#LILAC26 preview: information experiences of female engineering students; Learning Sets; Digital literacy

I continue sharing previews of Sheffield colleagues' sessions at the LILAC conference . Today's is from Laura Woods, talking about the three sessions she is involved with. Laura writes. 

I am fortunate to be speaking three times at LILAC this year! I’ve never given multiple presentations at a conference before, but all three of my presentations are from entirely separate projects, so I’m excited to be able to bring them all to LILAC. 
My first presentation is on day 1 of the conference, and will present preliminary findings from my PhD research into the information experiences of female engineering undergraduates at UK universities. I am actually revisiting a presentation I gave at LILAC in 2025, which shared results from my pilot study, at an earlier stage of my research. I’m hoping that any attendees who were there in 2025 will be able to see how my research has developed since completing all of my data collection and beginning data analysis.
My second presentation will be in the morning of day 2, where I will be presenting alongside Dr Pam McKinney. We are sharing the results of an Arts Council-funded project, looking at how creative and arts-based activities can be a gateway to digital literacy for older people. This has been a fascinating project that I’ve felt privileged to be part of, so I am looking forward to discussing the project with the LILAC audience. [There will be more about this from Pam, tomorrow!]
Finally, also on day 2, I am hosting a workshop to launch the Information Literacy Group’s (ILG) inaugural LILAC Learning Sets programme. This is a pilot scheme we are launching this year, aimed at enabling LILAC attendees to form connections and sustain these past the end of the conference. If you are attending LILAC and interested in participating in the LILAC Learning Sets, there is still time to sign up for the workshop - but places are limited! To register for the workshop, sign into your account on the LILAC website, then scroll down to “Book your conference sessions”.
Image: this year's LILAC logo, celebrating Sheffield's women of steel

IFLA Journal issue on AI in libraries

The latest issue of the open access IFLA Journal (vol. 51 no. 3) focuses on Artificial Intelligence and libraries. It includes (among other articles on AI/libraries): 
- Skills and AI literacy of engineering students by Thuy Thanh Bui, Son Hong Do and Ly Dieu Din
- Facing the era of generative artificial intelligence: Strategies of information and digital literacy in Chinese studies by Bing Wang, Cecilia Zhang, Khamo and Shuqi Ye 
- AI literacy guidelines and policies for academic libraries: A scoping review by Muhammad Yousuf Ali and Joanna Richardson 
- Student satisfaction with artificial intelligence chatbots in Ethiopian academia by A Subaveerapandiyan, S Radhakrishnan, Neelam Tiwary and Sisay Mulate Guangul 
- Exploring the potential of artificial intelligence usage in the knowledge and evidence services of a public health body: A working group approach by Zalaya Simmons, Charlotte Bruce, Samuel Thomas, Patricia Lacey, Wendy Marsh, Scott Rosenberg and Daphne Duval 
Go to https://repository.ifla.org/items/b8ea2089-3bfa-4a6c-bdb9-36f0c830edbc 
Photo by Sheila Webber: South London house, October 2025

Engineering & information literacy

Papers presented at the 2025 American Society for Engineering Education conference (held in June 2025 in Montreal, Canada) include (all full text papers):
- Woods, L. (2025, June). Qualitative methods for studying women’s information experiences in engineering education. Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . 10.18260/1-2--57507 https://peer.asee.org/57507
- Kaurloto, C., & Lah, J., & Quezada, A. (2025, June). Analyzing Student Information Literacy Skills: Perceptions, Outcomes, and Future Planning. Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . 10.18260/1-2--55438 https://peer.asee.org/55438
- Mercado Rivera, A., & Prosser, E. (2025, June). Bridging Information Literacy and Data Science: A Collaborative Approach to Project-Based Learning. Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . 10.18260/1-2--56011 https://peer.asee.org/56011
- Basque, E. A., & Chevrier, J., & Cormier, A., & Du Ruisseau, M., & Fernandez Pereda, O., & Fitch-Kustcher, C., & Fitzgibbon, B., & Hérault, T., & Soare, A. (2025, June). Lasting Impacts of Credited Information Literacy Library Instruction for Graduate Engineering Students. Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . 10.18260/1-2--56908 https://peer.asee.org/56908
- Verdines, P. (2025, June). Information Seeking and Sensemaking in Engineering Education: A Framework for Capstone Projects. Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . 10.18260/1-2--56795 https://peer.asee.org/56795
Photo by Sheila Webber: creepers, Botanic Gardens, August 2025

