Communications in Information Literacy: new issue

Volume 6, issue 2 of Communications in Information Literacy (an open-access online journal) is available. Articles include:
- Teaching Matters: Reshaping the Role of Information Literacy Instructional Services by Patrick P. Ragains
- Information Literacy Instruction for an Honors Program First-Year Orientation: Lessons Learned over 15 Years of a Sustainable Partnership by Anna Marie Johnson
- Adapting and Using Instruction Proficiencies to Encourage Reflection, Goal Setting and Professional Development by Uta Hussong-Christian
- Information Evaluation Instruction: A Three Term Project with a First Year Experience Course by Steve Borrelli, Corey M. Johnson
- "Turn Your Cell Phones on”: Mobile Phone Polling as a Tool for Teaching Information Literacy by Andy Burkhardt, Sarah Faye Cohen
http://www.comminfolit.org/index.php?journal=cil
Photo by Sheila Webber: Dusk, February 2013

ACRL conference 2013

The next Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Conference: Imagine, Innovate, Inspire takes place in Indianapolis, USA, April 10–13. This year there is also a virtual conference (priced, with discounts for ALA members and students).As usual lots of sessions are relevant to information literacy. There is a preview at Library Journal and the conference website is at http://conference.acrl.org/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Conwy, 2010

Creating Knowledge 7 cpf extended

The call for papers for the Creating Knowledge VII conference (Win-win ways: Educational enhancement through collaborative partnership between students, academics, and librarians) has been extended to 17 March. The conference takes place in Lund, Sweden, 14-16 August 2013.
Keynote speakers have also been announced: Christine Bruce, Professor at the Faculty of Science and Technology, Queensland University of Technology; Gráinne Conole, Professor of Learning Innovation and Director of the Beyond Distance Research Alliance at the University of Leicester; Trine Schreiber, Associate professor at the Royal School of Library and Information Science (IVA), Copenhagen, Denmark; Olof Sundin, Professor in Information Studies at Lund University; Marie Leijon, Senior lecturer in pedagogy with a special focus on learning, communication and media, at the Faculty of Education and Society, Malmö University.
The website is at: http://learning.lub.lu.se/flow/creating-knowledge-vii.aspx?FlowCategoryID=175
Photo by Sheila Webber: Dusk, Sheffield, February 2013

Rethinking Information Literacy

A recent book (published in December) is:
Secker, J. and Coonan, E. (Eds) (2012) Rethinking Information Literacy: a practical framework for learning. London: Facet. £49.95 (£39.96 to CILIP members). ISBN: 978-1-85604-822-4.
It is organised around the "New Curriculum for Information Literacy" (ANCIL) and includes e.g. Lyn Parker on The ethical dimension of Information, Sarah Pavey on Transition from school to higher education and Isla Kuhn on Resource discovery in your discipline. Details at http://www.facetpublishing.co.uk/title.php?id=8224
Photo by Sheila Webber: Firth Court, snow, January 2013

WILU Registration open

You can now register for WILU, the Canadian information Literacy conference which will take place on May 8-10 2013 in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. Early registration is at a reduced rate of Canadian $275.00 (plus HST) until April 4th. Keynote speakers are Bonnie Stewart and Dave Cormier, and Terry O'Reilly. The schedule is at http://lib.unb.ca/WILU/schedule/ and registration at http://www.regonline.com/wilu.

Overview of Information Literacy Resources Worldwide

A new free essential publication lists information literacy resources from many countries around the world: it runs from items in Albanian to ones in Vietnamese! It has been written by native-speaker experts worldwide and is compiled by Woody Horton.
Horton, F.W. (Ed) (2013) Overview of Information Literacy Resources Worldwide. Paris: UNESCO. ISBN 978-92-3-001131-4 http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/news/overview_info_lit_resources.pdf
Photo by Sheila Webber: Snowdrops, Botanical Gardens, Sheffield, February 2013

Informationskompetenz in der Lehrerbildung und der Schulwirklichkeit

There is a workshop as part of the ISI-Tagung in Potsdam, Germany, 19 March 2013 (in German): Informationskompetenz in der Lehrerbildung und der Schulwirklichkeit (Information Literacy in teacher education and schools). There are full details of the programme here. It includes a number of presentations. Contact mail@dgi-info.de by 4 March 2013 if you want to take part.
Photo by Sheila Webber: Blue sky on Wednesday.

