Project Information Literacy: Graduates' information behaviour

Project Information Literacy just published a summary of its research into US graduates' information behaviour. 63 graduates from 10 US universities were interviewed about what kinds of information need they had now they had left university and how they met their needs. This is "Phase One of a two-year, large-scale study of college graduates and lifelong learning": the second phase will consist of a questionnaire sent to 75,000 recent graduates.
The results identify the graduates as using a wide variety of sources and strategies, particularly using people sources (including using networks that they can tap into) and various online sources such as blogs.
The report is at http://projectinfolit.org/images/pdfs/pil_lll_phase1.pdf
Photo by Sheila Webber: bee on oregano, July 2014

Employability literature review

SCONUL has published a literature review on student employability, with a focus on how academic librarians can hook into initiatives at the institutional level etc. "This report seeks to collate and review the literature on current practice in the development of employability skills. This is with a view to demonstrating the contribution of libraries to employability and the development of ‘graduate attributes’ and situating libraries’ ‘traditional’ information literacy role in the new broader academic skills landscape. It aims to provide SCONUL with the basis to develop an advocacy tool for libraries within their institutions and explore further work with partners (e.g. National Union of Students (NUS) and employer bodies)." The review is at http://www.sconul.ac.uk/page/employability

One important study concerning employability which they cite a lot is:
Hinchliffe, G. W. and Jolly, A. (2011) Graduate identity and employability. British Educational Research Journal, 37(4), 563-584.
Photo by Sheila Webber: wild oregano, July 2014

Videos about media literacy

The European digital literacy project, Emedus, has put up a series of short videos in which media literacy experts talk about the state of media literacy (mostly relating to their specific country), recorded at the European MIL forum. The videos are entitled Media and Information Literacy; however, the ones I've dipped into are plainly only about media literacy and media education. This continues a rather worrying trend of using MIL as an alternative new label for media literacy. However, if you leave that aside, they are interesting. https://www.youtube.com/user/EMEDUSUAB/videos
Photo by Sheila Webber, Hydrangea, July 2014

i3 conference 2015

The 2015 i3 conference (Information, Interactions and Impact) takes place June 23-26, 2015 at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Scotland. Conference themes include: the quality and effectiveness of user/information interactions (e.g. information literacies); patterns of information behaviour in different contexts (e.g. creativity, ethics, surveillance, ownership, information recycling/reuse); the social, cultural and economic impacts of engagement with information, including the assessment of impact; the value of information and knowledge as enablers of resilience and change in organisations and communities.
I always find this a stimulating conference, so watch out for the call for papers (I am on the International Programme Committee, so I might be biased, but I don't think so!) More info:
http://www.rgu.ac.uk/i3conference2015
Photo by Sheila Webber: Hydrangea, July 2014

College and Research Libraries: student success; social media use; one-box

The last 2 issues of the open-access College and research libraries include:
- Cook, J.M (2014). A Library Credit Course and Student Success Rates: A Longitudinal Study. College and research libraries, 75(3), 272-283. ("The University of West Georgia’s Ingram Library has offered a fifteen-week two-hour credit course since 1998. In a longitudinal study covering twelve years, the library analyzed the progression and graduation rates of over fifteen thousand students. Students who took the class during their undergraduate career were found to graduate at much higher rates than students who never took the class.") http://crl.acrl.org/content/75/3/272.abstract
- Gibson, C. and Jacobson, T. (2014). Informing and Extending the Draft ACRL Information Literacy Framework for Higher Education: An Overview and Avenues for Research. College and research libraries, 75(3), 250-254. http://crl.acrl.org/content/75/3.toc
- Kim, K., Sin, S. and Yoo-Lee, E. (2014). Undergraduates’ Use of Social Media as Information Sources. College and research libraries, 75(4), 442-457. http://crl.acrl.org/content/75/4/442.abstract
- Kulp, C., McCain, C. and Scrivener, L. (2014). Teaching Outside the Box: ARL Librarians’ Integration of the “One-Box” into Student Instruction. College and research libraries, 75(3), 298-308. ("One-box" means Google-like search tools that present the searcher with just one box into which the search is typed). http://crl.acrl.org/content/75/3/298.abstract
Photo by Sheila Webber: Hydrangea, July 2014

