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

New articles: Curriculum mapping; Research sprints

The March 2024 issue of open access journal College & Research Libraries (vol. 85 issue 2) includes:
- When There’s No Information Literacy Requirement: Curriculum Mapping to Drive Engagement by Monica V. Locker and Jennifer L.A. Whelan.
- 'A Supernova that Sparks in Every Direction’: A Long-Term Assessment of the Research Sprints Faculty Engagement Program by Jenny McBurney, Sarah Jane Brown, Mariya Gyendina, Shanda Hunt, Rebecca Orozco, Michael Peper, Greta Valentine, Benjamin Wiggins, and Karna Younger.
Go to https://crl.acrl.org/index.php/crl/issue/view/1653/showToc
Photo by Sheila Webber daffodils February 2024

Recent articles: Faculty attitudes; Librarians' experiences of teaching; Generative AI; Curriculum mapping in political science

Recent articles from priced journal portal: Libraries and the Academy include:
- Baer, A. (2024). Academic Instruction Librarians' Conceptions of Teacher Agency and Affective Orientations toward the Concept. portal: Libraries and the Academy 24(1), 105-135. https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2024.a916992 " Participants generally expressed positive affect when they felt they were independently in control of their teaching (individual agency), or when they described reciprocal and collaborative relationships with faculty (potentially collective agency). Participants expressed negative affect about experiences of lacking teacher agency. Almost all participants expressed 1) a desire to experience meaning and purpose in teaching and 2) a sensitivity to the highly relational nature of librarians' instructional work."
- Stonebraker, I., & LeMire, S. (2023). Requesting Librarian-Led Information Literacy Support: Instructor Approaches, Experiences, and Attitudes. portal: Libraries and the Academy 23(4), 843-862. https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2023.a908704 " Librarians at two large institutions surveyed 29 instructors and then interviewed 11 about their experiences working with librarians, their motivations for involving librarians in their courses, and their goals for including information literacy instruction. The study found that instructors had many different levels of experience with the library. Motivations for inviting librarians to their classes included creating a support network and sharing librarian expertise with students."
- Henson, B. (2023). Using Curriculum Mapping to Understand Information Literacy in Political Science Curricula. portal: Libraries and the Academy 23(4), 717-744. https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2023.a908699 - Hurrell, C., Beatty, S., Murphy, J.E., Cramer, D., Lee, J., & McClurg, C. (2024). Learning and Teaching about Scholarly Communication: Findings from Graduate Students and Mentors. portal: Libraries and the Academy 24(1), 83-104. https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2024.a916991
- Miller, R.E. (2024). Pandora's Can of Worms: A Year of Generative AI in Higher Education. portal: Libraries and the Academy 24(1), 21-34. https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2024.a916988 "... this article reports on the experience of learning about generative AI at one university. This article considers ways that educators may use AI tools and reasons to resist adopting generative AI tools, situating uses on a spectrum of acceptability."
Photo by Sheila Webber: Trees in the botanic gardens January 2024

It's arrived! UNESCO's new curriculum for the information literate citizen #MILCLICKS

UNESCO has just published a very substantial (400 page!) open-access document:
Grizzle, A. et al. (2021). Media and information literate citizens: think critically, click wisely! Media & information literacy curriculum for educators and learners. ISBN 978-92-3-100448-3. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000377068.locale=en At the moment it is just in English. 

This is a 2nd edition of their MIL Curriculum for teachers, but this time they are identifying it as a curriculum for all people. It will take a while to examine it thoroughly. A quick glance shows that it is still biased towards media literacy, rather than information literacy (e.g. in putting more attention to "media" than to other types of information, in paying more attention to young people's engagement with media than other age groups'; giving many more examples of other media literacy frameworks than IL ones).
However the scope is expanded and improved from the previous edition, and it covers some very interesting aspects of the field: a rich sourec to mine for education in information literacy! The introduction includes an explanation of the importance and impact of MIL, and has diagrams and tables outlines: knowledge, skills and attitudes for MIL; the contribution of information literacy. media literacy and digital literacy; learning outcomes and comptencies; vaues and attitides that can be encouraged by MIL; the curriculum framework (based around three themes: (1) Knowledge and understanding of information, media and digital communications for sustainable development, peace, and democratic discourses and social participation. (2) Evaluation of content and related institutions. (3) Production and use of content. 

