Moscow Declaration on Media and Information Literacy

Just released is a declaration from the meeting sponsored by UNESCO and other bodies, in Moscow, held in June: the Moscow Declaration on Media and Information Literacy. I was invited to this meeting, but was unfortunately unable to attend, though I did prepare a video which was presented at the meeting.
The Moscow Declaration is an important document: it starts by asserting some fundamental, first of which is:
"Media and Information Literacy (MIL) is a prerequisite for the sustainable development of open, plural, inclusive and participatory knowledge societies, and the civic institutions, organizations, communities and individuals which comprise these societies."
It then goes on to make some robust proposals for heads of state etc. about what should be done.
The declaration is here: http://www.ifla.org/en/publications/moscow-declaration-on-media-and-information-literacy

Alfabetización digital y competencias informacionales: substantial Spanish publication on Info and digital literacies

The Fundación Telefónica, Spain, has published (free online) a substantial item:
Area Moreira, M., Gutiérrez Martín, A. and Vidal Fernández, F. (2012) Alfabetización digital y competencias informacionales. [Digital and Information Literacy] Madrid: Fundación Telefónica. ISBN: 978-84-08-00823-1
My Spanish is poor, but I can report that there are three chapters: one on the importance of (in particular) digital literacies in society today, one on education of the faculty in multiple literacies (including how teachers need to use technology in teaching) and one on informed homes and families, looking at digital and information literacies as regards members of the family, school etc. There is an introduction which identifies that there are new definitions of literacy and illiteracy, which are no longer just to do with reading and writing, and introduces the main topics of the book. I think there is rather more emphasis on digital literacy than information literacy, but still this seems a very useful work. One of the authors has blogged about the book here (in Spanish)http://ordenadoresenelaula.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/libro-alfabetizacion-digital-y.htmlThis is the book in pdf format https://ddv.ull.es/users/manarea/public/libro_%20Alfabetizacion_digital.pdf
Photo by Sheila Webber: graduation on Wednesday, Sheffield University

An Essential Partner: The Librarian’s Role in Student Learning Assessment

Published in April, a 24-page booklet from the USA: Gilchrist, D. and Oakleaf, M. (2012) An Essential Partner: The Librarian’s Role in Student Learning Assessment. Champaign: National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment. http://www.msche.org/publications/LibraryLO_000%5B1%5D.pdf

Presentation skills for your IL training: 23 August Manchester

The CSG Information Literacy Group is holding a workshop on 23 August 2012: Presentation skills for your IL training. "In the morning, Emily Shields will facilitate a workshop on intermediate PowerPoint, this will give you tips and tricks on how to enhance existing PowerPoint knowledge. In the afternoon Ned Potter will give you an introduction to using Prezi including how to create interactive library maps. You can choose to book either the morning session or the afternoon session or you can come to the whole day." Free to IL group members, modest charges to non-members. More information at http://www.informationliteracy.org.uk/develop-professional-practice/training-events/events-2012/ Booking form at: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDBSRS1JSXAwWGpONzY5blBrMENrcHc6MQ
Photo by Sheila Webber: Salad Bowl, July 2012

Research Information and Digital Literacies Coalition (RIDLs)

RIDLs was established last month, coordinated by the Research Information Network, with SCONUL, RLUK, CILIP and the Special Libaries Association, BAILER, the British Library, the Digital Curation Centre, the Higher Education Academy, JISC, Jorum, the UK Council for Graduate Education and Vitae. I won't spell out all the acronyms! You can check on the website for that. They aim to "promote the value of information and research data literacy for academic researchers; and to enable activities which help to advance this knowledge and skills." Professor Pam Denicolo (Universities of Surrey and Reading) is the chairperson, and there is one year's funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England. The funding will be used to support a programme of six broad activities:
- "establishing RIDLs and endowing it with mechanisms which enable it to function as a collaborative venture"
- "setting out, testing and disseminating criteria that can be used to describe and review training courses" etc.
- "identifying and promoting good practice in information literacy training"
- "supporting the use of the Researcher Development Framework and the Seven Pillars of Information Literacy"
- "supporting small-scale project work to advance the evidence base in this area"
- "developing links with relevant information literacy projects and initiatives in other countries"
More detail on the website: http://www.researchinfonet.org/infolit/ridls/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Water feature, Sheffield Station, July 2012

New articles in Nordic Journal of Information Literacy in Higher Education

The Nordic Journal of Information Literacy in Higher Education 4 (1), 2012 includes:
Changing anatomies of Information Literacy at the postgraduate level: refinements of models and shifts in assessment by Sonja Spiranec, Mihaela Banek Zorica
Information Literacy from the Policy and Strategy Perspective by Sirje Virkus
The reflective information literacy educator by Andrew Whitworth
Go to: https://noril.uib.no/index.php/noril
Photo by Sheila Webber: Lilac, May 2012

Information literacy and employability

There is now a section on the Sheffield University Library website about information literacy and employability, including short "testimonies from recent University of Sheffield graduates, reflecting on how information literacy skills learned at University are now helping them in their daily working lives." http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/infolit
Photo by Sheila Webber: yet another poppy, Sheffield, July 2012

Gates Foundation 2013 Access to Learning Award (non-USA; $1m!)

