Build Skills, Fight Censorship: IFLA’s Response to Fake News #WLIC2018

Build Skills, Fight Censorship: IFLA’s Response to Fake News was a statement published earlier this week, at the World Library and Information Congress in Kuala Lumpur, by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). This statement "reiterates the vital role libraries have in combating misinformation by providing the tools and skills to detect and recognize it. The expertise of librarians makes our institutions unique in their ability to help citizens to evaluate critically the information they find online." "In parallel, libraries combat censorship by defending free speech and freedom of information as a fundamental human right. The Statement underlines this role, and calls on governments to resist the temptation to implement far-reaching ‘bans’ which harm intellectual freedom."
It is available in |English, German, French, Arabic, Russian, Chinese and Spanish at https://www.ifla.org/node/67008

It also links to the popular existing IFLA infographic How to spot fake news, which is available for use freely, in many, many languages (see example here) at https://www.ifla.org/publications/node/11174

IFLA Statement On Copyright Education and #CopyrightLiteracy #WLIC2018

Earlier this week, at the World Library and Information Congress in Kuala Lumpur, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) published the IFLA Statement On Copyright Education and Copyright Literacy. It asserts the importance of copyright education and copyright literacy to the library and information profession (i.e. that members of the profession need to be copyright literate) and also librarians' role in educating and advocating in this area. It says that:
"Copyright literacy can be defined as sufficient copyright knowledge to be able to take well informed decisions on how to use copyrighted materials. It includes understanding the structure, functioning and implications of the copyright system, as laws, practices, and user expectations evolve. Copyright education is the process of developing and updating copyright literacy."
There are recommendations to Governments, librarians, educators of librarians and library associations. The statement is currently available in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese and Russian. https://www.ifla.org/node/67012
Photo by Sheila Webber: autumn flowers, Botanic gardens, Sheffield, August 2018

Fake News, Lies, and Propaganda

Angie Oerhli (University of Michigan) has made available material for a class Fake News, Lies, and Propaganda. There are slides presented at the LOEX conference in May 2018 Fake News, Lies, and a For-credit Class: Lessons Learned from Teaching a 7-Week Fake News Undergraduate Library Course. there is a link to the open Canvas version of the course, and embedded into the page linked below are materials which "include the lesson plans, slides, and homework assignments for each of the 7 weeks of the course". https://sites.google.com/umich.edu/library-fake-news/home
Photo by Sheila Webber: leaves starting to turn, Botanic Gardens, Sheffield, August 2018

Online course. New Directions in Information Literacy: Growing Our Teaching Practices

A priced online Library Juice Academy course is: New Directions in Information Literacy: Growing Our Teaching Practices. It is taught by Andrea Baer, and runs from September 3 to October 12, 2018. The cost is US $250. "This 6-week course is intended for librarians and graduate students who are either new to library instruction or who wish to strengthen their understandings of teaching information literacy as at once conceptual and process-oriented. Participants will explore the instructional roles of librarians and library services; the concept of information literacy, its evolution within libraries, and its relevance to librarianship; varying instructional approaches to information literacy; and instructional design principles and learning theories that can inform effective library instructional services. Participants will also apply their growing knowledge to developing their own teaching practices. Weekly discussions and assignments will focus on authentic tasks instruction librarians do in their work, such as communicating the meaning of information literacy and library instruction within a specific educational context, developing learning outcomes for an instruction session, developing a learning activity or lesson plan, and articulating one’s teaching philosophy through a teaching statement." Go to http://libraryjuiceacademy.com/099-new-directions-IL.php
Photo by Sheila Webber: another part of "water, Steel, Stone" by Joanna Whittle, Kelham island, Sheffield, August 2018