#LILAC25: I I can show you the (life)world: Qualitative techniques to examine women’s information experiences Laura Woods

Pam McKinney here live-blogging from day one of the LILAC information literacy conference in Cardiff, and I'm excited to be blogging this presentation from Laura Woods (@woodsiegirl.bsky.social), who Sheila and I have the honour of supervising at the University of Sheffield Information School. The presentation focuses on the methodology and preliminary findings from Laura's PhD study. Laura worked as Engineering subject librarian at the University of Huddersfield and has for a long time been interested in how engineering students engage with information in their studies. The information behaviour of females has been an under-studied phenomenon generally, and hasn't been studied in the context of engineering students. Laura defined information experience as a bridging concept to look at the intersection between information literacy and information behaviour, with information literacy being an applied concept and information behaviour as a research concept. The lifeworld is a concept from phenomenology that encompasses how we interact with the world that we often don't always recognise. 

Laura had a qualitative research design and aimed to recruit 15-20 participants from four different universities who represent a variety of backgrounds and experiences. Participants were asked to create an information diary in any format they wanted (e.g. photos, text diary etc) and then they were invited to a semi-structured interview to discuss their diary. Participants were recruited through engineering departments at each of the four universities, this was deliberate because there can be backlash from research focusing on gender in engineering. Email invitations were sent to all female students in each department. Participants were offered £30 incentive to take part which represented 2.5 hours at the UK living wage. Students who were interested in taking part completed a demographic questionnaire, and this enabled Laura to recruit participants from a variety of backgrounds and with a variety of characteristics. Diary periods ranged from 2-6 weeks, most people kept a text diary, some added photos, one person kept a voice note diary. Some diaries were very detailed, others were just a few bullet points for each entry.

Initial findings from the pilot study (4 participants) revealed that participants experienced sexism and sexist micro-aggressions, but these were often downplayed. Group work was a common site for sexist attitudes and behaviours e.g. participants were blocked from taking on more technical tasks, or being asked to make a presentation "pretty". Participants had a preference for video-based learning materials and didn't talk about academic literature. The library was mentioned but only as a place of study, not a source of information. There was a strong reliance on lecture notes. People emerged as an important source of information - this mirrors the information behaviour of practising engineers. Often the person approached for information or help was carefully selected because to ask for help or information made participants feel vulnerable and ill-informed.

There was a lot of use of shared documents by participants to lead or control a group project, to make sure that all group members were contributing, and stop information hoarding by other group members. The participants seemed to have devised this strategy independently. AI was brought up by every participant (unprompted). All were using AI, but probably not in ways that would be problematic from an academic integrity perspective.  They mostly used AI to help them understand a problem or a concept that they didn't really understand. They say ChatGPT is a conversational study partner, partly because they felt they couldn't approach other students on their course for this chat. They were aware of the limitations of AI in terms of information hallucination.

Some reflections: Laura found it very useful to keep her own information diary, this helped give her clarity about what she was asking her participants to do, and it also gave her examples of an information diary to share with her participants. It was really important to pay participants for their time. It was important to be led by participants' needs and preferences e.g. diary format and online or f2f interview. Laura prepared a distress protocol, and this was important as some of her participants became distressed, Laura was able to draw on this to protect both her participants and herself.

Photo by Pam McKinney: Dragon sculpture in Cardiff

Rubbish books allegedly about information literacy - and one real book

Whilst searching Amazon for blog fodder, sorting by most-recent, I came across a whole clutch of books which have "Information Literacy" in the title, and which look (from the samples I read) to be AI-generated patchworks, not even stitched together properly. I know that this isn't is a new thing, but I hadn't realised quite how many there were on IL. There is a distinctive look to the covers, and, bizarrely, the "authors" are mostly photogenic US-born women who, after a glittering academic/professional career, settle in the UK. Obviously I won't link to the books, but I can't resist giving one title i.e. Information Literacy: An Interesting Guide for Librarians. Perhaps I should write that book, as a counter to all the (evidently) uninteresting books about information literacy. 