This isn't specifically about information literacy, but I thought it was good to publicise it. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Access to Learning Award is for those outside the USA, to reward existing achievements of public libraries and similar institutions who have been providing free access to the internet and/or "Outreach to underserved communities" and/or "Public training to assist users in accessing online information that can help improve their lives". The recipient of the Access to Learning Award will receive $1 million. You have to apply by July 31 2012. http://www.gatesfoundation.org/ATLA

The Digital University: A Proposed Framework for Strategic Development

Information Literacy figures prominently in the presentation that was given by Bill Johnston and Sheila MacNeill at the Employer Engagement in a Digital Age Conference in Greenwich on 4th July 2012, The Digital University - A Proposed Framework for Strategic Development. They gave a workshop around what it means to be an (information literate) digital university. I have embedded the presentation below, and you may (if you are interested in digital literacy, employability etc.) find other presentations from the conference of interest at
https://showtime.gre.ac.uk/index.php/ecentre/apt2012/schedConf/presentations
Sheila MacNeill's blog is at http://blogs.cetis.ac.uk/sheilamacneill/ and she and Bill have posted on it about their ideas.

The Digital University - A Proposed Framework for Strategic Development

CILIP reaffirms commitment to Information Literacy

The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (the UK's professional association for library and information) "is proud to reaffirm" the importance of Information Literacy, following on from its IL event last week. "At a recent CILIP Council meeting, it was decided unanimously that CILIP would endorse UNESCO, International Federation of Library Associations and National Forum on Information Literacy’s Alexandria Proclamation which states that Information Literacy and lifelong learning “empowers people in all walks of life to seek, evaluate, use and create information effectively to achieve their personal, social, occupational and educational goals. It is a basic human right in a digital world and promotes social inclusion of all nations.”" More at: http://www.cilip.org.uk/news-media/pages/news120710.aspx

Conference in Warsaw: Edukacja informacyjna i medialna #eim2012

The Międzynarodowa Konferencja Edukacja informacyjna i medialna (EIM) (International Conference on Information and Media Literacy) will take place 4-5 October 2012 at the University Library in Warsaw, Poland. The event has a practical focus and aims to involve librarians from all sectors. The language of the conference is Polish, with a couple of English-language contributions. More information (in Polish) at http://www.sbp.pl/eim2012
Photo by Sheila Webber: Poppy after the rain, Sheffield, July 2012

Presentations from CILIP Information Literacy day #infolit2012

There was a one-day event on Information Literacy at the UK's Chartered Institute for Library and Information Professionals yesterday. Speakers were:
- Chair’s Welcome and introduction to Information Literacy: Debbi Boden-Angell, Director of Information Learning Services & University Librarian, York St John University
- Welsh Information Literacy Framework: Andrew Eynon, Library and Learning Technology Manager, Grŵp Llandrillo Menai
- Developing digital literacies: Paul Bailey, Programme Manager, e-Learning, JISC
- LolliPop & Sir LearnaLot: Moira Bent, Faculty Liaison Librarian & National Teaching Fellow, Newcastle University
- A new curriculum for Information Literacy: Jane Secker, Copyright and Digital Literacy Advisor, at Centre for Learning Technology, LSE & Emma Coonan, Research Skills and Development Librarian, Cambridge University Library
- SMILE - Supporting the graduate skills and the employability agenda: Debbi Boden-Angell, Director of Information Learning Services & University Librarian, York St John University
- Information Literacy: the cure for health information obesity: Caroline De Brún, Clinical Support Librarian, University College London – Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
- Workplace Information Literacy: Mark Hepworth, Reader in People’s Information Behaviour, Department of Information Science, Loughborough University
- The Public Library Information Offer: Sally McMahon, Head of Libraries and Information Services, Brighton & Hove City Council
The presentations, powerpoints in pdf form, are all here: http://www.cilip.org.uk/infolit2012/pages/presentations.aspx and the twitterstream is here: https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23infolit2012
Photo by Sheila Webber: Foxgloves (lightly photoshopped), July 2012, Sheffield.

Missouri is 3rd US Information Literacy month State!

Missouri has joined Massachusetts and New York as states in the USA which are supporting Information Literacy month in October. "The University of Missouri-Columbia Libraries Instruction Committee submitted the request: Goodie Bhullar (chair), Rachel Brekhus, Rebecca Graves, Brenda Graves-Blevins, and Paula Roper." More info on the initiative at http://infolit.org/2012-information-literacy-campaign/

Project mapping Twitter rumours, in graphics

A project which shows, graphically, how rumours spread via Twitter about events in the 2011 UK riots won a Data Journalism award: First Prize for ‘Data Visualisation and Storytelling". These visualisations could be useful if you are working with learners on topics to do with information, misinformation and social media. You can move the timeline along and see key tweets, and see how the tweets are connected (see the screenshot, which is taken from the site which I linked to below).

The project was led by Dr Farida Vis, who will be joining us here at Sheffield University in September. She has a research fellowship and is attached to my department, the Information School, so it will be exciting to work with her. The Twitter project was "carried out in collaboration with Dr Rob Procter from the University of Manchester, the project lead and Dr Alex Voss from St. Andrews University. The team analysed 2.6 million tweets to show how rumours ebbed and flowed across Twitter as claims were bolstered or debunked. Topics covered ranged from the absurd – animals on the loose after damage to London Zoo – to the true, such as the arson attack on Miss Selfridge in Manchester."

