#ECIL2015 proceedings published

61 full papers from the Third European Conference on Information Literacy, ECIL 2015, held in Tallinn, Estonia, in October 2015, have been published as a priced volume.

Kurbanoğlu, S., Boustany, J., Špiranec, S., Grassian, E. Mizrachi, D. and Roy, L. (Eds) (2016). Information Literacy: Moving Toward Sustainability: Third European Conference, ECIL 2015, Tallinn, Estonia, October 19-22, 2015, Revised Selected Papers. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. ISBN: 978-3-319-28196-4 (Print) 978-3-319-28197-1 (Online) http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-28197-1

You may be able to find open access preprint versions of some papers e.g.
Ewa Rozkosz: Learning Scholarly Information Competencies in the Community of Practice: A Case Study of Polish Critical Pedagogy Researchers
Photo by Sheila Webber: Tallinn, October 2015

Critlib, youth citizenship, librarian-teacher workshops, research safari #ecil2015

Some presentations from sessions I didn't blogged at the European Conference on Information Literacy:

- Lauren Smith - Learning, Lending, Liberty? Can school libraries be engines for youth citizenship? http://www.slideshare.net/laurensmith/learning-lending-liberty-can-school-libraries-be-engines-for-youth-citizenship
- Annamari Ikonen and Kaisu Sallasmaa - Librarians and English teachers join forces in information literacy training for better learning results http://www.slideshare.net/Metropolian_kirjasto/ecil2015-metropolia-bestpractice
- Denis Kos and Sonja Špiranec - Understanding the field of critical information literacy: a descriptive analysis of scientific articles http://www.slideshare.net/DenisKos/kos-d-piranec-s-understanding-critical-information-literacy-a-descriptive-analysis-of-scientific-articles-ppt
- Leonie McIlvenny - Navigating the ‘information jungle’ on a Research Safari http://www.slideshare.net/LeonieMcIlvenny/the-research-safari - see also http://researchsafari.weebly.com and http://knowledgecompass.weebly.com
Photo by Sheila Webber: Tallinn, October 2015

Information Literacy and the Scottish Independence Referendum (2014) #ecil2015

At the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 last week Bill Johnston and I presented on Information Literacy and the Scottish Independence Referendum: in which, after a short introduction about autoethnography, Bill gave basic information about the referendum and gave some initial analysis which has grown out of his reflections and other material forming his autoethnography. Here's the presentation.

Information Literacy and the Scottish Independence Referendum: (2014): an autoethnographic exploration of political decision-making from Sheila Webber

Closing session at #ecil2015

Back in the UK now, and I'm catching up with the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 that took place in the past week. In the closing session, they gave some facts and figures about the conference: there were 195 contributions from 50 countries, and 361 delegates. The top countries for participation were: 55 from Finland, 32 from Estonia, 26 from USA, 21 from both Norway and the UK, 15 Sweden, 13 from both Germany and the Netherlands, 12 from the Czech Republic and Croatia, 11 from Australia. You can see a Google map with the delegates marked on the map. The next venue (for ECIL 2016) was also announced: Prague, Czech Republic. I had been asked to act as raporteur for the conference, and I gave a short presentation (in the closing session) of what I saw as key points about the conference: I've embedded it below.
I've still got to post the first presentation I contributed to, and a couple of other posts that I only half-finished whilst I was there.

Thoughts from ECIL 2015 from Sheila Webber

Information Literacy Instruction Methods for Lower Secondary Education in Finland #ecil2015

The next talk at this doctoral session at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 Information Literacy Instruction Methods for Lower Secondary Education in Finland from Tuulikki Alamettälä. She is looking at development of a new approach, using design based research and with Kuhlthau's model of guided inquiry as a framework. As well as having steps in the inquiry process, it involves collaborative forums and inquiry tools such as journals.
Her research investigates teachers' practice and feelings and the students' learning experiences, feelings and self-efficacy (etc.); in following a guided inquiry approach. This is a longitudinal study, and includes a control group not using guided inquiry. There will be questionnaires, interviews, tests and observation. Data collection started this autumn, with an intervention in a literature course, but the data has not yet been analysed.
Photo by Sheila Webber: another church I pass walking in to the conference, in Tallinn old town

Exploring the information literacy experience of ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Learners #ecil2015

