Recent articles: Serendipity; Information quality; Libraries in computer games; Informal carers; Capital and information practice; Fake news

The latest complete issue of the priced Journal of Documentation (Volume 80 Issue 1, 2024) includes:
- Does serendipity matter in knowledge management? Organizational sharing and use of encountered information by Sanda Erdelez, Yuan-Ho Huang, Naresh Kumar Agarwal
- Parsing through paradigms: uncertainty and decision-making in human information behavior by Juliana Mestre
- Capital as the outcome of information practices: a study of devotees and monks of a Theravada Buddhist Temple by Hilary Yerbury, Michael Olsson, Pethigamage Perera
- Addressing the information needs of informal carers in Malawi: a healthcare intervention based on co-creation by Efpraxia D. Zamani, Laura Sbaffi, Khumbo Kalua
- Fake news as systematically distorted communication: an LIS intervention by John Buschman
-Exploring perceived online information quality: a mixed-method approach by Boryung Ju, J. Brenton Stewart
- A systematic review of information source preference research by Huan Zhong, Zhengbiao Han 
- Depiction of library use in video games: a content analysis by Emerson Taylor, Chern Li Liew
Go to https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/0022-0418/vol/80/iss/1
Photo by Sheila Webber: Snow, February 2024

Information needs; Health information; Equity in instruction

The latest issue of priced publication Health Information and Libraries Journal 40(3) includes the following:
- College and university libraries and user responses to COVID-19 health information needs by Maria J. Grant,
- Promoting evidence-based practice and nursing excellence: How involvement in a Magnet4Europe® research study led to development of critically appraised topics sessions for health care staff by Beverley Jones and Claire O'Connor
- Information needs and sources of health professionals in Malawi by Limbani Chrispin Gama, Winner Dominic Chawinga, George Theodore Chipeta
- Identifying knowledge practices in an infodemic era: Rediscovering the professional identities of LIS professionals in an infodiverse environment (Open access article) by Joseph M. Yap, Agnes Hajdu Barat, Peter Kiszl
- Integrating diversity, equity, and inclusion principles into instruction: Case studies from the University of Florida's Health Science Center Libraries by Jane Morgan-Daniel, Hannah F. Norton, Mary Edwards, Lauren Adkins
Go to https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14711842/2023/40/3
Photo by Sheila Webber: petunia flowerbed, August 2023

Hepworth Festschrift: Information behaviour/Literacy, HIV/AIDS, Dementia, Mobile phones

The latest issue of the Aslib Journal of Information Management (priced publication) is a Festschrift in honour of Professor Mark Hepworth, who died last in December 2016. As it says in the introduction to the issue he "for many years pushed forward the boundaries in studies of people’s information behaviour and their information experience" ". In his last post he was Chair in People’s Information Behaviour at Loughborough University, UK. There is an obituary here. The picture is one I took of him presenting at the i3 conference in 2013.
The issue includes an article based on part of the findings from one of my graduated PhD students, Kondwani Wella, and coauthored with me and Professor Phillipa Levy:
Wella, K., Webber, S. and Levy, P. (2017). Myths about HIV and AIDS among serodiscordant couples in Malawi. Aslib Journal of Information Management, 69 (3),278 - 293.
The other articles are:
- Harland, J., Bath, P., Wainwright, A. and Seymour, J. (2017). Making sense of dementia: A phenomenographic study of the information behaviours of people diagnosed with dementia Aslib Journal of Information Management, 69 (3),261 - 277)
- Cibangu, S., Hepworth,M., and Champion, D. (2017) Mobile phones for development: An information case study of mobile phone kiosk vendors in the Congo Aslib Journal of Information Management, 69 (3),294 - 315.
- Kelechukwu Ibenne, S., Simeonova,B., Harrison, J and Hepworth M. An integrated model highlighting information literacy and knowledge formation in information behaviour Aslib Journal of Information Management, 69 (3), 316 - 334
- Foos, S., Majid, S. and Chang, Y.K. Assessing information literacy skills among young information age students in Singapore. Aslib Journal of Information Management, 69 (3), 335 - 353
- Taylor, L. and Willett, P. (2017). Comparison of US and UK rankings of LIS journals. Aslib Journal of Information Management, 69 (3), 354 - 367
Contents page at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/toc/ajim/69/3