The website is here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/interactive/2011/dec/07/london-riots-twitter

NAKLIV (National Cluster of Information Literacy) Czech project

The NAKLIV (National Cluster of Information Literacy) project aims to "establish informal partnership of institutions which are dealing with information literacy and which decided to gain profits from mutual cooperation. As the output of the project the modern environment for communication and education of non-pedagogical employees (librarians), academic employees and graduants. The effective cooperation will be supported, the sharing of materials is expected and so is the exchange of knowledge between cooperating institutions.  This includes running seminars and workshops, and creating and sharing material." The partner universities are: Masarykova univerzita (leader); Mendelova univerzita; Moravská zemská knihovna; Obchodní akademie, SOŠK A VOŠKISS; Slezská univerzita v Opavě; Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci; Univerzita Karlova v Praze; Vysoké učení technické v Brně.
The main website is: http://www.nakliv.cz/
If you can speak Czech (there is only a basic explanation of the project in English), there is useful material already e.g. a guide to various web-based tools and applications, in Czech, dated 2011 and uploaded in February 2012.
Photo by Sheila Webber: poppy after rain, July 2012, Sheffield

European Conference on Information Literacy 2013: call for papers

There is a first call for papers for the European Conference on Information Literacy which will take place in Istanbul, Turkey, 23-25 October 2013. There will be further calls, and proposals are due February 2013. Any and all themes around information literacy are welcome. http://www.ilconf.org/paper-submission/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Red valerian and marguerite, July 2012

Developing Digital Literacies Briefing Paper

Last month JISC published a short Developing Digital Literacies Briefing Paper which provides soundbites from 12 projects it is funding in UK Higher and Further education. JISC defines digital literacy as "those capabilities which fit an individual for living, learning and working in a digital society" and there is a focus on digital literacy for employability and academic success (rather than a more socially constructed view of digital literacy). There are some emerging messages which seem common sense e.g. that students need to be supported by staff in developing their digital literacy. The report is at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/briefingpapers/2012/developing-digital-literacies.aspx and the Developing Digital Literacies programme page is at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning/developingdigitalliteracies
Photo by Sheila Webber, June 2012

New York State and Massachusetts support IL month!

The US National Forum on Information Literacy is encouraging all United States states and territories to submit requests to their governors’ offices to proclaim October as Information Literacy Month. Massachusetts was the first to make this declaration and now New York State is the second. Sharon Weiner, Vice-President, National Forum on Information Literacy, said that "Trudi Jacobson (U. Albany) led the NYS initiative, with the critical assistance of the President-Elect of the New York Library Association (NYLA), Carol Anne Germain. They worked with Mark McBride (Buffalo State College); Jenna Hecker (U. Albany); Michael Daly (Fulton-Montgomery Community College); Mark Lasek (Bryant and Stratton); Kim Davies Hoffman (SUNY Geneseo); Michael Borges (NYLA Government Relations Consultant); and MaryAnne Waltz (NYLA)." This is the New York State Legislation and the information about the IL month campaign is here: http://infolit.org/2012-information-literacy-campaign/
Photo by Sheila Webber: 02on the Thames, from the new London cable car, June 2012

Powerpoint on "Contract Cheating"

Interesting ppt from a recent conference, The New Challenges Of Contract Cheating by Thomas Lancaster and Robert Clarke (Birmingham City University). Contract cheating is putting up details about the assignment you want written for you, and people bid to do the work. The ppt explains the process and ways in which it might be detected. http://www.bcu.ac.uk/_media/docs/ContractCheatingSIG_220612_LancasterClarkeKeynote.pdf
Photo by Sheila Webber: Millennium sculpture and pontoon outside 02 dome on the Thames, from cable car, June 2012

cfp COLIS 2013

CoLIS 8, the Conference on Conceptions of Library and Information Science will take place at the Royal School of Library and Information Science in Copenhagen, Denmark, August 19-22, 2013. There is a call for papers (research papers, short papers, panels, workshops, alternative events and posters) in any area of Information Science. Deadline for submissions is March 1 2013, and research paper submissions have to be the full paper. Full info at http://www.iva.dk/english/colis8/ (Unfortunately this clashes with the 2013 IFLA conference in Singapore.)
There is an associated Doctoral Forum on 18th August at Lund University, Seweden, with submissions due by April 1 2013:: details at http://www.iva.dk/english/colis8/doctoral-forum/
Photo by Sheila Webber: New cable car over the Thames, London, June 2012

Report on launch of Scottish information literacy online community of practice

There is a report from John Crawford on the workshop held to launch and promote the Scottish information literacy online community of practice (CofP), Information Skills for a 21st Century Scotland, held at the conference of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland (CILIPS) on Monday 11th June 2012 in Dundee at  http://scotinfolit.squarespace.com/cop-discussion/post/1865660
Video by Sheila Webber: A summer day in Sheffield, today.

Information Literacy education Scoop.it!