Jess Elmore talked about Exploring the information literacy experience of ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Learners: a Discussion of Methods as the next presentation in the doctoral session at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015. She is using a case study approach, focusing particularly on what is happening in the ESOL classroom. Jess identified the huge number of people who lack English in the UK (1 million) and the disadvantage this causes. She identified her research as interpretive, reflexive and participatory, and also identified the problematic issues packed in these terms. Her research questions (at the moment) are focused on the interaction between learning and information literacy in the classroom. Elmore was reporting on a pilot study, using focus groups and observation, and also drawing on interviews with stakeholders and documents. She used pictures to elicit discussion (e.g. picture of a smartphone to elicit discussion about use of phones).
From the pilot she learnt about how complex the ESOL classroom was (with "life going on" in the classroom), how diverse experiences was, the importance of religeon and of keeping in touch with home, and there were very varied digital practices (e.g. importance of video - but some participants can't use a computer).
Elmore talked about challenges and learning from her pilot (e.g. about how she deals with participants' language level; that she needed to build relationships with participants over time; working out what "participatory" means in this context; that her findings will be about these particular classrooms.)

Electronic Engineering Student Information Literacy Needs: A Pilot Study #ecil2015

Evi Tramantza presented next in the doctoral forum at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 on Electronic Engineering Student Information Literacy Needs: A Pilot Study at the University of Surrey. She is using case study approach, including an action research element (as she teaches information literacy to the student in her case studies), in two universities, the University of Surrey (UK) and Aristotle University (Greece), with a focus on mechanical engineering students. Tramantza was reporting on a pilot study of electronic engineering students. She had undertaken focus groups and interviews, and collected documentation on the module structure, as well as her own field notes (as she teaches information literacy in this course). She has identified four key thematic areas: the first is resources, which included a theme about categorisation (the students struggling to find material at the right level, and anting it cartegorised) and use of media (e.g. Youtube video to explain concepts). The second thematic area was skills: students identified a lot of different skills that they need to complete their course (and these students were quite confident in identifying what they needed) and also the lecturer identifying needs in writing. The third area was Pedagogy and Learning, which included the nature of engineering teaching (with a more transmissive approach to teaching engineering) and peer learning (with engineering students having their own communities of learning, and this being connected to their identity as engineers). The final theme was information literacy iteself: including the students' awareness of the need to find good information and apply it.

Doctoral Research on Teachers as Technology Users: Summary of a Work in Progress #ecil2015

Next in the doctoral session at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 was Doctoral Research on Teachers as Technology Users: Summary of a Work in Progress from Agnese Karaseva. She is doing a PhD by publication, so has published articles and is writing the connecting part of the thesis. She is analysing how various aspects of different social domains are related to the ways in which teachers integrate technology into the practices. Thus the focus is on the factors behind the practice, rather than the practices themselves. She is using the theory of Derek Layder. The context is Latvia and Estonia, with her being able to compare the data she herself collected in Latvia with data collected by her supervisor in Estonia. The speaker noted the de-centralised school system, with teachers getting more training in technology than Latvian ones.
16 teachers in each country were interviewed; there were class observations in Estonia, and 10 of the Latvian teachers (who were all in the same school) were observed doing search tasks online. The latter showed that actual competence was not related to self-reported efficacy.
She showed a table with the elements identified by Layder: in particular there were a number of factors under "Psychobiography" (e.g. teacher's belief about IT) and "Situated activity". Preliminary conclusions included the very strong influence of subject cultures, the need to have a holistic view of background factors to understand practice, the impact of students having to take exams, and also that "technology has not brought a revolution to the classroom".

International students and academic integrity #ecil2015

I'm attending a doctoral forum at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 and will blog some of the presentations from the doctoral students.

Amanda Click talked about International students and academic integrity: global perspectives on a complex issue, reporting on emerging findings from her doctoral study. She is investigating how international graduate students studying in the USA conduct their academic research and writing, and how they engage with, and negotiate, issues of academic integrity.

She is using cross-cultural adaption theory (with critical incident technique for data elicitation), and as part of this she has been looking at stress points and adaptions e.g.

Stress - learning a new academic style (adaption is e.g. guidance from lecturers, feedback from American classmates

Stress - fear of commiting academic dishonesty (adaption as e.g. understanding the honor code, learning to cite)

Stress - reading and writing in English (with difficulty in finding adaptions!)

Students felt that in their own countries they did pay attention to academic integrity, but it was more implicit, whereas in the USA they were warned against plagiarism all the time and became afraid about it. There was also worried about unauthorised collaboration - they were unsure what was ok in the many different assignments they took. There was also the issue that lecturers themselves had different approaches to what acceptable behaviour was (e.g. some telling students to avoid direct quotation, others encouraging it).