Information Literacy Resource Bank

Cardiff University's Information Literacy Resource Bank has videos, activities etc., most of which are available to everyone. In some cases you can reuse under a Creative Commons license. A useful resource! https://ilrb.cf.ac.uk/findinfo/index.html
Photo by Sheila Webber: remnants of summer celebration, January 2013

Pub Quiz the day before LILAC

CILIP North West Branch and LILAC 2013 have organised a pub quiz on Sunday 24 March 2013, teh day before the LILAC information literacy conference starts. It will take place at Kro Bar, 325 Oxford Road, Manchester, UK (The nearest train station is Manchester Oxford Road.) The quiz will start at 8 p.m. Entry is free. To book a place go to http://snipurl.com/26bkxd2 If you are coming to LILAC and want to socialise, this is a good opportunity (unless you hate pub quizzes!)

SL Journal Club; Reflective reports; 19 February

The next meeting of the information literacy Journal Club that takes place in the virtual world, Second Life is on Tuesday 19th February at noon SL time (which is 8pm UK time, see http://tinyurl.com/ahvqnze for times elsewhere). The discussion, led by me, will be on this open-access article:
McKinney, P., and Sen, B. (2012). Reflection for learning: understanding the value of reflective writing for information literacy development. Journal of Information Literacy, 6(2), http://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/ojs/index.php/JIL/article/view/LLC-V6-I2-2012-5

Everyone is welcome to join the one-hour discussion. You need a SL avatar and the SL browser installed on your computer. The location for the discussion is on Infolit iSchool, Second Life, http://slurl.com/secondlife/Infolit%20iSchool/106/208/30/

The same paper was discussed by the online blog-post journal club last week, and you can see the discussion here: http://infolitjournalclub.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/online-journal-club-13th-february-ilread.html.

Additionally, I have put together a powerpoint highlighting some key points in the article:

Slides highlighting key points in McKinney and Sen (2012) from Sheila Webber

New SMILE

Marion Kelt has announced that a new version of SMILE is available on JORUM, for download and reuse. She says "SMILE is an information literacy and employability skills training package. It is made up of HTML pages and multimedia content which can be easily edited for your needs. It is generic so can be used to support all subjects.
If you'd like more information or would like me to send you a zip file rather than download it - please get in touch with Marion Kelt: m.Kelt@GCU.AC.UK "
The JORUM (repository) link is http://dspace.jorum.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/17574
Photo by Sheila Webber: Last season's apples, February 2013

Research Symposium: Digital Youth, Inquiry, and the Future School Library

The Center for International Scholarship In School Libraries' (CISSL) 3rd International Research Symposium, Digital Youth, Inquiry, and the Future School Library … Research to Practice, will take place on April 26-27, 2013 in New Brunswick, NJ, USA. "The International Research Symposium will feature the work of CiSSL researchers [e.g. Ross Todd and Carol Kuhlthau], and will bring together an international team of scholars and practitioners who are continuing to develop and extend this work. It will also present the work of teams of international practitioners who have been implementing Guided Inquiry in their schools for several years. They will share their experiences, and engage you in the extensive evidence they have collected in relation to process and learning impacts. This is the first international research and evidence-based practice agenda that addresses Guided Inquiry." More info at http://cissl.rutgers.edu/research-symposium-2013
Photo by Sheila Webber: snow cat, Weston Park, January 2013