Anthony Beal's Scoop.it page on Information Literacy education is a useful source to monitor. It's at http://www.scoop.it/t/information-literacy-education
With Scoop.It you create a newspaper-like layout for your topic, and accept ScoopIt's suggestions or add items as you come across them, using a bookmarklet. Visitors can also suggest content (though I imagine that needs a lot of filtering if your Scoop.it becomes at all popular)
Photo by Sheila Webber: This is yesterday's photo, turned into a collage by using a free app at http://bighugelabs.com/hockney.php - being pedantic, this isn't really Hockney's technique, he tends to use a lot of photos to build up a picture, but anyway it is fun

#crai2012 conference 28-29 June

If you are a Spanish speaker, you can follow the 10th Jornadas CRAI (major annual academic library conference in Spain) using the Twitter tag #crai2012 on 28-29 June. The programme looks at results of implementing information and digital literacy (IL2)(which I hope is ok as a translation of las competencias informacionales e informáticas (CI2) in Spanish universities. The programme etc. is at http://biblioteca.unirioja.es/crai2012/

Grassian Information Literacy keynote and survey

Lots of material from Esther Grassian's keynote to the LOEX of the West conference this month (entitled Occupy Their Minds! The Politics of Information Literacy) is available. There is a link to her talk on Youtube, the powerpoint, the handout, links to various related documents and the full results of a survey she did of academic librarians, asking about assessment of information literacy, whether there were credit courses etc. https://sites.google.com/site/esthergrassian/loex-of-the-west-2012-materials
Photo by Sheila Webber: poppy, Sheffield Station, June 2012

UKLibChat on Information Literacy and Needs 6.30 pm today

Today's #UKLibChat at 6.30-8.30pm UK time (that's starting 1.30 pm US Eastern time, see http://tinyurl.com/clelqbl for times elsewhere in the world) is on Information Literacy and Needs. The chat is hosted on Twitter by @UKLibChat. Everyone is welcome to follow #UKLibChat to see the discussion and to participate. They have put up some discussion questions at http://bit.ly/PsEVYV and you can add your own questions too.
Photo by Sheila Webber: "Sheila" rose, June 2012.

Continuing Professional Development: #CPD23

I'm following the CPD23 (Continuing Professional Development) course this time around. I'm mostly doing it on my own reflective blog which is here: http://sheilawebbercpd23.blogspot.com/. However today I also did a post on the main blog, about CPD later in your career, here: http://cpd23.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/cpd-in-your-later-career.html CPD definitely isn't just for new professionals, so I will be interested to know whether many other course members are in the not-new category. Comments are welcome on the CPD23 blog, or here...
Photo by Sheila Webber: I'm keeping well out of the way, bah humbug

German study in web-skill differences when looking for health info

Feufel, M. and Stahl, S. (2012) "What do web-use skill differences imply for online health information searches?" Journal of Medical Internet Research, 14 (3). http://www.jmir.org/2012/3/e87/ This was a German study (undertaken by 2 researchers at the Harding Center for Risk Literacy, Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin) involving 10 people under 30 who were more skilled in web search, and 12 people aged 50 and over who were less skilled. Participants did a digital literacy test as well, and education was another demographic factor. The researchers observed participants doing 3 web searches "to identify health information seekers’ cognitive strategies and attitudes". There were differences between less skilled and skilled users e.g. before going online the less skilled were worried about overload and their ability, whilst more skilled expressed awareness of quality issues, but interestingly "although people voice concerns about data quality issues, once they access a website, even skilled Web users are preoccupied with processing website contents" (i.e. once they actually found something that seemed relevant, the quality issue faded to the background).
Image is a Tagxedo of the article.

New report on "evolving value for academic libraries"

Creaser, C and Spezi, V. (2012) Working together: evolving value for academic libraries. Sage. This newly-published report is the outcome of a project for Sage (the publishers) undertaken by LISU at Loughborough University, UK. The report is fairly short (16 pages). The findings are based on investigating some "best practice" at 8 universities: 2 in Nordic countries, 2 in the UK and 4 in North America, plus a questionnaire which was publicised via discussion lists etc. and got 630 responses. There are short sections on "embedding information literacy", "integrated teaching", "other support services", and "integrated research services". There is also a chapter on marketing issues. Recommendations are made for individual librarians (including developing teaching skills), library managers, and the wider institution. I'm not sure there is anything startlingly new here, but the report and the examples it gives could be useful when planning or putting together a case about services. The report is free (you have to give your contact details before downloading the report), downloaded from the "Report" tab on the project blog at http://libraryvalue.wordpress.com/
Photo by Sheila Webber: poppies, by the Sheffield tram stop, June 2012

Interesting article about a teaching/technology course for librarians

At the Second Life journal club on Wednesday, Prof Diane Nahl (Hawaii University) led discussion on: Pegrum, M. and Kiel, R. (2011) "'Changing the Way We Talk': Developing Librarians’ Competence in Emerging Technologies through a Structured Program." College and Research Libraries, 72 (6), 583-598. This is open accesss at http://crl.acrl.org/content/72/6/583.full.pdf+html. I forgot to advertise this in advance through the blog, but this is an article worth reading, as it concentrates on talking about the evaluation and outcomes of a course that has been run several times at the University of Western Australia, mainly for librarians. That means you get an insight on how people applied their learning to real projects in the library, for example, with some interesting examples. At the journal club we agreed that the barriers to applying the pedagogical and technical skills etc. were pretty universal (they were identified as time limitations, constraints imposed by the IT department (so you couldn't be as innovative as you want), lack of reward and institutional support, and working with faculty/colleagues who had more limited ideas about teaching and learning).

