New articles; embedding; citations; mobile; research and practice

The latest issue (volume 42, no. 6) of The Journal of Academic Librarianship (priced publication) includes:
- The Constraints of Practice, or We Work in Libraries, That's Why We Can't Do Research by Elizabeth Blakesley
- Systematic Literature Review Informing LIS Professionals on Embedding Librarianship Roles by A. Abrizah, Samaila Inuwa, N. Afiqah-Izzati
- Measuring the Importance of Library User Education: A Comparative Study Between Fudan University and the National Taiwan Normal University by Qianxiu Liu, Patrick Lo, Hiroshi Itsumura
- Assessing Graduate Level Information Literacy Instruction With Critical Incident Questionnaires by Laura Saunders, Jenny Severyn, Shanti Freundlich, Vivienne Piroli, Jeremy Shaw-Munderback
- Why read it on your mobile device? Change in reading habit of electronic magazines for university students by Peng Wang, Dickson K.W. Chiu, Kevin K.W. Ho, Patrick Lo
- Effects of Information Literacy Skills on Student Writing and Course Performance by Xiaorong Shao, Geraldine Purpur
- Rethinking Mobile Learning in Light of Current Theories and Studies by Claudia Jennifer Dold
- User Acceptance of Mobile Library Applications in Academic Libraries: An Application of the Technology Acceptance Model by Hye-Young Yoon
- Providing Enhanced Information Skills Support to Students From Disadvantaged Backgrounds: Western Sydney University Library Outreach Program by Judy Reading
- Information Literacy in the Active Learning Classroom by Clarence Maybee, Tomalee Doan, Michael Flierl
- Citation Generators, OWL, and the Persistence of Error-Ridden References: An Assessment for Learning Approach to Citation Errors by Christy R. Stevens
- Finding and Reading Reports of Research: How Academic Librarians Can Help Students Be More Successful by Dian Walster, Deborah H. Charbonneau, Kafi Kumasi
- Patience, Persistence, and Process: Embedding a Campus-wide Information Literacy Program across the Curriculum by Glenn Johnson-Grau, Susan Gardner Archambault, Elisa Slater Acosta, Lindsey McLean
Abstracts at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00991333/42/6
Photo by Sheila Webber: Xmas wreaths of Sussex, 40: December 2016

Fake news: Forbes and American Libraries

There's been a clutch of articles worrying about "fake news". Here's one by a non-librarian and one from the library press.
- Leetaru, K. (2016, December 11). How data and information literacy could end fake news. Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2016/12/11/how-data-and-information-literacy-could-end-fake-news/#525291db3335 This concludes that "Suggestions like requiring programming and data science courses in school would certainly create more technically-literate citizens, but this is not the same as data literacy and the kind of critical and devil’s advocate thinking it requires. Technology is also not a panacea here, as there is no simple magic algorithm that can eliminate false and misleading news. Instead, to truly solve the issue of “fake news” we must blend technological assistance with teaching our citizens to be data literate consumers of the world around them."
- Banks, M. (2016, December 27). Fighting Fake News: How libraries can lead the way on media literacy. American Libraries. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2016/12/27/fighting-fake-news/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Xmas wreaths of South London, 26: DEcember 2016

Merry Christmas from the Information Literacy Weblog

Merry Christmas to all readers of the Information Literacy weblog. Pictured is the Christmas wreath I made this year (as usual, from offcuts from the tree)

Pima Community College Library Tutorials; Introduction to Tripod

The latest PRIMO (Peer-Reviewed Instructional Materials Online) site of the month is Introduction to Tripod. "This interactive tutorial provides an introduction to searching Tripod, the library catalog of the Tri-College Libraries (Bryn Mawr College, Haverford College and Swarthmore College), and covers searching for known items and items by topic and finding physical items in the library using Library of Congress call numbers". The interview with creator Alex Pfundt is at http://acrl.ala.org/IS/instruction-tools-resources-2/pedagogy/primo-peer-reviewed-instruction-materials-online/primo-site-of-the-month/december-2016-site-of-the-month/?preview=true
The tutorial is at http://libguides.brynmawr.edu/bmclibrary-tutorials/tripod-intro