They then relate the modules in the curriculum to MIL competencies:
1. Understanding the Role of Information, Media, and Digital;
2. Understanding Content and its Uses.
3. Accessing Information Effectively and Effciently and Practicing Ethics
4. Critically Evaluating Information and Information Sources and Ethical Practices.
5. Applying Digital and Traditional Media Formats.
6. Situating the Sociocultural Context of Information, Media, and Digital Content.
7. Promoting MIL Among Learners/Citizens and Managing Required Changes.
Following this there is a short section on pedagogy and a list of related frameworks and guides 

Most of the document consists of detailed information on the modules for the curriculum, each module split into units. For each unit there are sections on: key topics; learning objectives; Pegagogical approaches and Activities; Assessment. There is variation between the units - some of the sections outline specific suggested activities, some section rather summarise key themes and topics under that heading. The assessment section is generally just a list of assessment types (e.g. "Written examinations, presentations/viewings, Participation in group learning activities, Production of information-education-communication materials (e.g. posters, brochures, infographics, social media cards, vlogs), Research paper, Investigative story/report" (I haven't examined each unit yet, but all the ones I've looked at so far are like that). 

The modules are 1. Foundation module (introduction). 2. Understanding IT 3. Research, content cycle, digital information processing, intellectual property 4. MIL competencies to tackle hate speech 5. Audience and global citizenship 6. Representation in media and information 7. How media and technology affect content 8. Privacy, data protection and you 9. Internet opportunities and challenges 10. Advertising and MIL 11. AI, Social media and MIL competencies 12. Digital media, games and traditional media 13. Media, technology and the sustanable development goals. 14. Capstone.
I'll probably blog some more about this, there's a lot to take in!

Multicultural Libraries; Broadband Ecosystem; LIS Education

Three more topics that were publicised at the WLIC conference last week were:
(1) The IFLA/UNESCO Multicultural Library Manifesto (which is in 24 languages) https://www.ifla.org/node/8976?og=73 and the IFLA Multicultural Library toolkit (in English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Russian - French is being added shortly) https://www.ifla.org/node/8977
(2) Libraries in the broadband ecosystem - a useful page that links to statements and examples of libraries using broadband to extend and improve their service https://www.ifla.org/node/94070 and
(3) IFLA's Building Strong Library and Information Science Education (BSLISE) project https://bslise.org/map/

Photo by Sheila Webber: Bedding, July 2021

2nd edition of the UNESCO Model Media and Information Literacy Curriculum for Educators and Learners

Today was the launch of Media and Information Literate Citizens: Think critically, Click Wisely (Second Edition of the UNESCO Model Media and Information Literacy Curriculum for Educators and Learners) It was launched by Audrey Azoulay, Director-General, UNESCO; Mr Xing Qu, Deputy Director-General, UNESCO; Ana Brnabić, Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia; Vera Jourova, Vice President and Commissioner, European Commission; and H.E. Dr. Monique Nsanzabaganwa, Deputy Chairperson, African Union Commission. 

They all stressed the problem of disinformation and misinformation, and how this had become a graver problem during the pandemic, and also how disinformation could threaten democracy. There was also a little discussion about implementation of the curriculum from Stefania Giannini, Assistant Director-General for Education, UNESCO & Gordana Čomić, Minister for Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue, Republic of Serbia, which touched on points such as: the need for capacity building for educators etc.; the sensitivity of some issues and how this needed to be taken account of when implementing the curriculum; the need to incorporate in formal education, and also informally (like the campaign with health messages on cigarette packets "educate with simple message").