Information literacy in employability training: The experience of Inverclyde Libraries

Crawford, J. and Irving, C. (2012) "Information literacy in employability training: The experience of Inverclyde Libraries." Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 44, 79-89. This is a priced publication. The abstract reads "The study is an evaluation of an employability training programme provided by Inverclyde Libraries in West Central Scotland and the role of information literacy within the training programme. Inverclyde is an area with high unemployment and pockets of multiple deprivation. Modern, applicable skills are also lacking. The findings are based on interviews with five learners and also one with an adult literacies tutor. The interviews were conducted in August 2009 and a Learning Life Histories methodology was used. Interviewees had mainly previously worked in the service industries and none had post-school qualifications, despite which all the interviewees were highly motivated. Information literacy was found to between 30% and 60% of course content depending on learner needs. Family influence was found to be the main motivation to enrol on the course and the learners sought personal social development as well as employability skills. There was found to be a lack of appropriate, relevant training materials and a lack of collaboration between the LIS sector and Community Learning and Development in developing them. The article concludes with a number of recommendations including the need to improve recruitment and course scheduling and planning."
When announcing the publication of the article, John Crawford added that last week "at the CILIPS conference in Dundee, Sean McNamara, who is in charge of Digital participation initiatives with Inverclyde Council gave an excellent presentation on his work there and it was clear that he has been able to incorporate the recommendations into service improvement, a good example of how evaluation in information literacy can contribute to service development."
Photo by Sheila Webber: convolvulus and grass blade, June 2012

Horizon Report 2012 K12 (schools) edition

The New Media Consortium, the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), and the International Society for Technology in Education just released the NMC Horizon Report 2012 K-12 Edition (i.e. the edition focused on school-level education, rather than higher education). "This fourth edition in the annual K-12 series of the NMC Horizon Project examines emerging technologies for their potential impact on and use in teaching, learning, and creative expression within the environment of pre-college education." As usual it identifies what it sees as key trends and applications. It sees cloud computing, collaborative environments, mobiles and apps, and tablet computing as the immediate adoption technologies. It forecasts that digital identity, game-based learning, personal learning environments and learning analytics will have a time-to-adoption horizon of 2 to 3 years. With a time-to-adoption horizon of 4 to 5 years are: Augmented Reality; Natural User Interfaces; Semantic Applications; Tools for Assessing 21st Century Learning Skills.
You need to register (free) to download the report from the NMC site.
http://www.nmc.org/news/its-here-releases-horizon-report-2012-k-12-edition
Photo by Sheila Webber: wild rose, Hailsham, June 2012

Leeds (UK) TeachMeet 31st July

The Yorkshire and Humber branch of the Academic and Research Library Group have organised a TeachMeet at the Headingley campus of Leeds Metropolitan University, UK, 31 July 2012. It is free. More info and booking at https://www.eventbrite.com/event/3495169145?nomo=1
Photo by Sheila Webber: "Sheila" rose, June 2012.

Workshop: Beating Google into submission, 28 June

On 28 June Karen Blakeman, at Reading University, UK, runs a workshop Beating Google into submission. Topics include: how Google works - what Google tells us and what we have to guess; latest developments at Google; how Google customises your results and can you stop it (etc.) Includes hands-on sessions. Cost: £150 +VAT (Total £180). A limited number of places for unwaged and students. Info at http://www.rba.co.uk/training/Google.htm
Photo by Sheila Webber: professorial inaugural lecture of Aki Tsuchiya, 13 June 2012, Sheffield.

Developing your teaching skills: short article

The results of a brief questionnaire on activities etc. in teaching by librarians (mostly from the UK) are reported in:
Bevan, N. (2012) "Developing your teaching skills." Impact: journal of the Career Development Group. Summer. http://careerdevelopmentgroup.org.uk/2012/06/developing-your-teaching-skills/
Photo by Sheila Webber: wild strawberries in my garden, June 2012

cfp: Information Literacy - training models and best practices; Bulgaria

There is a call for papers for a Scientific Seminar Information Literacy - training models and best practices, to be held in Varna, Bulgaria, October 18-19, 2012. It is organised by the State University of Library Studies and Information Technologies (SULSIT) in collaboration with Association of University Libraries in Bulgaria (AUL), University of Economics – Varna and Konstantin Preslavsky University of Shumen. The Keynote Speaker is Dr Serap Kurbanoğlu on Planning for Information Literacy Instruction.
The theme is the role of Information Literacy in the knowledge based society of the 21st Century.
- Information literacy - research topics, issues and trends. Models of IL training programs and best practices in universities and libraries. Application of creative and innovative methods of teaching Information Literacy.
- The role of information literacy in the modern information and educational environment. PR and marketing programs in promotion of the importance of information literacy and IL programs.
Abstracts must be submitted by 1 July 2012 to aulcompetition@abv.bg or dr.tanya.todorova@gmail.com and full papers by 31 July 2012. Papers should be in English or Bulgarian, not more than 15 A4 pages, in Times New Roman, 12 pt and accompanied by an English abstract and a short (200 words) biography of the author(s). Registration opens on 5 July 2012.
The cost is 50 Euros for individuals and 160 Euros for firms, organizations etc., payment by October 1st by bank transfer to: Association of the university libraries, UniCredit Bulbank, Branch Sofia Aksakov; Address: 7, Sveta Nedelya sq.; 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria: IBAN: BG52 UNCR 7630 1475 9120 19 (EUR); BIC: UNCRBGSF
Registration, Accommodation and General enquiries: Assist. Prof. Rumelina Vasileva Department of Library Management (State University of Library Studies and Information Technologies, Sofia, Bulgaria) Email: rumivas@gmail.com
Submissions/Publication of Papers and for Posters, Sponsorship and PR: Assoc. Prof. Tania Todorova, Department of Library Management, Project Coordinator, (State University of Library Studies and Information Technologies, Sofia, Bulgaria) Email: dr.tanya.todorova@gmail.com
There is some information including a registration form at http://aub-bg.org/ but at the moment I can only see it in Bulgarian.
Photo by Sheila Webber: A poster for an online site selling train tickets,with images of complex and simple searches, Doncaster station, June 2012

