Merry Christmas!

A happy and information literate Christmas to all readers of the Information Literacy Weblog!
The photo is of the Christmas wreath I made this year, December 2025, as usual using lower branches from the tree.

Recent articles: Students using TikTok and ChatGPT for information

 - Brookbank, E. (2025). Is TikTok the new Google? How college students use TikTok to search for information. The Reference Librarian, 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/02763877.2025.2554874   
- Shuhas, E. & Forte, A. (2025). ChatGPT is actually my friend: Understanding the information behavior of university students interacting with AI chatbots. In Companion Publication of the 2025 Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW Companion '25). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA. (pp.282–287). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3715070.3749239
Photo by Sheila Webber: Christmas wreath at number 23, December 2025

News Integrity in AI Assistants

BBC & European Broadcasting Union. (2025). News Integrity in AI Assistants TOOLKIT. European Broadcasting Union. https://www.ebu.ch/files/live/sites/ebu/files/Publications/MIS/open/EBU-MIS-BBC_News_Integrity_in_AI_Assistants_Toolkit_2025.pdf 
An "AI Assistant" seems to mean any generative AI tool. This toolkit addresses the questions What makes a good AI assistant response to a news question? & What are the problems that need to be fixed?  It describes "four key components of a good AI assistant response" "1. Accuracy: is the information provided by the AI assistant correct?" "2. Providing context: is the AI assistant providing all relevant and necessary information?" "3. Distinguishing opinion from fact: is the AI assistant clear whether the information it is providing is fact or opinion?" "4. Sourcing: is the AI assistant clear and accurate about where the information it provides comes from?" 
It also gives many examples of how things go wrong - drawing on results from the report referenced below. The toolkit is meant for tech companies, media companies and their stakeholders. 
I found this via: Archer, P. & De Tender, J.P. (2025, October). News Integrity in AI Assistants: An international PSM study. European Broadcasting Union. https://www.ebu.ch/files/live/sites/ebu/files/Publications/MIS/open/EBU-MIS-BBC_News_Integrity_in_AI_Assistants_Report_2025.pdf 
PSM = Public Service Media. Thanks to the MILA newsletter that highlighted that report.
Photo by Sheila Webber: part of the "Dear Library" exhibition at the National Library of Scotland, December 2025. Visitors are asked to categorise a variety of European initiatives.

Call for proposals: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries International Conference

There is a call for proposals for the 18th Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries International Conference (QQML2026), which takes place 26-29 May 2026 in Bucharest, Romania and online. The deadline is 3 January 2026. 
You can propose Special and Contributed Sessions, Oral Papers, Best Practices, Workshops and Posters. This year's main theme is Participating in, Collaborating, Entertaining: the Humankind in the Future Library.
More details at http://qqml.org/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Dear Library and Dear Reader letters, National Library of Scotland exhibition, December 2025

Integrating Media and Information Literacy (MIL) in Ethiopia

UNESCO has issued a press release about the UNESCO Addis Ababa Liaison Office convening a "High-Level Roundtable Policy Dialogue ...focused on advancing the integration of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) into Ethiopia’s national policies and strategies." (The new Digital Ethopia Strategy is here). Go to https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/ethiopia-toward-embedding-media-and-information-literacy-national-policies-and-strategies

Information Literacy with Becky Miller

Episode 7 of Thomas Jefferson University's The Learning Curve podcast (24 minutes) featured Information Literacy with Becky Miller "a discussion around Information Literacy and how to utilize the ACRL framework in order to help educators and students develop their skills regarding research and enhance critical thinking."
Find it at https://academiccommons.jefferson.edu/thelearningcurve/7.cfm
Image created by Sheila webber using Midjourney AI

