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

New articles: Intercultural Competencies; Library workshops; Signature pedagogies

The latest issue of portal: libraries and the academy (priced journal) is vol. 25 issue 1, 2025. Articles include:
- Incorporating Signature Pedagogies into Library Instruction Through Reflective Pedagogy by Karleigh Riesen (open access)
- If You Build It, They Will Get a Tote Bag: Reimagining a University Library's Workshops Through a Collaborative Incentive Program by Kelly Marie Blanchat, Tess Colwell, Jennifer Snow (open access)
- Integrating Intercultural Competencies in an Introductory Business Information Literacy Course by Annette Bochenek, Heather Howard, Zoeanna Mayhook (open access)
Go to https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/issue/54150
Photo by Sheila Webber: more snow crystals, January 2025

New articles: Authority; Emotion & experiences in COVID; literacy in public libraries; Information needs of entrepreneurs

The latest issue of Reference Services Review (priced journal) is vol. 52 issue 2, 2024. The theme is Reference and instructional services for libraries in the digital age (haven't we been in the digital age for a few decades now?) anyway, articles include:
- Rose-Wiles, L.M. (2024). The framing of authority in the ACRL framework on information literacy: multidisciplinary perspectives on truth, authority, expertise and belief. Reference Services Review, 52(2), 202-217. https://doi.org/10.1108/RSR-02-2024-0003
- Bury, S. (2024). Affective dimensions of academic librarians’ experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic: experiences and lessons learned for information literacy. Reference Services Review, 52(2), 278-295. https://doi.org/10.1108/RSR-12-2023-0082
- Salubi, O. and Majavu, U. (2024). Toward the development of a framework for literacy support and promotion by public libraries in financially and infrastructurally low-resourced territories. Reference Services Review, 52(2), 218-230. https://doi.org/10.1108/RSR-06-2023-0056
- Toane, C. and Shujah, S. (2024). Campus entrepreneurs’ research habits and needs: a five-year study. Reference Services Review, 52(2), 257-277. https://doi.org/10.1108/RSR-01-2024-0001
The whole issue is here: https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/0090-7324/vol/52/iss/2
Photo by Sheila Webber: deckchairs in Bournemouth, June 2024

#lilac24 Selling information literacy to the business school

Pam McKinney here live-blogging from the LILAC conference in Leeds. Information school graduate Laura Broadbent presented ‘Selling’ information literacy to the business school through alignment with the employability agenda in higher education" in the first session at this year's LILAC conference. There is a concern that university graduates don't have the skills they need to be effective in the workplace, and the political background to this in the UK is government scepticism about the value of degrees.
The recent Augur review outlined the 6 purposes of post-18 education, however, we need to also consider what students want from their university education, and there is evidence that students want their courses to be employment-relevant. Laura is based at the University of Huddersfield, which has a mixture of international and local commuter-based students.  Most students are young, and there are few mature students. 
Laura was involved in the re-design of the business school curriculum and worked with academic staff to identify modules where students could have information literacy support to link to their curriculum. The module was designed with the principle of constructive alignment to make sure that the activities and assessments are aligned with the learning outcomes. The level 3 curriculum was focused on commercial awareness as a key skill for employability, and it was identified that students needed support in being able to research companies prior to applications and interviews. 
Delegates took part in a sample exercise to identify external factors affecting the chocolate market, which was very much in my comfort zone as it was similar to an exercise I use with the students on my Business Intelligence module, using reports from IBIS World, Mintel and news stories.  It was easy to identify the additional value from the paid-for information sources. When Laura teaches this session with the students she only has 45 minutes which isn't enough, she would prefer a 2 hour session so that she can explore the issues in more depth.