Anyway, I thought I should also feature one of the real books I came across (it has structured chapters! paragraphs! sentences that make sense! was written by someone who knows about the subject!):
DeJong, M. (2024). Information Literacy for Science and Engineering Students: Concepts and Skills. Bloomsbury Libraries Unlimited. ISBN 9781440878763. https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/information-literacy-for-science-and-engineering-students-9781440878763/
Image by Sheila Webber using Midjourney AI: prompt was: women in a field of flowers, chasing flying books, whimsical --ar 9:16

#ECIL2023. Approaches to exploring the information worlds of women engineering students

Pam McKinney here live blogging the 3rd day of the ECIL conference [posted later due to wifi issues], this session is the doctoral forum, and Laura Woods, who is studying for a PhD with Sheila Webber and me, is presenting the beginning stages of her PhD research into the information words of women engineering students.
Laura began by stating that she is early in her PhD journey and will present today by exploring the theoretical approaches underpinning her research. The aim of Laura’s PhD is to explore the information experiences within the lifeworlds of female engineering students, taking a phenomenological approach in an interview based study. Women’s ways of knowing (WWK) is a model developed by educational psychologists to understand women’s experiences of learning in higher education. It is an extension of an earlier scheme of intellectual development of college students in the 1950s, that was probably developed from participants of quite a narrow sociological background. The women’s perspective in this research may have been quite limited. The WWK study recruited participants from a broad range of backgrounds, and outlined 5 ways of knowing.
The first way is “silence”, and these women did not see themselves as capable of creating knowledge. The second way, “received” where knowledge is a passive process, received from experts in the discipline. They see knowledge in a binary right or wrong way. The 3rd way is “subjective knowledge “ where education is seen as an artificial process, it is personal, private and intuitive. The 4th way is “procedural” where women learn new strategies for knowing. The 5th stage is “constructed” where knowledge is seen as constructed and contextual, where many different strategies are adopted. This model is not intended to be seen as a linear model, and people can more fluidly between stages.
Critiques of the model have focused on the perceived hierarchy of the model, and reflects the masculine bias in epistemological models. The next criticism focuses on gender essentialism, and assumes a common experience to all women. However other research has shown that these are not exclusive to women. The final criticism is that it ignores considerations of race, and centres whiteness. This is fairly common for feminist research at the time.
WWK has been used in LIS research, and has potential considering the role of women. Laura has found around 20 pieces of research, but often it is only mentioned in passing. 4 articles have adopted the model in a more significant way: for example, Anna Fields compared the WWK with the ACRL competency standards for information literacy. In 2003 Annemaree Lloyd described information literacy as a “way of knowing”. In 2007 Hope Olsen uses connected knowing to propose a connected knowledge organisation scheme.
Intersectional feminism is another model that Laura is drawing on. This model proposes that people experience marginalisation across a range of protected characteristics, and recognises the varying life experiences of women. This model has also been used in LIS, but is under-used as an approach. Research into women’s information behaviour has focused on the differences between men and women, there is a limited literature that takes an intersectional approach.Laura hopes to use these approaches in her research.
Laura hopes to use WWK as a sensitising concept in the analysis phase, to investigate the role of affect e.g. the role of uncertainty in information the search process. The role of authority and expertise, e.g. how a subjective knower understands authority. Laura intends to combine WWK with a intersectional approach and not take a binary view of gender, and to take a purposive sampling approach to recruit participants with a variety of characteristics.
There was a lively discussion of Laura’s plans for her PhD research, and lots of interest in the approaches outlined bin the presentation. Sheila and I are excited to see the research unfold. The abstract for this talk is on this page.