I thought the webinar would come to the end without mentioning libraries, but in fact the very last question that was posed to Stefania Giannini asked about them, and she did say that they were vital (though I'm not sure she was considering the role of libraries in formal education). The video of the launch (81 minutes) is here https://youtu.be/3EuHe2BaYrI

The page https://en.unesco.org/news/media-and-information-literate-citizens-think-critically-click-wisely already has a summary of the curriculum, but the full curriculum document is just "coming soon" and they didn't say when it would be released -I will blog again and discuss the curriculum when that happens (I would guess, next week). This is an important publication, especially with this high level support. I think it is up to the information literacy community to make sure that they take part in discussion and implentation, since otherwise (as noted above) there is a tendency to forget both the role of libarians and the "information" part of media and information literacy.

Recent articles: Indigenous studies; Curriculum mapping; Speed dating at the reference desk

The latest issue of open access journal College and Research Libraries News (vol 81 issue 2) is available. It includes:
- Knowing when to cry uncle: Balancing instructional initiatives - by Angie Cox, Jim Kelly, Chris Neuhaus
- Exploring worldviews and authorities: Library instruction in Indigenous Studies using Authority is Constructed and Contextual - by Michael Dudley
- Reference speed dating: Creating a spark at the reference desk - by Sarah Kantor
Go to https://crln.acrl.org/index.php/crlnews/issue/view/1572/showToc

The previous issue (vol 81 issue 1) included:
- Curriculum mapping in academic libraries revisited: Taking an evidence-based approach - by Katy Kavanagh Webb https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.81.1.30
Photo by Sheila Webber: signs of winter, signs of spring, February 2020

Integrating information Literacy

Not new, but I just came across it.
Feekery, A. (2013). Conversation and Change: Integrating Information Literacy to Support Learning in the New Zealand Tertiary Context Learning Designs and Teaching Strategies, Research Methodologies. PhD Massey University. This addressed the research question "What factors impact on the successful embedding of information literacy across the four-year Bachelor of Environmental Planning (BEP) programme to support students to be effective learners in higher education?" using participatory action research. Insights and recommendations are also here if you don't want to read the thesis. I have mentioned Feekery before in connection with the Information Literacy Spaces blog. The full thesis is at - https://ako.ac.nz/knowledge-centre/conversation-and-change-integrating-information-literacy-to-support-learning-in-the-new-zealand-tertiary-context/thesis-conversation-and-change/

In case you are interested, I came across it whilst searching for articles from this other PhD study of IL integration in New Zealand higher education (I had had a sudden blank about the author's family name and was doing a lazy search to re-find them)
Wang, X. (Li) (2010). Integrating information literacy into higher education curricula: An IL curricular integration model. PhD thesis, Queensland University of Technology. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/41747/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Xmas wreaths of East Sussex 2, Flint Owl Bakery, January 2020.

Recent articles: curriculum mapping; information creation #infolit

- LeMire, S. and Graves, S. (2019). Mapping Out a Strategy: Curriculum Mapping Applied to Outreach and Instruction Programs. College & Research Libraries, 80(2), 273-287."Academic libraries use two common methods to reach first-year students: outreach activities and library instruction. The purpose of this study was to discover if curriculum mapping techniques commonly used in library instruction could be applied to outreach to explore the synergies and differences between programs." Go to https://crl.acrl.org/index.php/crl/issue/view/1122/showToc
- Scull, A. (2019). Information creation as a process: With an emphasis on creation. College & Research Libraries News, 80(2), 78-81. Go to https://crln.acrl.org/index.php/crlnews/issue/view/1121/showToc
Photo by Sheila Webber: more plants at Lovecrumbs, Edinburgh, March 2019

European Media and Information Literacy Forum 2014: 1st report

I am attending the European Media and Information Literacy Forum 2014 at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France. Despite the title, the focus is mainly on media literacy, influenced by the fact that this is also the final conference for the EMEDUS project (http://www.eumedus.com). However it also reflects the fact that media literacy has more of a hold on national and international agenda (something that information literacy people have to take action on...)