The previous site of the month (announced a couple of weeks ago) was Pima Community College Library Tutorials "Pima Community College Library’s online, self-paced tutorials instruct students in academic-level research skills at point-of-need, without the limits of time or place. The tutorials educate and entertain researchers as they accompany an animated anthropology student on a research quest into the desert southwest. The tutorials’ setting reflects the unique landscape and history of Tucson, Arizona." There is a text interview with creators Sandra J. Ley and Rob Booth at http://acrl.ala.org/IS/instruction-tools-resources-2/pedagogy/primo-peer-reviewed-instruction-materials-online/primo-site-of-the-month/november-2016-site-of-the-month/
The tutorials themselves are at https://pima.edu/current-students/library/write-research-paper.html
Photo by Sheila Webber: Xmas wreaths of South London, 44; December 2016

Teaching librarian; books

Michael Stoepel is the ACRL Instruction Section Teaching Methods Committee’s latest Featured Teaching Librarian, He is interviewed at http://acrl.ala.org/IS/featured-teaching-librarian-michael-stoepel/
Secondly, recent books relating to the ACRL Framework for IL are listed at http://acrl.ala.org/framework/?p=335
Photo by Sheila Webber: Xmas wreaths of South London, 36

Presenters wanted for ALA conference

The Distance Learning Section of the ALA is looking for presenters for a session Visibility and Engagement: Design, Develop, or Refresh your Online Instruction, a "program that aims to share practical methods for libraries to create effective student-success-based online instructional strategies that include creative methods for developing assessment plans and delivering high-impact information literacy skill instruction." This will be part of the American Library Association conference to be held in Chicago, USA, June 22-27, 2017.
The call say "These strategies may include but are not limited to the topics of: reaching students through online presence, instruction, and assessment; creating and implementing high-impact online instruction; handling challenges when developing online instructional materials; time management; providing access to resources and technology; developing digital learning object repositories for online instruction; embedding librarian programming in a course or program. This is open to any academic librarian with any online instruction experience they want to share."
To express interest in contributing to he panel or for more information, contact the DLS Programming Planning 2017 Committee Co-Chairs, Karla Aleman alemankj@gmail.com and Neely Tang nt243@cornell.edu by January 6th, 2017.
Photo by Sheila Webber: Ministry of Magic uniforms, WB Making of Harry Potter, November 2016

Information Overload and knowledge

Two items: a Pew Internet report on Information Overload and material from the 2016 Annual Lecture of the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIST) held at Edinburgh Napier University and given by Professor Steve Fuller which touched on the same theme.
The Pew Internet report was published a couple of weeks ago and is as usual a robust piece of research investigating American life (based on a sample of 1,520 people in the USA). "...for the most part, the large majority of Americans do not feel that information overload is a problem for them. Some 20% say they feel overloaded by information, a decline from the 27% figure from a decade ago, while 77% say they like having so much information at their fingertips. Two-thirds (67%) say that having more information at their disposals actually helps to simplify their lives." "Those who are more likely to feel information overload have less technology and are poorer, less well-educated and older." Another problem which is identified is what I would call personal information management - and also an assumption from organisations that people should be information literate: "when institutions expect people to bring a lot of information with them to carry out tasks, some Americans find it can be burdensome to keep track of the volume of information needed. Nearly half (46%) of Americans say this statement describes them “very well” or “somewhat well”: “A lot of institutions I deal with – schools, banks or government agencies – expect me to do too much information gathering in order to deal with them.” Those who feel this way are more likely than others also to say that keeping track of information is stressful for them (56% vs. 30%)."
"These findings suggest that information overload may not be the right way to frame anxieties about the volume of information in people’s lives. Rather, information overload is more situational: Specific situations may arise, such as when institutions impose high information demands on people for transactions, which create a sense of information burden for some Americans." http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/12/07/information-overload/