More #iFutures

Proceedings from the iFutures University of Sheffield Information School doctoral conference (held yesterday) have been published: there are some full papers, and abstracts of a couple of the papers and of most of the posters. Go to: https://conferencepapers.shef.ac.uk/index.php/iFutures/2014/schedConf/presentations
Additionally, the workshop powerpoint of my colleague Professor Paul Clough (on Research beyond academia) has been published: linked from http://ifutures.group.shef.ac.uk/schedule.html
Photo by Sheila Webber: Hydrangea, July 2014

Disseminating your Research to Maximise Impact #ifutures

Today is the iFutures conference, organised by and for doctoral students. It is the annual doctoral conference in my department, the Information School at Sheffield University, and I am doing a workshop for it this afternoon. This is my powerpoint!

Disseminating your Research to Maximise Impact from Sheila Webber

75 lecciones aprendidas en programas de ALFIN en Iberoamérica

On 22 July 2014 at 20.00 in Argentin and Brazil (other times see below), a free webinar in Spanish. It reports on an investigation into lessons learnet from information literacy programmes in South America, led by Alejandro Uribe Tirado. "Se hablará de las 75 lecciones aprendidas identificadas, categorizadas según cuatro grandes componentes, para que a modo de guía puedan ser utilizadas por los bibliotecólogos iberoamericanos en el diseño y mejoramiento de sus programas de formación en Alfabetización Informacional." At 20.00 (GMT -3hs. Argentina y Brasil), 19.00 (GMT -4hs. Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Puerto Rico y Rep. Dominicana), 18.30 hs (GMT -4.30hs Venezuela), 18.00 horas (GMT -5hs. Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Haití, México, Panamá y Perú), 17.00 horas (GMT -6hs. Costa Rica, El Salvador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras y Nicaragua). Access is free, using the webinar platform Aprender3c. More information at http://aprender3c.org/
Photo by Sheila Webber: wild rose, July 2014

My forthcoming talks

A bit of shameless self promotion: I have added a page on this blog (see tabs above) with information about my upcoming presentations. So, I might as well publicise the ones for July and August here! I am also speaking at several events in September and October.

22 July 2014: Ifutures Conference (a conference organised for PhD students, by our PhD students), here at Sheffield University, UK. I'm giving a Workshop on Disseminating your Research to Maximise Impact (mostly talking about using social media etc.: I'll post the slides to Slideshare shortly)

15 August 2014: IFLA Information Literacy Section Satellite conference: Facing the Future: Librarians and Information Literacy in a Changing Landscape, Limerick, Ireland. Together with Bill Johnston and Dr Shahd Salha I am presenting a round table on The Active Citizen in a Changing Information Landscape

18 August 2014: World Library and Information Conference, Lyon, France. I am giving a short "IGNITE" presentation at the Section for Education and Training session, entitled LIS Education in 2050: How, Not What

27 August 2014. Report from the IFLA conference, in the virtual world Second Life.

Paul Zurkowski video #lilac14

Paul Zurkowski is widely credited with coining the term "information literacy" (regular readers will remember fangirl moments when he was keynote at last year's ECIL). He produced a 13 minute video for the LILAC 2014 conference. In it he talks about the early years of the Information Industry Association and how he came to talk about infolit. He goes on to discuss the problem of information overload and his plans for the Information Action Coalition.

Learning Analytics for the Social Media Age #pLASMA

Interesting project, based at Dalhousie University and teh University of British Columbia, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) which has been going a little while (it runs 2013-2018) but I don't think I've blogged. "This major five-year research initiative is designed to address the question “How do social media networks influence educational models?” The project involves developing novel learning analytics for the social media age." Principal Investigator is Anatoliy Gruzd. There is information (including e.g. a report on a conference session and discussions about MOOCs) at http://socialmedialab.ca/?cat=337 and an extended abstract of a poster at: http://www.cais-acsi.ca/ojs/index.php/cais/article/view/917
Photo by Sheila Webber: growing wild in the garden, July 2014