New books: Teaching tips and teaching through games

Andrew Walsh has published two books:
Walsh, A. (2018). The Mini Book of Teaching Tips for Librarians. 2nd Edition. ISBN: 978-1911500117 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mini-Book-Teaching-Tips-Librarians/dp/1911500112/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
"This mini-book (A6, 100 pages long) is the 2nd edition, roughly 50% longer than the first edition but still mini in size. It contains a series of teaching tips and ideas for librarians who train or teach. Most tips are just 1 page long, making it easy to dip into and get tips and ideas to improve your teaching."
Walsh, A. (2018). The librarians' book on teaching through games and play. ISBN: 978-1911500070 https://www.amazon.co.uk/librarians-book-teaching-through-games/dp/1911500074
"Aimed mainly at library workers, especially those who teach information skills to adults, this book contains many examples of games and playful interactions to help turn the information literacy classroom into a more playful space. It is aimed primarily at those in post-compulsory education, including Further and Higher Education, Health, Law, and workplace library settings, but it may also be useful in school libraries. Some theory behind the use of active learning, play, and games are covered to help readers use these approaches more effectively. Many of the games include links to full print and play versions online. It also includes a guide to creating non-digital educational games, and a more specific guide to creating educational escape rooms."
Photo by Sheila Webber: daisies in a garden, July 2018

#WLIC2018 streaming

The World Library and Information Congress (IFLA conference) starts on Saturday 25 August, and they are streaming some of the sessions. Also watch out for the Twitter on
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23wlic2018&src=typd The conference is in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and the times below are given in local time: as indicated, this is UTC (or GMT) time + eight hours. As an example, I'm in the UK which is currently on UTC (or GMT) + 1 hour, so the "highlights" session would be 01.30-02.15 UK time: if in doubt look at the world clock at https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/
As well as the opening and closing sessions, there are:
- IFLA Highlights Session (Sunday 26 August from 08:30 – 09:15 UTC+8)
- IFLA President's Session (Sunday 26 August from 09:30 – 12:45 UTC+8)
- IFLA Global Vision Session (Sunday 26 August from 13:45 – 15:45 UTC+8)
- From Data to Advocacy: Using Digital Tools Like the IFLA Library Map of the World to Communicate Your Library Stories, by the Statistics and Evaluation Section (Saturday 25 August from 13:45 – 15:45 UTC+8)
- Intellectual Freedom in a Polarised World by the IFLA FAIFE Advisory Committee (Sunday 26 August from 16:00 – 18:00 UTC+8)
- What’s Up with eLending? organised jointly by the eLending Working Party and the Public Libraries Section (Wednesday 29 August from 08:30 – 10:30 UTC+8)
- Win-Win: building strong education, training and continuing professional development together with strong library associations co-organised by the IFLA MLAS and CPDWL Sections (Wednesday 29 August from 10:45 – 12:45 UTC+8).
The list and streaming links are at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLV81siTMahbvw99qaHu8EfD0D7cb5SwKX

#ECIL2018 programme published

The detailed programme for the European Conference on Information Literacy, being held in Oulu, Finland, next month, is online. I am involved in three presentations:
- What's My Approach? Deciding on the approach to use for your research (a workshop) (Sheila Webber and Pamela Ann McKinney)
- Researching Information in Everyday Life: The contribution of Autoethnography and Information Grounds Theory (Sheila Webber, Bill Johnston)
- Exploring the information world of non-resident informal carers (Sheila Webber, Pamela Ann McKinney)
My colleague Pam McKinney is also presenting
- The data and information literacy of runners: quantifying diet and activity (Pamela Ann McKinney, Andrew Cox, Laura Sbaffi)
I can only attend for the last 2 days, but Pam will be there for the whole conference, and Pam and I will both be liveblogging!
Additionally, my colleague Professor Peter Bath is presenting one of the keynotes Information behaviour in online health forums: the importance of trust and empathy in sharing information, experiences and emotions
Programme at https://www.conftool.pro/ecil2018/sessions.php