Research challenges were particularly assessing material as to whether it was relevant, and synthesising information.

In the discussion afterwards, implications of the various interpretations of academic integrity by both academics and students, were discussed (obviously when the academics have different interpretations it is difficult for the students; there was also the question of the phrase itself, whether it is easily understood).

Beyond the Hyperbole: Information Literacy Reconsidered #ecil2015

Heidi Julien was the second speaker today, and she started an interesting discussion with her talk Beyond the Hyperbole: Information Literacy Reconsidered, at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015.
She started by talking about the range of literacies, and the different ways in which people defined the same term (including information literacy). She noted that burdens were placed on concepts such as information literacy, associated with supporting democracy, inclusive society and so forth. This placed political and practical weight on the term and raised the issue of who was claiming to take responsibility or to own that term. Julien said that the library and information responsibility for information literacy was limited to certain aspects of information searching and interaction, and she placed information literacy within the context of socially contructed information practices.
Julien noted that behaviour with information was influenced by convenience etc.: human nature (including social norms) would have more impact on people's attitudes and behaviour than did IL. She doubted "whether information literacy alone can shift the ground towards social good". Julien noted the challenges to developing information literacy: including people's current convenient habits, misapprehensions about young people's skills, lack of resources to enable libraries to offer relevant services, a lack of librarians (e.g. in schools) and some gaps in librarians' own skills.
Julien then looked at IL in the context of global challenges. These include sustainability, inclusive social development, conflict, education. It is easy to exaggerate the potential of IL to meet these challenges. Julien highlighted some areas were she felt IL could make a real contribution, such as helping citizens engage in civil society, and in promoting health and wellbeing. In order to fulfill this contribution, library and information professionals needed to understand people's information practice and information behaviour. Then it is possible for information literacy to make its real contribution.
There was also a lively discussion after this, but I was listening and contributing ratherthan blogging that part ;-)
Photo by Sheila Webber: the Russian church again - on the walk into the conference from my apartment yesterday, Tallin, Estonia

Information and Awareness for Sustainability #ecil2015

The first invited speaker today at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 in Tallinn was Mikhel Kangur, on Information and Awareness for Sustainability. The key theme for the conference was sustainability and green issues.
He started by defining sustainability and highlighted the particular problem areas for earth e.g. population, scarcity of fresh water, climate change, threat to the biosphere. He then talked specifically about Estonia: environmentally they were in a relatively safe position, but this could be a trap. Estonians (according to surveys) consider themesleves quite environmentally aware. However, behaviour or mentality of Estonins gives a different perspective: a survey had shown that Estonians scored lowest in Europe in terms of considering water or energy conservation, or reducing waste in everyday life. A survey asking them about their behaviour showed that Estonians scored low in terms of, for example, participating in action groups. He showed an interesting diagram which showed that Baltic countries (including Estonia) were different from the "protestant Europe" group (including Nordic countries) in terms of "Survival vs. self-expression values". Thus although the Estonian economy was comparable, there was still this difference: there was knowledge about the problems, but not so much the will to change (and Estonians are not alone in this).

Also Kangur noted that there was a lack of holistic systems looking at all these issues together. He took an example of the Baltic sea, and showed that there were various Governments/ organisations responsible for it, who did not necessarily collaborate to ensure its sustanability. Although there are techincal solutions being developed (for example, to desalinate salt water) these are expensive (and therefore not necessarily sustainable.

Thus there is a need to go beyond just informing people, and raise consciousness that people must take action snd change their behaviour, otherwise nothing will change.

Critical Evaluation of Information: Generic, Situated, Transformative and Expressive Windows #ecil2015

At the end of the day, Mandy Lupton is speaking on Critical Evaluation of Information: Generic, Situated, Transformative and Expressive Windows at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015.
She started by describing her conception of inquiry learning, using a model of three overlapping circles: research cycle, questioning frameworks and the information literacy framework. She noted some of the terms that had been used at the conference itself to mean a critical perspective (e.g. evaluation, information discernment). Lupton said she had questioned why there was such an emphasis on evaluating web based information, rather than encouraging critical engagement with all types of information (she used examples of an article in a refereed journal being retracted, predatory publishers and example of a study showing that experimental results were not replicable). She also identified that for younger people all online things are the web (not just things other than journals and databases). Thus there could be a credibility crisis: with propoganda, hoaxes and scams.
At that point Lupton identified that for her information included sensory, embodied, subjective, artefactual etc. information, as well as textual. She recalled some of her doctoral work, where she had created four frames: Generic, Situated (e.g. disciplinary approaches), Transformative (coming from critical media literacy) and Expressive (creative) windows on information literacy worlds. These are hierarchical, where Generic is incorporated in Situated, and those are incorporated in both the other two.