Cultivating Creators: Copyright in the Information Literacy Classroom

On 5 August 2014 there is a (priced) webinar offered by the Association of College and Research Libraries: Cultivating Creators: Copyright in the Information Literacy Classroom. It starts at 11am US Pacific time, which is 7pm UK time and 2pm US Eastern time. It lasts 90 minutes and prices range from ACRL member US $50 to US$90 for a non-member. "This webcast will focus on how librarians can integrate copyright into the classroom with undergraduate and graduate students to raise awareness of not only ethically using others’ work, but also how to consider their rights and responsibilities as creators and copyright holders of their own work."
Go to http://www.ala.org/acrl/copyrightinclassroom for more information.
Photo by Sheila Webber: In the garden, July 2014

Website evaluation tool

ResearchReady is a product from the company Imagine Easy Solutions, producers of Easybib. ResearchReady is a priced product but there is a free web evaluation tool. You type in the URL of the website you want people to evaulate. It prompts them to answer some questions about how credible etc. they think it is (with the website in the left panel and the questions in a right panel). At the end you can email the results to an email of your choice. The idea is that you would tell learners to evaluate a website and then get your evaluation of that website emailed to you so you could assess how well the learner had done. The full priced product has tutorials, suggested exercises and assessments etc.
http://webeval.researchready.com/#
Photo by Sheila Webber: Home made cranachan, July 2014

Google vs. Facebook

A new powerpoint from Phil Bradley contrasts how Google and Facebook are fighting for our attention; worth flicking through. I like the line "They both want to use YOU as livestock"

Google v Facebook from Phil Bradley

CAIS proceedings: primary school infolit; whither information behaviour; Situated practice

Proceedings of the 2014 Annual Conference of the Canadian Association for Information Science have been published online in open access. There are various papers concerning information literacy and information behaviour: some are extended abstracts and others full papers. They include:
- Nesset, V. Validating a Model for Information Literacy Instruction for Elementary School Students: A Study

- Thom, J. Getting the News: How News Credibility is Assessed.
- Nicholson, K. Information Literacy as a Situated Practice in the Neoliberal University
- Fortier, A. Influence of Need for Cognition and Need for Cognitive Closure on Information Behaviour: Qualitative Results ("This project studies the influence of two traits, Need for Cognition and Need for Cognitive Closure, on information behaviour. Qualitative analysis of 40 critical incidents collected through semi-structured interviews with undergraduate students demonstrates four distinct profiles: inquisitive enthusiasts, pragmatic enthusiasts, indifferent minimalists and concerned minimalists")
http://www.cais-acsi.ca/ojs/index.php/cais/issue/current
Photo by Sheila Webber, July 2014

Using blogs as a core part of class activity

This was a presentation I gave at Sheffield University's Learning and Teaching conference in January and suddenly realised I hadn't uploaded to Slideshare, so here it is. I describe the use of team blogs as a core part of learning and teaching in a Masters-level module at the Information School, University of Sheffield.

Using blogs as a core part of class activity from Sheila Webber

Teaching Information Literacy in an Arts University

The journal Refer (which publishes short articles about reference and information services) is now published open-access via a blog. The new issue includes a short descriptive articles:
Badger, I. (2014) Teaching Information Literacy in an Arts University. Refer, 30 (2). http://referisg.wordpress.com/2014/07/05/teaching-information-literacy-in-an-arts-university/
Asman, A. (2014) Services for Journalism and Creative Writing Students at City University Library. Refer, 30 (2). http://referisg.wordpress.com/2014/07/05/services-for-journalism-and-creative-writing-students-at-city-university-library/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Failing to get a good shot of the Tour de France, Sheffield, July 2014

Nordic Journal of Information Literacy in Higher Education: new issue

Volume 6, issue 1 of the open-access journal Nordic Journal of Information Literacy in Higher Education has been published. It contains:
- The Changing Role of Digital Tools and Academic Libraries in Scholarly Workflows: A Review by Sharon Favaro, Christopher Hoadley
- The SEA-change Model in Information Literacy: Assessing Information Literacy Development with Reflective Writing by Barbara Anne Sen, Pamela McKinney
- The Potential for Using Gamification in Academic Libraries in Order to Increase Student Engagement and Achievement by Andrew Walsh
- Information Specialist and ICT Lecturer Co-Teach an Online Course: A New Way and What Students Think About It by Kaisa Puttonen
https://noril.uib.no/index.php/noril/index
Photo by Sheila Webber: Waiting for the Tour de France to pass by, Sheffield, July 2014