Webinar 29 Aug: Setting Healthy “Digital Boundaries” and: Zombies in the library

Upcoming in the free Carterette Webinar Series (past recordings here https://gla.georgialibraries.org/carterette-series-webinars-archives/), on 29 August 2018 (at 2pm US Eastern time, which is 7pm UK time), is a double bill Setting Healthy “Digital Boundaries”: Instruction Aimed at the Reflective Use of Technology by College Students (Amber Loos, Assessment and User Experience Librarian and Associate Professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale) and Bring Your Brains: Information Literacy & Zombies in the Library! (Amanda Roper, Resource Sharing and Library Communications Specialist at Brenau University in Gainesville, Georgia.) Register at http://goo.gl/ehjdCd
Setting Healthy “Digital Boundaries”: Instruction Aimed at the Reflective Use of Technology by College Students "Research has shown college students are susceptible to burnout as a result of too much digital technology use and that higher digital technology usage is correlated with lower GPA. Librarians can play a pivotal role in teaching students how to periodically "unplug" from the digital world in order to improve their academic performance. This portion of the webinar will highlight the development of a "digital wellness" program within one academic library's existing framework of educational offerings (i.e., stand-alone graduate workshops on the topic, a module for undergraduate information literacy courses)."
Bring Your Brains: Information Literacy & Zombies in the Library! "In this section of the webinar, we'll discuss how we put our brains together to reanimate Brenau University's First Year Experience by incorporating information literacy as an essential component. We worked to engage core First Year Experience faculty, crafted learning outcomes, and developed a Zombies in the Library Game to engage student learners through gamification. ... Join us as we discuss our successes, challenges, and creative process."
Photo by Sheila Webber: Grinder cafe, Sheffield, July 2018

News Literacy Project and Checkology

Another resource aiming to help younger people engage with news information critically, I think chiefly supported by those in journalism (and also by Facebook). The North American News Literacy Project https://newslit.org/ has announced that their Checkology resource has been refreshed. "The News Literacy Project is a national education nonprofit offering nonpartisan, independent programs that teach students how to know what to believe in the digital age."
Checkology has a series of online lessons/tutorials. You can sign up as a student or teacher. I did get part way through teacher registration, but whilst you can identify yourself as from a country outside the USA it insists on you selecting a US state and then a corresponding school district, which I found irritating. However I assume you can put in a false location to get registered and I might try it again later.
It says that students will learn to: "Categorize information; Make and critique news judgments; Explore how the press and citizens can each act as watchdogs; Detect and categorize misinformation; Interpret and apply the First Amendment; Compare the ways that different countries protect or restrict press freedom; Identify logical fallacies and evaluate arguments; Investigate the impact of personalization algorithms; Evaluate bias and learn about confirmation bias". The website is at https://checkology.org/
I found out about it from a press release at https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/fact-checking-the-future-the-news-literacy-project-expands-online-classroom-for-youth-1027462117
Photo by Sheila Webber: the sea, Brighton, July 2018

Threshold Achievement Test for Information Literacy (TATIL)

The Threshold Achievement Test for Information Literacy (TATIL) has been released. It has four "modules" (tests) that "can be completed in 50 minutes or less" using internet-connected computers. Each "module" is "inspired by one or more of the frames of the ACRL IL Framework." The modules are Evaluating Process & Authority (“Information Creation as a Process” and “Authority is Constructed and Contextual”); Strategic Searching (“Searching as Strategic Exploration”); Research & Scholarship (“Research as Inquiry” and “Scholarship as a Conversation”); The Value of Information (“Information Has Value”). There is a brochure with a list of the outcomes, performance indicators, and dispositions that each test aims to assess. The tests are priced: you pay per-student, and there are various options for results' reporting.
TATIL was developed with the aid of an advisory board of librarians etc., and they have been working on it for several years. https://thresholdachievement.com/
Photo by Sheila Webber: a London garden, July 2018