Information Literacy and Summon: 18 July

Information Literacy and Summon is a free event on 18 July 2012 at Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK. "Whether you're about to implement Summon, have just done so, or are an old hand at this sort of thing, you'll have thought about how using web-scale discovery impacts on your information literacy teaching. Have you hardly changed your approach or have you had a radical rethink? Or have you, like we have at Sheffield Hallam, thought about how the Buddhist concept of Shoshin applies to discovery systems?! (come along - all will be revealed ;)" More info at http://bit.ly/LIz8iB
Photo by Sheila Webber: Foxglove, Sheffield Botanic Gardens, June 2012

IL for psychology students and pre-service teachers

Some recent articles from Behavioral and Social Sciences Librarian (a priced publication at http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wbss20). We don't subscribe to it at Sheffield, so I can only go by the abstracts.
- Gordon, L. and Bartolia, E (2012) "Using Discipline-Based Professional Association Standards for Information Literacy Integration: A Review and Case Study". Behavioral and Social Sciences Librarian, 31 (1), 23-38. "This article describes the outcome of a collaboration between a faculty member and a librarian to integrate information literacy into a graduate counseling psychology program. This collaboration used discipline-based standards from a professional association (the Association of Counselor Education and Supervision, ACES) to provide instructional goals, rather than utilizing the more traditional Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) standards. The authors discuss how using the discipline standards allows for a richer, more authentic collaboration, especially in a graduate program geared toward students who are already working in their field. Ultimately, using discipline standards could be a more effective way to promote information literacy in graduate and professional programs."

- Lee, E., Reed, B. and Laverty, C. (2012) "Preservice Teachers’ Knowledge of Information Literacy and Their Perceptions of the School Library Program." Behavioral and Social Sciences Librarian, 31 (1), 3-22. "Graduating preservice teachers were surveyed regarding their knowledge of information literacy concepts, the pedagogy of information literacy, and the role of the teacher librarian and school library programs. The preservice teachers felt poorly prepared to teach information literacy to pupils, had a limited array of information skills, and held a narrow view of the role of the school library. In response to these findings, the education librarians revised their instruction to the preservice teachers by moving the focus from information literacy skills for teachers to strategies for teaching information literacy skills to K–12 students."

Currently they also have a call for papers on "Critical information literacy" reported at http://www.personal.psu.edu/dxf19/blogs/dolores_list_of_cfps/2012/06/critical-information-literacy-in-the-social-sciences.html
Photo by Sheila Webber: Busy bee, Sheffield Botanic Gardens, June 2012.

Journal of Information Literacy new issue

There's a new issue of the open access Journal of Information Literacy, volume 6, number 1 (2012) at http://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/ojs/index.php/JIL/index. It includes the following, plus a conference report and book reviews:
- The experiences of Chinese PhD students in Australia: Encountering information literacy challenges: Jinghe Han
- Business information literacy teaching at different academic levels: An exploration of skills and implications for instructional design: Mariela Gunn, Cynthia E. Miree
- Active and reflective learning initiatives to improve web searching skills of business students: Alison E Lahlafi, Diane Rushton, Erica Stretton
- Learning Literacies through collaborative enquiry; collaborative enquiry through learning literacies: Jo Ashley, Freya Jarman, Tunde Varga-Atkins, Nedim Hassan
- Looking to the future: Developing an academic skills strategy to ensure information literacy survives in a changing higher education world: Helen Howard
- Creating an online tutorial to develop academic and research skills: Sara L Thornes
- The Welsh Information Literacy Project: Phase 2: Cathie Jackson
Photo by Sheila Webber: Alium heads, Sheffield Botanic Gardens, June 2012

