Friday, September 23, 2011

Call for papers for Zimbabwe school library conference

There is a call for papers for Regional School Library Seminar to be held 8-9 February 2012 in Masiyephambili College, Bulawayo Zimbabwe. It is hosted jointly by the International Association of Schcoll Librarianship and the Zimbabwe Library Association. The theme is: School libraries in Africa in the 21st century: learning from each other.
Sub-themes are: information literacy skills across (from print to ICT; national school library policy; school libraries for reading skills; regional school library cooperation in Zimbabwe/Africa cooperation; joint school/community library cooperation; mobile library service in Zimbabwe/Africa; creative ideas for school libraries with limited resources: best practices; a library in every school campaign; any other topics related to the main theme (e.g. dissemination of HIV and AIDS information in school libraries).
Abstracts should be no more than 200 words and should be submitted to Lindy Nhlapo at lnhlapo@unisa.ac.za and to zimlanec@gmail.com The deadline is 31 October 2011. "Conference presenters and participants will come from Zimbabwe (bulk), SADC, Africa and beyond."
Photo by Sheila Webber: autumn sky, September 2011

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Horizon report: Technology Outlook: UK Tertiary Education 2011-2016

Earlier this month The New Media Consortium and JISC published Technology Outlook: UK Tertiary Education 2011-2016. I have regularly reported on the annual publication of the main Horizon report, but I had missed that they also periodically publish more specific ones. You can find a link to all the reports on the JISC/ Horizon wiki at http://jisc.wiki.nmc.org/home. There have been 3 Australia-New Zealand Horizons, there have been a couple on "K12" (schools), and also ones on Museums and the Iberoamerican perspective.
For the UK higher education one they mainly adopted a delphi approach, working with a small group from the education/technology field. The wiki I linked to above also has additional resources and discussion, and people are encouraged to add material in various ways.
I was just alerted to this today, by a blog post from Peter Miller so I have only skimmed the wiki and report superficially, but that won't stop me from making a few comments. One is that it is definitely worth looking at, to learn and (in the UK anyway) to gauge the kind of assumptions and priorities that underly the report.
Unsurprisingly, there is a good deal of overlap between the main Horizon 2011 report (published at the start of the year) and the UK one. Cloud computing, which is one of the "one year or less" items in the UK report is an underpinning element in the main report. The highlighted technologies are: One year or less - cloud computing, mobiles, open content, tablet computing; 2-3 years - game-based learning, learning analytics, new scholarship, semantic applications; 4-5 years - augmented reality, collective intelligence, smart objects, telepresence.

Again unsurprisingly technology is centre stage, so (in my opinion) the need to (for learning and teaching applications) approach things from the learning need (rather than some technological requirement) gets a bit lost sight of.

I was also rather surprised that (for something aimed at the tertiary sector) the evidence and references were generally not that substantial e.g. quoting a Huffington Post article by James Gee instead of his books or articles that made the same point. Although the report is looking to the future, there is really quite a lot of research (if small scale) into use of innovative technologies in learning and learning management: at any rate there are a lot of peer-reviewed articles and some theses, and it has certainly got beyond the point where you have to rely solely on trade, conference and news sources. I suppose that I might notice this particularly because I'm marking Masters dissertations at the moment, and looking for the quality of evidence that is cited, but in that I'm probably not atypical as an academic. A good number of my students are doing small scale investigations in the area of social media or gaming.

Just to get in a final point, unfortunately this UK report doesn't discuss the relevance of information literacy (though, interestingly, the Australian one does!); however the need for educators and students to have "digital media literacy" is emphasised. As far as I could see "digital media literacy" is not defined, but it does seem to include some elements of information literacy.

If you want to go straight to the UK report it's at http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2011-Technology-Outlook-UK.pdf. Also the wiki is well worth investigating, as already mentioned.
Photo by Sheila webber: autumn blooms, September 2011

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Social Networking for Information Professionals

Social Networking for Information Professionals is an aggregator site created by Judy O'Connell using http://www.scoop.it/, which presents items from feeds from blogs etc. in a bold layout. http://www.scoop.it/t/social-networking-for-information-professionals
Recently highlighted items include an online book, Web 2.0 Tools in Education: A Quick Guide by Mohamed Amin Embi
http://www.flipsnack.com/flips/07a0e734cb005effc2467a0b9q223583
Photo by Sheila Webber: first apples off the tree

Social Media week

I only just realised we are 3 days into Social Media Week, an initiative involving 12 cities worldwide. As well as a lot of twittering etc. there are many events being livestreamed, and since the cities are scattered around the globe, there is something going on at most times of day.
Home page: http://socialmediaweek.org/
Livestream video http://www.livestream.com/socialmediaweek
This is the Tagxedo picture created from Social Media week's Twitter identity, it seemed the thing to do

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

The revised SCONUL 7 Pillars: session in Second Life

When: 21st September 2011, 12 noon SL time (8pm UK time, see http://tinyurl.com/3bw7bte for times elsewhere)
Where: Infolit iSchool, in the virtual world, Second Life (SL). You need a SL avatar and the SL browser installed on your computer, to participate. Go direct to:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Infolit%20iSchool/129/242/22/

What: Sheila Webber (Sheffield University Information School) will present the revised version of the SCONUL 7 Pillars of information literacy, a model developed in the United Kingdom. Revised copies of the 3D version of the SCONUL 7 Pillars will also be made available. Sheila will also say something about how she uses the 7 Pillars in teaching. The website for the Pillars is http://www.sconul.ac.uk/groups/information_literacy/seven_pillars.html

This is a Centre for Information Literacy Research event.

Monday, September 19, 2011

LILAC cfp opens

The call for papers for the LILAC 2012 conference is open. This is the major information literacy conference in the UK, and it will take place 11-13 April 2012 in Glasgow, Scotland. The call for papers will close at 5pm on 11th November.