AI for Infolit in HE; Generative AI in teaching business IL

Firstly, a useful padlet of 10 resources on Information Literacy in Higher Education in the age of AI by Daihua Chen at Robert Gordon University (for those who want to use AI in teaching IL):   https://padlet.com/34811368/annotated-bibliography-diswm0hnmlhx9tot 

Secondly, an article reflecting on generative AI use in a business class:
- Jonathan M. Torres (2024) Leveraging ChatGPT and bard for academic librarians and information professionals: a case study of developing pedagogical strategies using generative AI models, Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship. (early online publication). https://doi.org/10.1080/08963568.2024.2321729 "This study focuses on improving pedagogical strategies by integrating artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots and library databases. Examples from ChatGPT and Bard were used to demonstrate the quality of information. A cross-examination using a research validation template was conducted; it revealed that no artificial hallucinations were produced. However, the information provided by both AI chatbots was slightly outdated based on organizational changes and did not provide an in-depth analysis of the company."
Image created by Sheila Webber using Midjourney AI

Student perceptions of librarian-teacher identity #LILAC23

Pam McKinney live blogging from #LILAC23, this session is led by Heather Lincoln and Tiffany Chiu from Imperial College, reporting the results from a Masters in higher education dissertation research project. The study focused on business students’ perceptions of the role of the librarian and how they support learning. Much of the literature focuses on librarians’ perceptions of their role so this is a useful addition to the research base, and could lead to service development. Librarians can suffer from imposter syndrome in relation to their teaching identity. 

Heather conducted 6 focus groups with students studying a variety of programmes in the business school, and analysed the data thematically. Students thought that librarians were approachable, and helped them when they needed it. Students liked their IL teaching, and thought the librarian seemed ‘fun’ and enthusiastic, teaching sessions enabled students to ask questions, which was important to them. Students thought that librarians seemed knowledgeable, and saw their role linked to the library resources and providing access to them. Librarians have an enabling role linked to helping students achieve their learning outcomes. 

Heather framed her research using Lave & Wenger’s theory of communities of practice, saying that librarians were not perceived as part of the students’ academic community of practice. Librarians are seen as “experts” and not part of the community they are mastering. Students were conscious that they could make the librarian feel uncomfortable if they ask about something that the librarian isn’t an expert in. If we look at knowledge as co-constructed, it is useful to think of students as partners in learning, not passive apprentices. In conclusion librarians need to make their areas of expertise obvious to students, and use an approach the co-constructs knowledge with students.
Photo: Pam McKinney

New articles: Tech tools; Infolit in international masters students; Sharing partisan news

- Rybin Koob, A., Ibacache Oliva, K. S., Williamson, M., Lamont-Manfre, M., Hugen, A., & Dickerson, A. (2022). Tech Tools in Pandemic-Transformed Information Literacy Instruction. Information Technology and Libraries, 41(4). https://doi.org/10.6017/ital.v41i4.15383 "... this paper examines the digital accessibility of five tech tools used in information literacy sessions, specifically for students who use assistive technologies such as screen readers. The tools are Kahoot!, Mentimeter, Padlet, Jamboard, and Poll Everywhere." It goes through the problems in detail - a useful practical article if you are using these tools.
- Černý, J. & Potančok, M. (2023). Information literacy in international masters students: A competitive and business intelligence course perspective. Cogent Education, 10(1), 2161701. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2022.2161701 This investigates "the information literacy of international master’s students [at a Czech university], focusing on the evaluation of their information-seeking behaviour during competitive and business intelligence processes, together with the subsequent verification methods they use once the desired information is found. During this research, 207 students received a test with questions related to business information literacy, with either one or more options or free-text answers. The results showed a significant lack of information literacy in the use of information sources, including knowledge about their existence and consequent search habits, but they did at least also show a fundamental awareness of verification methods. The students also demonstrated awareness of the significance of data visualisation needs when reporting the contexts found in business intelligence process data.
- Lee, E-J. & Jang, J-W. (2023). How Political Identity and Misinformation Priming Affect Truth Judgments and Sharing Intention of Partisan News. Digital Journalism, [early online publication]. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2022.2163413 "The current research investigated (a) if political identity predicts perceived truthfulness of and the intention to share partisan news, and (b) if a media literacy video that warns of misinformation (priming-video) mitigates the partisan bias by enhancing truth discernment. ... Two web-based experiments were conducted in South Korea.... Collectively, our findings demonstrate the robust operation of partisan bias in the processing and sharing of partisan news. Misinformation priming aided in the detection of falsehood, but it also induced distrust in reliable information, posing a challenge in fighting misinformation"