In the session at the moment ("Formal Education: New Curriculum"), the focus is on Media Literacy in the curriculum, with contributions from different countries. Firstly Sara Pareira (University of Minho, Portugal) has highlighted the lack of ML in the curriculum in Portugal, hwoever now there are being introduced ML guidelines for several levels of education. Other important documents include the Braga Manifesto on Media Literacy (2011) and National Educational Council's (2011) recommendations for ML. However these have had relatively little impact, and more is expected of the new Guidelines.
Next, Lazslo Hartai (Hungarian Institute of Educational Research and Development) has explained that media literacy only becomes a separate option at upper secondary level (before that it was, I think, seen to be part of visual literacy).

Unfortunately I have just lost some of my blogging (connection problem, grrr), but I will try to remember what I blogged! Carmen Campos (Spain) stressed the importance of having media literacy as a subject, but also intergrated into the curriculum transversally, and she saw teacher education as vitally important (teachers being supported to teach all forms of literacy). Ditemar Schipek (Austria) felt that ML was well intergrated in Austrian school curricula. He cited the work of the Austrian national library, broadcasters etc. in developing children's ML and also mentioned a conference on gaming aimed at young people. He identified "doing" as important - e.g. children learning how to be broadcasters. He also talked about ways of assessing whether schools are dealing adequately with ML (a "minimum standard"). Patrick Verniers (Belgium) pinpointed ways in which ML might be in the curriculum, but felt that at the moment it was rather reliant on the teacher's individual enthusiasm/ initiative. He proposed a framework for media literacy education (I took photos of those slides, so I may blog that later).

At the moment in the session, the speakers are coming forward again to consider ML education in Europe, as opposed to in their specific country. Interestingly, some speakers see things as having got a worse, posibly due to the Bologna Process of harmonisation of education in Europe. Frequent themes are the lack of requirements for media literacy education as part of teacher education, and the lack of a clear policy framework. Laszlo Hartai mentioned the lack of substantial data on what is going on in classrooms around Europe and some confusion around the concepts of ML, information literacy and digital literacy. The contribution from Natasa Slavikova (Slovakia) included mentioning translating the UNESCO MIL curriculum for teachers into Slovak.

Developing a shared curriculum; and #ALDinHE presentations

Presentation from Jane Secker, Emma Coonan and Maria Bell given at the ALDinHE conference 2014: their title is Developing a shared curriculum in higher education: from theory to practice and it's embedded below. ALDinHE is the Association for Learning Development in Higher Education and the presentationd for 2013 aren't up yet, but the ones for 2013 are work browsing https://sites.google.com/site/aldinheconference2013/ (note: the keynotes and workshop sessions aren't there, but there are many presentations from parallel sessions, including one on information literacy).

Developing a shared curriculum in higher education: from theory to practice from Jane Secker

Information Literacy (IL) model and its application #ecil2013

Li Wang (University of Aukland) talked about an Information Literacy (IL) model and its application this afternoon at the European Conference on Information Literacy in Istanbul. The UoA has 4 campuses, 245 library and learning staff (including 50 subject librarians!) and she was talking about an IL integration model. The academic course coordinators, with support of Heads of Department are vital parts of the model, when thinking "who" needs to be involved (see 2nd picture, sorry it is rather blurred). The first picture shows that there are also what and how dimensions. This model has been used for three years at the University of Aukland (and the model arose from her PhD work).

Collaborations is very important with principles of shared understanding, shared knowledge, joint dialogue with respect and tolerance, and joint efforts with trust and support. She gave an example of collaborating with engineering staff to develop activities and assessment modes.
The speaker also gave an example of combining theories of information and learning to progress learning in a curriculum. They have developed IL curriculum programme for subject librarians based on this model too: this is compulsory forsubject librarians.
There are relevant publications e.g.:
Li Wang, (2011) "An information literacy integration model and its application in higher education", Reference Services Review, 39 (4), 703 - 720. Abstract at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=17003442 and eprint version here: http://eprints.qut.edu.au/48393/1/48393.pdf

Curriculum for Information Literacy

There is a lot of material published about a recent project which proposes a "Curriculum for information literacy". Jane Secker won a Fellowship as part of the Arcadia Project, which meant that she was seconded to Wolfson College, Cambridge, to work on a research project aiming to develop an information literacy curriculum for undergraduate students. She worked there with Emma Coonan, Research Skills and Development Librarian at Cambridge University.

