Information Literacy in Ghana, Bulgaria, Germany and Dubai

One paper from the WLIC conference that tool place in Busan, South Korea, last week and two papers from the IFLA Information Literacy Section satellite meeting to the WLIC conference (they are all short full-text papers): 
- A Case Study of Public Libraries in Ghana: Equipping Students with Critical Information Literacy Skills in the Age of AI and Misinformation by Ugne Lipeikaite and Ramune Petuchovaite https://repository.ifla.org/handle/20.500.14598/7250 
- AI, Misinformation, and Trust in Higher Education: Information Literacy Approaches of University Librarians in Germany and Bulgaria by Munazza Jabeen, Claudia Lux and Marina Encheva. https://repository.ifla.org/handle/20.500.14598/7249 
- Using 360° Tours and AI-Generated Media to Support Inclusive Discovery and Information Literacy by Sayed Mahmoud
Photo by Sheila Webber: no rain on Blackheath for many weeks, August 2026

Combining Information Literacy and Metaliteracy to Advance Transnational Group Learning about AI #ECIL2025

This is Sheila liveblogging on Combining Information Literacy and Metaliteracy to Advance Transnational Group Learning about AI. Learning Process and Learning Outcomes, Results from a Case Study authored by Joachim Griesbaum, Stefan Dreisiebner, Emina Adilović, Justyna Berniak-Woźny, Subarna Bhattacharya, Jini Jacob, Tom Mackey, Tessy Thadathil at the ECIL conference. It was presented by Mackey, Griesbaum and Dreisiebner. They are reporting results from an intercultural course part of the IPILM project, which involves institutions in India, Poland, Germany, USA, Austria and UAE. They noted that the course was worthwhile but demanding, requiring motivated students. The project https://ipil.blog.uni-hildesheim.de/ fosters intercultural learning whilst learning about information literacy and metaliteracy. It is an example of Collaborative Online International Learning which involve course co-creation, interactive learning, accessibility, and students based at the home institution. There is an explanation of COIL here). The course combines information literacy and metaliteracy in a seamless way. Learners work in team find synthesising content and evaluating tools they are using, the learners also have to reflect on themselves and their learning. Outcomes include critical thinking, knowledge production and collaboration.
The concept of IPILM involves the community (including the LMS and other collaborative tools), the learning cycle (course structure) and transnational groups (including learners from at least 2 locations). The idea emerged from the collaboration between universities in Germany and India, and developed in terms of course design (to have a winter and summer course) and to the different countries. This year there were 7 instructors, and 34 students from India, Poland, Germany, USA, Austria, UAE.
They onboard students, then there is the main part where the students collaborate and then a public online conference where the student groups present. The students, who are from different disciplinary backgrounds, are given some initial readings and then the collaborative knowledge construction starts. They build up their knowledge on the allocated topic then present and discuss interim results. Each group has to produce an artefact that addresses the problem and which is accessible to people outside academia. This is usually a video. There is iterative discussion and feedback and then the presentation.
The learning topics addressed by the groups all focused on AI this last time. e.g. AI impact on democracy; Politics; AI impact on local culture: presentations are here.
For their project they have research questions about the IPILM concept and the learning success of students. For the first aspect - they have run IPILM for 7 years and with no funding. They just did per and post surveys and asked learners to write reflections. They only had 1 student dropout after onboarding. The students said they were motivated. 10 out of 19 respondents had had group conflicts, which were addressed by course tutors. The learners judged course structure as good and teaching support as very good. For learning outcomes, they assessed IL and intercultural competency pre- and post-course. There was not a significant increase in IL but was in intercultural competence. This all seemed to show that the IPILM was feasible and enjoyed by the students.

The information literacy landscape in Germany – challenges, best practices, and trends #ECIL2025

Nicolas Kusser, Gemeinsame Kommission Informationskompetenz von dbv und VDB and Sabine Rauchmann  from Universitätsbibliothek Augsburg spoke about the history and development of IL in Germany. Librarians in Germany have developed a diverse IL landscape in collaboration with a range of stakeholders. This presentation will give an overview of the landscape and highlight best practice and current challenges. IL was established in 3 stages: 1. the Political stage, 2) the regional stage and 3) the collaboration stage across Germany. These three stages provide an understanding of how IL is taught in libraries.

In the 1980s and 1990s, training in libraries was restricted to technical functions, but there was little holistic understanding of IL and little interest in pedagogy. However it has become apparent that a focus on pedagogy was needed. From 2001, the PISA study found that German students had weak language skills, and it was also found that most students and lecturers gained IL skills through auto-didactic learning. Policymakers responded by identifying IL as a key competency and that it needed to be explicitly taught. A key document was this one Libraries should take an active role in teaching of IL, and collaborate with others in the universities to achieve this.

In the regional stage, libraries gradually responded to this policy, and individual libraries pioneered the development of IL teaching. Regional working groups were formed to standardise practice, share methods and materials and were platforms for the formal exchange of best practice in IL education. The first information literacy standards were formed in 2003. The Bavarian group were very productive and created recommendations for pedagogy, doctoral students, relationships with schools, etc. see https://www.bib-bvb.de/web/ag-ik/home

In the collaborative stage, the German Library Association and the Association of Academic Libraries established the joint commission on Information Literacy in 2012 https://www.bib-bvb.de/web/ag-ik/home. This acts as the central interface for IL in Germany, and creates policy and recommendations, it monitors IL activity across the country. It organises networking events and a best practice competition, and it maintains the national IL statistics. In 2016, it adopted the IL framework of reference, and in 2021 it released a German translation of the ACRL framework for information literacy, which defines the competencies and dispositions that learners should gain from IL teaching. 