Experiencing HIV and AIDS information #i3rgu

More liveblogging day 2 of the i3 conference held this week at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland. Kondwani Wella (the third of my PhD students presenting at this conference) is talking about Experiencing HIV and AIDS information: a phenomenological study of serodiscordant couples in Malawi.
He has been investigating how serodiscordant couples (that is, when one partner is HIV positive, and the other HIV negative) experience of HIV/AIDS information in Malawi, using a phenomenological approach. He had 45 participants, 21 couples and three people who had separated because of their HIV status. Their level of education varied from having no formal education, the majority who had primary or secondary education, to one couple where education was at university level. Kondwani described the data collection and analysis process, based primarily on Van Manen’s approach to phenomenological research.
He identified five lifeworld existentials (where they experienced information): lived body (which, for example, might reveal or conceal HIV/AIDS); lived others (e.g. nurses, community, family); lived spaces; lived time (e.g. truncated lifespan) and spirituality (God and ancestral spirits). The last existential was a new thing which emerged specifically from Kondwani’s research.
In terms of HIV/AIDS information availability, for example, there was a lack of availability (with information aimed at couples where both were HIV positive), the HIV negative partner’s needs might be overlooked or denied. There were also barriers e.g. print sources were inaccessible to illiterate people; hospitals etc. had to be travelled to; some information was in English or was too technical.
Kondwani presenting the graphic of his overall conceptual framework for information experience, an iterative model which includes stages of anticipation, filtering, evaluation, interaction, acting on information and reflection.
He finished by identifying some practical implications. Firstly, there needed to be collaboration with faith based organisations (because of spiritua;ity's importance in people's lives). Secondly, HIV/AIDS information services needed to use participative approaches. Thirdly, information communication should aim at informing everyday talk (because the community and family had a big impact on people's lives and behaviour). Finally, information services could use Kondwani's model in designing services.
Photo by Sheila Webber: through a window at Dunnottir castle, June 2015

Health Information and Libraries Journal: HIV/AIDS; health info kiosks; information behaviour, literacy and needs.

One of my current PhD students has just had an article published about his PhD research. This journal is a priced publication:
Wella, K. (2014) The information experience and learning needs of couples living with HIV in Malawi. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 31 (4), 325–329 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/enhanced/doi/10.1111/hir.12086/

Other articles in this issue include:
- Lê, M. (2014) Information needs of public health students. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 31 (4), 274–292.
- Joshi, A. and Trout, K. (2014) The role of health information kiosks in diverse settings: a systematic review. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 31 (4), 254–273.
Contents page at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hir.2014.31.issue-4/issuetoc

In the previous issue of the journal, articles included:
- Kelham, C. (2014) Health care librarians and information literacy: an investigation. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 31 (3), 235–238. This is based on her dissertation, which she did here at the iSchool and the full text of the dissertation is at: http://dagda.shef.ac.uk/dispub/dissertations/2012-13/External/Kelham_C_Y67.pdf
- Spring, H. (2014) Health information, what happens when there isn't any? Information literacy and the challenges for rare and orphan diseases. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 31 (3), 243–246.
- Brennan, N. et al (204) Qualified doctor and medical students' use of resources for accessing information: what is used and why? Health Information and Libraries Journal, 31 (3), 204–214
The contents page of this issue is at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hir.2014.31.issue-3/issuetoc
Photo by Sheila Webber: old town hall in Brno (view from hotel window)

Academics' research capacity and pedagogic skills and fostering critical thinkinglearners