They developed a wiki which has the main publications from the project, and some additional material e.g. a list of literature, methodology: http://ccfil.pbworks.com/w/page/39773468/Welcome!

The project reports are linked from: http://ccfil.pbworks.com/w/page/42119030/project%20reports. There is an Executive summary, the report outlining the curriculum, a document reviewing and reflecting on some of the key ideas that inspired them, and a report identifying the main themes that emerged from interviews that they undertook with some experts in the area (including me). The curriculum itself is licensed under a Creative Commons License, so they are interested in other people using it.

They took the view that "information literacy should be transformational for the learner, changingtheir attitude, behaviour, outlook and even their world view. Therefore this curriculum has teh potential to change lives and make a real difference to society." (from the Executive summary).

Jane blogged about her experience at http://elearning.lse.ac.uk/blogs/socialsoftware/ There is an introduction to the project, as presented by Jane recently, on her Slideshare and I have embedded it below (incidently, her slideshare also has the presentation that she gave for my Masters students last semester as part of my Information Literacy Research class).

Brief overview of New Curriculum for IL

Photo of lilypads, in Puerto Rico, by Sheila Webber, August 2011

LILAC report: Students helping students: a peer-led learning model with an information literacy focus #lilac11

Another post - from the final session at the LILAC conference in London. Students helping students: a peer-led learning model with an information literacy focus was a presentation from Tamsin Bolton and Tina Pugliese (University of Windsor, Canada). http://lilacconference.com/WP/programme/abstracts-wed#65
Tamsin said at the start how she has a broad conception of information literacy, and she wants students to think about information literacy in a broader sense, so they can go out as information literate citizens. The involvement started with a conversation with an academic developing a module called Ways of knowing, which was a response to retention issues, with students who find it difficult engaging with academic study. It has student mentors embedded in the classroom, and they have to take a course beforehand, so they can support engagement with learning. The mentors sit in class (in red shirts) and lead discussion sessions.
Librarians worked with individual first year groups the first two years, and then started to see potential problems. One was that the students created communities (including the student mentor), and when the librarians intervened it wasn't having as much impact as the student mentor's input. Therefore it seemed sensible to but more focus on using the student mentors as mentors in information literacy as well (and train them to undertake this role). However the mentors expressed discomfort with the role, feeling they didn't have the right skills. This led to the mentors' preparation course having a strong information literacy component. The three main units are mentorship & leadership; critical thinking & information literacy; and planning & feedback. It is emphasised that information is not just about doing assignments, but has wider citizenship and global dimensions.The mentors do a research paper, critical analysis, and reflective practice (keeping weekly journals).
Tamsin said that whilst, to start with, the emphasis was on the mentored first years, but engagement with the senior group of mentors has also been important, and the mentors also feel that beinga mentor has improved their approach to study and actual marks.
This initiative has grown, so now 2000 incoming students will be working like this with mentors (mostly now in other classes, not in "Ways of Knowing" classes). It means doing work with different departments on developing the teaching, learning and assessment in line with this approach, with more rersearch-based assignments. A key benefit for librarians is getting touch with a wide variety of modules via the mentors, and being seen as a support and expert by the mentors.
Tamsin also mentioned that the original objective, improving student retention, also appears to have been met, with improved statistics.

Survey for Scottish school librarians

As part of the work commissioned by Learning and Teaching Scotland Curriculum for Excellence Literacy Team, the Information Literacy Scotland project is carrying out an online survey of Scottish school librarians and their knowledge and use of Curriculum for Excellence with regard to information literacy. They would therefore be grateful if school librarians and local authority departments responsible for education resources for schools within their area would take time to complete the online survey at SurveyMonkey http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=3DLwBk6_2bH6MYxKYsEseKO7BA_3d_3d which consists of 10 questions. The survey will run for six weeks until the 4th September 2009.

Photo by Sheila Webber: tram works in Edinburgh, June 2009