Teaching and Collecting Technical Standards: A Handbook for Librarians and Educators

A new book in the Purdue Information Literacy Handbooks series (from Purdue University in the USA) is
Leachman, C., Rowley, E.M., Phillips, M. & Solomon, D. (2023). Teaching and Collecting Technical Standards: A Handbook for Librarians and Educators. Purdue University.
It is open access at https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/pilh/5.
It Includes chapters relating to teaching and information literacy
Photo by Sheila Webber: more roses that became Friday's rosehips

Laura Woods: reading between the lines - information literacy in engineering education standards #LILAC23

Pam McKinney at #LILAC23: this second session is led by a PhD student that Sheila and I supervise, Laura Woods, who is also a subject librarian at University of Huddersfield. Laura is presenting about how IL is represented in engineering education standards, and this is linked to Laura’s PhD topic of the information worlds of women engineering undergraduate students. 

In order to understand womens experiences in this area it’s useful to take a step back and look at the overall picture of students experiences in engineering with regards to information. The standards give us a sense of the expectations n this field and the outcomes students are expected to meet. The engineering council accredits engineering degree courses in the UK, and departments have to say how they meet these standards. Also we have standards for IL, the SCONUL 7 Pillars, and the ACRL framework for IL, both widely used in UK universities. The ACRL have a set of documents that are companions to the ACRL IL framework, for specific disciplines, and there is one recently published that is specific to STEM subjects. 

Laura has reviewed the literature on the intersection between IL standards and engineering standards, but only one study has previously been published from the context Bradley (2013), who compared accreditation standards from the UK, US, Canada and Australia for nursing, social work and engineering. Much of the language that Bradley found relating to IL in the engineering standards has now been removed, which has made the information skills required for engineers much more opaque. One statement explicitly identifies IL  needed “students should be able to select and evaluate technical literature “ but this ignores the activity needed to search for literature. Laura maps these competencies onto the SCONUL 7 pillars model and the ACRL framework. There are partial matches with the competencies in both IL frameworks, but also competencies that aren’t covered by the engineering standard.

This was a useful exercise as it is good to understand the competencies that accrediting bodies require from their students and the courses they study. Information use is rarely mentioned, but is present as a hidden first step rather than a skill that students need to develop. There is a lack of recognition that IL needs to be taught and developed, it is seen as something that either they know already or can just “pick up” during their course. So what should librarians do to address this gap in conceptualisation of IL between librarians and academics? Laura’s PhD study should help answer this question! An association of engineering librarians in UK universities could also help.
Photos: Pam McKinney

Recent articles: deference behaviour; blended and flipped; Pandemic Information Access Challenges; digital humanities pedagogy; instruction for an engineering design

The latest complete issue of the Journal of Academic Librarianship (a priced publication), Volume 48 issue 6 (2022) includes the following: 

- Manifestations of deference behavior in teaching-focused academic librarians by Lyda Fontes McCartin, Raquel Wright-Mair
- A silver lining for pandemic-weary libraries: How blended and flipped instructional programs have improved upon pre-pandemic norms by Kevin W. Walker
- Factors that influence librarian definitions of information literacy by Logan Rath
- Pandemic Information Access Challenges and Expectations about the Post-Covid Era: A Survey of Pakistan Students' Opinion Regarding Academic Libraries' Services and Staff by Syeda Hina Batool, Amara Malik, Muhammad Safdar, Amna Farzand Ali
- Prepare to be unprepared? LIS curriculum and academic liaison preparation by Kawanna M. Bright, Mónica Colón-Aguirre
- Online health information seeking and digital health literacy among information and learning resources undergraduate students by Esra Abdoh
- What contributes to a qualified digital humanities librarian and ideal digital humanities pedagogy? An exploratory qualitative study by Wuyan Yao, Peng Xiao
- Rapidly going virtual without sacrificing quality: Adapting instruction for an engineering design course by Brianna Buljung, Lisa Nickum, Patricia Andersen, Gyasi Evans
Go to https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/the-journal-of-academic-librarianship/vol/48/issue/6
Photo by Sheila Webber: winter skyline, November 2022

Recent articles: Community college students; Engineering students and researchers; Competence in data management