The themes are: IL and the digital future; IL research; Supporting the research community; Transitions: from School through to Higher Education; IL and employability; Active learning and creative pedagogical approaches.
Proposals can be for: short or long papers, symposia, Teachmeet presentations, posters.
More detail at http://lilacconference.com/WP/call-for-papers/
Photo by Sheila Webber: the "colour of information literacy" using http://thecolorof.com/#find, which searches for images on Flickr and layers them one on top of the other to get the picture. Most pictures end up redder than this. I'm not sure exactly how it finds the images: I don't think it can be using the tags, as it found only a few on a tag I've used with hundreds of Flickr images; it looks like it goes on title.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

LOEX call for proposals

The USA's major information literacy conference, LOEX, has a call for proposals for the 2012 annual conference, which will be held in Columbus, Ohio, USA, 3-5 May 2012. The theme is: Energize! Accelerate! Transform! Proposals are due on Friday, November 18, 2011. Currently the call is for presentations or workshop sessions (later there will be a call for posters - mostly just open to students or interns - and lightning sessions)
"Successful proposals will model best practices, provide useful information that participants can use at their libraries, showcase effective and innovative practices, support collaboration, and be as applicable as possible to a wide range of academic institution types." There are 7 tracks:
- Cocktails: Engaging students with active learning
- Salads: Reaching diverse populations
- Entrees: Developing your teachers and your programme
- Combo platter: Collaborating.
- To Go: Learning on the go, anytime, anywhere
- Chef’s Surprise: Pursuing cutting-edge trends in teaching and learning
- Dessert: Measuring the effectiveness of programs and learning
Full info on the website at http://www.loexconference.org/breakoutproposals.html
Photo by Sheila Webber: Whisky tasting at the i3 conference, June 2011

Friday, September 16, 2011

Events in Columbia and Missouri

Maryland Information Literacy Exchange (MILEX) holds its fall (autumn) conference on 28 October 2011, at the Loyola Graduate Center, Columbia, MD, USA. The title is: How You Teach is What You Teach: Best Practices in Information Literacy. For more info go to their website: http://www.milexmd.org/ They have a wiki with presentations from some former meetings at http://milexmd.pbworks.com/w/page/20920372/FrontPage

The Brick & Click Academic Library Symposium organised by Northwest Missouri State University, USA, is on 4 November 2011. This includes some information literacy sessions. "Now in its 11th year, the Brick and Click Libraries Symposium is a one-day event featuring concurrent and lightning round sessions that explore cutting-edge technologies, practical solutions, and timely topics. The Symposium supports the academic information needs of both on-ground (brick) and online (click) students, library professionals and paraprofessionals." http://brickandclick.org/

I was alerted to both these events by a discussion on the ili discussion list.
Photo by Sheila Webber: yellow border, September 2011

International Forum on Media and Information Literacy & Fez Declaration

I should have reported before that an International Forum on Media and Information Literacy (MIL) was held in Fez, Morocco, 15-17 June 2011 through partnership between UNESCO, the Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University (Morocco), the Islamic Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO), the Arab Bureau of Education for the Golf States (ABEGS) and the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and other partners.
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=31456&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
They produced the Fez Declaration on Media and Information Literacy as a result of the forum. They assert that "today’s digital age and convergence of communication technologies necessitate the combination of media literacy and information literacy in order to achieve sustainable human development, build participatory civic societies, and contribute to the consolidation of sustainable world peace, freedom, democracy, good governance and the fostering of constructive intercultural knowledge, dialogue and mutual understanding" and make various recommendations: http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/news/Fez%20Declaration.pdf
Photo by Sheila Webber: Tracery, September 2011

Thursday, September 15, 2011

LYRASIS online seminars on information literacy

27-29 September 2011 Practical Approaches to Information Literacy. (10:00 - 12:00 (think this is USA Eastern time) Cost: $230 members /$280 non-members "This three-day [3 x 2 hours] distance education class offers strategies for working more actively with faculty and students to change library learning environments — both physical and virtual — in ways that will more actively engage students in the research process."
11-12 October 2011 Using Technology in Information Literacy Programs . (2:00pm - 4:00pm) Cost: $170 / $220 "In this four-hour class, which will be offered in two-hour increments for two successive days, students will explore a wide range of technology that will help put any information literacy program on the map."
LYRASIS is "the nation’s [USA's] largest regional non-profit membership organization serving libraries" More info on the website at http://www.lyrasis.org
Photo by Sheila Webber: Plants, cemetery, September 2011

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Mick Healey's learning and teaching bibliographies

Mick Healey is a prominent academic in the education field, and he maintains a number of useful resources on his website; bibliographies and links. These include
- Active learning and learning styles: a selected bibliography
- Linking research and teaching: a selected bibliography
- The scholarship of teaching and learning: a selected bibliography
- Engaging students in research and inquiry: case studies
He also has a research instrument to download (aimed particularly at those taking an inquiry-based approach with their students): The student experience of teaching, research and consultancy – questionnaire
http://www.mickhealey.co.uk/resources
Photo by Sheila Webber: Bright autumn sky, September 2011

Monday, September 12, 2011

i3 conference presentations

Some of the presentations from the i3 conference (held in Aberdeen in June) are on the conference website at http://www.i3conference2011.org.uk/
They include:
Dr. Marian Smith and Dr. Mark Hepworth "Young people: A phenomenographic investigation into the ways they experience information"
Fredrik Hanell "A situated view on Information Literacy: epistemological issues and practical solutions through analysis of participatory media in learning environments"
Professor Eero Sormunen and Leeni "Wikipedia articles as a genre for authentic learning-by-writing assignments"
Photo by Sheila Webber: another autumn anemone, September 2011

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Grampian Information Conference 2011