IFLA Information Literacy Section

The latest issue (2025 Winter) of the IFLA Information Literacy Section Newsletter has been published. 
"The first section focuses on information literacy innovations in higher education, highlighting how academic libraries in Singapore, China, India, and Iran are advancing information and AI literacy through localized and innovative practices. The second section explores information literacy in primary education, with case studies from Croatia and South Africa that illustrate both creative approaches and real-world challenges in school contexts. The third section presents insights from international conferences, featuring key discussions from ECIL 2025 and the Information Literacy Section Satellite Meeting at WLIC 2025." 
Lots of interest! You can download the 40 page newsletter free, here: https://repository.ifla.org/handle/20.500.14598/6961
Photo by Sheila Webber: lego library in the "Dear Library" exhibition, National Library of Scotland, December 2025

Recording: Teach Yourself! Information Literacy History, Theory, and Techniques

There is a recording (with chat transcript) of Esther Grassian's webinar on Teach Yourself! Information Literacy History, Theory, and Techniques that was held earlier this month as part of the LILi Show and Tell series. 
"This session focused on reviewing Esther Grassian's shared 2019 UCLA graduate Information Literacy Instruction (ILI) course materials in order to understand their overall structure, purpose, and pedagogical approach as a means of helping you improve your own teaching and learning." The course materials are linked on the page.
The recording is here on the LILi site https://lili.libguides.com/c.php?g=1183429&p=11267471 and there are also recordings of previous webinars (e.g. one on Misinformation Inoculation in Teaching Information Literacy earlier this year)

Webinar: TILTing Research Assignments

There is a free webinar TILTing Research Assignments on 15 January 2026 at 15.00-16.00 US EST (which is 20.00-21.00 GMT), part of the Meaningful Inquiry series at Ohio State University. "This online workshop introduces the Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) framework and provides an activity for you to consider how you might apply this framework to your own teaching practice." 
Registration for this event is at https://osu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_QQxBnmyzTOSm_uMeDfaFiQ#/registration and information about the series is at https://u.osu.edu/meaningfulinquiry/spring-2026-meaningful-inquiry-workshops/
Photo by Sheila Webber: apples on my tress (red devils), October 2025

Voices Festival

The 3rd Voices Festival (free and in person) will take place 10-12 March 2026 in Florence (in the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino), Italy. The focus is on disinformation, media literacy and press freedom. They target "journalists, media professionals, students, and curious people" but the themes are also relevant to information literacy, in my view!
The organisers are the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (lead partner), the European Federation of Journalists, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), the AISBL EBU-UER, the European Association for Viewers Interests, Lie Detectors, Savoir Devenir, and Deutsche Welle. Last year the details were released frustratingly late, but it is an interesting event that you might want to keep track of.
There are also awards for journalism and for media literacy. Information at https://voicesfestival.eu/about/

Media Literacy in the UK

An open-access article: Polizzi, G., D’Arcy, J., Harris, R., Yates, S., & Yeoman, F. (2025). Media literacy provision from the perspective of policymakers and civil society organisations in five areas of the UK: a case study approach. Learning, Media and Technology, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2025.2572624 
This was an Ofcom-funded research project: "media literacy is here understood as incorporating not just functional digital skills and knowledge but also, as captured by the concept of critical digital literacy, the ability to critically evaluate online content and the broader digital environment" (i.e. it overlaps with information literacy, though the authors don't say that). 
They interviewed "policymakers and representatives of civil society organisations tasked with media literacy provision" in Birmingham and the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, Scotland, and Wales (I think describing Scotland and Wales as "areas" was rather broad, given the very different situations in different parts of those home nations!). 
One of the notable findings was that "all [initiatives were] primarily concerned with digital inclusion, with media literacy piggybacking on them" and there is also the "limited, short-term, and often prescriptive" nature of Government funding. Some examples of successful strategies are identified.
Photo by Sheila Webber: bandstand and tower of arts, Sheffield, November, 2025

Media and Information Literacy in the Caribbean

A recent press release gives some information about the Small Island Developing States Inclusive Initiative on Media and Information Literacy in the Caribbean (SIM Caribbean), a collaboration between the UNESCO Office for the Caribbean and five Member States (Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines).
Go to  https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/unesco-kicks-sim-caribbean-online-dialogue-media-and-information-literacy
Photo by Sheila Webber: bridge statue, Amsterdam, November 2025