Photo by Sheila Webber: wreath of Central London, December 2022

Recent articles: annual review of IL literature; Financial literacy; Searching in literary studies

The latest issue of Reference Services Review (priced journal) vol. 50 issue 3/4 includes
- Library instruction and information literacy 2021 by Carolyn Caffrey and colleagues. [This is the useful annual annotated bibliography - 482 items in 80 pages!]
- Libraries and financial literacy by Péter Kiszl, Bea Winkler
- Financial literacy resources in US public libraries: website analysis by Ash E. Faulkner
- Search tools and scholarly citation practices in literary studies by Carl A. Lehnen, Glenda M. Insua
Go to https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/0090-7324/vol/50/iss/3/4

Photo by Sheila Webber: snowy leaves, December 2022

Recent articles: Teaching IL virtually; IL as an advernture; IL & humanities; Collaboration

There is a special issue of The Nordic Journal of Information Literacy in Higher Education (NORIL) (volume 13, number 1, 2022) , focused on the 10th Creating Knowledge Conference, a Nordic conference which concentrates on information literacy and learning. The articles are:
- What if becoming information literate were an adventure? by Tove I. Dahl
- Innovative teaching in a new normal: creating new ways to deliver virtual information literacy and research support training by Keziah Gibbs, Hannah Crago
- Preparing students for an evidence-based health service – a collaboration between the University Library and faculty by Kari Kalland, Lilja Marlen Johannessen
- Library-faculty collaboration in the light of a business administration bachelor’s program: ‘The Scientific Wave’ by Elisabeth Näverå, Anna Karin Olsson
- Teaching information literacy in the humanities: Engaging students with primary sources and cultural heritage material by Karin Pettersson
- How librarian involvement enhances students’ information literacy by Jessica Thorn
- Creating Knowledge X: Evaluation report by Helene N. Andreassen
Go to https://noril.uib.no/issue/view/5
Photo by Sheila Webber: autumn branches, November 2022

Social justice; Citations in marketing assignments

A couple of recent articles:
- Bussmann, J. D., Altamirano, I. M., Hansen, S., Johnson, N. E., & Keer, G. (2022). Science librarianship and social justice: Part four capstone concepts. Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, 100. https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/istl/index.php/istl/article/view/2697/2711 The concepts summarised here include Social Justice Pedagogies and Universal Design. (open access)

 - Gil, E.L. (2022). A citation analysis of MBA bibliographies: A case study. Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship [early online publication] https://doi.org/10.1080/08963568.2022.2129275
"This research was initiated to identify the type of sources that online MBA students in a required marketing class cited in their final papers. It also sought to discover whether they included any of the Libraries’ subscription databases in their bibliographies, especially IBISWorld and ReferenceUSA, which were the focus of two asynchronous video tutorials that were created for this course. The author used citation analysis to do this. Results showed that students overwhelmingly used Company websites."