On 10th November 2011 the Grampian Information Annual Conference will be held in Aberdeen, Scotland. The Conference theme is "Information: Skills for Learning, Work and Life. As you would expect with that title, there are a number of information literacy sessions:
Creating a structure without walls: the Welsh Information Literacy Framework (Cathie Jackson, Senior Consultant: Information Literacy, Subject Librarian –
Law, Cardiff University, Wales)
Learning Skills for Research: Information Literacy Skills of Incoming University Students (Anne Carr-Wiggin, Manager of the NEOS Library Consortium, University of Alberta, Canada)
Information Literacy - a practical toolkit for the future (Sue Cromar and Helen Adair, Aberdeenshire Library and Information Service/Aberdeen City Libraries)
Programme is at http://grampianinfo.wufoo.com/forms/grampian-information-conference-10-november-2011/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Mixed border, September 2011

Friday, September 09, 2011

Guide to Teaching Information Literacy: 101 practical tips

A new book is:
Blanchett, H., Powis, C. and Webb, J. (2011) Guide to Teaching Information Literacy: 101 practical tips. Facet. Price: £49.95. Price (to CILIP members): £39.96
ISBN: 978-1-85604-659-6
http://www.facetpublishing.co.uk/title.php?id=659-6

Thursday, September 08, 2011

Marketing: Librarians as web search experts

There is a Google webinar on 13 September, 11am US Pacfic time (which is 7pm UK time), presented by Mary O’Kelly and Colleen Lyon: Marketing: Librarians as web search experts. "Librarians at Grand Valley State University offered a workshop to faculty called Using Google Like a Librarian. The deceptively simple idea of teaching faculty how to Google resulted in some of the most popular workshops the library has ever offered. Presenters will share their workshop content, talk about why it is so important for all librarians to teach their user groups about Google, and will leave time for discussion among participants."

To Register:
1. Go to https://google.webex.com/google/onstage/g.php?d=966747045&t=a&EA=tashabm%40earthlink.net&ET=c4d1a143fafb647bd709cd6db7597a1d&ETR=c872d06671861365879c13d93c2889bf&RT=MiM0&p
2. Click "Register".
3. On the registration form, enter your information and then click "Submit".
Photo by Sheila Webber: Rose and fly, Hailsham, August 2011

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Polish translation of IL guidelines

Kompetencje informacyjne w procesie uczenia się przez całe życie Wytyczne have just been published: a translation into Polish of the Guidelines on Information Literacy for Lifelong Learning
by Jesús Lau. The translation team was: Ewa Hajdasz, Matylda Filas, Justyna Jasiewicz, Renata Piotrowska, Ewa Rozkosz, Grzegorz Winnicki, Zuza Wiorogórska.
http://www.sbp.pl/repository/SBP/sekcje_komisje/komisja_ds_edukacji_informacyjnej/Wytyczne.pdf
Photo by Sheila Webber: Autumn anemones, September 2011

Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Online information literacy

Mark Hepworth, a faculty member in the Department of Information Science, Loughborough University, recently posted to the lis-infoliteracy discussion list to say that he had been evaluating "e-learning sites for information literacy". "70 Higher Education (HE) sites and 7 from the workplace, were identified and screened, 30 were evaluated in-depth" The ones that came top were:
http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/skills/ University of Sydney, Australia
http://www.newcastle.edu.au/Resources/Divisions/Academic/Library/information-skills/infoskills/index.html University of Newcastle, Australia
University of Leicester, United Kingdom (the link that Mark gave seemed to have been changed: there are various tutorials etc. linked from this page http://www2.le.ac.uk/library/help
http://skills.library.leeds.ac.uk/ University of Leeds, United Kingdom
https://pilot.library.qut.edu.au/index.jsp Queensland University of Technology, Australia
http://www.open.ac.uk/safari/ Open University, United Kingdom
To quote Mark again "Very few e-learning packages helped people with thinking skills, such as critical analysis, synthesis etc. of information found in articles, Web pages, books etc. or navigating and extracting information efficiently" He will be publishing more information in due course in his blog at http://markhepworthsblog.blogspot.com/
Photo by Sheila Webber: red rose, August 2011

Monday, September 05, 2011

ALT-C (elearning conference) papers

Papers from the 2011 ALT Conference are available full text at http://www.alt.ac.uk/alt-c-2011/pubs. This is a major e-learning conference in the UK. These papars are not to do with information literacy, but could be of interest to those concerned with elearning. An example title is "Learning Through Online Discussion: A Framework Evidenced in Learners' Interactions" by Yvonne Bain.
Photo by Sheila Webber: Rose hips, September 2011

Thursday, September 01, 2011

LILAC 2012

The UK's major information literacy conference, LILAC, will be held at Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, Scotland, 11-13 April 2012. The twitter presence is http://twitter.com/#!/lilac_2012 and the LILAC website is at http://lilacconference.com/WP/ although there is no further info about 2012 at time of writing
Photo by Sheila Webber: In Glasgow's Botanic Gardens, 2006

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Learning styles

There has been an interesting discussion on the ili discussion list about learning styles, and whether or not it is valuable to design learning to engage with differing learning styles.
The research that started the discussion off is described in this press release:
Allen-West, C. (2009) Learning Styles Debunked: There is No Evidence Supporting Auditory and Visual Learning, Psychologists Say. Association for Psychological Science. http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/releases/learning-styles-debunked-there-is-no-evidence-supporting-auditory-and-visual-learning-psychologists-say.html

Someone also recommended:
Sanderson, H. (2011) "Using Learning Styles in Information Literacy: Critical Considerations for Librarians." The Journal of Academic Librarianship 37 (5), 376-385.