cfp Teaching Information Literacy Skills for Life

There is a Call for Proposals for the 3rd Annual Connecticut Information Literary Conference to be held at Capital Community College in Hartford, CT, USA on June 7, 2013. The title is Enlightened Hunters and Gatherers: Teaching Information Literacy Skills for Life. Possible topic ideas can include IL and distance learning
Assessment; Changing role of instructional librarians; Models for embedding IL into the curriculum (such as working with Center for Teaching); IL programs for targeted populations (honors program, developmental); IL and critical thinking skills; Transliteracy; Using technology in teaching. Proposals should be submitted by February 28, 2013 to conference chairs Joy Hansen at jhansen@mxcc.edu or Susan Slaga at slagas@ccsu.edu including Title of presentation, Abstract, Names, institutions, contact information, and short bios for all presenters. There is a little bit more information here: http://libprofdev.wordpress.com/2013/01/25/call-for-proposals-for-information-literacy-conference/ (that isn't the conference blog).
Photo by Sheila Webber: English apples and pears, February 2013

Critical Insights in European Media Literacy Research and Policy

Volume 3 issue 6 (2012) of Medijske Studije / Media Studies, is a special issue on Critical Insights in European Media Literacy Research and Policy. The guest editors are Sonia Livingstone (London School of Economics and Political Science), Tao Papaioannou (University of Nicosia), María del Mar Grandío Pérez (Catholic University San Antonio) and Christine W. Wijnen (University of Vienna). There are articles on Media Literacy conceptual issues, methodological issues and educational issues. http://www.fpzg.unizg.hr/docs/ms_vol3_br6.pdf. I intend to go through this publication more carefully, as there is a lack of engagement with information literacy research, particularly irritatingly (at first glance) in the chapter by Frau-Meigs. This is part of the work for the Task Force on Media Literacy of the European Union's COST Action, Transforming Audiences, Transforming Societies, http://www.cost-transforming-audiences.eu/.
Photo by Sheila Webber: Snow starting to lay, February 2013

Half a million page views ;-)

The blogger page view counter on the home page has just clocked up 500,000 page views for this blog. Now I know that a popular site can get half a million page views in a day, and that just because the page was viewed it doesn't mean it was read (some of the searches that bring people to the blog look like they were meaning to find something different). Still, it is a milestone for the blog and I thought was worth celebrating ;-)

Information Literacy award nominees announced

The nominees for the LILAC Awards 2013 have been announced: the winners will be announced at the conference itself in March. I am honoured to have been nominated in the Information Literacy Practitioner of the year category ;-)
Additionally, congratulations to Roisin Cassidy, studying on our MA Librarianship programme here in the Sheffield iSchool, who has won one of two sponsored student places at LILAC, and Sheffield University Library also has nominees in the digital award (Vicky Grant and Amy Collins, for their Information Literacy video) http://www.lilacconference.com/WP/awards/

Online journal club; reflective wring on IL: 13 February #ILread

The next blog-post discussion for the new online Journal Club will be on this open-access article:
McKinney, P., and Sen, B. (2012). Reflection for learning: understanding the value of reflective writing for information literacy development. Journal of Information Literacy, 6(2), http://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/ojs/index.php/JIL/article/view/LLC-V6-I2-2012-5

The date and time for live discussion will be Wednesday 13th February 8pm-9pm UK time (see http://tinyurl.com/byg2dze for times elsewhere) . The live discussion will take place by posting blog comments on the journal club blog, which is here: http://infolitjournalclub.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/online-journal-club-13th-february-ilread.html.

You can see what happened at the last discussion, here: http://infolitjournalclub.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/first-journal-club-discussion-thurs.html. People are obviously welcome to post comments before and after the "live" session.

Note that there will also be a journal club discussion of this same article later in the month in the virtual world Second Life, on 19th February at noon Second Life time, again led by me.
(Photo by me, willow reflected, Amsterdam, 2009)

National Libraries Day #NLD13

Today is National Libraries Day in the UK. Sorry I didn't get this post out time to check for the day's events, but you can visit the event's website http://www.nationallibrariesday.org.uk/ and follow it on Twitter https://twitter.com/search?q=%23nld13

Designing a workshop; Architecture students

Practical Academic Librarianship, an open access journal, was mentioned on the ili discussion list, and I noticed that it had a couple of information literacy articles:
Walking the Walk, Talking the Talk: A learning-centered approach to the design of a workshop on teaching for McGill Librarians by Amber Lannon, Sara Holder, April Colosimo (in Volume 2 number 2, 2012)
Visual Imagery Styles of Architecture Students in the Context of Library Instruction by Jeanine Williamson, Jennifer Beals (Volume 1, number 2, 2011)
The journal is at http://journals.tdl.org/pal/index.php/pal/index
Photo by Sheila Webber: snow, drain, February 2013 (it's all gone now)

Survey: How do librarians use Libguides etc.