Webinar (Spanish language) on OER for teaching information literacy

On 10 December 2025 at 11.00 Mexican time (17.00 GMT) there is a Spanish language webinar focusing on a Spanish-language open educational resource (OER) about teaching information literacy. This is the output from a project involving four Mexican and one North American institution: information about the project (ALFIN sin fronteras - Information Literacy without borders) is at https://alfinsinfronteras.org/ (in Spanish).
"Este REA [recurso educativo abierto] llamado ALFIN tu puerta al conocimiento [Information Literacy: your gateway to knowledge] es una herramienta para enseñar los conceptos básicos de alfabetización informacional a estudiantes universitarios. Si desean aprender más pueden ver el sitio web del proyecto (alfinsinfronteras.org) y asistir nuestra presentación ante la Red BAALC (Bibliotecas Académicas de América Latina y el Caribe)"
The webinar can be joined on Zoom here and there is a YouTube livestream at https://youtube.com/live/GtxfS8bzan8

Recent articles: Collaborating on teaching IL for marketing; IL in journalism; Citizen diplomats

- McGowan, B.S. (2025). Cultivating citizen diplomats: information diplomacy as pedagogy in contested information environments. Information and Learning Sciences [early online publication]. https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-01-2025-0001 (open access)

- Bates, M., & Whitver, S. M. (2025). Negotiating discomfort: Learning from teaching library instruction in unfamiliar contexts. The Reference Librarian, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/02763877.2025.2583122 (priced) 

- Mross, E.L., & Bartholomew, d. (2025). A Joint Effort: Librarians and Faculty Teaching Undergraduate Students Marketing Research Skills Using an Information Literacy Instruction Approach. Pennyslvania Libraries: Research & Practice, 13(2), https://doi.org/10.5195/palrap.2025.316 (open access) "This case study details a semester-long research project using an embedded information literacy instruction (ILI) approach using a two-part library instruction series. This program helped students learn how to conduct marketing research using licensed and free business intelligence resources in an introduction to marketing course to complete a semester-long, two-part marketing plan. ... The embedded librarian approach contributed to grade increases between parts one and two of the assignment."
Photo by Sheila Webber: lost cap, November 2025: part of the lost item series

The information literacy of Christmas Puddings

It's that time of year, and I was searching for my mother's Christmas Pudding recipe (which I archived on this blog in 2015): googling information literacy christmas pudding. Seeking the link I wanted, my eye was caught by the "AI overview", which, to my surprise, had attempted to cobble together something about information literacy as applied to Christmas Puddings.
Can I do better than Google Gemini? I rather think I can!

Christmas puddings: through the lens of the ACRL Information Literacy Framework
All quotations in blue are from the Framework

Authority Is Constructed and Contextual
Here we have to consider both the pudding itself and the recipe. So, who is an authority for recipes? There are several candidates: celebrity chefs (high citation counts), recipes from the earliest days of festive puddings (historical accuracy), the first hit you get when searching christmas pudding recipes (algorithmic calculation), your mother's recipe (she's your mother).
Now, ACRL tells us that we must "view authority with an attitude of informed skepticism and an openness to new perspectives, additional voices, and changes in schools of thought." Therefore we ought to look at other people's mothers' recipes, recipes that have none of the ingredients you'd expect to find in a pudding, dubious-looking recipes from the 1960s, and the last recipe to be posted on tiktok. However, at the end of the day, "the information need may help to determine the level of authority required." I want a recipe that will deliver a pudding I know I like to eat, so my mother's recipe it is.
It will be a similar process in deciding "who is the authority who decides that this is the best pudding?" If they are a jury member at the International Taste Institute they must know a thing or two about good food, as must the head buyer responsible for seasonal desserts at a leading supermarket chain. The Consumers' Association is bound to have conducted tests, with proper criteria and everything and with my expert googling powers I can identify the "Christmas puddings: ranked" articles in all media outlets and see which is consistently top.
Once again, though, information literates "recognize that unlikely voices can be authoritative, depending on need." Thus, deficient though I am in any cookery qualification, I determine that the ultimate authority for judging "is this pudding nice?" is - me.