One point I would make is that, if you are aiming to develop people to be lifelong learners, you will be aiming to make them more aware of how they learn (from that perspective, thinking about "learning styles" can be a trigger to help them reflect), but you will also be aiming to help people expand the ways in which they learn (so just using their preferred learning style may not be helping them, ultimately)
Photo by Sheila Webber: young people being lured to play with new mobile phones in Sheffield yesterday. Interestingly, the van was lined with images of old books...

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Internet Librarian x 2

The Internet Librarian International conference (in the UK) and Internet Librarian 2011 (in the USA) are both in October.

Internet Librarian International 2011 is 27-8 October, with workshops on 26 October, in London, UK. Website: http://www.internet-librarian.com/2011/ As well as sessions from information gurus Karen Blakeman and Phil Bradley, information-literacy relevant sessions include:
- Teaching Others (Michael Stephens, San Jose State University & Tame the Web) He "presents an overview of emerging literacies related to digital media, information exchange and education. The phrase "information literacy" has expanded well beyond its original meaning and now encompasses a wide range of media with which information professionals should be familiar and able to explain and teach to others."
- Teaching Information Skills (Jenny Evans, Imperial College London; Ruth Harrison, Imperial College London; Andy Tattersall, ScHARR University of Sheffield; Karen Marie Øvern, Gjøvik University College) They are talking about the Learning 2.0 & Research 2.0 programmes at Imperial; Bite Size technology sessions at ScHARR & "new methods of performing and assessing information literacy courses" at Gjovik.

In the USA, Internet Librarian 2011 runs 17-19 October 17—19, in Monterey, California, USA. Website at http://www.infotoday.com/il2011/ This includes a keynote Information & Learning for the Future from John Seely Brown, sessions from information/search gurus Greg Notess, Gary Price, and Mary Ellen Bates, and the following:
- Training Is Not Learning? (Kate Sheehan; Bobbi L. Newman; Polly-Alida Farrington;
Emily Clasper) "Library “trainers” Newman, Farrington, and Sheehan discuss the need for cultural change in libraries while sharing their own successes and not-so successes. Clasper describes the training program designed to keep the county libraries’ staff current with the technology they use every day."
- From Training to Learning: Strategic Community Conversations (Nancy MacKenzie and Lisa Hardy, Calgary Public Library) "Calgary Public Library is supporting librarians to self-identify their personal learning requirements, develop individual learning plans, and ultimately enhance the organizational ability to be highly visible and active participants in the work of our communities."
- Transliteracy & 21st-Century Skills for Library Users (Bobbi L. Newman; Jamie Hollier; Matthew Hamilton; Jennifer Koerber) "Newman, Hollier and Hamilton cover the importance of transliteracy and libraries’ role in supporting patrons’ development of these skills. Koerber looks at BPL’s Learning for Life Online, a free, ongoing online learning community platform that helps users develop a framework for a lifetime of learning and exploration."
- Blackboard Learn: Partnering to Integrate Resources (Anita Riley and Christina H. Gola,University of Houston Libraries) "This presentation discusses the conversations and partnerships between the library and campus instructional designers, lessons learned from being on the Blackboard implementation team, the technical aspects of how UH libraries streamlined the delivery of content, and the future implications for the library team that will manage the content.
- Instruction Goes Viral With Videos (Alison Steinberg, San Diego Mesa College; Amy Thornley, Miami University) "Both of these libraries learned valuable lessons about using video for teaching and tutorials."

SL Journal club now on 7 September

Apologies! The date of the next Information Literacy/ Behaviour Journal Club in Second Life has been changed from 31 August to 7 September due to illness: More details at http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/2011/08/journal-club-science-information.html

Monday, August 29, 2011

Journal club: Science Information Literacy Tutorials and Pedagogy

Information Literacy/ Behaviour Journal Club in Second Life meets this week.
When: Wednesday 7 September [note changed time due to illness!] 2011 12 noon Second Life time (which is 8pm UK time, see http://tinyurl.com/428xmfg for times elsewhere)
Where: In the virtual world Second Life. You need a SL avatar and the SL browser installed on your computer. Go direct to http://slurl.com/secondlife/Infolit%20iSchool/106/208/30/
What: Led by Loreena Sandalwood, we will be discussing:
Li, P. (2011). "Science Information Literacy Tutorials and Pedagogy." Evidence Based Library And Information Practice, 6(2), 5-18. Retrieved from http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/EBLIP/article/view/9480/8128
Try and read it beforehand if you can. Loreena will highlight key points from the article, then we will discuss it and issues arising. The session lasts one hour and the discussion is in text chat. The picture shows the last journal club session that was led by Loreena.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Curriculum for Information Literacy

There is a lot of material published about a recent project which proposes a "Curriculum for information literacy". Jane Secker won a Fellowship as part of the Arcadia Project, which meant that she was seconded to Wolfson College, Cambridge, to work on a research project aiming to develop an information literacy curriculum for undergraduate students. She worked there with Emma Coonan, Research Skills and Development Librarian at Cambridge University.

They developed a wiki which has the main publications from the project, and some additional material e.g. a list of literature, methodology: http://ccfil.pbworks.com/w/page/39773468/Welcome!

The project reports are linked from: http://ccfil.pbworks.com/w/page/42119030/project%20reports. There is an Executive summary, the report outlining the curriculum, a document reviewing and reflecting on some of the key ideas that inspired them, and a report identifying the main themes that emerged from interviews that they undertook with some experts in the area (including me). The curriculum itself is licensed under a Creative Commons License, so they are interested in other people using it.

They took the view that "information literacy should be transformational for the learner, changingtheir attitude, behaviour, outlook and even their world view. Therefore this curriculum has teh potential to change lives and make a real difference to society." (from the Executive summary).

Jane blogged about her experience at http://elearning.lse.ac.uk/blogs/socialsoftware/ There is an introduction to the project, as presented by Jane recently, on her Slideshare and I have embedded it below (incidently, her slideshare also has the presentation that she gave for my Masters students last semester as part of my Information Literacy Research class).