The latest issue of open access journal College & Research Libraries (Vol 83, No 4, 2022) has been published at https://crl.acrl.org/index.php/crl/issue/view/1621/showToc. Articles include:
- Community College Students’ Perceptions of Their Information Literacy Needs by Don Latham, Melissa Gross, Heidi Julien, Felicia Warren, Lindsey Moses
- Identifying Scholarly Search Skills Based on Resource and Document Selection Behavior among Researchers and Master’s Students in Engineering by Yasuko Hagiwara, Emi Ishita, Yukiko Watanabe, Yoichi Tomiura (the comparison of the responses from the 2 groups is useful in identifying what  skills students need to learn in finding and evaluating research articles)
- Reflection and Analysis of Implementing a Free Asynchronous MOOC to Build Competence in Biomedical Research Data Management by Julie Goldman, Nevada Trepanowski
Photo by Sheila Webber: Ireland's Eye, July 2022

New articles: Engineering students; Cognitive authority; E-learning adoption; Entrepreneurs in China; EFL students

Priced journal Libri has published Volume 72 Issue 1 which includes:
- Fostering Knowledge Sharing Behavior Among Pakistani Engineering Students: Role of Individual and Classroom Related Factors by Muhammad Safdar, Syeda Hina Batool, Khalid Mahmood
- Cognitive Authority as an Instance of Informational and Expert Power by Reijo Savolainen
- Technological Readiness and Computer Self-efficacy as Predictors of E-learning Adoption by LIS Students in Nigeria by Omorodion Okuonghae, Magnus Osahon Igbinovia, John Oluwaseye Adebayo
- Information Inequality among Entrepreneurs in Rural China by Zhenjia Fan, Pnina Fichman
- Digital Literacy of EFL Students: An Empirical Study in Vietnamese Universities by Lan Anh Thuy Nguyen, Anita Habók
Go to https://www.degruyter.com/journal/key/libr/72/1/html

Photo by Sheila Webber: walk in the woods, Chapelgarth, March 2022

Recent articles from #EBLIP - midwives; students; librarians; disciplinary practices; feminist pedagogy

I don't think I've covered articles in the open access journal Evidence Based Library and Information Practice (EBLIP) recently. Articles in the latest issue (volume 15 no 2) include:
- The Information Needs of Canadian Midwives and Their Evidence Informed Practices: A Canada-Wide Survey by Lindsay Barnes, Luanne Freund, Dean Giustini
- The Effectiveness of Library Instruction for Graduate/Professional Students: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis by Adelia Grabowsky, Liza Weisbrod
- Using Assessment Tools to Develop a Workshop for Library Staff: Establishing a Culture of Assessment by Jung Mi Scoulas
- (evidence summary) Research Supports are Effective in Increasing Confidence with Research Skills in Early Career Academic Librarians by Jessica A. Koos
- (evidence summary) First-Year Students’ Understanding of Research and Their Information Literacy Skills Change Over Time and in Four Different Ways by Alisa Howlett
https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/eblip/index.php/EBLIP/issue/view/1952

Articles in the previous issue (volume 15 no 1) include:
- Advancing the Reference Narrative: Assessing Student Learning in Research Consultations by Doreen R. Bradley, Angie Oehrli, Soo Young Rieh, Elizabeth Hanley, Brian S. Matzke
- Information Literacy Beyond Librarians: A Data/Methods Triangulation Approach to Investigating Disciplinary IL Teaching Practices by Britt Foster

- Mixed Methods Research in Library and Information Science: A Methodological Review by Richard Hayman, Erika E Smith
- Undercover Feminist Pedagogy in Information Literacy: A Literature Review by Emily Kingsland
- Information Literacies of PhD Students in the Health Sciences: A Review of Scholarly Articles (2009 - 2018) by Elisabeth Nylander, Margareta Hjort
- Reimagining Research Guidance: Using a Comprehensive Literature Review to Establish Best Practices for Developing LibGuides by Mandi Goodsett, Marsha Miles, Theresa Nawalaniec
- (evidence summary) Engineering Students and Professionals Report Different Levels of Information Literacy Needs and Challenges by Kimberly MacKenzie
- (evidence summary) Differences in Faculty Approaches to Plagiarism Deterrence are an Opportunity for Increased Collaboration in Information Literacy Instruction by Sarah Schroeder
https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/eblip/index.php/EBLIP/issue/view/1951
Photo by Sheila Webber: City of London from One Tree Hill, August 2020