In 2024, we have a snapshot of the state of IL in Germany. Public libraries are busier than ever, and focus workshops on children and teens. Public Libraries provide 30 workshops and tours for children and teens every year, and the number is increasing. Academic Libraries didn't get the same bounce-back after the COVID pandemic that public libraries have seen, but still provide a large amount of information literacy teaching. In academic libraries, the groups that are most targeted are UG and PGT students, but the amount of teaching provided to doctoral students and researchers has increased. Topics taught include catalogues and databases, document delivery, legal and ethical;, electronic publishing and academic writing. The number of individual consultations and webinars is increasing.

The majority of IL teaching is voluntary, and only a minority of libraries have managed to establish credit-bearing courses for information literacy. This often depended on the librarian being in the right place at the right time to influence this aspect of education. They showed some examples of best practice from university libraries, but knowledge of these is limited to people in the field. For example, the LOTSE project in Munster, and the Information Expert Passport Programm. The 2021 translation of the ACRL framework sparked a new conversation on pedagogy for IL, and by 2024 18% of librarians reported actively using the framework, 23% still worked with the older standards, and 43% took an individual approach with no overarching framework adopted for their teaching. Implementation remains fragmented. However, IL is viewed as a core responsibility in academic libraries; a study in 2024 revealed that most institutions have an IL sub-department or a specific person responsible for IL. In most institutions, IL session are carried out by staff from different departments who teach alongside their other duties. In 2024, recommendations were produced that sais that IL teachers should be identified in the organisation chart. The responsibilities and priorities must be defined. All teaching librarians should have professional development, and pedagogical approaches should be based on IL standards, and IL teachers should work collaboratively to develop IL teaching. IL teaching should not be left to the individual, but should be defined by institutions. 

The German framework for IK allows for a standardised component of IL in all librarian education in Germany. The Informationskompetenz online platform brings together statistics about information literacy in the country, which are more detailed than the government, and provides a better overview of IL teaching across the country. A roundtable facilitates the exchange of knowledge and practice, the 10th round table took place last year in Hamburg. Each year, the roundtable features different topics and takes place in a different city. The 2025 roundtable will take place in Ilmenau. The information literacy day features collaboration between three countries: Austria, Germany and Switzerland. In 2026 this will be in Augsburg, although it is German-speaking! 

The state of public libraries: there are a lot of very varied activities taking place, so it is more challenging to get a good overview of what is happening, as fewer statistics are collected. They provided some examples, many of which commence with very young children, and are integrated with school learning. The online tutorial Sputnik, which was developed by the Bavarian group and some students, is an interactive tutorial to teach IL to high school students and includes a module on AI. 

In summary, German academic and public libraries do a huge amount to support IL development across the life-course, and this activity is increasing. However, there are some more opportunities, challenges and gaps.

In terms of opportunities, a new Handbook Bibliothekspedagogik was published, which showcases the diversity of approaches and covers IL pedagogies in detail. It defines IL across all services in the Library, and the ethical use of information, including addressing fake news and AI. These are particularly important for public libraries. It also covers novel pedagogies for online teaching, drawing on experiences from the COVID pandemic. In terms of challenges, the underdeveloped IL guiding structures undermine the IL teaching of librarians. A more formal governance could recognise the strengths of IL teaching librarians, and support higher quality programmes. IL teaching needs to address IL development across the life-course. The framework is mostly used in academic libraries, greater collaboration across different professional groups and internationally. The gaps include that publications are often limited to field reports and experience papers rather than peer-reviewed publications. Bachelor's and master's theses contain some useful research, but they are not widely disseminated. A dedicated journal in German with a focus on IL would be an improvement. A structured onboarding process for new teaching librarians would support new professionals.

Germany has built a strong foundation for IL, through political recognition, regional initiatives and national collaboration. However, there is a need for further professionalisation in teaching and establishing sustainable organisational and staffing structures to promote IL in the long term.

Photo by Sheila Webber: canoers, Bamberg, September 2025

Bridging the Digital Divide: A Practical Workshop on Digital Inclusion in Adult Education #ECIL2025

Sheila here, and the next workshop I'm blogging from the ECIL conference is Bridging the Digital Divide: A Practical Workshop on Digital Inclusion in Adult Education run by Violeta Trkulja and Juliane Stiller (Grenzenlos Digital e.V., Germany). The latter is a non profit organisation which aims for a joust, informed and inclusive digital society. They started by differentiating between equality (where everyone is treated the same) and equity (making unjust conditions into fair ones, so giving people different support to achieve eqity). I think they used this definition https://www.digitalinclusion.org/digital-inclusion-101/
They went on to talk about the term digital divide, which can be seen as a rather binary way of thinking about things. Unequal access, skills difference and differences in offline outcomes have been seen as different aspects of the digital divide. The presenters identified that now this is seen to simplistic a way of looking at things, and rather one would talk about digital exclusion and inclusion. They mentioned factors for exclusion and talked about digitally vulnerable groups (which might be "exposed to deeper new social and economic risks" through being digitally excluded.
In developing a programme, they have asked - what are the characteristics of the target group? how can we motivate, what are the competencies, how can we evaluate it? In terms of the courses, there needs to be 4 stages: recruitment, onboarding of participants, course format and support to guide people through the course.
Our activity involved adopting a persona of a target groups and address questions - what are the possible hurdles to participating in your course, what do you need to know about these? Which of the stages (see above) has hurdles? What do you need to do to overcome hurdles at each stage?

