includes:
Changing anatomies of Information Literacy at the postgraduate level: refinements of models and shifts in assessment by Sonja Spiranec, Mihaela Banek Zorica
Information Literacy from the Policy and Strategy Perspective by Sirje Virkus
The reflective information literacy educator by Andrew Whitworth
Go to: https://noril.uib.no/index.php/noril
Photo by Sheila Webber: Lilac, May 2012

Information literacy and employability

There is now a section on the Sheffield University Library website about information literacy and employability, including short "testimonies from recent University of Sheffield graduates, reflecting on how information literacy skills learned at University are now helping them in their daily working lives." http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/infolit
Photo by Sheila Webber: yet another poppy, Sheffield, July 2012

Gates Foundation 2013 Access to Learning Award (non-USA; $1m!)

This isn't specifically about information literacy, but I thought it was good to publicise it. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Access to Learning Award is for those outside the USA, to reward existing achievements of public libraries and similar institutions who have been providing free access to the internet and/or "Outreach to underserved communities" and/or "Public training to assist users in accessing online information that can help improve their lives". The recipient of the Access to Learning Award will receive $1 million. You have to apply by July 31 2012. http://www.gatesfoundation.org/ATLA

The Digital University: A Proposed Framework for Strategic Development

Information Literacy figures prominently in the presentation that was given by Bill Johnston and Sheila MacNeill at the Employer Engagement in a Digital Age Conference in Greenwich on 4th July 2012, The Digital University - A Proposed Framework for Strategic Development. They gave a workshop around what it means to be an (information literate) digital university. I have embedded the presentation below, and you may (if you are interested in digital literacy, employability etc.) find other presentations from the conference of interest at
https://showtime.gre.ac.uk/index.php/ecentre/apt2012/schedConf/presentations
Sheila MacNeill's blog is at http://blogs.cetis.ac.uk/sheilamacneill/ and she and Bill have posted on it about their ideas.

The Digital University - A Proposed Framework for Strategic Development

CILIP reaffirms commitment to Information Literacy

The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (the UK's professional association for library and information) "is proud to reaffirm" the importance of Information Literacy, following on from its IL event last week. "At a recent CILIP Council meeting, it was decided unanimously that CILIP would endorse UNESCO, International Federation of Library Associations and National Forum on Information Literacy’s Alexandria Proclamation which states that Information Literacy and lifelong learning “empowers people in all walks of life to seek, evaluate, use and create information effectively to achieve their personal, social, occupational and educational goals. It is a basic human right in a digital world and promotes social inclusion of all nations.”" More at: http://www.cilip.org.uk/news-media/pages/news120710.aspx

Conference in Warsaw: Edukacja informacyjna i medialna #eim2012

The Międzynarodowa Konferencja Edukacja informacyjna i medialna (EIM) (International Conference on Information and Media Literacy) will take place 4-5 October 2012 at the University Library in Warsaw, Poland. The event has a practical focus and aims to involve librarians from all sectors. The language of the conference is Polish, with a couple of English-language contributions. More information (in Polish) at http://www.sbp.pl/eim2012
Photo by Sheila Webber: Poppy after the rain, Sheffield, July 2012

Presentations from CILIP Information Literacy day #infolit2012

There was a one-day event on Information Literacy at the UK's Chartered Institute for Library and Information Professionals yesterday. Speakers were:
- Chair’s Welcome and introduction to Information Literacy: Debbi Boden-Angell, Director of Information Learning Services & University Librarian, York St John University
- Welsh Information Literacy Framework: Andrew Eynon, Library and Learning Technology Manager, Grŵp Llandrillo Menai
- Developing digital literacies: Paul Bailey, Programme Manager, e-Learning, JISC
- LolliPop & Sir LearnaLot: Moira Bent, Faculty Liaison Librarian & National Teaching Fellow, Newcastle University
- A new curriculum for Information Literacy: Jane Secker, Copyright and Digital Literacy Advisor, at Centre for Learning Technology, LSE & Emma Coonan, Research Skills and Development Librarian, Cambridge University Library
- SMILE - Supporting the graduate skills and the employability agenda: Debbi Boden-Angell, Director of Information Learning Services & University Librarian, York St John University
- Information Literacy: the cure for health information obesity: Caroline De Brún, Clinical Support Librarian, University College London – Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
- Workplace Information Literacy: Mark Hepworth, Reader in People’s Information Behaviour, Department of Information Science, Loughborough University
- The Public Library Information Offer: Sally McMahon, Head of Libraries and Information Services, Brighton & Hove City Council
The presentations, powerpoints in pdf form, are all here: http://www.cilip.org.uk/infolit2012/pages/presentations.aspx and the twitterstream is here: https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23infolit2012
Photo by Sheila Webber: Foxgloves (lightly photoshopped), July 2012, Sheffield.