Information literacy in e-environments: Proposal of a holistic approach

A new article I co-authored with a former PhD student (afraid it is a priced publication). Nazari, M. and Webber, S. (2012) “Loss of faith in the origins of information literacy in e-environments: Proposal of a holistic approach.” Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 44 (2), 97-107. "The original concept of information literacy (IL) identifies it as an enabler for lifelong learning and learning-to-learn, adaptable and transferable in any learning environment and context. However, practices of IL in electronic information and learning environments (e-environments) tend to question the origins, and workability, of IL on the grounds that the generic models of IL are inadequate for the complex and evolving context of e-environments. Conducting an analytical review of the literature on the approaches taken to adapt IL in e-environments, we discuss how a failure in understanding the dynamic context and components of e-environments and IL have resulted in the emergence of a marginalised way of viewing and practicing IL in these environments. Drawing on Nazari’s (2011) contextual study of IL in an online distance learning programme, we propose a holistic way of viewing and practicing IL in EL environments which is aligned with IL origins; it enables the e-learner to conceptualise IL and customise it to their actual learning style and needs. This study can be of value to IL scholars and practitioners who are interested in the concept and practice of IL in e-environments."
Photo by Sheila Webber: Fountain, Sheffield, June 2012

eagle-i and information literacy

Thanks to Lyn Parker for this reference to an open access article:
Haendel, MA, Vasilevsky, NA and Wirz, JA (2012) "Dealing with Data: A Case Study on Information and Data Management Literacy." PLoS Biology, 10 (5): e1001339. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001339 which can be found here
I'd say it was a description (rather than a case study) OF eagle-i"a US$15 million NIH-funded pilot project with the aim of facilitating biomedical research by creating a network of research resources repositories".

Poster: let she who does not Google cast the first stone!

I've got a bit fed up with student-bashing about search habits. There is an Infographic that loads of people are tweeting at the moment that crams in some statistics about search habits, plagiarism etc., and when I looked at it I thought ... hmmm.
For one thing, I don't think it is a terribly good infographic: it is rather more like several Powerpoint slides one on top of the other (as opposed to something which conveys a clear message in a powerful graphic style; see e.g. Edward Tufte, the godfather of information graphics).
Secondly, although I too experience students who start by thinking they know more about searching than they actually do etc. etc., they are human, they learn, and it should be remembered that the vast majority of them do not plagiarise.
And thirdly, I use Google every day, loads of people use Google every day. I know it's also about how you use Google, and I grumble about the way Google search is going, but still ... the fact remains that you often find good stuff via Google. Using Google is often a rational choice.
So I made this graphic/ poster. If you like it, feel free to download etc., under a non-commercial Creative Commons licence from here.
P.S. "numpty" is an expressive Scottish word meaning fool or idiot (I'm not Scottish but I lived there for a while).

Articles: faculty collaboration; tutorials; revised ACRL standards

Having highlighted an article from a current issue of College and Research libraries news (which is open acess) yesterday, here's a few articles from back issues, this year.
From the April 2012 issue: Adam Balcziunas and Larissa Gordon "Walking a mile in their shoes: Librarians as teaching faculty" (volume 73, no 4, pp192-195); Bruce T. Sajdak "Let the faculty do it: Responsibility and collaboration in developing an information literacy program" (volume 73, no 4, pp196-199)
From the May 2012 issue: Catherine Palmer, Char Booth and Lia Friedman "Collaborative customization: Tutorial design across institutional lines" (volume 73, no. 5, pp243-248)
Perhaps most notably, in January: The ACRL Standards for Libraries in Higher Education Task Force (2012) "Standards for libraries in higher education: Approved by the ACRL Board of Directors, October 2011." College and Research libraries news, 73 (1), 34-48. http://crln.acrl.org/content/73/1.toc
Photo by Sheila Webber: Foxgloves, June 2012.

Using Pinterest: article

Dudenhoffer, C. (2012) "Pin it! Pinterest as a library marketing and information literacy tool." College and Research Libraries News, 73 (6), 328-332. Talks about use of Pinterest by the library at Central Methodist University (USA) and also more genrally how it can be used in teaching. http://crln.acrl.org/content/73/6/328.full I found the Pinterest of their careers centre here: http://pinterest.com/cmucareercenter/
Photo by Sheila Webber: photoshopped picture of the Queen's Jubilee celebration edition of Marmite (for non-Brits, "Ma'am" is what you are supposed to call the queen).

Libfocus Irish Library Blog

Thanks to Eva Hornung for alerting me to a lively and interesting collaborative blog, Libfocus Irish Library Blog, that has a broad scope: http://libfocus.blogspot.co.uk/ The regular contributors are Eva herself, Michelle Dalton, Ronan Hegarty, Jane Burns and Alexander Kouker, and they also have guest bloggers.
Photo by Sheila Webber: Foxglove buds, June 2012

Digital literacy in social sciences: articles

Just published, the lasted issue of the open access journal ELiSS - Enhancing Learning and Teaching in the Social Sciences (Volume 4, Issue 2, May 2012) focuses on Digital Literacies. The home page for the issue is at http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/journals/eliss/volume-4-2. The editorial Digital literacy: digital maturity or digital bravery? summarises the range of articles, authored by UK academics and educational researchers, which are entitled:

- Making digital literacy a success in taught marketing courses (Robin Johnson, David Edmundson-Bird and Brendan J Keegan)
- Institutional strategies for supporting learners in a digital age (Rhona Sharpe and Greg Benfield)
- Learning journeys: exploring approaches to learner digital literary acquisition (Lyn Greaves, Claire Bradley and Debbie Holley)
- The process and affective environment of students personal information management (Sara Robinson and Frances Johnson)
- Bravery, technological literacy and political philosophy: replacing oral presentations with student­-created video presentations(Pete Woodcock)
Photo by Sheila Webber: Jubilee in Tescos, June 2012

Réaliser un travail de recherche: Infographic

The Groupe de travail du Programme de développement des compétences informationnelles du réseau [information literacy working group] de l’Université du Québec (Canada) have produced a nice (French language) infographic showing the stages in searching for a topic. You can even download a zip file with the documents to print oout and paste together. The blog post explaining it (in French) is at https://tribuneci.wordpress.com/2012/04/04/infographie-et-competences-informationnelles/
Actually if you speak French (or are adept at Google Translate) the blog as a whole is of interest: https://tribuneci.wordpress.com/
Note: the picture is from the blog posting, copyright the authors on the blog post I just linked to. It shows the final stage of making the infographic from their downloaded files, namely "Relax!" ;-)

Information culture - different views on information literacy

An interesting new powerpoint from Thomas Hapke (University Library, Hamburg University of Technology, Germany) on the meaning of information literacy.