Hal Grossman and Melissa Gasparotto are conducting a survey about use of tools like Libguides in academic libraries: if you are interested in participating go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/K8GHQSZ

Netskills events

Netskills' online training sessions include:
- 5 Mar: An Introduction to Instructional Design for e-Learning
- 19 Mar: Podcasting: A Practical Guide
- 25 Mar: Making WordPress Work for You
- 26 Mar: An Introduction to Instructional Design for e-Learning )
http://www.netskills.ac.uk/content/products/workshops/public/index.html
Photo by Sheila Webber: Snowy rooves, February 2013

Information Skills for a 21st Century Scotland

The Scottish Information Literacy community have a fresh website, branded as Information Skills for a 21st Century Scotland. It includes a blog, discussion fora, and the Scottish IL Framework with associated material.
http://www.therightinformation.org/
Photo by Sheila Webber: My snowdrops, in the snow.

Enabling Critical Thinking Through Information Literacy in Higher Education in Africa

An interesting report recently published:
Hepworth, M. and Duvigneau, S. (2012) Building Research Capacity: Enabling Critical Thinking Through Information Literacy in Higher Education in Africa. Brighton: British Library for Development Studies at the Institute of Development Studies.
"The research was undertaken by BLDS in May 2012 as an exploratory exercise with the potential for leading to a larger, change-driven programme. It comprised interviews with staff at the University of Zambia and Mzuzu University in Malawi, and a workshop with staff at the University of Botswana."
"A number of practical approaches to overcome specific current challenges in developing information capabilities were identified by participants, including (1) the greater use of e-learning and peer assessment (to counter low staff–student ratios); (2) allowing students more time to do projects (to counter resource limitations); (3) using ‘real world’ problems in information training (to foster student enthusiasm and develop research capabilities); and (4) rewarding the demonstration of good information capabilities (to provide incentives). The research also identified the creation of new partnerships as being important in building information capabilities – both to share lessons and resources, and to involve all relevant stakeholders."
http://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/123456789/2301/BuildingResearchCapacityR1.pdf?sequence=1
Photo by Sheila Webber: Footprints in the snow, February 2013

Deadline extended for the ECIL call for papers #ecil2013

The call for papers for the European Conference on Information Literacy (ECIL), to be held on October 22-25 2013 in Istanbul, Turkey, has been extended to 15 February 2013. You can follow the conference on the website: http://www.ilconf.org; Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ECIL2013; Twitter https://twitter.com/ECIL2013 and via http://groups.google.com/group/ecil2013?hl=en
Photo by Sheila Webber: Snowy rabbits, Sheffield, February 2013

Teach meet: Leeds, UK; 8 February

There is a Teach meet at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK, on 8 February 2013, 1-4pm. "A chance for librarians from the region to meet up, share their experiences of teaching information skills and help each other out. Please bring along an issue or problem you have encountered in your teaching with which you would like help." Organised by The Academic and Research Libraries Group Yorkshire and Humberside. Contact Katherine Turner K.Turner@leedsmet.ac.uk
Snow falling last night

Call for papers extended: US information literacy summits

The call for proposals for Bridging the Gap: Knowledge Creation, Information Literacy, and the Role of Technology in Education has been extended until 8 February. The summit takes place on April 10 (Illinois State University); April 12 (Moraine Valley Community College) and April 16 (John A. Logan College (Carterville), and you can specify which location you want to present at. More information at http://www.morainevalley.edu/infolitsummit/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Weston Park, January 2013