Research as Inquiry
Information literate learners "appreciate that a question may appear to be simple but still disruptive and important to research". Therefore they will find the question "What is a Christmas pudding, anyway?" meaningful and worthy of inquiry. In pursuing this, they will "maintain an open mind and a critical stance" (is it even a pudding?), "demonstrate intellectual humility" (admit they know nothing of the history of cooking) and "seek appropriate help when needed" (what does Wikipedia say about puddings?)

Information Has Value
As we all know, information has "several dimensions of value, including as a commodity, as a means of education, as a means to influence, and as a means of negotiating and understanding the world." The information contained in my mother's Christmas Pudding recipe can educate you about what a woman born in the 1920s thought should go into a Christmas Pudding (it is not, for example, vegetarian). It could be valuable if you use the recipe to produce the expensive commodity of Fortnum & Mason's' luxury pudding for non-vegetarians and make a tidy profit. You may think there is social capital in proving that your mother could cook. Also, "Experts understand that value may be wielded by powerful interests in ways that marginalize certain voices": so they will know that Elon Musk's (2025) Super-duper seasonal recipes book is not value for money, ignoring, as it does, the Christmas Pudding recipes of ordinary working people.

Scholarship as Conversation
"Communities of scholars, researchers, or professionals engage in sustained discourse with new insights and discoveries occurring over time as a result of varied perspectives and interpretations."
Indeed, debates about what should go in a Christmas pudding, what recipes are used in different countries, how you cook it (steamed, boiled or microwaved?), what it symbolises etc. etc. rage, in humble kitchens and in the ivory towers of academe. See, for example, Brieger et al. (2014), Chevalier (2018), Williams (1897), or Young (2005).
Should one even be eating this embodiment of one's colonial past? Discuss.

Information Creation as a Process
It certainly is! You can't just think up a successful recipe without going through a process. You have to "look to the underlying processes of creation as well as the final product to critically evaluate the usefulness of the information." Critical questions are "Did this cook actually taste the pudding?" and "Is this pudding recipe just a random collection of ingredients suggested by AI?"
You would expect the recipe creator to "value the process of matching an information need with an appropriate product", for example, it needs some spice and they select (say) cinnamon, rather than jalapeno pepper. They would also be able to "articulate the capabilities and constraints of information developed through various creation processes" and thus rank a recipe developed through thoughtful addition of ingredients and judicious tasting of the end products higher than a vaguely-worded recipe that now and then produced something edible.
You also need to "look beyond format when selecting resources to use": yes, usually you always use videos for recipe guides, but perhaps you could, after all, benefit from my mother's Christmas Pudding recipe, even though it's just written down.

Searching as Strategic Exploration
Information literate people will "determine the initial scope of the task required to meet their information needs." The recipe they use will be determined by questions like: What size of pudding do I want? Will I be serving it to vegan friends? How far am I prepared to go in terms of exotic ingredients? Can I be bothered with steaming?
They will "identify interested parties, such as scholars, organizations, governments, and industries, who might produce information about a topic" (see above)  and then "determine how to access that information" (shall I buy a cookery book? shall I go straight to a trusted source like this or this? what about Youtube?). Using "different types of searching language" (Christmas, Xmas, Figgy) one will "recognize the value of browsing and other serendipitous methods of information gathering" (scroll through all the photos of puddings to spot the yummiest).
However, you also need to "know when [you] have enough information to complete the information task".
Perhaps I'll just follow my mother's Christmas pudding recipe, after all.

Good information literate eating! If you found this even vaguely amusing you might like the SCONUL 7 Pillars of chocolate literacy which is shorter and probably wittier.

