It's day 2 of the LILAC conference in Swansea and Pam McKinney @ischoolPam is reporting again. Pam writes:
"I attended Barbara Allan's keynote this morning, which was about the ways in which librarians can make an impact beyond the library and embed digital and information literacy in the wider university. Barbara once worked as an IT trainer for a group of gamekeepers, and learnt an important lesson- find out what you students are interested in and use this to frame the learning. As a result the gamekeepers constructed databases of gun manufacturers and bullet types!
"Barbara spoke about decision making in universities, and her realisation that decisions are made through networking, and getting people "on side" before committee meetings. There are many different tribes and territories in universities e.g. faculties, professional services, executive teams, governors and all have different priorities and foci. Researching academics' views of IL is a good way to get IL on their agenda because academics are very respectful of research.
"Finance, quality and reputation are 3 factors that underpin decision-making in universities, and we were invited to discuss which of these 3 factors was the driver of a recent decision made in our institution.
"Barbara discussed the factors that distract senior leaders from IL development: new buildings, change management, finance control and special projects. But equally these could be opportunities for IL. e.g with change management, work with committees to ensure that information and digital literacy appear in job descriptions. It's important to join project boards, volunteer to be chair or take on another vital role, work with a range of stakeholders, publicise both internally and externally. It can be good to get external funding and recognition e.g. National Teaching Fellow (of the UK Higher Education Academy).
"Barbara spoke about how to convince a senior manager to take up your idea, and recommended a book by Charvet (1997) Words that change minds
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