Recent articles: Information behaviour of - lawyers, young children, immigrants; students' personal information management; business students' information literacy

Selected articles from the last 2 issues of the priced publication Journal of Librarianship and Information Science:
- Ali, I., & Warraich, N. F. (2022). Personal information management through ubiquitous devices: Students’ mobile self-efficacy and PIM practices. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 54(2), 174–187. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000621992821 "The findings revealed that undergraduate students search, browse, and scan information through mobile phones. They used keywords, searched from recently opened file, and from send item to find/re-find information. They save their personal information in folders, use mobile applications, and take screen shot of information to keep it for future use. Current study reported “Sharing as keeping ‘as a new phenomenon in mobile based personal information keeping (ubiquitous environment)."
- Naveed, M. A., & Mahmood, M. (2022). Correlatives of business students’ perceived information literacy self-efficacy in the digital information environment. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 54(2), 294–305. https://doi.org/10.1177/09610006211014277 (a study of business students in Lahore, Pakistan) "The results revealed that the business students had high self-efficacy for basic information literacy skills and low self-efficacy for advanced-level information literacy skills. Age, study program, study stage, proficiency for computer, and English language appeared to be the correlatives of students’ information literacy self-efficacy. "
- Solomon, Y., & Bronstein, J. (2022). The information-gathering practice of liberal professionals in a workplace setting: More than just seeking information. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 54(1), 54–68. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000621992810 "The content analysis revealed four distinctive forms in which lawyers in Israel gather information within the contemporary legal practice: (a) self-executed information-seeking, (b) mediated acquisition of information, (c) information discovery and (d) combined information-gathering – which in all compile 10 different habitual strategies of gathering information in their professional work."
- Shuva, N. Z. (2022). “I actually got my first job through my ex-colleague”: Employment-related information seeking behavior of Bangladeshi immigrants in Canada. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 54(1), 34–53. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000621992806
- Barriage, S. (2022). Young children’s information-seeking practices in center-based childcare. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 54(1), 144–158. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000620962164 (a study in the USA) "The findings indicate that the children did not perceive the concept of information in a manner consistent with adult understandings of the term, and that they engaged in information-seeking related to finding out new things on their own, through interactions with others, and through classroom resources, activities, and routines."

Photo by Sheila Webber: white climbing rose, May 2022

New Book: Teaching Business Information Literacy

A new book is: Snipes, G., Karo, M., Faulkner, A. & Riter, L. (Eds) (2022). Teaching Business Information Literacy. ACRL. Price: US $98.00, ALA Members $88.20 ISBN: 978-0-8389-3909-3
"Teaching Business Information Literacy provides guidance to new business specialists, generalists, and subject librarians in other disciplines being asked to teach business research classes for the first time. Featuring more than 40 practical, classroom-proven lesson plans for one-shot, embedded, and credit-bearing library classes, it’s divided into nine sections: Basic Business Research; Finance and Accounting; Entrepreneurship; Management; Marketing; Specialty Subjects; Data Literacy/Data Visualization; Experiential Learning/Career; Using Technology in the Classroom...."
"... Each one guides you through the background of the topic and activity being taught, pre-class planning and preparation, a step-by-step lesson plan, how to adapt the activity for other institutional contexts, and learning outcomes. Additional supporting materials such as slide decks, worksheets, and game boards are freely available in the ACRL Sandbox (https://sandbox.acrl.org) and findable with the tag “#bizinfolit.”
Go to https://www.alastore.ala.org/content/teaching-business-information-literacy

Other blogs: Guest lecturing; Academic skills

Highlighting another couple of posts from other people's blogs:
- National University of Ireland, Galway. (2021, 3 December). Service of the Month: Academic Skills and the Academic Writing Centre. http://hardimanlibrary.blogspot.com/2021/12/service-of-month-academic-skills-and.html "The Academic Skills Team in the Library supports the information and research needs of NUI Galway undergraduate and taught postgraduate students." They quote the CILIP definition of information literacy and give examples of their resources and services.
- Reece. (2021, 15 November) Learning from Lecturing. BizLibratory. https://bizlibratory.wordpress.com/2021/11/15/learning-from-lecturing/ "Recently I had my first experience as a guest lecturer. The students were from a variety of social sciences areas and included (non-business) undergraduate students at all levels. ... This experience also got me thinking about what I could learn from guest lecturing and bring back to the research instruction I do, as well as how to integrate similar types of teaching into my work more regularly. I wanted to share some things I have learned from working on this lecture that I hope to apply to all my teaching." [Author is a business librarian at a Canadian University]
Photo by Sheila Webber: hedges and leaves, November 2021