Secondly, there is an informative report and a video of the ASIST Annual Lecture given by Professor Steve Fuller on What, if anything, makes knowledge an improvement over information? This is on Hazel Hall's blog at https://hazelhall.org/2016/12/19/asist-annual-lecture-2016-resources-now-available-asist_al16/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Mad eye Moody and Professor Trelawney, WB Making of Harry Potter, November 2016

Information Literacy, Threshold Concepts and Disciplinarity #ARCLframework

I realised that I hadn't posted the presentations I was involved with at the European Conference on Information Literacy, so I'll do that this week. Firstly, there is the presentation given by me and Bill Johnston: Information Literacy, Threshold Concepts and Disciplinarity. I've given our abstract below the embedded presentation. In the third slide ("key strands") Bill and I also positioned ourselves within this field (that of British, Nordic and Australian educational research), from which the concept of Threshold Concepts emerged. We are educational researchers within this field, and have connections with some of these researchers.

Information Literacy, Threshold Concepts and Disciplinarity from Sheila Webber

Abstract
Threshold Concepts (TCs) are significant in developing the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy (ACRL, 2015), and this has stimulated discussion about using TCs in Information Literacy (IL). This paper: briefly summarises TCs; identifies key disciplinary and pedagogical anomalies in the approach to TCs in IL; presents proposals for exploring TCs in IL more holistically.
TCs emerged from research into characteristics of quality learning environments in UK higher education (Meyer & Land, 2003). TCs are described as transformative concepts within disciplines, enabling learners to conceive the subject in a new way, and experience possibilities for deeper disciplinary thinking and practice. Mayer & Land (2005) identify ways for educators to use TCs to facilitate “epistemological transitions, and ontological transformations” (Meyer & Land, 2005: 386). They note the danger of structuring teaching mechanistically, which might encourage mimicry rather than understanding; they also identified the value of variation as a teaching strategy. Åkerlind et al. (2014) have taken this further by combining phenomenography, variation theory and TCs.
We identify two anomalies in the way in which TCs have been developed for IL in a USA context. The first is in sidestepping the question of disciplinarity (as do Townsend et al. (2011). The studies which have inspired ACRL’s adoption of a TC approach have investigated the views of librarians teaching IL to learners of other subjects. This is different from identifying the TCs of a discipline, for learners aiming to think and practice in that discipline (the original, and usual, focus for TCs). Whilst Tucker et al (2014) have proposed TCs as valuable for the library and information curriculum, there has not been a study of IL TCs for people studying IL as a subject in its own right. The second anomaly is the way in which TCs are fixed generically within the ACRL framework (rather than more explicitly acknowledging that IL is experienced differently within different subject disciplines (Webber et al., 2005). Further, for understandable, pragmatic, reasons, there is evidence that they are being incorporated in reductive ways (e.g. Oakleaf, 2014), which may negate the transformative possibilities and lead to mimicry and surface learning.
We draw on experience in teaching IL as a subject to propose an approach to discovering and using TCs for IL education, which acknowledges that IL has its own epistemology and ontological reality (Johnston & Webber, 2006). This is elaborated with observations and reflections from an IL module, using an action research framework.
References
Åkerlind, G., McKenzie, J. & Lupton, M. (2014). The potential of combining phenomenography, variation theory and threshold concepts to inform curriculum design in higher education. In J. Huisman, M. Tight (Eds.), Theory and Method in Higher Education Research II. (pp.227 – 247). Bingley, England: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Association of College and Research Libraries. (2015). Framework for information literacy for higher education. Retrieved February 15, 2016 from http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework
Johnston, B. & Webber, S. (2006). As we may think: Information Literacy as a discipline for the information age. Research Strategies, 20(3), 108-121.
Meyer, J. & Land, R. (2003). Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge 1: linkages to ways of thinking and practicing. In C. Rust (Ed), Improving student learning: ten years on. Oxford, England: Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development.
Meyer, J. & Land, R. (2005). Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge (2): epistemological considerations and a conceptual framework for teaching and learning. Higher Education, 49(3), 373-388.
Oakleaf, M. (2014). A roadmap for assessing student learning using the new framework for information literacy for higher education. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 5(40), 510-514.
Townsend, L., Brunetti, K. and Hofer, A., (2011). Threshold concepts and information literacy. Portal: Libraries and the Academy, 11 (3), 853-869.
Tucker, V., Weedman, J., Bruce, C. & Edwards, S. (2014). Learning portals: analyzing threshold concept theory for LIS education. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 55(2), 150-165.
Webber, S., Boon, S. & Johnston, B. (2005). A comparison of UK academics’ conceptions of information literacy in two disciplines: English and Marketing. Library and Information Research, 29(93), 4-15.