ACRL framework online hearings #acrlrevisions

There are online hearings on the latest iteration of the draft ACRL Information Literacy framework: on July 7th at 1pm USA central time (which is, for example, 7pm UK time) and July 11 2014 at 10am USA Central time. Written feedback should be given by July 15 204 using the online form. The page with more information and links to sign up is at http://www.acrl.ala.org/acrlinsider/archives/8964
Photo by Sheila Webber: passion flower, July 2014

Bibliography: impact and outcome of libraries

Roswitha Poll, who has worked in the field of library performance measurement and evaluation for many years, has produced a bliography on Impact and Outcome of Libraries published under the aegis of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).
It includes a section on Impact on Information Literacy.
You can download the bibliography from the website of the IFLA Statistics and Evaluation Section at http://www.ifla.org/publications/publications-associated-with-the-s-e-section

Photo by Sheila Webber: Bangles, June 2014

Paris declaration on Media and Information Literacy: final draft #emilforum

The draft of a Paris Declaration on MIL in the Digital Era was presented at the end of the European Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Forum, which I reported on when I attended it at the end of May. There is now a revised draft of teh Declaration online, which participants (who attended the conference in Paris) can comment on by July 5th (this Saturday). I was a participant, so if anyone reads it and has some specific comments (bearing in mind that at this stage there is not going to be any wholesale redrafting) feel free to pass them on to me, s.webber@sheffield.ac.uk.
The information is at http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/resources/news-and-in-focus-articles/in-focus-articles/2014/paris-declaration-on-media-and-information-literacy-adopted/
Photo by Sheila Webber: hydrangea (photoshopped), June 2014

LOEX presentations online: lots of information literacy

Most of the presentations from the 2014 LOEX (US information literacy) conference are online. There are a large number of them. I've just picked out a few where I've checked that the presentation and it gave you enough information to make it worthwhile (the trend for very pictorial presentations isn't so useful for viewing afterwards!)  I certainly didn't check all of them, so do browse teh whole long list.
- Broadening Your Palette: Adding Dimension to Lesson Plans Using a Range of Technologies by Linda Miles (Yeshiva Univerisity), Jennifer Poggiali (Lehman College, CUNY), and Phil Poggiali (Pace University) (lots of handouts from the workshop)
- Sorting through the Clutter: Improving Instructional Design through "Card Sorting" by Andreas Orphanides and Anne Burke (North Carolina State University) (again, handouts for a workshop)
- Mixing in New Colors: Using the Train-the-Trainer Model to Create Information Literacy Co-Instructors by Patricia Hartman (Auburn University) and Valerie Perry (University of Kentucky)
- Mass Producing a Masterpiece: Designing a Required One Credit, Distributed Learning Information Literacy Course by Karen Brown and Sharon Verba (University of South Carolina)
- A Tableau Vivant: A Multimodal/MultiSensory Teaching Experience of Threshold Concepts in an Information Literacy Classroom by Kate Langan (Western Michigan University)
Go to http://www.loexconference.org/sessions.html
Photo by Sheila Webber: hydrangea, June 2014

Developing Digital Literacies for a Digital World: presentations

There are three presentations from the ALISS (Association of Librarians and Information Professionals in the Social Sciences) AGM held earlier this month. The theme was: Developing Digital Literacies for a Digital World and teh presentations are:
- Reflecting on Digital Scholarship competencies: Charles Inskip. This presents findings from the RILADS project, which asked heads of library services of UK universities how competent they thought staff were in various literacies (information literacy, media literacy, digital literacy etc.) though with an emphasis on "digital capabilities".
- Start with the Staff: Sally Patalong. This is a report on two staff development projects aimed at improving digital skills.
- Information literacy for researchers at SOAS: Beth Clark and Victoria Bird. They present preparing, delivering and promoting digital literacy training for Graduate Teaching Assistants. The actual slides do not have much information on them - if you scroll down the page, though, you will see some extra notes.
Go to http://alissnet.org.uk/2014/06/13/aliss-agm-2014-developing-digital-literacies-for-a-digital-world-to-develop-library-services/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Hydrangea, June 2014