Disinformation Resilience Index

At the end of July 2018 a report was published giving the Disinformation Resilience Index for various countries, published on the Ukrainian Prism website. The organisation is a " a network-based non-governmental analytical center that specializes in foreign policy and international security issues". I have done limited verification myself on it, but at any rate the idea of Disinformation Resilience and the reports themselves are worth a look.
They say "The aim of this research is to assess the level of resilience to foreign, foremost Kremlin-led, disinformation in 14 countries of Eastern and Central Europe, including the Visegrad states (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia), Eastern Partnership countries (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine), Baltic states, and Romania. Based on an analysis of data collected by the EU’s East StratCom Task Force in its Disinformation Reviews, four basic categories of disinformation were singled out, namely: a ) unsourced or falsified claims; b ) non-credible claims with sources; c ) claims based on earlier unsourced or non-credible claims; and, d ) conspiracy theories." (p7)
The Index is composed of three factors (see page 16 of the report) (A) Population exposure to Kremlin-led media (B) Quality of systematic responses e.g. Media community regulations (C) Vulnerability to digital warfare (e.g. Presence of debunking initiatives). The Index is quantified for each country, and interviews and desk research were used as well to compile narrative reports for each country. Sadly, whilst Media Literacy is included as a section for each country (with media literacy initiatives being seen as part of the "systematic responses" indicator) they do not seem to have looked at the presence or absence of Information Literacy.
From this page http://prismua.org/en/dri-cee/ you can view online or (link at the top) download the pdf
Photo by Sheila Webber: dog in Greenwich Park, July 2018

New articles: school standards and IL; Collaboration; Syllabi; Active learning and IL

The latest issue of The Journal of Academic Librarianship (volume 44 issue 4) (priced publication) includes:
- The New National School Library Standards: Implications for Information Literacy Instruction in Higher Education by Caitlin Gerrity
- Bridging the Great Divide: Librarian-faculty Collaboration in Selected Higher Institutions in Lagos State Nigeria by Adefunke O. Alabi
- Play On? Comparing Active Learning Techniques for Information Literacy Instruction in the Public Speaking Course by Jennifer L. Bonnet, Liliana Herakova, Ben McAlexander
- Following the arc of learning: Using syllabi to target instruction in a professional graduate program by B. Grantham Aldred
Go to https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/the-journal-of-academic-librarianship/vol/44/issue/4
Photo by Sheila Webber: crow on Blackheath, London, July 2018

Recent articles: information literacy and workplace learning

Middleton, L., Hall, H., Muir, L., and Raeside, R. (2018, November). The interaction between people, information and innovation: information literacy to underpin innovative work behaviour in a Finnish organisation. Paper presented at ASIS&T 2018 Annual Meeting, Vancouver. (open access)  https://www.napier.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/research-search/outputs/the-interaction-between-people-information-and-innovation-information-literacy-to#downloads
"Investigated in this paper is the role of information literacy in the learning of innovative work behaviour in the workplace, and the associated information behaviours that allow for innovative work behaviour to develop.... The findings derive from analysis of data generated in twelve semi-structured interviews conducted within a Finnish organisation.... The analysis reveals that: (1) information literacy skills serve as a prerequisite for workplace learning; (2) information behaviours support the learning of innovative work behaviour and; (3) a variety of information sources support employees as they learn to behave innovatively."

Ain, C.T., Sabir, F. and Willison, J. (2018, early access publication). Research skills that men and women developed at university and then used in workplaces. Studies in Higher Education. (open access) https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2018.1496412
"This qualitative study probed the mismatch between graduates’ and employers’ perspectives, especially in regard to graduates’ learning orientation and investigating skills". The Research Skills Development framework which they use consists of: "Embark and clarify: embark on research and clarify the needs for knowledge, heeding ethical, cultural, and social factors; Find and generate: find information and generate relevant data, using discipline-appropriate methods; Evaluate and reflect: evaluate information and data and reflect on processes used: Organise and manage: organize information and manage the processes of research: Analyse and synthesise: analyze information and data, and synthesize new knowledge; Communicate and apply: communicate and apply new knowledge, conscious of ethical, cultural and social adaptation and flexibility."
This is interesting research, but I do find it surprising that they not only ignore research to do with information literacy & workplace learning, but they also scarcely mention Inquiry Based Learning which would seem very relevant to this framework.
Photo by Sheila Webber: Kelham Island Museum, Sheffield, July 2018