New articles: Ageing and information; political participation; dyslexia and IL; social equality

The new issue of open-access journal Library and Information Research (vol 40, No 123, 2016) focuses on Strategic and policy making issues in information literacy, with guest Editor John Crawford. The issue includes:
- Ageing and information: The Scottish older people’s movement by Bill Johnston
- Information literacy as a tool to support political participation by Lauren N Smith
- Does dyslexia present barriers to information literacy in an online environment? A pilot study by Lynne Cole, Andrew MacFarlane, George Buchanan
- Information literacy development in a small country: A practical proposition? by John Crawford
- Between digital inclusion and social equality: The role of public libraries in Newcastle upon Tyne by Maria Laura Ruiu, Massimo Ragnedda
- Information literacy and information seeking of public sector managers in the Welsh Government by Elizabeth Tait, Robert Edwards
The issue is at http://www.lirgjournal.org.uk/lir/ojs/index.php/lir/issue/view/74
Photo by Sheila Webber: Dusk, North Greenwich underground station, December 2016

Open-access preprint book: Information Literacy: Research and Collaboration across Disciplines

There is a pre-print open access version of: D'Angelo, B., Jamieson, S., Maid, B. and Walker, J. (Eds) (2016). Information Literacy: Research and Collaboration across Disciplines. Fort Collins, Colorado: The WAC Clearinghouse and University Press of Colorado. http://wac.colostate.edu/books/infolit/
There are 20 chapters divided into four sections: Part I. Situating Information Literacy; Part II. Researching Information Literacy; Part III. Incorporating and Evaluating Information Literacy in Specific Courses; Part IV. Collaborating to Advance Programmatic Information Literacy

Identity, Agency, and Change in Academic Libraries conference grants

The Identity, Agency, and Change in Academic Libraries conference, which takes place May 22-23, 2017 in Los Angeles, USA, is offering travel grants to attend the conference. University of Southern California Libraries "will award a total of $1,500.00 in travel grants (no more than $750.00 for a single grant), the number of grants awarded will be at the discretion of the planning committee. The committee seeks a diverse attendance of paraprofessionals, professionals, and students, especially from historically underserved communities." It doesn't say you have to be in North America to qualify, but it would be worth enquiring about that, if you aren't based there. I also can't see a deadline mentioned anywhere. The website on the conference is here http://iacal2016.wixsite.com/iacal2017 and the application form is here
Photo by Sheila webber: Golden beetroots, Blackheath Farmers' Market, December 2017.

The ACRL Framework for Information Literacy Sandbox is live! #ACRLframework

There is now a "sandbox" for material relevant to teaching using the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy. You can search for material to reuse (or at the moment, there are few enough items that you can browse) and also you can easily sign up and contribute. "The ACRL Framework for Information Literacy Sandbox allows for searching, browsing, and contributing to a repository of materials related to the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. It serves as a resource for librarians seeking to engage the Framework in their instructional practice, by providing access to materials created by those in the field. Materials made available in the Sandbox address the Framework, and include information about the context in which they were created and used. The Sandbox, in tandem with the Framework listserv and the Framework website, offers evidence of the Framework’s impact on the work of information literacy instructors, researchers, and learners. The target audience of the Sandbox is librarians and academic partners seeking lesson plans, instructional materials, professional development, and research on understanding and using the Framework within the classroom setting and on the programmatic level."
Go to http://sandbox.acrl.org/

cfp Innovation, Inspiration and Creativity Conference (i2c2)