Photo of lilypads, in Puerto Rico, by Sheila Webber, August 2011

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning conference & "translator"

The International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (ISSOTL) annual conference will take place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (USA) on October 20-23, 2011. The programme etc. is at http://issotl11.indiana.edu/index1.html
I also happened to notice one of the links from a good "SOTL links" page on the site was to a resource that gives the different terminology used in certain aspects of education in the USA, Canada, Ireland and the UK (although I think the termonology actually refers to the English system not e.g. the Scottish). Although not perfect it seems useful. http://www.wku.edu/teaching/db/english/index.php
Photo by Sheila Webber: Morning coffee, August 2011 (note the Google headline in the Guardian)

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Ethnographic Research in Illinois Academic Libraries

The Ethnographic Research in Illinois Academic Libraries (ERIAL) Project aimed "to understand how students do research, and how relationships between students, teaching faculty and librarians shape that process": there was also a particular focus on use and conceptions of the library. The project has been "a collaborative effort of five Illinois universities: DePaul University, Illinois Wesleyan University (IWU), Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU), the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and the University of Illinois at Springfield (UIS)." The website is at http://www.erialproject.org/
The research approach was qualitative, including interviews, diaries, concept mapping and other data collection methods (see http://www.erialproject.org/project-details/methodology/)

Results are now being published:
- Some materials from conferences on the project website: http://www.erialproject.org/publications/presentations/
- A forthcoming book: Duke, L. and Asher, A. (2011) College Libraries and Student Culture: What We Now Know. ALA Editions. ISBN 978-0-8389-1116-7
- An article highlightlighting key points from the book: Kolowich, S. (2011) What students don't know. Inside Higher Ed, 22 August.

They also developed:
- A Libguide for students
- Asher, A. and Miller, S. (2011) So You Want to Do Anthropology in Your Library? or a Practical Guide to Ethnographic Research in Academic Libraries. ERIAL Project.
Photo by Sheila Webber: Busy bee, August 2011

Monday, August 22, 2011

11th Annual Augustana Information Literacy in Academic Libraries workshop, 16-17 Nov

Bill Johnston and I have been invited as the presenters of the 11th Annual Augustana Information Literacy in Academic Libraries workshop, to be held at the University of Alberta, Camrose, Canada, 16-17 November 2011.

Our theme is: Building the Information Literate University: From Concept to Strategic Change
Registration opens Friday, 2nd September.

Details of registration, travel, accommodation etc. are given here: http://www.library.ualberta.ca/augustana/infolit/workshop

On 16th September there are optional consultations with me and Bill, then there is an evening workshop dinner, and then a full day on 17th November. The description for the full day is as follows: "Sheila Webber and Bill Johnston will outline how conceptualizing an Information Literate University can enable you to demonstrate that information literacy is essential to the success of the whole university. In particular, they will draw on their research into disciplinary perspectives on information literacy, on Bill's institutional and national research into student retention and the First Year Experience in Higher Education, and Sheila's involvement as an Academic Fellow in a major Inquiry Based Learning project. They will illustrate the presentation with examples of how information literacy can be discovered and leveraged in Institutional Mission Statement and Strategic Plans, including examples supplied in advance by North American participants."

Information on previous workshops is here: http://www.library.ualberta.ca/augustana/infolit/workshop/pastworkshops
Photo by Sheila Webber: poppies on the pavement, August 2011

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Latest issue of Journal of Academic Librarianship

The latest online articles in the Journal of Academic Librarianship include:
Noraida Domínguez-Flores and Ling Wang: Online Learning Communities: Enhancing Undergraduate Students' Acquisition of Information Skills
Heather Sanderson: Using Learning Styles in Information Literacy: Critical Considerations for Librarians
Cheri Smith and Jessica Kayongo: Senior Thesis Camp: Partnerships in Practice at the University of Notre Dame
David Nicholas et al.: Social Media, Academic Research and the Role of University Libraries
Geoffrey Little: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Google
Photo by Sheila Webber: Flowers in San Juan, August 2011

Friday, August 19, 2011

New issue of Reference Services Review

The latest issue of Reference Services Review(Volume 39 issue 3) includes:
- Developing learning landscapes : academic libraries driving organisational change by
Leo Appleton, Valerie Stevenson, Debbi Boden
- Library and Marketing Class Collaborate To Create Next Generation Learning Landscape by Sabra E. Brock, Sara Tabaei
- Re-imagining the Users' Experience: An Ethnographic Approach to Web Usability and Space Design by Somaly Kim Wu, Donna Lanclos
- Information Literacy in Learning Landscapes: Flexible, Adaptable, Low-cost Solutions by Lisa Kammerlocher, Juliann Couture, Olivia Sparks, Matthew Harp, Tammy Allgood
- Evaluating the Impact of Learning Space by Bryony Ramsden
Photo by Sheila Webber: autumn anemone, August 2011

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Education Libraries, new issue

Volume 34, number 1, Summer 2011, has been published of Education Libraries. It includes:
Dissertation 101: A Research and Writing Intervention for Education Graduate Students: by Anne Switzer and Sherry Wynn Perdue
The Role of Multicultural Information in Experiential Learning: by Lan Shen
Identifying Information Behavior in Information Search and Retrieval Through Learning Activities Using an E-learning Platform Case: Interamerican School of Library and Information Science at the University of Antioquia (Medellín-Colombia): by Alejandro Uribe Tirado and Wilson Castaño Muñoz.
It can be downloaded at http://units.sla.org/division/ded/educationlibraries/34-1.pdf
Photo by Sheila Webber: Bamboo graffiti, Puerto Rico, August 2011

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Miriam Dudley Instruction Librarian of the Year Award