Lupton showed the generic skills and processes window, and talked about it as a tool for analysis (she runs a module on inquiry learning). She thought it this generic window was important, but as a building block rather than as a whole generic solution. Lupton highlighted some of the questioning frameworks she'd collected, which could be useful, however it was not satisfactory if you used some of these rubrics without looking at the socio-cultural context (she used the example of an article about drop bears).
Therefore the next window (Situated) came in. There is a rather poor photo of it, at the top of the post. The Verification handbook http://verificationhandbook.com/ was given as an example of tools for this window, and also https://veri.ly/ Lupton presented a list of questions that represented a verification tool for historical documents, and another example of disciplinary situatedness concerned geographical place.
Then there is the transformative window (see the 2nd poor photo), which engages with critical theory, and issue of politics, ethnicity, gender etc. Lupton showed questions that might be asked at a historical site (e.g. about who is involved in maintaining it, who is excluded, whose voices are unheard etc.)
Finally there is the expressive window, in which affect is important (Lupton included the question "does this nourish me") and also aesthetics, self-expression (developing your own voice), and social media responsibility. She showed a rubric used by a design colleague which includes both transformative and expressive elements.
This was a fascinating and useful talk: you can find  more on her blog and publications.

Supporting information literacy in MOOC learning #ecil2015

This is my slideshare and some links for the ECIL workshop this afternoon!

Supporting information literacy in MOOCs from Sheila Webber

Futurelearn "Exploring Play" MOOC https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/play

- Conole, G. (2014). A 12-Dimensional classification schema for MOOCs. http://e4innovation.com/?p=799

- Entwistle, N., Nisbet, J. and Bromage, A. (2004). Teaching-learning environments and student learning in electronic engineering: paper presented at Third Workshop of the European Network on Powerful Learning Environments, in Brugge, September 30 – October 2, 2004. http://www.ed.ac.uk/etl/docs/Brugge2004.pdf

- Sharpe, R. et al. (2006). The undergraduate experience of blended e-learning: a review of UK literature and practice. York: HEA. https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/teachingandresearch/Undergraduate_Experience

Information Literacy Instruction: What Can We Learn from Reading and Writing Research #ecil2015

The first invited speaker today is Eero Sormunen, talking on: Information Literacy Instruction: What Can We Learn from Reading and Writing Research? at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015.
He was motivated by the challenges of teaching information literacy in schools and by dissatisfaction with research silos (people being unwilling tolook outside their own discipline). He highlighted relevant work in education, some of which he was going to talk about more.
He went on to mention Kuhlthau's ISP model, and then showed his own model for information interactions in learning tasks. Elements were information environment, search interactions, source interaction and learning task (unfortunately since I'm still in the back row I couldn't capture the diagram).
Then Sormunen talked about research into reading multiple texts: "reading to write" studies (from the 1990s; e.g.looking at synthesising across texts, reading and writing as an integrated process) and later multiple text comprehension research on the internet (e.g. with a focus on evaluation and selection of information, synthesis across sources, constructing arguments). He moved on to research in online reading, mentioning particularly the work of Leu, who looked at information processing practice in online reading (e.g. this, or (thanks to Eero Sormunen) this). There was a cluster of reasons identified for reading e.g. to understand important questions, to evaluate information critically.
Another example given of online reading research was by Kiili, a qualitative study which identified various reading patterns in learners working in pairs on a task (e.g. co-construction of knowledge and meaning; individual construction of meaning; silent reading) (a quick search found what I think is the study he mentioned, and a similar study by the same author)
Then there were studies on epistemic thinking: people's ways of knowing, and conception of what knowledge is. He showed Kuhn's developmental model of epistemic beliefs and noted that there is current research into reading multiple documents and epistemic beliefs.
Sormunen finished by talking about his own research in this area, in particular the ARONI project: argumentative online inquiry in building students' knowledge work competencies. The home page for the whole research project is here: https://blogs.sis.uta.fi/aroni/
They are looking at information and school-based practices, as well as information literacy education. He is working with teams from educational research (with expertise in online reading, argumentation, knowledge work competencies, evaluation of teaching practices). You can find a little further information on the website that I just linked to: the project only just started. It aims to develop an instructional model for Finnish high schools.
(Some updates made 15 November)
Photo by Sheila Webber: front door  to my apartment in Tallinn old own, where I'm staying this week