Digital inclusivity #ECIL2025

 Dr Julianne Stiller and Dr Violeta work at a non-profit organisation in Berlin that seeks to address digital inclusivity in Germany. Patrons in public libraries represent the whole range of people living in the country. There are increasing examples of users requesting extremist content from public libraries, for example, books that are extreme right-wing and conspiracy-driven. In the last few years, public libraries in Berlin have found deliberately destroyed books that cover right-wing content. Some libraries have placed warning labels on books to indicate that the books are written by conspiracy theorists. This has been challenged by the authors in court, and the library had to remove the warning labels. Libraries are under pressure - they must provide access to diverse materials, but there are political demands to add and remove books, and there is a constant threat to librarian independence. There is a threat from disinformation, and this is exacerbated by AI, which creates misinformation on a grand scale. Librarians are information providers and defenders on the frontline of misinformation. A training program for public librarians was developed to respond to these challenges.

They wanted to create a practical programme. The first pillar is proactive skills building - understanding the disinformation ecosystem, the second module focused on developing advanced media literacy skills to empower librarians to teach and model critical thinking and provide tools and educational formats that librarians can use to support information literacy in their communities. The second pillar covers reactive threat response, firstly responding to conspiracy narratives, to understand common symbols and rhetoric strategies used in conspiracy myths, and redirect patrons to credible sources. Countering hate speech and polarisation covers how disinformation escalates into hate speech, recognising language patterns and protocols for responding to them. It's important to protect the library and an institution for good. The programme also addresses foundational skills: personal resilience, where librarians learn how to manage their own reactions. and learn how to de-escalate situations. The programme builds the focus on the role of the institution as a defender of social cohesion and democratic resilience. Analystical and technological expertise covering issues such as new threats coming from AI-generated content.

They ran a blend of online and in-person workshops, and used a range of interactive exercises and role-playing games to give librarians practical tools to stand up to far-right actors.

Photo: House in Bamberg (Pam McKinney)

Rethinking Space and Services – Academic Libraries as Learning Hubs #ECIL2025

 Christine Gläser from Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Germany, gave an invited talk on learning spaces and information literacy. This is Christine's third ECIL conference, and she hopes to present a development of her work. In common with the theme of the conference, Christine asked Copilot (an AI application) to define a learning hub, which it defined as "a dedicated space designed to support learning, collaboration and academic success. It goes beyond traditional library services by integrating various forms of academic support in one location". Christine has an interest in the impact of digitisation on academic libraries, the role of libraries to build digital and information literacy, the design of learning spaces to meet user needs and higher education library transformations. Learning spaces can be defined as spaces that promote social learning, and spaces that enable, inspire and stimulate learning. In higher education, libraries are commonly conceived as learning spaces, and are drivers for change in learning space design. Students need a greater number of, and more diverse learning spaces, which has driven the development of a variety of learning space designs. This mirrors the shift from "teaching" to "learning" in universities, and the need for self-study environments for independent learning. Students need technical infrastructure, different seating options and a mix of collaborative and silent study options. Formal learning environments in universities are also now being developed, with the provision of flexible and adaptable formal spaces that support creativity and active learning.

The concept of information literacy is broadening with the proliferation of new aspects, for example, media and information literacy, digital literacy, data and AI Literacy, news literacy, metaliteracy, transliteracy, multimodal literacy etc. This has led to the development of models for "future skills". Hybrid learning environments take into account online and offline, physical and digital, formal and informal, collaborative and individual learning. Hybrid spaces are very diverse, and furniture in these spaces tends to be lightweight and flexible, easy to move. Hybrid spaces are also technologically rich and allow learners to access private soundproofed spaces to engage with online lectures and meetings. Christine showed a lot of pictures of hybrid and flexible spaces at German universities. There is a transformation taking place from the teaching library to a learning library, to a library that is concerned with both teaching and learning. This has led to three dimensions of transformation: 1) learning content around digital and academic literacies and future skills. 2) the design of the learning process including the professionalisation of educational concepts and staff and digital and hybrid learning. The library can be thought of as a "third teacher" supporting information literacy, digital learning and active and hybrid learning. Librarians must see the library space as a service for students; it must be flexible and adaptable.

At HAW Hamburg, they have transformed the academic branch library into a learning centre. Participation of students was key to the redesign of the space and engaging with user-centred design. This was done through workshops, co-creation activities, observations, interviews, mapping and cultural probes to really understand the needs of users. They uncovered the concept of "together alone", that students wanted to avoid distractions and have a calm environment. This led to a space design that had multiple and diverse learning spaces, which were rich with IT and media equipment. 