There is a call for papers for the Innovation, Inspiration and Creativity Conference (i2c2), which takes place in Scarborough, UK, November 13-15, 2017. The call for workshops and presentations closes in May 2017, and for posters and lightning talks the deadline will be in October (precise dates aren't specified, but obviously you have lots of time at the moment ;-)
"We are looking for people that can contribute their experiences and knowledge to the conference. The overall theme of the conference is Innovation, Inspiration and Creativity, with a subtheme this year of "making, playing, co-creating". This covers library and information work in any sector and anywhere in the world, along with associated professions. There are some slots for presentations, but most conference slots are expected to be workshop based with a high degree of attendee involvement. So if you propose something longer than a lightning talk, think "can I help attendees learn something to apply to their own practice?" and not "can I put a set of slides together about a project I did"."
More info at http://i2c2conference.innovativelibraries.org.uk/call
Photo by Sheila Webber: apples, Blackheath Farmers' market, December 2017

Cognitive Authorities in Everyday Health Information Environments of Young People @InfoSchoolSheff

Currently we have visitors from Oulu University, Finland, who are embarking on the CogAHealth - Cognitive Authorities in Everyday Health Information Environments of Young People project, funded by the Academy of Finland and running 2016-2020. The photo shows (left to right) Dr Laura Palmgren-Neuvonen, Tuula Myllylä-Nygård, Professor Maija-Leena Huotari (a Sheffield alumna!), Dr Sari Räisänen, and my colleague in the University of Sheffield Information School, Pamela McKinney. "The CogAHealth project examines what data sources young people consider reliable and how authority is constructed in modern, multimodal health communication. The findings can be used to promote health, wellbeing and health equality of the young." There is more information about their project at http://www.oulu.fi/cogahealth-en/

cfp Critical Digital and social media studies; #openaccess book Critical Theory of Communication

There is a call for book proposals for an open access series: deadline 30 January 2017 11pm UK time. Proposals to be sent to A.Lockett@westminster.ac.uk - full info at http://www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk/site/news "Critical Digital and Social Media Studies is a new open access book series edited by Professor Christian Fuchs on behalf of the Westminster Institute for Advanced Studies (in the UK) and published by the University of Westminster Press (UWP). We invite submissions of book proposals that fall into the scope of the series.Example topics that the book series is interested in include: the political economy of digital and social media; digital and informational capitalism; digital labour; ideology critique in the age of social media; new developments of critical theory in the age of digital and social media; critical studies of advertising and consumer culture online; critical social media research methods; critical digital and social media ethics; working class struggles in the age of social media; the relationship of class, gender and race in the context of digital and social media; the critical analysis of the implications of big data, cloud computing, digital positivism, the Internet of things, predictive online analytics, the sharing economy, location- based data and mobile media, etc.; the role of classical critical theories for studying digital and social media; alternative social media and Internet platforms; the public sphere in the age of digital media; the critical study of the Internet economy; critical perspectives on digital democracy; critical case studies of online prosumption; public service digital and social media; commons-based digital and social media; subjectivity, consciousness, affects, worldviews and moral values in the age of digital and social media; digital art and culture in the context of critical theory; environmental and ecological aspects of digital capitalism and digital consumer culture."
The first volume in the series has been published:
Fuchs, C. (2016) Critical Theory of Communication. New Readings of Lukács, Adorno, Marcuse, Honneth and Habermas in the Age of the Internet. London: University of Westminster Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/book1 http://www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk/site/books/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Alstromeria, Blackheath Farmers' market, December 2017

New issue of Information Research: theory; doctoral students; autism spectrum disorders; engineers; makerspaces