Guided Inquiry: A Pathway to Information Literacy in Action #ecil2015

It's day three of the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 and I have to confess that I arrived a little late, and therefore this liveblog has the caveat and apology that I missed the very start of the keynote by Carol Kuhlthau: Guided Inquiry: A Pathway to Information Literacy in Action. The photo shows my view from the back (rather than my usual front row view).
Kuhlthau proposed a definition for Information Literacy which was: "Information Literacy is the ability to use information to construct knowledge for wise action". The question was how to develop this kind of IL in learners: Kuhlthau was proposing that using her Information Search Process model and Guided Inquiry in combination would be valuable.
Kuhlthau mentioned some recent responses by other organisations to the question of "what is information literacy?" e.g. the new ACRL framework and the Standards for the 21st Century learner.
The speaker moved on to her own response in the new (2015) edition of her book on guided inquiry, which can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Guided-Inquiry-Learning-21st-Century/dp/1440833818/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1445410611&sr=1-2. In this new edition, she includes a curriculum which is built around three key questions:
1) "How do I find information about my questions?". This had an associated concept that "Information that is organised provides access to facts, ideas and multiple perspectives". She mentioned David Ellis' steps in information seeking.
2) "How do I know know the information I find is dependable?" with an associated concept "Valuable information prompts curiosity, reflection and enlightment"
3) "Will the information I find help me learn about my questions?" There was an associated principle "Thoughtfully interpreting information over time leads to deep learning" (note that I may not have got these wordings 100% correct as I transcribed them quickly)
Kuhlthau identified a gap in understanding how information becomes knowledge, and she highlighted some work which relates information behaviour to learning (e.g. Heinstrom, Limberg - and I would add my colleague Nigel Ford). (This is reaching back to the concepts of surface/strategic/deep learning developed by Ference Marton and his colleagues).
There was also Kuhlthau's own work, including her work of many years into seeking meaning and her Information Search Process model. She has a lot of information about this research model here https://comminfo.rutgers.edu/~kuhlthau/information_search_process.htm Kuhlthau talked through some key elements in the model e.g. the critical stages of exploration and formulation, and she focused on uncertainty as part of learning (uncertainty being one of the stages in the affective aspect of the ISP). She also explained her ideas of zones of intervention (the points where the librarian could best help the learner, within the ISP).
Finally Kuhlthau brought together the Guided Inquiry process and the Information Search Process. Again there is a good amount of information about this on her website here https://comminfo.rutgers.edu/~kuhlthau/guided_inquiry_design.htm so I won't try to explain it here.
She finished by adding to her definition a further gloss "The ability to interpret and use information for creating solutions for sustainable living".

Update #ecil2015

Still 2 days left of the the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015!
Apologies - earlier today I posted a post with nothing in it but the link to the conference website, by mistake (and it had got 40 page hits before I noticed and deleted it, which made me feel guilty!) I'll be liveblogging a bit less less tomorrow since I'm delivering a presentation and a workshop.
Here's a link to a presentation that I didn't attend:
Presentation by Jane Secker and Maria Bell: Sustaining student ambassadors: developing digital literacies in undergraduate students
and of course there is the Twitter stream at https://twitter.com/search?q=%23ecil2015

Mapping Collective Information Practices in the Workplace #ecil2015

Liveblogging from the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015. Andrew Whitworth presented a paper on Mapping Collective Information Practices in the Workplace coauthored with Maria-Carme Torras i Calvo, Bodil Moss, Nazareth Amlesom Kifle and Terje Blåsternes
They had been looking at IL as a set of practices (a collective activity) in two Norwegian libraries. To quote the abstract "The basis of the project is its investigation of how members of communities of practice collectively manage, or “steward” their informational resources – or information landscapes – in a context of significant change."*
They aimed to get both insider and insider view, and also to engage the staff with data. They used a mapping tool, Ketso, to map the information landscape. This mapping was focused around responsibilities and tasks, and looking at information sources and needs, as well as things that were blocking progress. This also helped to articulate tacit knowledge (see picture; though it's a pretty dreadful photo, it gives you an idea of the maps).
These maps could be revisited periodically, to see (for example) whether the blockages were being removed. Whitworth said that he felt that it would have been useful to have the maps on the wall as reminders, rather than folding them away between meetings.
*I removed the references from this quote.

