Pam McKinney live blogging from the LILAC conference. Vicky Grant and team from the university of Sheffield presented about information and digital literacy (IDL) at the university and the research approach (action research) used to strategically plan, analyse and evaluate their activity. There is a 5 year strategic planning cycle at the university, and IDL was well represented in the 2015 strategic plan. The library used action research and appreciative inquiry to develop an information and digital literacy framework that drew on the ACRL framework. Participatory action research with students and academics was used to develop subject-specific aspects of the framework. They presented some reflections from this process: students don’t always understand the range of resources available, the support from the library is excellent, there needs to be better integration with feedback mechanisms on turnitin, graduates are at an advantage if they have strong IDL skills, support needs to be integrated into the curriculum. There is a greater need for consistency across programmes, and for IDL to be embedded. The offer from the library was a little fragmented from the other attribute development at the university. The terminology was not familiar to students, but they are willing to engage with it, so they put a lot of thought into that language used to present the IDL offer. Reading list provision, fully integrated into the VLE has the potential to support students effectively with their learning.
Action research is a methodology for achieving change, and it’s widely used in professional contexts. It encourages reflective practice. Participatory action research encourages librarians to work WITH students and other stakeholders. Currently the library is focusing on the “portfolio” aspect of the strategic plan, and using this to develop approaches to creating more effective reading lists. They identified a need for more consistency, and for more digital resource promotion. Previously there were delays in getting reading lists online for students, and the process wasn’t working. Initially more staff were used to create reading lists, but the team then reflected on the needs for academics to have more autonomy in the creation of their own reading lists, and produced a lot of guidance for academic staff on how to use the online system. They were also able to give academics more information about how students were using their reading lists. They are working towards 100% adoption of legs to reading lists across the university.
Another strategic priority for the university is around employability, and there is a clear role for IDL in this space. The student skills and Employability group was established which defined the strategic plan and the library was a key member of this. Terminology used was different, often academics and students referred to “research skills” , “critical thinking” and “digital capability”. While the term IDL isn’t used in the graduate attributes, all the 6 aspects of the library’s IDL framework are present. They used the new university visual identity for skills development in the library provision. There was a noticeable increase in the number of students signing up to the library workshops, so the team are convinced that the change in language helped students engage with the library offer.
Alongside this, the university launched a new reflective platform for students to record their development called “my skills”. Changing the language used to talk about IDL enabled the library to more immediately link in with this agenda, and provide better support for students.
Now the team is working on refreshing the library’s research skills and critical thinking offer, through using more student-centred language. There is increased support for students as creators of information, and further integration of critical literacy.
The next steps for digital capability is for the library collaborate with many other departments to refresh the concept of the digital commons, and create a multidisciplinary space for digital skill building. The library is aiming to be reflective and responsive. Tapping into the student voice has been vital. While COVID was really disruptive, it’s been a catalyst for the embedding of the library offer into teaching as a whole, and working as part of a “one university” approach.
Language is important, in a professional context they would still use the term information literacy.
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