Crisis Situations and Information Science

A special issue of Polish open-access journal ZIN (vol. 58 no. 2A(116A) focuses on Crisis Situations and Information Science. It includes:
- The Impact of COVID-19 on the Information Literacy of Business Sharing Group Users by Dorota Rak
- The Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Academic Libraries in a Crisis Situation: Experiences of the University of Warsaw Library by Anna Kamińska, Anna Książczak-Gronowska, Zuzanna Wiorogórska
- Information Behavior in Crisis Situations by Monika Krakowska
In Polish and English. Click on the UK flag, top right, to get the English version: http://ojs.sbp.pl/index.php/zin/issue/view/75

New articles: scoping reviews on: business information literacy; analsying the syllabus for information literacy

The latest issue of open access journal Evidence Based Library and Information Practice (vol 15 number 4) includes (picking out ones most relevant to this blog): 

- Syllabus Mining for Information Literacy Instruction: A Scoping Review by Kathleen Butler, Theresa Calcagno 

- Twenty Years of Business Information Literacy Research: A Scoping Review by Meggan A. Houlihan, Amanda B. Click, Claire Walker Wiley 

and evidence summaries, including 

- Graduate Assistants Trained in Reference May Not Consistently Apply Reference Interview and Instructional Strategies in Reference Interactions (summary by Sarah Bartlett Schroeder) 

- The Urgency and Importance of an Active Information Seeking Task Influence the Interruption of Information Encountering Episodes (summary by Barbara M. Wildemuth) 

- Information Horizons Mapping is Related to Other Measures of Health Literacy but Not Information Literacy (summary by Eugenia Opuda) 

- Students Value Asynchronous Instruction, Individual Projects and Frequent Communication with the Instructor in an Online Library Science Classroom (summary by Heather MacDonald) 

Contents at https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/eblip/index.php/EBLIP/issue/view/1954

Photo by Sheila Webber: farmers market, December 2020

New articles: Information Literacy bibliography 2019; business students; undergrads IL; Attitudes to Google Scholar

The latest issue of priced publication Reference Services Review is Volume 48 Issue 4. It includes 

- Library instruction and information literacy 2019 by Tessa Withorn, Joanna Messer Kimmitt, Carolyn Caffrey Gardner, Anthony Andora, Cristina Springfield, Dana Ospina, Maggie Clarke, George Martinez, Amalia Castañeda, Aric Haas, Wendolyn Vermeer. This is the latest of the annual annotated bibliographies published by RSR. "This year, 370 articles, books, reports and dissertations are annotated and organized in the following categories: K-12 Education, Children and Adolescents (31); Academic and Professional Programs (257); Everyday Life, Community and the Workplace (30); Libraries and Health Information Literacy (23); Multiple Library Types (13); and Other Information Literacy Research and Theory (16)." As usual, this is not a comprehensive listing of all articles to do with information literacy from 2019, but it covers English-language LIS journals well and is very useful. When I accessed it the pdf was of the article from the previous year, but the web version was correct, hopefully it will all be correct by the time you look at it.

- Relating library user education to business students’ information needs and learning practices: a comparative study by Yifei Zhang, Patrick Lo, Stuart So, Dickson K.W. Chiu 

- Belief in importance of information literacy abilities among undergraduates. Underlying factors and analysis of variance by Maria Pinto, David Caballero, Dora Sales, Alicia Segura 

- OhioLINK librarians and Google Scholar over time: a longitudinal analysis of attitudes and uses by David Luftig, Joan Plungis. 

Go to https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/0090-7324/vol/48/iss/4

Photo by Sheila Webber: I made the Christmas puddings a week ago, using my mother's recipe. They are now all cooked (steamed) and maturing.