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

Recent articles: Attitudes to IL; Computational thinking and IL

Ata, R. & Yıldırım, K. (2020). Analysis of the Relation Between Computational Thinking and New Media Literacy Skills of First-Year Engineering Students. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 29(1), 5-20. [priced] https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/208637/ "The study first aimed to reveal self-reported computational thinking and new media literacy skill levels of first-year engineering students with various demographics such as gender, departments, and internet use frequency. It was then aimed to test whether there is a significant relation between computational skills and new media literacy skills. The study group consisted of 112 engineering candidates who were enrolled at the engineering faculty of a university in Mugla city in Turkey. ... Findings suggest that engineering student participants consider their computational thinking and new media literacy skills to be sufficient. In addition, while the variables such as gender and department were not found to be affecting to the computational thinking and new media literacy levels, internet use frequency was found to be affecting. Furthermore, the study results indicated that the relationship between participant’ computational thinking and new media literacy level is statistically significant and positive."

Adekunle, A. et al. (2019). Attitude of Undergraduate Students to Information Literacy: Bowen University Experience. Journal of Balkan Libraries Union, 6(1), 1-11. [open access] http://eprints.rclis.org/39346/1/Article1_Attitude%20of%20Undergraduate%20Students%20to%20Information%20Literacy%20Bowen%20University%20Experience.pdf "The study investigated the rationale behind undergraduates’ apathy for information literacy (IL) programme at Bowen University, Nigeria. A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study and a multi-stage sampling method was used to select a sample size of five hundred participants spread across disciplines and levels of study. ... Results show that students’ attitude to information literacy significantly influences their information literacy skill and students’ perception of information literacy significantly influences their information literacy skills. Although perception of IL does not predict influence of IL on students, attitude to IL determines the influence of IL on students’ information literacy skills. The study further revealed that the erroneous equation of technology literacy with information literacy was largely responsible for students' lukewarm disposition to information literacy."
Photo by Sheila Webber: Xmas wreaths of South London 3, December 2019

Embedding Library Services in an Engineering Research Group

Not a new report, but one I came across recently (the authors are at the University of Cambridge, UK): Lamb, K., & Tumelty, N. (2017). Embedding Library Services in an Engineering Research Group. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/266987

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

Webinar recording: engineering students; assessment & learning analystics; badges #infolit

Recordings of ACRL webinars are often available free online after being held. Recent ones include:
- ACRL STS Chat Reframing Information Literacy for First Year Engineering Students (Recording of chat held March 21st 2019) https://youtu.be/8H1zBvFrB9c
- Critical Assessment Practices: A Discussion on When and How to Use Student Learning Data Without Doing Harm (webinar held on March 13, 2019) https://youtu.be/TCPKf_Kf9q0
- Comprehensive Learner Record: ACRL Digital Badges Interest Group: Spring 2019 Virtual Meeting (held 3 April 2019) https://youtu.be/wAqYipH1JS4
Photo by Sheila Webber: Cherry blossom, Sheffield, April 2019

Recent articles: Engineering students and practitioners; Latino students and the academic library

Volume 45 issue 1 (2019) of the priced Journal of Academic Librarianship includes the following article:
- Comparing the Information Needs and Experiences of Undergraduate Students and Practicing Engineers by Margaret Phillips, Michael Fosmire, Laura Turner, Kristin Petersheim, & Jing Lu (Pages 39-49) (extract from the abstract "The results of this study reveal differences between students and engineers and are informative for both academic and corporate librarians. Key findings affirm previous research that novices are more confident in their abilities than experts. Additionally, the findings suggest undergraduates prefer quick, easy to digest content like online videos and news, while engineers are more likely to learn by consulting a colleague or other subject expert, and through reading journals and trade literature."
- Latino students and the academic library: A primer for action by Marta Bladek (Pages 50-57) - pulling out a paragraph focusing on information literacy "Presented in a variety of formats, information literacy instruction, is another initiative libraries should actively pursue to improve Latino students' academic experience. Given Latino students' unfamiliarity with the function of academic library, orientations, workshops, and course-integrated instruction should ideally be offered early in the first year (Green, 2012; Long, 2011). To engage students more directly, Montiel-Overall et al. (2015) urge librarians to seek out opportunities to teach alongside classroom faculty more often. Green (2012) recommends information literacy instruction beyond the library and the classroom; partnering up and training peer mentors is just one strategy worth trying. Molteni and Bosch (2014) suggest that, if possible, libraries develop multilingual learning objects to complement instruction and reference services, including online tutorials, research guides, or supplementary websites."
Go to: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/the-journal-of-academic-librarianship/vol/45/issue/1
Photo by Sheila Webber: Echinocactus grusonii, Glasgow Botanic Gardens, January 2019