Digital Literacy Resource Platform (Berkman Klein Center)

There was a lot of publicity in the past week about Facebook launching a Digital Literacy Library that aimed to help people educate children about safe and responsible use of social media etc. However, it also received criticism for leaving out some topic areas and also for material literally being missing (see e.g. the article by Rachel Kaser). The main problem I have encountered is that it just says "Sorry, this content isn't available right now" when I try to access it (so I am leaving out the web address until it seems stable).

However, as I understand it (as far as I can, since I can't actually find the Facebook resources) Facebook have substantially reused resources from the larger resource offered as the Digital Literacy Resource Platform by the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. These resources are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license, so are worth knowing about anyway.

On the home screen there are topics (e.g. "Digital access" "Data Literacy" "Artifical Intelligence" "Positive behaviour") and if you click through each has one or more units. Then each unit is a page with learning goals, links to resources, and suggested activities and assignments. There is a topic "Information Literacy" but it has a very large number of units (none of them explaining what information literacy is) so to be honest that section looks rather random. I think that each unit was tagged with all the subjects that apply, so (and I would not disagree with this, obviously!) a lot were tagged with IL.

However, I think overall the units are worth investigating as they are consistently and concisely presented, with some interesting subjects (e.g. using the digital space for advocacy) and useful links and teaching suggestions.
It says the Berkman site was produced by "a network of collaborators for curating and producing new tools. Our network includes MIT Scratch, New York Public Library, Press Pass TV, NuVu, the Engagement Game Lab, the Walnut Hill School, iKeepSafe, the National Writing Project, and WGBH" It's at https://dlrp.berkman.harvard.edu/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Dog in Greenwich Park, July 2018

CILIP Definition of Information Literacy

The UK's CILIP Information Literacy Group (ILG) are keen to promote the new CILIP Definition of Information Literacy, and have produced posters and a postcard featuring the definition (see right for an example). You can download them here: https://infolit.org.uk/help-us-share-the-new-cilip-definition-of-information-literacy/

What does Facebook know about you? short online course

There is a short free online course led by Simon Knight and Kirsty Kitto, University of Technology (UTS), Sydney: What does Facebook know about you? It says you will: Find out what data Facebook has about you, with hands-on exercise and tools; Learn what your data says about you, and how that can be used to influence you; Gain practical insight into issues of privacy and data ethics; and (the promotional bit!) Gain a taster of how we work in the UTS Master of Data and Science Innovation.
I didn't work through it all, but enough to see that it has short videos and quizzes/ surveys and links and guidance on tools you can use to discover more about your online footprint/shadow. They don't require much information about you when you sign up, so it is something you could also incorporate into teaching. Go to https://open.uts.edu.au/facebookknowyou.html - embedded below is the teaser video.

Presentations from the Health Libraries Group conference: health literacy; evidence-base; IL training; searching, and more