The ACRL Instruction Section is now accepting nominations for the Miriam Dudley Instruction Librarian of the Year Award. Deadline for nominations is December 2nd 2011. "Nominees should have achieved distinction in one or more of the following areas:
  • Planning and implementation of an academic instruction program in a library environment that has served as a model for other programs nationally or regionally
  • Production of a body of research and publication that has a demonstrable impact on the concepts and methods of teaching and information-seeking strategies in a college or research institution
  • Sustained participation in organizations, at the regional or national level, devoted to the promotion and enhancement of academic instruction in a library environment
  • Promotion, development, and integration of education for instruction in ALA accredited library schools or professional continuing education programs that have served as models for other courses and program."
It doesn't say that you have to be North American to be nominated, though I think the previous recipients all are (apologies if I'm wrong there). More information at:
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/awards/miriamdudley.cfm
Photo by Sheila Webber: Cat in San Juan, August 2011

Monday, August 15, 2011

UNESCO Media & Information Literacy: report 3

This continues my report from the meeting, held on 11th August in San Juan, Puerto Rico, about developing Media and Information Literacy indicators (the meeting was organised by IFLA and UNESCO). Jesús Lau (Instituto de Ingeniería, Universidad Veracruzana, Veracruz, México) gave the main presentation before our small-group discussion about the UNESCO Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Indicators which are under development. Lau (who I am pleased to say got his doctorate in my own department, at Sheffield University) has led key information literacy initiatives with UNESCO. He started by identifying some initiatives that provided a rationale for UNESCO being interested in MIL. Examples are its own Education for All (EFA) and Information for All (IFAP) programmes, and action lines from the World Summit on the Information Society C 3 “Access to information and knowledge”, C 7 “e-learning” and C 9 “Media”. Lau felt that “Inclusive knowledge societies require tools to measure media and information access and especially use” and there was currently a lack of data for decision making in this area. Some of the related statistics (e.g. number of books borrowed in libraries) were not good indicators for MIL. Lau introduced a cycle which he felt that applied to bothIL and ML: an iterative cycle with Creation/ availability; Distribution/ supply; Information supply; Distribution/ use MIL skills. Lau also presented a “contellation” of info-communication skills (including onformation literacy, ICT and media literacy, literacy, oral communication, and reasoning). He saw the core skills of MIL as being: Access; Evaluation/ understanding ; and Use. Media Literacy (ML) has a mediating role in active citizenship (e.g. governance), public health (e.g. as regards risky behaviours) and aesthetics (e.g. creativity and self expression). Information Literacy (IL), on the other hand, he viewed as focusing more on the “Information Quality” elements (such as data/information reliability). Lau felt that “both literacies aim to develop the same skills” (which he illustrated with a slide depicting convergence of IL and ML) but IL has in the past tended to focus more on academic side of things (as opposed to everyday behaviours). He also identified that some cultural factors will be more important than others, or will define attitdes to MIL, in different countries. Lau moved on to talk about some principles of indicator development, and the practical options for developing MIL indicators. The first two options he presented were: independent survey specifically for MIL (expensive); and as a set of questions in an existing survey (for example PISA, national education surveys etc.). The remaining two options meant collecting no data specifically about MIL, but using existing statistics: either combining index of international indexes and international surveys; or index of secondary international indicators (e.g. statistics about creating/distribution of information like books). Lau mentioned a number of pieces of work which the current MIL work is building on, some of which UNESCO has sponsored itself. These are some of those items (I’ve blogged most of them at some point, I think, some of them more than once!).
- Catts, R. and Lau, J. (2008). Towards Information Literacy Indicators. Paris: UNESCO.http://www.ifla.org/en/publications/towards-information-literacy-indicators
- Horton, F. (2007) Understanding Information Literacy: a primer. Paris: UNESCO. http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=25956&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
- ITU (2010). Measuring the Information Society. Geneva: ITU. http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-d/opb/ind/D-IND-ICTOI-2010-U2-SUM-PDF-E.pdf (ITU is the United Nations agency for telecommunications)
- Lau, Jesus (2005). International Guidelines for Information Literacy for Lifelong Learning. The Hague: IFLA. http://www.ifla.org/en/publications/guidelines-on-information-literacy-for-lifelong-learning
- Partnership for 21st Century Skills. http://www.p21.org - Thompson, S. (Ed)(2003). Prague Declaration: Towards an Information Literate Society. https://ar.unesco.org/sites/default/files/praguedeclaration.pdf
- UNESCO (2005). Beacons of the information society: Alexandria Proclamation on Information Literacy and Lifelong Learning. Alexandria: UNESCO.https://www.ifla.org/publications/beacons-of-the-information-society-the-alexandria-proclamation-on-information-literacy-and-lifelong-learning/ Photos by Sheila Webber: The first picture shows the tiny straw baskets which our Puerto Rican hosts gave us (on a printout of the presentation) and the second shows some of the participants coming from lunch, Lau is second right.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Media and Information Literacy Indicators: Bangkok report

A booklet has just been published which provides a summary of the outcomes of the Bangkok meeting which discussed Media and Information Literacy (MIL) indicators, organised by UNESCO, as well as introducing the concepts of MIL. I haven't had time to look at it properly and I may blog again when I have read it. The meeting I attended on Thursday (which I'm still posting about) was a follow-on from thr Bangkok meeting.

Moeller, S., Joseph, A., Lau, J. and Carbo, T. (2011) Towards Media and Information Literacy Indicators: Background Document of the Expert Meeting 4-6 November 2010, Bangkok, Thailand. Paris: UNESCO.
http://www.ucm.es/BUCM/boletin/doc17043.pdf
Photo by Sheila Webber: La Rogativa (statue group) San Juan, Puerto Rico, August 2011

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Media and Information Literacy Curriculum for Teachers

The Media and Information Literacy Curriculum for Teachers was published in July 2011. "This UNESCO model MIL Curriculum and Competency framework for teachers is intended to provide teacher education systems in developed and developing countries with a framework to construct a programme for turning out teachers who are media and information literate." At the moment it is just in English, but it will be translated into other key languages.