As promised, here is information about the ISIC (Information Seeking In Context) conference supplement to the latest issue of the open access peer reviewed journal Information Research (vol. 21. no. 4). Papers include:
- T.D. Wilson, A general theory of human information behaviour
- Hester W.J. Meyer, Untangling the building blocks: a generic model to explain information behaviour to novice researchers.
- Reijo Savolainen, Approaching the affective barriers to information seeking: the viewpoint of appraisal theory
- Erika Janiuniene and Elena Maceviciute, Information sharing between doctoral students and supervisors: fixed roles and flexible attitudes
- Martha Sabelli, Social mediators and inclusive information: communication flow of healthcare information among adolescents in vulnerable communities
- Ivana Martinović and Ivanka Stričević, Information needs and behaviour of parents of children with autism spectrum disorders: parents’ reports on their experiences and perceptions
- Xiaofeng Li and Ross J. Todd, Information practices during 3D modelling in a public library makerspace: generating ideas, seeking help and iterative trial and error
- Pamela Fransen-Taylor and Bhuva Narayan, #Homeless but at home in cyberspace
Madely du Preez and Hester W.J. Meyer, Consulting engineers' social networks and their collaborative information behaviour
- Frances Ryan, Peter Cruickshank, Hazel Hall and Alistair Lawson, Managing and evaluating personal reputations on the basis of information shared on social media: a Generation X perspective
The issue is at http://www.informationr.net/ir/21-4/isic/isic2016.html
Photo by Sheila Webber: green tomato, Blackheath farmers' market, December 2016

New issue of Information Research: self-directed learning; e-books; serious leisure; health information

The latest issue of the open access peer reviewed journal Information Research (vol. 21. no. 4) has been published. In this post I will highlight some articles in the main issue, and in the next post I will highlight some of the papers in the proceedings from the ISIC conference (a supplement to this issue)

- Cecilia Gärdén: Information literacy in the tension between school's discursive practice and students' self-directed learning ("The paper aims to create an understanding of how information literacy can be recognised in the tension between the schools' practice and the students' self-directed learning. This is done through a qualitative case study including forty-three interviews, thirty observations and seventeen documents, which gave in-depth knowledge of information activities in relation to a complex school assignment.... The findings reveal an absence of interaction about information seeking and use in the educational context, as well as a lack of common references in the form of tools and support, leading to difficulties for the students in achieving the results that were expected according to learning objectives."
- T.D. Wilson and Elena Maceviciute Publishers’ responses to the e-book phenomenon: survey results from three 'small language' markets.
- Sung Un Kim and Sue Yeon Syn Credibility and usefulness of health information on Facebook: a survey study with U.S. college students.
- Jenna Hartel, Andrew M. Cox and Brian L. Griffin Information activity in serious leisure
- Min Sook Park and Hyejin Park Topical network of breast cancer information in a Korean American online community: a semantic network analysis
- Ann Gillespie, Helen Partridge, Christine Bruce and Alisa Howlett The experience of evidence-based practice in an Australian public library: an ethnography
- Yunseon Choi Supporting better treatments for meeting health consumers' needs: extracting semantics in social data for representing a consumer health ontology
Contents page at http://www.informationr.net/ir/21-4/infres214.html
Photo by Sheila Webber: Hogwarts Express, WB making of Harry Potter, November 2016

Online course: Information Literacy and Writing Studies: Exploring Pedagogical Possibilities

A six week online course is: Information Literacy and Writing Studies: Exploring Pedagogical Possibilities. It is taught by Andrea Baer and runs January 2 to February 10, 2017. The cost is US$250. "In this six-week course, participants will explore intersections between information literacy and composition studies, including the theoretical and practical applications these connections have for us as librarians and as educators. The class will be structured around assigned readings, online discussion, and assignments. More specifically, weekly discussions and assignments will invite participants to apply theoretical and pedagogical concepts to developing practical learning activities and lesson plans for library instruction." More information at http://libraryjuiceacademy.com/068-IL-composition-studies.php
Photo by Sheila Webber: chard, November 2016