Next liveblog from the first day of the IFLA Satellite meeting on Information Literacy and reference services . Mark Hepworth presented Is there a connection between building academics' research capacity and pedagogic skills and fostering information literate, critical thinking independent learners? (Coauthored with Siobhan Duvigneau). The aim of the research was to investigate whether an institutional strategy for information literacy could be developed at the University of Botswana, University of Zambia and Mzuzu University (three universities with different levels of resourcing). They were identifying the current vision for developing IL, the expected outcomes and impact and the current challenges and solutions. It was exploratory research, and they interviewed staff in Zambia and Malawi, and had a workshop with staff in Botswana. Mark presented a few key findings: academics and librarians identified students as lacking information literacy and passive learners, and it was felt that efforts to improve literacy had so far not been very successful. There were various challenges, including lack of funding, not enough staff, the mode of schooling before they came to university, lack of local (in terms of language or focus) information resources, and the teachers' current pedagogic approaches.
However, there were some positive findings too. Some teachers did find ways to develop the students' learning and when students were (e.g.) asked to do "real world" research as part of their work there was evidence of enthusiasm and hard work.
It seemed that when staff were themselves involved in research, this made it more likely they would actively engage students in interesting research problems. Senior staff thought that some lecturers lacked information literacy. A conclusion was that the ideal academic needs the pedagogic skills and research ability, and also needs access to appropriate information resources and support to develop the appropriate skills e.g. an "Information and Research capabilities and pedagogic capacity unit". Such a unit would support a number of capacities and skills (research methods, pedagogy, data and knowledge management, project magagement). Universities may have units which support these various activities and skills, but it is not normally all together in one unit. Mark proposed a Theory of Change model (which I'm afraid I didn't capture) to bring about the development of information literate, critical thinking students, including the involvement of such a unit. A relevant report (which I think I already blogged) is http://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/123456789/2301/BuildingResearchCapacityR1.pdf

Enabling Critical Thinking Through Information Literacy in Higher Education in Africa

An interesting report recently published:
Hepworth, M. and Duvigneau, S. (2012) Building Research Capacity: Enabling Critical Thinking Through Information Literacy in Higher Education in Africa. Brighton: British Library for Development Studies at the Institute of Development Studies.
"The research was undertaken by BLDS in May 2012 as an exploratory exercise with the potential for leading to a larger, change-driven programme. It comprised interviews with staff at the University of Zambia and Mzuzu University in Malawi, and a workshop with staff at the University of Botswana."
"A number of practical approaches to overcome specific current challenges in developing information capabilities were identified by participants, including (1) the greater use of e-learning and peer assessment (to counter low staff–student ratios); (2) allowing students more time to do projects (to counter resource limitations); (3) using ‘real world’ problems in information training (to foster student enthusiasm and develop research capabilities); and (4) rewarding the demonstration of good information capabilities (to provide incentives). The research also identified the creation of new partnerships as being important in building information capabilities – both to share lessons and resources, and to involve all relevant stakeholders."
http://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/123456789/2301/BuildingResearchCapacityR1.pdf?sequence=1
Photo by Sheila Webber: Footprints in the snow, February 2013

IL in developing countries

Yesterday I attended a SCONUL Working Group on Information Literacy meeting, and we had an interesting presentation from Peter Burnett, Head of Library Development at INASP (International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications), which works with librarians and librarian educators in developing countries. Part of their work involves supporting development of the library and information curriculum, and of training librarians in information literacy (although a larger amount is spent on supporting access/use/management of electronic information resources). The website is at http://www.inasp.info/

There are a number of publications, including a book with chapters on information literacy at universities in various developing countries:
Kiondo, E. and Msuya, J (Eds) (2005) User Information Literacy: Case studies from university library programmes in the SCANUL-ECS region. INASP and the Standing Conference of African National and University Libraries in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa (SCANUL-ECS). ISBN-10 1 902928 27 X; ISBN-13 978 1 902928 27 2. Cost - £12.00. To order a print copy of the book, email inasp@inasp.info (it isn't available in electronic form: their reports etc. can be downloaded freely)
The current issue of the INASP newsletter also focuses on information literacy: it has one article "Bridging the Digital Divide in Malawi: Is information literacy part of the equation?" and another from Perpetua Dadzie, Department of Information Studies, University of Ghana on "Promoting Information Literacy: The role of the librarian". This and previous newsletter issues can be downloaded from http://www.inasp.info/file/369/newsletter.html Additionally, there is material relating to a training course about developing an information literacy programme (look in the Training Activities section. To download material you need to register (free). You also may be interested in supporting INASP's work e.g. by twinning with a library or providing advice.

Photo by Sheila Webber: Great Keppel Island, June 2008