Part 1 provides the MIL Curriculum and Competency Framework and Part 2 outlines 9 core modules for the the curriculum for teachers plus some optional modules. There seems to be rather more that could be specifically designated media literacy than could be specifically designated information literacy: "Information Literacy and Library Skills" is just module eight of nine, though evaluating information critically is a thread that runs through all the modules. ML is also rather more prominent than IL in the "MIL competencies". I haven't pondered this in depth yet, but I wonder whether one issue is of having been too successful in presenting IL as something "straightforward" that has "steps", since the modules seem to engage with ML at a more complex level than they do with IL.

Some time, and an international team, were involved in production of this curriculum, and since getting teachers to understand about IL is (everyone seems to agree) vital, then this initiative is to be welcomed. Also, since it comes from UNESCO, it will get international attention. Finally, there is good material in it!

I think a worthwhile effort would be to aim to devise some further modules that introduce teachers to more complex IL issues (e.g. IL in different cultures and contexts) to match the challenge and detail of some of the ML modules.

The page with the link is
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/resources/publications-and-communication-materials/publications/full-list/media-and-information-literacy-curriculum-for-teachers/ and the actual pdf is at
Wilson, C. et al. (2011) Media and Information Literacy Curriculum for Teachers. Paris: UNESCO. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0019/001929/192971e.pdf
Photo by Sheila Webber: Sculpture on the Unversidad Politecnica de Puerto Rico campus

Friday, August 12, 2011

UNESCO Media & Information Literacy: report 2

This continues my report from the meeting, held on 11th August in San Juan, Puerto Rico, about developing Media and Information Literacy indicators (organised by IFLA and UNESCO).
There had been a meeting of both Media and Information Literacy (MIL) experts in Bangkok in November to discuss MIL indicators: the report from that is just published & I will do a separate post on that. Then there were two follow up meetings, for IL experts (the one I attended yesterday) and for ML experts. The second presentation on 11th August was a short report, via videolink, about this meeting of the Media Literacy experts, held in Istanbul in July. This meeting had been linked to the conference of The International Association for Media and Communication Research. The programme for the event is here: http://www.univ-paris3.fr/73959597/0/fiche___actualite/.

The Media Literacy participants at the Istanbul meeting had welcomed the initiative, but with some caution and qualification. They called for a period of constructive critique and felt that developing the MIL indicators should be a long term strategy, rather than rushing things through. They thought there should be in-country adaptions of the indicators (recognising cultural differences), though without compromising principles such as free speech. It was noted that there was a tension between intellectual property rights and notions of freedom of information. Other points to emerge from this media literacy experts meeting included:
- Ethics tied to citizenship (that was the note I made yesterday during the presentation: I think it was stressing the ethical aspects of media literacy in relation to citizenship);
- Criticality was an essential part of MIL;
- Media Literacy had a political dimension.
In the short question period at the end I picked up on this last point. It was confirmed that this was one of the messages from the media literacy experts meeting, and indeed it is my perception that this is more explicitly a theme with ML experts than with IL experts. Personally I think that IL also has a political dimension, and it is a good idea to surface this, rather than pretending that IL is "neutral".
Two other colleagues raised questions:
- Whether countries would really pay attention to any MIL indicators. The answer was that by putting on UNESCO's agenda, it would get attention, even if not from all countries.
- Whether UNESCO could articulate why ML and IL are joined and also why other literacies are not being addressed. The response from the UNESCO side was that these two literacies are most linked with the remit of communication and information. Therefore it seemed (to me) that there was a certain pragmatism, and inclusion of other literacies in the future was not ruled out.
Photos by Sheila Webber: Sculpture on the Unversidad Politecnica de Puerto Rico campus, and a poster with the University's mission, that I saw posted up in several places.

UNESCO Media & Information Literacy: report 1

On Thursday (11th August) I participated in the meeting organised by the IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) Information Literacy Section and UNESCO IFAP (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Information For All Program) on Media and Information Literacy Indicators and Government Action Recommendations. It was held at the Universidad Politécnica de Puerto Rico, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I will do several separate blog posts about it.

The day started with a presentation via video link from Mr Janis Karklins, Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information at UNESCO. The picture above shows the video feed. He identified reasons why UNESCO is working on literacy issues. Namely, in order to succeed in fast changing societies, and tackle the challenges of the knowledge economy, people needed various literacies. These literacies should support diverse people to succeed. Information Literacy was still seen as part of people’s basic human right which helped people achieve their personal and professional goals.

UNESCO felt that they needed to look at a combination of literacies, and felt that it would be “interesting from a conceptual point of view” to link the two essential literacies: media literacy and information literacy. They had already done work in both these areas. Mr Karklins presented a diagram which showed overlapping circles: information literacy, media literacy, digital literacy, computer literacy and “other types of literacies” (the examples given for "other" were financial and health literacy).
The strategy for Media and Information Literacy (MIL) includes the Teachers’ curriculum for media and information literacy (published in July: I was sure I had blogged this, but I don't seem to have done so. I wil put this in a separate post), establishment of an international clearinghouse for MIL, strategy statements for MIL and developing indicators for MIL.
The point of the indicators would be to use them internationally. It was hoped that the MIL indicators would be a tool for countries’ self-assessment and a benchmark or standard for MIL. The main challenges include:
- Finding a balance between IL and ML;
- Getting agreement on definitions;
- Identifying the indicators themselves!
The process started in 2007 with the publication by Lau and Catts: Towards Information Literacy Indicators, then in November 2010 there was the first meeting of MIL experts, then some further conceptual work, and now two separate meetings (one with media literacy experts, held in July, and one with IL experts i.e. the one I just attended).