Photo: Christine's slide showing some learning spaces (Pam McKinney)

Gesellschaft für Informationskompetenz und Informationsinfrastruktur

I was trying to find an article that meaningfully connected Easter and Information Literacy, and while I failed in that, I did come across the website of the Gesellschaft für Informationskompetenz und Informationsinfrastruktur (Association for Information Literacy and Information Infrastucture). It is a German organisation, and most of the site is in German, but there is also some English language material and they are also represented by the IICIIS Institute für Information Competence and Information Infrastructure. From my superficial look, it is run by a freelance information manager, but lists a number of press associations, archives, information associations etc. as partners and has some German-language information as well as a newsletter that mostly highlights relevant events and publications. The German version of the website is at https://iiciis.org/
Photo by Sheila Webber: yet more cherry blossom petals, April 2025 (I didn't pluck that white blossom, BTW, I just photograph arrangements I see on the grass)

Teacher education and IL: Education Companion Document; Pre-service teacher's IL

Ewing, R., Lehner-Quam, A., James, A., Gregor, M., Rosenzweig, J., & Ditkoff, J. (2024). Teacher Education and Information Literacy: Introducing the Instruction for Educators Companion Document. College & Research Libraries News, 85(4), 139. https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.85.4.139 The companion document itself is here: https://acrl.libguides.com/ed

Trixa, J. & Kaspar, K. (2024). Information literacy in the digital age: information sources, evaluation strategies, and perceived teaching competences of pre-service teachers. Frontiers in Psychology, 15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1336436
"An online questionnaire was presented to participants [371 pre service teachers in Germany] , employing a mixed-method approach. We qualitatively examined the sources of information used by pre-service teachers and the evaluation strategies they employ, while quantitatively analyzing relationships between pre-service teachers’ person-related factors and their perceived teaching competence. " Results "revealed digital media dominance in information acquisition over traditional sources, albeit with a prevalence of surface-level evaluation strategies over reflective approaches. Two distinct dimensions of perceived competence in teaching information literacy emerged: one focusing on information assessment while the other centers on the understanding of news creation processes. Perceived competence in teaching information literacy was significantly associated with self-efficacy in information assessment, perceived informedness, selective exposure to information as well as perceived learning opportunities focusing on information evaluation. Moreover, pre-service teachers employing diverse information evaluation strategies demonstrated a heightened sense of perceived competence in teaching information assessment."
Photo by Sheila Webber: spring blossom and bark, March 2024

#ECIL2023 What Shapes Our Trust in Scientific Information? A Review of Factors Influencing Perceived Scientificness and Credibility

 Armin Jacob and Lennert Perrey from ZBW Leibniz information centre for economics spoke about the importance in developing science information literacy, especially in the context of the pandemic. They were interested in understanding the factors that can mislead people into thinking that information is “scientific” when it is pseudo-science or not of good quality. They undertook a comprehensive search of journal databases to identify journal papers that wee perceived as credible science. The use of scientific formulas makes people believe that the source is scientific. The inclusion of tables and pictures increases credibility. The use of language such as the passive voice contributes to the perception that it is genuine science, and the use of overly positive language was seen to reduce credibility. The way that a text is formatted was also important e.g. two column format was sen to be more credible than one-column format. Where the title and qualifications of authors were used, this increased credibility,  and the inclusion of references. Communicators of science information need to be aware of these cognitive biases when writing journal papers. There are ethical concerns that pseudo science writers deliberately include these strategies to make their writing more credible and mislead people.

New articles: hate speech

The new issue of the open access journal Comunicar (vol 30 no. 71, 2022) has a focus on Hate speech in communication: Research and proposals. Articles are in English and Spanish - if you want to change the language, click the flag on the top right of the screen (e.g. a Union Jack for English). Articles are:
- Adolescents’ motivations to perpetrate hate speech and links with social norms by Sebastian Wachs, Potsdam (Germany), Alexander Wettstein, Berna (Switzerland), Ludwig Bilz, Senftenberg (Germany) & Manuel Gámez-Guadix, Madrid (Spain).
- Hate speech and social acceptance of migrants in Europe: Analysis of tweets with geolocation by Carlos Arcila-Calderón, Salamanca (Spain), Patricia Sánchez-Holgado, Salamanca (Spain), Cristina Quintana-Moreno, Salamanca (Spain), Javier-J. Amores, Salamanca (Spain) & David Blanco-Herrero, Salamanca (Spain).
- Hate speech analysis as a function of ideology: Emotional and cognitive effects by Natalia Abuín-Vences, Madrid (Spain), Ubaldo Cuesta-Cambra, Madrid (Spain), José-Ignacio Niño-González, Madrid (Spain) & Carolina Bengochea-González, Madrid (Spain).
- A systematic literature review of the representations of migration in Brazil and the United Kingdom by Isabella Gonçalves, Mainz (Germany) & Yossi David, Mainz (Germany).
- When negativity is the fuel. Bots and Political Polarization in the COVID-19 debate by José-Manuel Robles, Madrid (Spain), Juan-Antonio Guevara, Madrid (Spain), Belén Casas-Mas, Madrid (Spain) & Daniel Gómez, Madrid (Spain).
- Twitter and human trafficking: Purposes, actors and topics in the Spanish-speaking scene by Alba Sierra-Rodríguez, Granada (Spain), Wenceslao Arroyo-Machado, Granada (Spain) & Domingo Barroso-Hurtado, Cáceres (Spain).
- Special Education Teacher’s professional development through digital storytelling by Ozgur Yasar-Akyar, Ankara (Turkey), Cinthia Rosa-Feliz, Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), Solomon Sunday-Oyelere, Luleå (Sweden), Darwin Muñoz, Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) & Gıyasettin Demirhan, Ankara (Turkey).
- Detection of traits in students with suicidal tendencies on Internet applying Web Mining by Iván Castillo-Zúñiga, Aguascalientes (Mexico), Francisco-Javier Luna-Rosas, Aguascalientes (Mexico) & Jaime-Iván López-Veyna, Zacatecas (Mexico).
- Booktokers: Generating and sharing book content on TikTok by Nataly Guiñez-Cabrera, Chillán (Chile) & Katherine Mansilla-Obando, Santiago (Chile).
- The relationship of Twitter with teacher credibility and motivation in university students by Facundo Froment, Sevilla (Spain), Alfonso-Javier García-González, Sevilla (Spain) & Julio Cabero-Almenara, Sevilla (Spain).
Go to https://www.revistacomunicar.com/index.php?contenido=revista&numero=71&idioma=en Photo by Sheila Webber: trees, Chapelgarth, March 2022