cfp Media is the Message: Critical Use of Video in the Digital Age #WLIC2017

There is a call for Papers for the open session organised jointly by the Information Literacy, Audiovisual and Multimedia and School Libraries Sections of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). This session will take place during the World Library and Information (IFLA) Conference in Wroclaw, Poland, between 19-25 August 2017. The title is Media is the Message: Critical Use of Video in the Digital Age. "The way we communicate and interact has changed significantly over the last few years. Driven by digital network technologies, we increasingly use new approaches, tools and media types to collaborate and share information. Intensive use of digital media impacts our entire life cycle, from pre-school to university to the workforce and daily life. Ultimately, these changes have a profound effect on the way we find, evaluate, and organize information. It has become very popular to find, share, and communicate information via short videos on digital networks like Facebook and Twitter, using simple aids such as smartphones and free web applications. As creators and consumers of information delivered in this format, we need to develop skills that enable us to think critically about media messages, the media we use to create our own messages, and the information contained therein. In this open session we would like to see innovative approaches to media and information literacy that empower us to ACCESS, ANALYZE, EVALUATE, CREATE, and ACT, using video in the classroom, the lecture hall, the workplace, or the boardroom. ... examples include: Librarians’ role in teaching video skills; Teaching the literacy of video information creation and consumption; Creating video assignments as an alternative to research papers; Evaluating non-print media sources: how to translate traditional information literacy concepts of authority and purpose; Designing and assessing information literacy outcomes in relation to makerspaces"
Deadline for submitting a detailed abstract (500 words) and full author details, including name, position, affiliation, and email address of each author, is 31 January 2017. If selected, the full paper is due on 31st May 2017 and must be an original submission not presented or published elsewhere. The conference paper should be presented in English. Email your submission to Michael Miller, Chair, Audiovisual and Multimedia Section, Michael.miller@bcc.cuny.edu and Deborah Benrubi, Program Coordinator, Audiovisual and Multimedia Section 2017, benrubi@usfca.edu
Slightly more information at http://2017.ifla.org/cfp-calls/avms-joint-with-infolit-and-school

ALT free online 3 day teaching with tech conference

The Association for Learning Technology (ALT) has just started a 3 day conference (6 to 8 December) on teaching with technology. Sessions are in various formats e.g. webinar, Tweetchat, Facebook live session. It says it is a "showcase " so some of the sessions are focusing on use of a specific product (it isn't a research conference) but there are also people talking about how they or their institution have used learning technlogy at a practical level. Note the programme is in UK time (which is 5 hours ahead of US Eastern time) - one option to view events is via Google calendar so that may customise it to your calendar's timezone (I'm in the same timezone already, so I can't tell). Examples from Tuesday afternoon (UK time) are: #101creativeideas Challenge; Construals as Objects-to-Converse-With: Making the Strange Familiar and the Familiar Strange; Pre-entry module design: preparing incoming students for HE study (with a smidgeon of play); Student engagement: creation of online materials. One session which I would have liked to attend (but I have another meeting) is the Open University Library (Wednesday 7th at 10am UK time) talking about how they use Facebook Live. programme at  https://altc.alt.ac.uk/online2016/#/day1
Photo by Sheila Webber, taken in Second Life (a trademark of Linden Lab)

New articles in Journal of Information Literacy: political information, flipping, health literacy, evaluation, German IL concept

The new issue of the open access Journal of Information Literacy has been published (vol. 10 no. 2, 2016). Articles include:
- School libraries, political information and information literacy provision: findings from a Scottish study. Lauren N. Smith
- Health literacy: a cross-disciplinary study in American undergraduate college students Rachel Joseph, Samantha Fernandes, Lauri Hyers, Kerri O'Brien
- Flipping the classroom in business and education one-shot sessions: a research study Madeline E. Cohen, Jennifer Poggiali, Alison Lehner-Quam, Robin Wright, Rebecca K. West
- An assessment of library instruction: its influence on search behaviour of first- and third-year students Torunn Skofsrud Boger, Hanne Dybvik, Anne-Lise Eng, Else Helene Norheim
- Rethinking the concept of "information literacy": a German perspective Rares G Piloiu
There are also conference reports and book reviews. Go to https://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/ojs/index.php/JIL
Photo by Sheila Webber: books created for Harry Potter sets, November 2016