Presentations from the (UK) Health Libraries Group conference (June 2018) have been put online at https://www.cilip.org.uk/members/group_content_view.asp?group=200697&id=746075
There are lots of informative presentations, including:
- Collecting meaningful feedback on information literacy (IL) training: results of a project to evaluate feedback methods: Zoe Thomas, Assistant Librarian (Information Services), London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
- Literature searching peer review in practice: enhancing the skills of searchers: Rachel Playforth, Assistant Librarian (Knowledge Management), Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust
- Introduction to health literacy: awareness, skills and resources: Ruth Carlyle, Head of Library & Knowledge Services and TEL, Midlands and East, Health Education England
- High tech and low tech approaches to interactive information skills teaching: YiWen Hon, Knowledge Resources Manager, Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust
- Quality and reporting of literature search strategies in systematic reviews (SR) published by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine affiliated authors: Jane Falconer, User Support Services Librarian, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
- How an activity-based Journal Club has been used to help staff and students improve their confidence at reading scientific papers: Katy Oak, Librarian, Royal Cornwall Hospitals Library and Catriona Organ, Librarian, Cornwall Health Library
- Peer teaching and information retrieval: the role of the NICE Evidence search student champion scheme: Dr Laura Sbaffi, Lecturer in Health Informatics, Sheffield University and Anne Weist, Education Manager, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
- Epistemic lenses and virtues, beyond evidence-based medicine (it says on the site that the title is "Encouraging clinicians to source evidence-based material and share decisions with patients" but the presentation is interestingly more critical in its perspective) Dr Mark Murphy, Academic General Practitioner & Lecturer in Department of General Practice, Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland
- Synthesising and summarising the evidence in practice: Rachel Steele, Clinical Librarian, Tees, Esk & Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust and Gillian Foster, Clinical Information Specialist, NHS Digital
- Transparent, comprehensive and reproducible searching to minimise risk of bias in systematic reviews (SRs): how information specialists and librarians contribute to improving review quality and minimising research waste: Kate Misso, Information Specialist Manager, Kleijnen Systematic Reviews Ltd.
- Supporting a diverse workforce - strategies to improve digital and information literacy in health and social services in Scotland: Katie Edwards, Knowledge Manager, NHS Education for Scotland
- #ukmedlibs: Twitter chats and continuing professional development: Tom Roper, Clinical Librarian, Brighton and Sussex NHS Library and Knowledge Service, Holly Case Wyatt, Library and Knowledge Development Lead, Health Education England London and South East and Samantha Burgess, Library Service Manager, Hampshire Healthcare Library Service
- Is anybody out there? Using interactive peer review methods in online Information Literacy (IL) teaching to encourage engagement, provide feedback, and support learning for distance learners: Zoe Thomas, Assistant Librarian (Information Services), London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Photo by Sheila Webber: In Greenwich Park, July 2018

Reuters Digital News Report and News Literacy

In June the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism published the 2018 Reuters Digital news report. It is based on research carried out by the market research organisation YouGov, with 74,000 respondents in 37 countries (in Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific) to an online questionnaire. There were also focus groups held in the USA, Germany, Brazil and the UK. A particular focus was trust and misinformation. Snippets from the main findings:
"Across all countries, the average level of trust in the news in general remains relatively stable at 44%, with just over half (51%) agreeing that they trust the news media they themselves use most of the time. By contrast, 34% of respondents say they trust news they find via search and fewer than a quarter (23%) say they trust the news they find in social media."
Elsewhere they note that the trend towards using social media for news seems to be declining for the first time. However use of some platforms, such as Whatsapp, has increased. Those in Finland and Portugal trusted the news most (both 62%), whilst, of the countries surveyed, Greece (26%) and South Korea (25%) had least trust.
There are some interesting observations in the report on the focus groups e.g. "Looking at our survey results, we find that when consumers talk about ‘fake news’ they are often just as concerned about poor journalism, clickbait, or biased/spun journalism. Indeed, this is the type of misrepresentation that they say they are most often exposed to (42%)." There is also insight into people's opinions on "alternative" news sites in the four different countries that had focus groups, and it seems like the type of "alternative site varies by country.
One section is on News Literacy (http://www.digitalnewsreport.org/survey/2018/the-impact-of-greater-news-literacy/) which they calculated using three questions: Which of the following news outlets does not primarily depend on advertising for financial support? Which of the following is typically responsible for writing a press release? How are most of the individual decisions about what news stories to show people on Facebook made? (go to the site to see the options they provided). They then correlated the results with some of the other questions and discovered that: people with higher news literacy had a higher preference for newspapers and newspaper websites, are more likely to consider credibility indicators of news on social media, and consume news from a range of sources. They are also less likely to trust information from search engines and social media.
The section on disinformation and misinformation is also interesting (http://www.digitalnewsreport.org/survey/2018/misinformation-and-disinformation-unpacked/) with different proportions of people concerned about specific types of misinformation in different countries (the types that were asked about were: Stories where facts are twisted to push an agenda; Stories that are completely made up for commercial or political reasons; Poor journalism; The use of the term fake news to discredit news media; Headlines that look like news but turn out to be adverts; Satire). Another point was that people perceived misinformation offline, not just online: "It is striking that there is little difference in self-reported exposure to misinformation between those that mainly consume news offline and those that mainly consume news online (though in most cases exposure online is slightly higher). This runs counter to the frequent tendency in public discussions to associate misinformation with online media."
The whole report is at http://www.digitalnewsreport.org/
Photo buy Sheila Webber: Palace Pier, July 2018