Recent articles: Health literacy as vaccine; fact checking in Sweden; Information behaviour in COVID19; Health information behaviour; IL in Ghana; Citizen science

- Okan, O. et al. (2022). Health literacy as a social vaccine in the COVID-19 pandemic Health Promotion International, daab197, https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daab197 
- Ahmadinia, H., Eriksson-Backa, K. and Nikou, S. (2022), Health-seeking behaviours of immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees in Europe: a systematic review of peer-reviewed articles, Journal of Documentation, 78(7), 18-41. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-10-2020-0168
 - Dreisiebner, S., März, S. and Mandl, T. (2022), Information behavior during the Covid-19 crisis in German-speaking countries, Journal of Documentation, 78(7), 160-175. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-12-2020-0217
- Juneström, A. (2022), Discourses of fact-checking in Swedish news media, Journal of Documentation, 78(7), 125-140. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-03-2021-0061
- Ozor, A. & Toner, J. (2022) Information Literacy Behavior and Practice: An Assessment of Undergraduate Students at Ada College of Education, Ghana. Journal of Library Administration, 62(1), 132-151. https://doi.org/10.1080/01930826.2021.2006992 (open access) " The results from this survey present an overview of the College’s current approach to information literacy instruction, resource accessibility, as well as students’ information literacy comprehension and application. A series of recommendations are presented for the College to consider in improving its approach to supporting information literacy skills development."
- Ekström, B. (2022), A niche of their own: variations of information practices in biodiversity citizen science, Journal of Documentation, 78(7), 248-265. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-07-2021-0146
- Multas, A.-M. and Hirvonen, N. (2022), “Let's keep this video as real as possible”: young video bloggers constructing cognitive authority through a health-related information creation process, Journal of Documentation, 78(7), 42-64. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-02-2021-0027
- Graminius, C. (2022), Fast-food information, information quality and information gap: a temporal exploration of the notion of information in science communication on climate change, Journal of Documentation, 78(7), 89-105. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-03-2021-0072 "In their discussion of the concept of information, Capurro and Hjörland (2005) tentatively ask what else we might need to know about information. Perhaps there is room for more research on the concept of information and temporal issues since this study shows how notions of information come into being in the contextual intersections of time, actions and materials." 
Photo by Sheila Webber: sign of spring, February 2022

Wissenschaft(lichkeits)skompetenz als Metakompetenz: and a reflection on language

Thomas Hapke picked up a blog post in which I mentioned an article about science literacy and wrote his own interesting post (in German) referring to his own articles in which he discusses information literacy (Informationskompetenz) and e.g. this one in which he outlines his own concept of Wissenschaftlichkeitskompetenz. Wissenschaft can't be exactly translated into English (as Hapke also explains) - sometimes it gets translated as "Science", but it isn't confined to the "sciences" but could also be translated more broadly as "knowledge" or "scholarship". This is Hapke's blog post https://blog.hapke.de/information-literacy/wissenschaftlichkeitsskompetenz-als-metakompetenz/. 

With the wonders of Google translate you can get a good idea of what he says, even if you don't read German (I do understand German and just checked). However, looking at the Google translation also raises the important issue of how language and meaning are obviously intertwined. Google has evidently been taught that "Informationskompetenz" should be translated as "Information Literacy", but translates "Wissenschaft(lichkeits)skompetenz" more literally as "Science competence". "Kompetenz" is literally "competence", rather than "literacy" (2 words with different meanings in English) and the fact that the german word is "Informationskompetenz" is bound to have an impact on how that concept gets interpreted, just as English's lack of a word to match the very useful concept of "Wissenschaften" may end up with us using the word "sciences" (and thus emphasising the status of "sciences") to cover the concept of "disciplinary or knowledge areas which have a foundation in research and scholarship").