Missouri is 3rd US Information Literacy month State!

Missouri has joined Massachusetts and New York as states in the USA which are supporting Information Literacy month in October. "The University of Missouri-Columbia Libraries Instruction Committee submitted the request: Goodie Bhullar (chair), Rachel Brekhus, Rebecca Graves, Brenda Graves-Blevins, and Paula Roper." More info on the initiative at http://infolit.org/2012-information-literacy-campaign/

Project mapping Twitter rumours, in graphics

A project which shows, graphically, how rumours spread via Twitter about events in the 2011 UK riots won a Data Journalism award: First Prize for ‘Data Visualisation and Storytelling". These visualisations could be useful if you are working with learners on topics to do with information, misinformation and social media. You can move the timeline along and see key tweets, and see how the tweets are connected (see the screenshot, which is taken from the site which I linked to below).

The project was led by Dr Farida Vis, who will be joining us here at Sheffield University in September. She has a research fellowship and is attached to my department, the Information School, so it will be exciting to work with her. The Twitter project was "carried out in collaboration with Dr Rob Procter from the University of Manchester, the project lead and Dr Alex Voss from St. Andrews University. The team analysed 2.6 million tweets to show how rumours ebbed and flowed across Twitter as claims were bolstered or debunked. Topics covered ranged from the absurd – animals on the loose after damage to London Zoo – to the true, such as the arson attack on Miss Selfridge in Manchester."

The website is here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/interactive/2011/dec/07/london-riots-twitter

NAKLIV (National Cluster of Information Literacy) Czech project

The NAKLIV (National Cluster of Information Literacy) project aims to "establish informal partnership of institutions which are dealing with information literacy and which decided to gain profits from mutual cooperation. As the output of the project the modern environment for communication and education of non-pedagogical employees (librarians), academic employees and graduants. The effective cooperation will be supported, the sharing of materials is expected and so is the exchange of knowledge between cooperating institutions.  This includes running seminars and workshops, and creating and sharing material." The partner universities are: Masarykova univerzita (leader); Mendelova univerzita; Moravská zemská knihovna; Obchodní akademie, SOŠK A VOŠKISS; Slezská univerzita v Opavě; Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci; Univerzita Karlova v Praze; Vysoké učení technické v Brně.
The main website is: http://www.nakliv.cz/
If you can speak Czech (there is only a basic explanation of the project in English), there is useful material already e.g. a guide to various web-based tools and applications, in Czech, dated 2011 and uploaded in February 2012.
Photo by Sheila Webber: poppy after rain, July 2012, Sheffield

European Conference on Information Literacy 2013: call for papers

There is a first call for papers for the European Conference on Information Literacy which will take place in Istanbul, Turkey, 23-25 October 2013. There will be further calls, and proposals are due February 2013. Any and all themes around information literacy are welcome. http://www.ilconf.org/paper-submission/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Red valerian and marguerite, July 2012

Developing Digital Literacies Briefing Paper

Last month JISC published a short Developing Digital Literacies Briefing Paper which provides soundbites from 12 projects it is funding in UK Higher and Further education. JISC defines digital literacy as "those capabilities which fit an individual for living, learning and working in a digital society" and there is a focus on digital literacy for employability and academic success (rather than a more socially constructed view of digital literacy). There are some emerging messages which seem common sense e.g. that students need to be supported by staff in developing their digital literacy. The report is at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/briefingpapers/2012/developing-digital-literacies.aspx and the Developing Digital Literacies programme page is at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning/developingdigitalliteracies
Photo by Sheila Webber, June 2012

New York State and Massachusetts support IL month!

The US National Forum on Information Literacy is encouraging all United States states and territories to submit requests to their governors’ offices to proclaim October as Information Literacy Month. Massachusetts was the first to make this declaration and now New York State is the second. Sharon Weiner, Vice-President, National Forum on Information Literacy, said that "Trudi Jacobson (U. Albany) led the NYS initiative, with the critical assistance of the President-Elect of the New York Library Association (NYLA), Carol Anne Germain. They worked with Mark McBride (Buffalo State College); Jenna Hecker (U. Albany); Michael Daly (Fulton-Montgomery Community College); Mark Lasek (Bryant and Stratton); Kim Davies Hoffman (SUNY Geneseo); Michael Borges (NYLA Government Relations Consultant); and MaryAnne Waltz (NYLA)." This is the New York State Legislation and the information about the IL month campaign is here: http://infolit.org/2012-information-literacy-campaign/
Photo by Sheila Webber: 02on the Thames, from the new London cable car, June 2012