Images
Photo of Christmas puddings potted up ready for steaming by Sheila Webber, taken November 2025.
Holly image by Ted Balmer on Unsplash

References
Brieger, D. G., Amir, A. B., Punch, G. J., Lim, C. S. H., & Toh, J. (2014). What proof is in your Christmas pudding? Is caring under the influence possible? Medical Journal of Australia, 201(11), 702-704. https://doi.org/10.5694/mja14.01478
Chevalier, N. (2018). Iconic dishes, culture and identity: The Christmas pudding and its hundred years’ journey in the USA, Australia, New Zealand and India. Food, Culture & Society, 21(3), 367–383. https://doi.org/10.1080/15528014.2018.1451042
Musk, E. (2025). Super-duper seasonal recipes. [This is misinformation, but I think you knew that.]
Williams, E.E. (1897, December). Our Christmas plum puddings. Windor Magazine, 7, 64-68. https://www.victorianvoices.net/ARTICLES/Windsor/Windsor1898A/W1898-PlumPudding.pdf
Young, P. (2005). Economy, Empire, Extermination: The Christmas Pudding, the Crystal Palace and the Narrative of Capitalist Progress. Literature & History, 14(1), 14-30. https://doi.org/10.7227/LH.14.1.2 [It is about Dicken's story, but includes a pudding recipe, I think that counts.]

Digital empowerment for lifelong learning and transformative andragogy (DELTA) for adult educators

In October 2025 the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL), in partnership with Shanghai Open University (SOU) published the DELTA (Digital Empowerment for Lifelong Learning and Transformative Andragogy) Framework which "aims to enhance adult educators’ digital competencies and foster inclusive, lifelong learning opportunities for all."
It is "a dynamic set of competencies and capacity building resources designed to strengthen digital practice across four key domains: Instructional practice; Digital empowerment; Media and information literacy; Transformative practice"
"The DELTA Framework is the result of a two-year, collaborative process involving international experts and technical working groups from nine countries." (quoted from here).

UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning & Shanghai Open University. (2025). Digital empowerment for lifelong learning and transformative andragogy (DELTA) for adult educators: introduction to the DELTA framework and resources. Document code: 978-92-820-1260-4 https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000396041
UIL and SOU have also developed "a suite of capacity-building resources and self-learning modules, available as Open Educational Resources (OERs)" which you can access on the UIL Learning Hub (you have to register). https://learninghub.uil.unesco.org/enrol/index.php?id=74
Photo by Sheila Webber: a jumbled windowsill, October 2025

New articles: IL in Workplace; Schools; Curriculum mapping; Supporting communities; Teaching through popular culture

The latest issue of open access Journal of Information Literacy (Vol. 19 No. 2, 2025) is available. The articles are:
- Mapping the core dimensions of information literacy in the critical and workplace domain A thematic analysis by Dijana Šobota
- Integrating service-learning into information literacy education A case study from the Philippines by Ana Mae Cantel, Eun Youp Rha,
- Toward a coherent framework for school-based information literacy Delphi-based expert perspectives on competence and implementation by Ivana Martinović
- Reflection as a means to assess information literacy instruction by Natalia Kapacinskas, Veronica Arellano Douglas, Erica Lopez, Mea Warren
- Teaching critical information literacy through popular culture A media studies approach using the Oz texts by Daniel Williford
- Using Nuthall’s ideas to conceptualise and support children’s information needs by Andrew Shenton
- Information literacy without walls Comparative insights from India’s implementation and Greece’s emerging approaches by Nihar K Patra, Panorea Gaitanou
- Curriculum mapping for identifying and assessing information literacy teaching in humanities and social sciences libraries by Paul Cooke
Go to https://journals.cilip.org.uk/jil/issue/view/55
Photo by Sheila Webber: gingko leaves on a bench, November 2025

Webinar: New Voices in Information Literacy Research

On 15 December 2025at 12noon-13.00 GMT (UK time) there is a free webinar New Voices in Information Literacy Research. It is hosted by Alison Hicks and presents MA dissertation research from three recent graduates.
- Jake Hoosan (Manchester Metroplitan University, UK): Information Literacy Education in UK Public Libraries.
- Jiayin Yu (University College London, UK): How students identify and respond to AI hallucinations: A qualitative study using Dervin’s sensemaking theory.
- Xinyi Wang (University College London, UK): What Makes Physicians Take Charge? The Role of Information Literacy.
Registration required: go to https://www.tickettailor.com/events/cilipinformationliteracygroup/1966426
Photo by Sheila Webber: dusk, Amsterdam, November 2025