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Information literacy for multicultural populations

Next week is the IFLA conference being held in Puerto Rico. I'm not attending the main conference, but I just arrived in Puerto Rico to attend a UNESCO meeting and one of the section meetings of the IFLA Information Literacy Section.
I'll be missing some interesting sessions next week, but one good thing is that there are many papers up on the IFLA website. In this post I'll highlight the session which has been organised by the Information Literacy Section with Library Services to Multicultural Populations and the Special Interest Group on Indigenous Matters. The session theme (taking place on 15 August) is The importance of information literacy for multicultural populations: needs, strategies, programs, and the role of libraries
- Indigenous cultural models in information literacy delivery including programmes for Maori and Pasifika students at New Zealand universities by LORIENE ROY and VIRGINIA LUEHRSEN (School of Information, the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA) and SPENCER LILLEY (Massey University Library, Palmerston North, New Zealand)
- Information literacy is a two-way street by DENICE ADKINS and BROOKE SHANNON (University of Missouri, Columbia, USA)
- Strengthening social inclusion in multicultural societies through information literacy by ESIN SULTAN OGUZ and SERAP KURBANOGLU (Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey)
- Information literacy in a multicultural society: the role of libraries in present Bulgaria by EVGENIYA RUSINOVA and GEORGETA NAZARSKA (State University of Library Studies and IT, Sofia, Bulgaria)
- Creating learning commons: a study of University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus experience of information literacy competencies integration into the university curriculum by SNEJANKA PENKOVA and LOURDES CÁDIZ (University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico)
- "Usted y su biblioteca" (You and your library): an information literacy program for adult ESL students by MILLY C. LUGO (Santa Ana Public Library, Santa Ana, CA, USA)
- Indigenous Rarámuris as university students: challenges for the information literacy by JAVIER TARANGO and PATRICIA MURGUÍA (Autonomous University of Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico) and JESUS LAU (Universidad Veracruzana, Veracruz, Mexico) (also in Spanish)
- Digital training supports the social integration of immigrants in Norway by TORD HØIVIK (Library and Information Science, Oslo University College, Oslo, Norway)
Photo by Sheila Webber: Roses, Hailsham, August 2011

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Copyright Libguide

Denise Nicholson at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, has created an extensive LibGuide on Copyright and Related Issues. It has a few links specific to her university, and obviously has some focus on locally relevant resources, but includes many resources about the international scene and other countries.
http://libguides.wits.ac.za/content.php?pid=205315&sid=1713351

Sunday, August 07, 2011

Information Literacy Interactive Toolkit

"The RSC [Regional Support Centre] South West has developed a new interactive Information Literacy tool, created by Matt Ewens and David Bevington. Our aim is to pool together information literacy resources from around the world in one place." This is designed as a concept map and under development at the moment.
http://rsc-south-west.ac.uk/index.php?p=10

Photo by Sheila Webber: Blackberry flowers, Hailsham, August 2011

Thursday, August 04, 2011

A Critical Thinking Approach for Information Education

A new article from Najia Abdallaoui Maan, Professeur de l' Enseignement Supérieur, Ecole des Sciences de l'Information (ESI), Rabat, Morocco. After an initial reflection on information literacy, she talks more about the importance of critical thinking, and also discusses the need to integrate the approach into institutional strategy (something that obviously I and Bill Johnston have been advocating) and discusses the situation in Morocco.
Maan, N. A. (2011) "A Critical Thinking Approach for Information Education" IFLA SET Bulletin, 12(2), 6-11.
This is in the whole online issue: http://www.ifla.org/files/set/Bulletin/_SET_Bulletin2011-2.pdf
Photo by Sheila Webber: Cow parsley, Aug 2011

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

International Student Lifecycle Resources bank

The (UK) Higher Education Academy has put together an International Student Lifecycle Resources bank which has organised links and material around the phases:
1. Pre-arrival and pre-sessional support [of students]
2. Induction [of students]
3. Teaching & Learning in the 'classroom' [this is the biggest section]
4. Life outside the 'classroom'
5. Employability & next steps
It is meant for teaching faculty and anyone else dealing with students from outside their home country (obviously, being a British resource, "international" students are those from outside the UK, and in particular, I would say, those from outside the European Union). Some of the pages are rather long and unwieldy (e.g. the "induction" page), but there is a lot of useful material.
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/international-student-lifecycle
Photo by Sheila Webber: Marigolds (photoshopped), August 2011

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

First Year Experience in Higher Education

A new issue of the open-access International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education has been published. This will be of interest to those readers concerned with transition to university and the experience of first year/ "freshman" students. Most of the articles don't directly touch on information literacy, but this one does describe a collaboration at Monash University (Australia) including librarians on a "getting started" [at essay writing] workshop:

Beckman, J. and Rayner, G. (2011) "Embedding academic-professional collaborations that build student confidence for essay writing: Student perceptions and quality." International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education, 2 (2), 83-90.
https://www.fyhe.com.au/journal/index.php/intjfyhe/issue/view/4/showToc
Photo by Sheila Webber: Summer, August 2011

Monday, August 01, 2011

Health Information Literacy

Angela Arner linked to a pdf which contains a health literacy curriculum for young people that was developed and evaluated in 2009: Who Can You Trust? Health Information and the Internet. "The curriculum was developed and piloted as part of the River Valley Healthy Communities Coalition (RVHCC) Health Information Literacy Outreach project" (in the USA). It includes learning goals, materials to use with learners, and (usefully) a report on the evaluation
http://www.rvhcc.org/pdf/HIL_Sourcebook.pdf
Photo by Sheila Webber: Marigolds, Hailsham, August 2011