Designers selected for #ACRLframework learning initiative

ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries, USA) has selected Andrea Baer (Instructional Services Librarian and Assistant Professor, University of West Georgia), Brittney Johnson (Head of Library Instruction, St. Edward’s University) and Lindsay Matts-Benson (Instructional Designer, University of Minnesota) as their team to develop continuing professional development to support librarians in their use of the ACRL Information Literacy Framework. More information at http://www.acrl.ala.org/acrlinsider/archives/12731

New articles on #dataliteracy

An interesting issue of the open access journal Journal of Community Informatics (Vol 12, No 3 (2016) focuses on Data Literacy. Articles include:
Introduction: Data Literacy - What is it and how can we make it happen? Mark Frank, Johanna Walker, Judie Attard, Alan Tygel
- Creating an Understanding of Data Literacy for a Data-driven Society Annika Wolff, Daniel Gooch, Jose J. Cavero Montaner, Umar Rashid, Gerd Kortuem
- Data Literacy defined pro populo David Crusoe (in case you are interested he defines data literacy as: "Data literacy is the knowledge of what data are, how they are collected, analyzed, visualized
and shared, and is the understanding of how data are applied for benefit or detriment, within
the cultural context of security and privacy." p.38)
- Data literacy conceptions, community capabilities Paul Matthews
- Urban Data in the primary classroom: bringing data literacy to the UK curriculum Annika Wolff, Jose J Cavero Montaner, Gerd Kortuem
- Contributions of Paulo Freire for a Critical Data Literacy: a Popular Education Approach Alan Freihof Tygel, Rosana Kirsch
- DataBasic: Design Principles, Tools and Activities for Data Literacy Learners Catherine D'Ignazio, Rahul Bhargava
- Perceptions of ICT use in rural Brazil: Factors that impact appropriation among marginalized communities Paola Prado, J. Alejandro Tirado-Alcaraz, Mauro Araújo Câmara
- Graphical Perception of Value Distributions: An Evaluation of Non-Expert Viewers' Data Literacy Arkaitz Zubiaga, Brian Mac Namee
- Some Key Challenges for Data Literacy Mark Frank, Johanna Walker
In addition I was interested in the article: Granny gets smarter but Junior hardly notices (report on a survey that students did on elders' mobile phone use, in South Africa) Isabella Margarethe Venter, Karen Renaud, Renette Blignaut
http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/issue/view/59
Photo by Sheila Webber: Hogwarts Express carriage. Disconcertingly, this carriage is evidently a real former railway carriage, exactly like ones I used to commute in in the 1980/90s, November 2016.

The Information Literacy Constellation: Understanding by Design as a Model to Integrate Frames and Standards #acrlframework

Lisa Hinchliffe gave a webinar for the Academic Instruction & Information Literacy Member Group of the Florida Library Association (FLA) on 29 November2016 and the FLA have kindly released the recording. The title is: The Information Literacy Constellation: Understanding by Design as a Model to Integrate Frames and Standards. "ACRL has an expansive set of information literacy documents; however, with the approval of the Framework and rescinding of the Standards, that "constellation" has shifted. How can librarians develop programs that are guided by professional standards and guidelines while reflecting local context and needs? Drawing on Understanding by Design (Wiggins and McTigue), this webinar provide guidance for librarians who are stepping up to the challenge “to be imaginative and innovative in implementing the Framework” (http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframeworkapps#suggestions)." You will have to give your contact information in order to access the webinar recording but there is no fee. The PPT slides and webinar recording are are linked at http://www.flalib.org/fla-webinars-and-trainings
Photo by Sheila Webber: model of Hogwarts, WB Making of Harry Potter, November 2016