Ethics of Professional Information Literacy #ecil2015

Matthias Rath is speaking next, at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015. His topic is Ethics of Professional Information Literacy. In particular his focus was on the information literacy of professional journalists. He felt that communicating "many to many" with Web 2.0 (defined as a participative web) was the problem for journalists. He defined user created content as being content created "outside professional routines and practices". He also used the concept of the "public sphere" (professional, non-private, one to many, and associated with bourgeois society in the 17-19th centuries). Ordinary citizens did not have opportunities to communicate within this public sphere in its traditional form. The speaker presented a model in which journalists were positioned as representatives of the public, but also a bottleneck intermediary (between citizens and politicians, for example). However, this situation changed with Web 2.0. Axel Bruns had identified the "produser" (user and producer). Not only citizens, but also companies, politicians etc. also participated in Web 2.0 "many to many" interactions.
Turning to positives and risks of this situation. Positives were: Negotiation (different perspectives); Collective intelligence; Judgement (helping people to evaluate reliability). Risks included lack of orientation about truth; no control over truthfulness.
The speaker proposed journalists as "managers of attention" helping citizens to decide where they could most usefully direct their attention on the web. Turning explicitly to ethics, Rath identified general journalistic ethics (being balanced, not publishing news that causes harm, giving citizens information they need for self-government). To enact these ethics, journalists needed to be information literate, particularly in the Web 2.0 world. Individuals haave to earn their own individual reputation and credibility, including journalists. Also (I think) this might help non-journalists develop a sense of what it meant to be a reputable, reliable producer/produser in the Web 2.0 environment.
A delegate raised afterwards the issue of journalists who are told what to do by a government or powerful figure (which was acknowledged as a problem), and the speaker also mentioned that there is an issue of journalists who are working online, and often working/publishing in different countries. The problems of a press controlled by vested interests even in a democracy (the UK) were also raised.

Information-seeking Behavior and Information Needs of Farmers in Turkey and Sweden #ecil2015

The final talk I attended today at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 was Information-seeking Behavior and Information Needs of Farmers in Turkey and Sweden: A Comparative Study from Demet Soylu, Nilay Cevher and Marco Schirone. I'm drooping a bit at the end of the day, so usual apologies to the speakers if this isn't a good representation.
The speakers identified that farmers encounter problems, both do to with their farm produce and the more general economy, climate etc. Previous research has identified that farmers benefit from national systems to support the farmers' information needs. There may also be issues of farmers' literacy.
This study investigated the needs to two areas, in Western Sweden (a developed country) and a comparatively less developed region of Turkey, Fethiye. A questionnaire was used for both countries, using both print and online (36 respondents in Sweden, 38 in Turkey) Additionally in Turkey there was an interview with farming associations, and for those Turkish farmers who were illiterate, there were phone questionnaires.
The educational and literacy levels were higher in Sweden. The biggest needs in Turkey were seed and product cultivation and other physical aspects (more so than in Sweden, where there was more interest in market prices and day to day trends). The Swedish farmers were using libraries to find information, in contrast to Turkey.
Recommendations included "green spaces" in libraries, and courses from libraries, but most of all there was a need to tailor services and information to the local needs of the farmers, which the study showed were varying.
Photo shows another view of lunchtime at the conference

Determining the Value of Information Literacy for Employers #ecil2015

European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 in Tallinn. Determining the Value of Information Literacy for Employers was presented by Stéphane Goldstein and Andrew Whitworth. In work sponsored by the CILIP IL Group they had investigated 3 companies and developed a draft tool to help people identify the value of information literacy to employers. This is a spreadsheet with cells for areas in which the participants said they invested and the expected returns on investment.
The areas for investment included investment in: organisational practice, information systems and technologies, staff development and support; and use of space.
One thing that was mentioned that the participants said they wanted to develop the capacity of their clients in handling information (e.g. a local authority wanting to develop citizens' skills or a company wanting people to develop skills in using its software)
As usual this is just a liveblogged impression of the talk and there is a lot more detail here, including the actual spreadsheet tool: http://www.researchinfonet.org/infolit/ridls/transferable-skills/il-value/ and I've embedded the presentation below

DeVIL - Determining the Value of Information Literacy for Employers