Photo by Sheila Webber: lovely tulips, April 2021

Fakehunter: German-language anti-fake news programme

A German language game/lesson plan, Die FakeHunter, has been developed to turn students into fake-news hunters. Developed by libraries in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, the full material is available to people who have gone through their training programme, but there is an abbreviated version that can be downloaded. The full workshop sequence involves a phase of the schoolchildren being introduced the the scenario and given training as fake-news hunters, then practising on their own devices and trying out their skills on stories in a special news-portal that includes fake news, and then a debriefing and the participants get a fake newshunter certificate. Website here https://www.diefakehunter.de/, downloads here https://www.bz-sh.de/projekte-bestaende/die-fakehunter 

On the same theme, a blog post in German talking about the problem of fake news and how to spot it: Dallinga, A-C., Moll-Seiler , F. & Steyer, T. (2021, 9 February). Der Wolf im Schafspelz: Fake News im digitalen Kosmos. [Wolf in sheep's clothing: fake news in the digital universe] https://blogs.tu-braunschweig.de/ubbs/2021/02/09/der-wolf-im-schafspelz-fake-news-im-digitalen-kosmos/ 

Digital Native News Media: Trends and Challenges

Volume 8 issue 2 of the open access journal Media and Communication was devoted to the theme of Digital Native News Media: Trends and Challenges (by which is meant news media that are "born digital", not media aimed at digital natives, looking particularly at hispanic contexts). The articles include: 

-Information Quality in Latin American Digital Native Media: Analysis Based on Structured Dimensions and Indicators by Claudia Rodríguez-Hidalgo, Diana Rivera-Rogel and Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez 

- Cross-National Similarities and Differences between Legacy and Digital-Born News Media Audiences by Alfonso Vara-Miguel 

- Business Model Innovation in News Media: Fostering New Relationships to Stimulate Support from Readers by Giuliander Carpes da Silva and Gabriela Gruszynski Sanseverino 

- Why Do Digital Native News Media Fail? An Investigation of Failure in the Early Start-Up Phase by Christopher Buschow 

- Behind the Comments Section: The Ethics of Digital Native News Discussions by Orge Castellano Parra, Koldobika Meso Ayerdi and Simón Peña Fernández 

- Media Roles in the Online News Domain: Authorities and Emergent Audience Brokers by Sílvia Majó-Vázquez, Ana S. Cardenal, Oleguer Segarra and Pol Colomer de Simón 

- Between Self-Regulation and Participatory Monitoring: Comparing Digital News Media Accountability Practices in Spain by Pedro-Luis Pérez-Díaz, Rocío Zamora Medina and Enrique Arroyas Langa 

 Go to https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/issue/view/174

Photo by Sheila Webber: crib (the basis of which is a set I was given by an aunt when I was about 7), December 2020

New articles: researching conflicts; digital reading; IL in public libraries; university-school outreach; nursing students

The latest issue (Volume 14 No 2) of open access Journal of Information Literacy has been published. The articles are: 

- Be kind: Teaching for information literacy in a pandemic era by Alison Hicks (Editorial)

- Students’ approaches when researching complex geographical conflicts using the internet by Eva Engelen, Alexandra Budke  (the participants were secondary school students in Germany)

- How to teach digital reading? by Fei Victor Lim, Weimin Toh 

- Information literacy outreach between universities and schools by Sharon Wagg, Pam McKinney (a case study using situational analysis of a programme)

- Information literacy instruction in public libraries by Miriam Louise Matteson, Beate Gersch  ("Key findings were that public librarians incorporate a range of IL concepts in their interactions with patrons, across a wide variety of expressed information needs, with most of the instruction directed toward helping patrons plan their information tasks, access information, and judge information. Secondary themes showed that although librarians believed strongly in the value and importance of providing instruction, individual and situational factors presented barriers to effective instruction.")

- Developing information literacy skills in elementary students [10-12 years] using the web-based Inquiry Strategies for the Information Society of the Twenty-First (ISIS-21) Century by Anne C. Wade, Larysa Lysenko,Philip C. Abrami 

- Innovative digital tools in EBP [evidence based practice] and information literacy education for undergraduate nursing students by Bryan Chan, Ruth Wei 

Go to https://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/JIL/issue/view/221  

Photo by Sheila Webber: autumn anemone, November 2020

Talking to children about fake news/ Klicksafe - Zuhause lernen mit Medien

Two resources: one in English and one in German. The first is from the BBC: How to talk to your kids about fake news, including a video https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zmvdd6f
The second is a key German site aimed at fostering competent and critical use of the internet: Klicksafe. As a couple of examples, it has a new section Zuhause lernen mit Medien – Tipps für Eltern und Lehrende [learning at home with media - tips for parents and teachers]
https://www.klicksafe.de/service/aktuelles/news/detail/zuhause-lernen/ and one of their recent pamphlets is Gutes Aufwachsen mit Medien - Kinderrechte im Netz [Growing up safely with media - children's rights on the internet]
Photo by Sheila Webber: mimosa tree, March 2020

Presentations (in German or English): infolit of engineers, business etc.

- From the IATUL seminar in Munich, December 2018 (presentations and recordings: some in English, some in German). Includes presentations on information needs of small business and of manufacturing companies, and of the hospitality industry; information skills for apprentices; Information literacy in the healthcare sector and in engineering. Go to https://www.iatul.org/munich2018/programme
There are also proceedings of the information literacy strand of the IATUL conference (in English) at https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/iatul/2018/infolit/, for example Engineering graduates at work: Reality check for information literacy by Caroline Leiss and Pia Ludwig

- From the Bibliothekartag 2019 (all in German) numerous presentations (includes presentations on: a "didactics wheel" checklist for teaching; digital literacy; the information literacy of new engineers; developing an academic writing workshop; education for digital humanities) https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-bib-info/solrsearch/index/search/searchtype/collection/id/16984 and (winning infolit posters) https://www.bibliotheksverband.de/fachgruppen/kommissionen/informationskompetenz/best-practice-wettbewerb/2019.html
Photo by Sheila webber: approaching Sydney, July 2019