Recent articles: financial literacy; graduate researchers; IL through virtual reference

The latest issue of priced publication Reference Services Review is Volume 48 Issue 2. It includes
- Teaching financial literacy through the use of market research and advertising instruction: A non traditional approach by Alyson Vaaler, Jennifer Wilhelm "The purpose of this paper is to describe how librarians used elements of market research, advertising and media literacy in a personal finance class."
- Graduate researchers’ perceptions and expectations: An exploratory study about reference and information services by Kanwal Ameen "The findings revealed that the graduate research students had hardly any idea of reference and information services. Their perceptions of the services were vague. Due to this lack of understanding, they would not expect an important role of the library professionals in their research activities except providing access to physical or online information sources"
- Instruction through virtual reference: mapping the ACRL framework by Rebecca Hill Renirie "The purpose of this study is to examine teaching intent of information literacy threshold concepts via asynchronous reference transactions"
- Hosting Inspec on Engineering Village or Web of Science: A case study in comparing database platforms by James Thomas McAllister III, Nancy Stephanie Diaz
Go to https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/0090-7324/vol/48/iss/2
Photo by Sheila Webber: June roses

New articles in Journal of Information Literacy: political information, flipping, health literacy, evaluation, German IL concept

The new issue of the open access Journal of Information Literacy has been published (vol. 10 no. 2, 2016). Articles include:
- School libraries, political information and information literacy provision: findings from a Scottish study. Lauren N. Smith
- Health literacy: a cross-disciplinary study in American undergraduate college students Rachel Joseph, Samantha Fernandes, Lauri Hyers, Kerri O'Brien
- Flipping the classroom in business and education one-shot sessions: a research study Madeline E. Cohen, Jennifer Poggiali, Alison Lehner-Quam, Robin Wright, Rebecca K. West
- An assessment of library instruction: its influence on search behaviour of first- and third-year students Torunn Skofsrud Boger, Hanne Dybvik, Anne-Lise Eng, Else Helene Norheim
- Rethinking the concept of "information literacy": a German perspective Rares G Piloiu
There are also conference reports and book reviews. Go to https://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/ojs/index.php/JIL
Photo by Sheila Webber: books created for Harry Potter sets, November 2016

Information skills outside formal education

A powerpoint given at the ALIA National Conference Adelaide (Australia) on 31 August 2016 by Judy Reading (Macquarie University Library) and Paul Jewell (Western Sydney University Library) was Enterprise and Acumen: Real World Information Skills and Employability for Business Graduates. It is embedded below.

Enterprise and Acumen: Real World Information Skills and Employability for Business Graduates from Western Sydney University

#QQML2016 Gamifying Business Information Literacy

Next in liveblogging from the QQML conference, Jordan Nielsen (San Diego State University) talked about Gamifying Business Information Literacy: using digital badges to incentivise the acquisition of business information skills.
He decided to create a series of online business tutorials, and applied for a small research grant so he could use gamification in the tutorials: in this case to see whether digital badges engaged the students. Nielsen focused a specific course on Rhetoric and Writing, where he had reached 250 students in the first engagement with students, and 430 second engagement.
In terms of the tutorial, he considered using Adobe Connect, Blackboard and a homegrown system. He decided on Blackboard, as it does have a badging option, and also a means of enrolling all students in the tutorial. The tutorial has 3 sections, Finding, Evaluating and Using information, and in each section there are 2 subsections, one on company and on industry information. Nielsen used text, images, link, videos on Youtube, videos he created using Powtoons etc.
Badges on Blackboard are issued when they are triggered (so you set the trigger) and badges can be exported. The badged tutorials are going to pilot this autumn, with students surveyed, and also there will be a comparison between classes that have used the tutorials and classes which have had teaching in class.
Photo by Sheila Webber: lunchtime fruitplate, QQML conference