New articles: Survey of infolit teaching practices; Seeking information with Yik Yak; Engineering faculty; Vignettes; Shame

The latest issue of open access journal College and Research Libraries (volume 79 issue 2, 2018) includes:
- Survey of Information Literacy Instructional Practices in U.S. Academic Libraries by Heidi Julien, Melissa Gross, Don Latham . A particularly interesting article for readers of this blog "An online survey sent to the community of professional librarians in the United States who provide information literacy instruction in academic libraries provided insights into their practices and the challenges they face. Data include current pedagogical methods, client groups of focus, assessment and evaluation, marketing, instructional objectives, incorporating the new Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education into instruction, the role of technology in instruction, the importance of relationships with faculty and administrators, and a range of common challenges faced by instructional librarians."
- Should We Yak Back? Information Seeking among Yik Yak Users on a University Campus by Elizabeth Price ("an exploratory analysis of the postings on Yik Yak in the geographic area of a four-year, regional public institution during the 2015–2016 academic year")
- Analyzing Citation and Research Collaboration Characteristics of Faculty in Aerospace, Civil and Environmental, Electrical and Computer, and Mechanical Engineering by Li Zhang
- Vignettes: Implications for LIS Research by Allison Benedetti, John Jackson, Lili Luo ("We use two research projects, one focused on the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education and one on the vocabulary used to describe library services, to discuss the strengths of vignettes and implications for LIS research.)
- Shame: The Emotional Basis of Library Anxiety by Erin L. McAfee
The contents page for the issue is at https://crl.acrl.org/index.php/crl/issue/view/1091/showToc
Photo by Sheila Webber: young beech leaves and Firth Court, May 2018

New issue of Information Research: theory; doctoral students; autism spectrum disorders; engineers; makerspaces

As promised, here is information about the ISIC (Information Seeking In Context) conference supplement to the latest issue of the open access peer reviewed journal Information Research (vol. 21. no. 4). Papers include:
- T.D. Wilson, A general theory of human information behaviour
- Hester W.J. Meyer, Untangling the building blocks: a generic model to explain information behaviour to novice researchers.
- Reijo Savolainen, Approaching the affective barriers to information seeking: the viewpoint of appraisal theory
- Erika Janiuniene and Elena Maceviciute, Information sharing between doctoral students and supervisors: fixed roles and flexible attitudes
- Martha Sabelli, Social mediators and inclusive information: communication flow of healthcare information among adolescents in vulnerable communities
- Ivana Martinović and Ivanka Stričević, Information needs and behaviour of parents of children with autism spectrum disorders: parents’ reports on their experiences and perceptions
- Xiaofeng Li and Ross J. Todd, Information practices during 3D modelling in a public library makerspace: generating ideas, seeking help and iterative trial and error
- Pamela Fransen-Taylor and Bhuva Narayan, #Homeless but at home in cyberspace
Madely du Preez and Hester W.J. Meyer, Consulting engineers' social networks and their collaborative information behaviour
- Frances Ryan, Peter Cruickshank, Hazel Hall and Alistair Lawson, Managing and evaluating personal reputations on the basis of information shared on social media: a Generation X perspective
The issue is at http://www.informationr.net/ir/21-4/isic/isic2016.html
Photo by Sheila Webber: green tomato, Blackheath farmers' market, December 2016