MIL as a defence against misinformation and false news #globalmilweek

MIL as a defence against misinformation, false news, disaster risk reduction and management was the theme of the first plenary at the Global Media and Information Literacy Week in Kingston, Jamaica today, and this is a liveblog of it.
Alice Lee (Department of Journalism, Hong Kong Baptist Universy) chaired the session and spoke first. She proposed an integrated model of MIL consisting of critical thing, reflective things and positive thinking in combination. Lee characterised this as "mindful access" with reflexive and positive interpretation of what they discover (for example, considering of taking positive action in their own lives or affecting others). Reflective use and constructive creation followed on from this. This model could guide people at a personal level (leading engaged and meaningful lives) and at a societal level (taking positive action and fight against isinformation).
Rose-Marie Farinella (a public school teacher in France) spoke next. She described her initiative with her children on media lteracy - this included taking an oath on their computer mouse that they would use their computer responsibly. She said that one has to understand what "true" information is, before you can understand what false information is. She runs role playing games (e.g. of a car accident) which helps them understand the contradictory news that might be presented about the same event. Thus the pupil understands the different points of view of participants, and the cognitive bias.
Building on this, they investigate the truth and falsehood, and part of this involves learning how search engines work and asking key questions (what, where, who, why etc.) Pupils learn the importance of contextualising text and images, and ways of identifying fake images etc. She mentioned use, for example of Google images and maps to help authenticate. Farinella said how the students had created texts, drawings and videos during this project, expressing what they find (one of them is at the head of this blog entry)
Liar Liar pants on fire (re-loaded) was the next talk from someone at Deutsche Welle (apologies, I didn't catch his name and he wasn't on the programme - I'll add this when I discover it). He identified the huge number of people on social media, and also the false news created as click bait, and it also meant that any breaking news incident was immediately surrounded by a wealth of false news. This includes memes (e.g. people who are regularly accused of involvement), altered videos and old videos of similar incidents passed off as new new news. Sometimes this misinformation got trapped in the news ecosystem for some time.
Then there were people and organisations deliberately spreading misinformation because of their agenda (e.g. political). Finally, the pants on fire refers that "anything can happen on social media" even a nuclear threat. He saw the deliberate misinformation campaigns as "a pointed gun to journalsim itself", trying to erode trust in journalism and the free press. To combat this there was a need to train people, gear-up and finally co-operate. He mentioned relevant initiatives being mentioned on the DW blog http://blogs.dw.com/innovation
I'll continue in another post!

#Copyright Literacy in Higher Education #wlic2017

This is my final liveblog on the mini-conference on Models for Copyright Education in Information Literacy Programs at the 2017 World Library and Information Conference held in the Dolnośląska Szkoła Wyższa (University of Lower Silesia), Wroclaw. There was part 2 of Librarians Teaching Faculty and Students: Copyright Literacy in Higher Education, moderated by Tomas Lipinski.
Armin Talke, Berlin State Library (Germany) talked on Berlin State Library´s Scientific Publishing Program for PhD Students: Copyright and Much More. Although this is not a university library, there is strong use by PhD students and there is demand for support (there have been high profile cases in Germany of people getting caught having plagiarised their PhDs). They have developed 4 modules:
1. General questions (3 hours). This includes landscape of publishing; plagiarism; what you can include in your work legally; where to publish; basics of copyright; financing publications; post-publication e.g. getting book reviews
2. Open Access (2 and a half hours) including licenses, differences between different routes
3. Copyright in images (2 hours) including ways to license and good sources to find images
4. Research Data Management. This includes administration, ethics, legal issues, publishing and finding research data

Janice Pilch, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US) talked on The Scope of Copyright Education. This addressed the issue of what should be included in copyright education. She started by identifying that education is not neutral, with explicit or implicit values, a specific context etc. For example descriptions of copyright by different people/institutions will frame it differently (e.g. as constraining or protecting). The speaker felt that copyright education could be expanded by adopting perspectives from some aspects of the ACRL IL Framework e.g. thinking of metaliteracy, and understanding that information is constructed and contextual.
The traditional scope of copyright education has been about understanding the legal situation and keeping within it. The speaker felt that reaching beyond this, taking a more critical stance, and thinking of the entire copyright ecosystem, would be a welcome step. She noted that the development of the web, and digital industries, had signalled an increased focus on copyright and new types of pressure, lobbying, advocacy etc. The speaker identified that some companies also used academic projects and outputs to give a neutral face to their lobbying. The speaker presented a slide with a whole list of strategies (e.g. "Using "left" modalities to support corporate interests") Therefore she felt that copyright education should include helping people "untangle these strategies". This includes distinguishing between advocacy, education and marketing. She used the example of Marc Ribot who supports musicians' rights: he urged librarians "to make sure that the process of distribution does not destroy the process of creation" (by destroying their ability to make a living). I thought this was a welcome call to think about copyright as not just about obeying the law etc.