New articles: Library and Information Research

The open access journal Library and Information Research has just published its latest issue (Volume 42, Number 126). It includes the articles:
- Emergence of a new method: The Grounded Delphi method by Katherine Jane Howard
- Approaches for investigating university libraries as learning organisations by Saowapha Limwichitr, Judith Broady-Preston, David Ellis
- Methodologies for conducting research in an indigenous context by Spencer Lilley
Go to the issue contents page at https://www.lirgjournal.org.uk/index.php/lir/issue/view/77
Photo by Sheila Webber: my hydrangea, August 2018

Survey on academic librarians’ perceptions and implementation of the ACRL Framework

John Siegel is conducting a research into academic librarians’ perceptions and implementation of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy. I imagine it is implicitly aimed at North American librarians, since the criteria for inclusion are "you provide library instruction at an academic library and have an ALA-accredited master’s degree in library and information science (i.e. MLS/MLIS) or recognized equivalent" (though e.g. CILIP-accredited UK qualifications are recognised by the ALA). The survey is at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/acrlframeworkperceptions

Information Literacy in the ASEAN Region and Beyond

Registration is open for the IFLA Information Literacy Section WLIC Satellite Meeting: Information Literacy in the ASEAN Region and Beyond which takes place at the Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 23 August 2018. It is free, but pre-registration is required and places are limited to 50. Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe, Chair of the IFLA Information Literacy Section, leads "a day-long basic training opportunity related to information literacy teaching in libraries. Topics will include instructional design, teaching strategies, assessment, and ongoing professional development. The satellite meeting will be structured as a collaborative and interactive workshop. Lunch and break snacks will be provided." More information, and registration, at https://unikllib.wordpress.com/2018/07/23/register-now-ifla-information-literacy-section-satellite-meeting-23-august-2018/. It looks like deadline for registration is 10 August 2018.
Photo by Sheila Webber: part of "water, Steel, Stone" by Joanna Whittle, Kelham island, Sheffield, August 2018

Ibero-America Information Literacy / Alfabetización Informacional en Iberoamérica #alfin

The wiki Alfabetización Informacional en Iberoamérica: estado del arte / Ibero-America Information Literacy: state of the art has been relocated (as the old platform, Wikispaces, has ceased). The wiki includes the Havana declaration in hispanic languages, overviews, and many links to resources relating to specific countries, and is a key resource for the region. http://alfineniberoamerica.wikidot.com/
There is also an open-access book which compiles the main content from the site, at http://eprints.rclis.org/33206/. The graphic is the project logo.

Undertaking an information needs assessment

A useful resource I came across recently is Undertaking an information needs assessment -a practice guide, which was produced by the UK Health Forum, Research and Information Services team in July 2016. As well as describing steps in carrying out such an assessment (including consideration of ethical issues) there is a short literature review and an Excel file with questions you might ask if part of the assessment is a questionnaire. This "question bank" file is particularly useful as it addresses four different areas (demographics, information needs & resources, organisational culture & service, skills and training) and they have drawn on previous research studies to identify valid options that you might offer for each question in multiple-choice questionnaires. "Information needs" studies do not seem so fashionable as "User experience" studies but are obviously still very important.
http://www.ukhealthforum.org.uk/prevention/pie/?entryid43=55924
Photo by Sheila Webber: roses, Lewes, July 2018