Jane Nichols, Oregon State University Libraries and Press (US) talked on Copyright Education and the Undergraduate Student (coauthored with Michaela Hooper). She talked about a Library Skills for literary studies class. Goals included considering social political and economic context of information and knowledge production. One session focuses on author rights, public domain, creative commons licenses and fair use of content. She used Char Booth's instructional design model. You can find information on that model https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2010/04/30/build-your-own-instructional-literacy/
The speaker reflected on the characteristics of the students they teach, often starting with not knowing much about rights. Steps they scaffold start with recalling that copyright applies to do with music and books, then building on that by understanding that copyright is automatic and understand creative commons licensing. The speakers have an exercise at the start of the class to find out where students are in their knowledge of copyright. The speaker emphasised getting students to reflect on examples, and on the teachers also reflecting on their teaching.

I'll mention that I have failed to blog talks by Vincent Bonnet (EBLIDA) on copyright in Europe and by Dick Kawooya on a survey of copyright in the curricula of North American library and information schools. This is because they were run over lunch, and I couldn't blog and eat! However, I think the powerpoints from today's talks may be published and I will blog the link when I get it.
The first picture of particioants today is by me. The second shows Ewa Rozkosz, Lisa Hinchliffe, the university president, Janice Pilch and Tomas Lipinski and was taken by Mirek Antoniewicz

New German articles on information literacy

The latest issue of the German-language open-access journal o-bib (volume 4 number 1) features information literacy. Apart from the 2nd and 3rd last items (which are in English) the articles are all in German. Apologies for any mistakes in my translation of the German titles. I couldn't decide whether to use "delivery" or "facilitation" for "Vermittlung" and I've used the former, as I think which would be appropriate depends on the context and I'm afraid I haven't read all of these articles [yet]
- Die Förderung von Informationskompetenz ist Kernaufgabe von Bibliotheken – und nicht nur der Senf zur Bratwurst! by Fabian Franke [Development of information literacy is a core mission for the library, not just the mustard on the sausage (i.e. an accompanying garnish)]
- Information Literacy Threshold Concepts and the Association of College and Research Libraries' Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education by Gayle Schaub, Hazel McClure
- Threshold-Konzepte, das ANCIL-Curriculum und die Metaliteracy – Überlegungen zu Konsequenzen für die Förderung von Informationskompetenz in deutschen Hochschulen by Wilfried Sühl-Strohmenger [Threshold concepts, the ANCIL curriculum and metaliteracy: reflections on the consequences of development of IL in German higher education institutions]
- Threshold Concepts in deutschen Bibliotheken - eine Utopie? by Carolin Ahnert [Threshold concepts in German libraries - a utopia?]
- Fit für die Vermittlung von Informationskompetenz? Anforderungen an die Qualifikation von Teaching Librarians in bibliothekarischen Studiengängen und Ausbildungseinrichtungen by Inka Tappenbeck, Anke Wittich, Maria Gäde [Fit to deliver IL? Requirements for German teaching librarians' qualifications]
- Lehre in Zeiten von Framework und Qualifikationsprofil vor dem Hintergrund der HRK-Empfehlung: Überlegungen zu einer möglichen Umsetzung des „shifts from teaching to learning“ im IK-Unterricht am Fachbereich Archiv- und Bibliothekswesen der Hochschule für den öffentlichen Dienst in Bayern by Naoka Werr [Teaching in the time of the Framework and qualifications profile against the background of the HRK recommendations: Reflections on a possible implementation of "shifts from teaching to learning" in IL teaching in the field of archive and library science at the Hochschule für den öffentlichen Dienst in Bavaria]
- Die Strategie der Kultusministerkonferenz „Bildung in der digitalen Welt“ und der „Referenzrahmen Informationskompetenz“ des Deutschen Bibliotheksverbandes by Andreas Klingenberg [The strategy of the ministerial conference "Education in a digital world" and the "guidelines on IL" from the German Library Association]
- Teaching Libraries zwischen Vermittlung fachwissenschaftlicher Informationskompetenz und der Unterstützung einer Propädeutik für die Digital Humanities by Marcus Schröter [Teaching libraries between delivering IL in the disciplines and the support of a induction for digital humanities]
- Information Literacy an der Pädagogischen Hochschule Thurgau – ein spannendes Experiment zwischen Bibliothek, MDZ und dem Fachbereich Wissenschaft und Forschung by Verena Maria Muheim [IL at the Pädagogischen Hochschule Thurgau – an exciting experiment involving the library, MDZ [I think this means the Medien-und Didaktikzentrums' (MDZ) library] and scholarship and research]
- Kein Königsweg - die Vermittlung von Forschungsdatenkompetenz auf allen universitären Ebenen by Kerstin Helbig, Pamela Aust [No easy way - the delivery of research data literacy at all university levels]
- Quantitative information literacy: Designing an online course at the interface between information literacy and statistical literacy by Christina Kläre
- Die Generation Y – Ein Plädoyer für die Analyse einer „vernetzten Generation“ zur Weiterentwicklung der Bibliotheksdidaktik by Kim Farah Giuliani [Generation Y: a plea for analysis of a "networked generation" for further development of library pedagogy]
- Kooperative Informationskompetenzvermittlung im Fach Architektur: Lehrveranstaltungsreflexion eines Blended-Learning-Workshops mithilfe der Theorie des constructive alignments by Simone Kibler [Cooperative delivery of IL in the discipline of architecture: reflection on learning design of a blended learning workshop, using constructive alignment]
https://www.o-bib.de/issue/view/2017H1/showToc
Thanks to Thomas Hapke for tweeting this
Photo by Sheila Webber: St Georges , Sheffield University, April 2017