Information culture - different views on information literacy

View more presentations from Thomas Hapke

Survey on librarian's view of literature review

Wendy Highby, a Reference Librarian at the University Libraries of the University of Northern Colorado, USA, is investigating academic librarians' concept of the literature review and their experiences in teaching students about the literature review process. Participants should be working, or have worked, as an academic librarian. The online survey form is here: https://unco.us.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_55CJutgxiQwLQWg
Any questions to wendy.highby@unco.edu
Photo by Sheila Webber: Sunlit escholtzia, May 2012

Information Skills for a 21st Century Scotland

Activists from the former Scottish Information Literacy Project have launched an online information literacy community of practice: Information Skills for a 21st century Scotland at http://www.therightinformation.org/ hosted by Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC). It includes the Scottish Information Literacy Framework, information about the Scottish Information Literacy Project (formerly based at Glasgow Caledonian University from 2004 to 2010) and a valuable archive of material, including the Project blog.
The community is open to everyone who is interested in information literacy: you can join the community, share practice, contribute to the community’s knowledge of information literacy activities news, conferences and events, new research etc. They are also looking for individuals and groups across the library and information community to work with them to update the framework with new case studies.
There is a launch event on 11 June at 10.30 – 10.45 at the Apex hotel, in Dundee, as part of the Chartered Institute for Library and Information Professionals in Scotland (CILIPS) Conference 2012. The launch will be followed by a parallel session from 14.00 to 15.00 "Finding the right information: improving professional practice using the Scottish Information Literacy Framework" which will be an informal discussion to help build a Scottish Information Literacy Community of Practice.
I'm happy to see that the definition that they have on their logo is the one by me and Bill Johnston ;-)

Adult Students using a Scoring Rubric to develop Information Literacy Skills.

An "in press" article online at the Journal of Academic Librarianship (likely to be published in vol. 38 no. 3, 2012) is:
van Helvoort, A.A.J. How Adult Students in Information Studies Use a Scoring Rubric for the Development of Their Information Literacy Skills. "The purpose of this article is to expand on a previous study on the development of a scoring rubric for information literacy. The present paper examines how students at the Department of Information Services and Information Management, The Hague University, use the scoring rubric for their school work and/or in their regular jobs and social life."
JAL is also implementing Article Based Publishing so that "individual articles [are] to be published in their final form, including volume, issue and page number, before the volume itself [is] completed." Recent articles are at http://www.journals.elsevier.com/the-journal-of-academic-librarianship/recent-articles/
Photo by Sheila Webber: free art, seen on my way to work last week.

Developing Information Literacy for Lifelong Learning and Knowledge-Based Economy in the Western Balkan Countries

Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) Library is managing a project, funded by the Tempus IV European Union programme, Developing Information Literacy for Lifelong Learning and Knowledge-Based Economy in the Western Balkan Countries, a project worth €1,171,557. The project is managed by Jerald Cavanagh (Institute Librarian, LIT) and coordinated by Padraig Kirby. It involves 12 other higher education institutions in Romania, Greece, United Kingdom, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Kosovo.
There is a prezi with a project update (March 2012) from Jerald Cavanagh and Padraig Kirby http://prezi.com/dvff9rgxxc6c/tempus-project-update-march-2012/. There is a report on an initial information day http://unsa.ba/s/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1151&Itemid=348&lang=english. Finally, there is a press release http://www.library.ie/2011/08/05/lit-library-wins-e1-2m-to-lead-major-eu-project-on-information-literacy/
Photo by Sheila Webber, Chandelier, York, May 2012

"The Power of Information" (new Government strategy)

The power of information http://informationstrategy.dh.gov.uk/ is the new information strategy from the UK's Department of Health which "sets a ten-year framework for transforming information for the NHS [National Health Service], public health and social care." As Vicky Grant noted in the talk she gave on Thursday, it doesn't mention information literacy and doesn't seem to say anything about libraries either. In fact it is using the word "Information" to mean (in a fuzzy way) technology, networks and actual information content. However, as regards information content, it seems like the focus is on the information generated within the NHS, rather than having a real perspective on patient needs for information.
I'm afraid with this one, I find it impossible to write impartially, as a quick glance at the site made me angry as a UK citizen who values the NHS. You will see from the one slide which is supposed to make the whole strategy easy to understand that basically they want everyone to go online for everything, including things like booking doctor's appointments. This will leave people like my mother (who is very alert and independent, but has worsening sight and does not use the internet) with a second class service, I assume.
"One of the key commitments is that you will be able to view your GP record online by 2015." I'm sure that this promise has nothing to do with saving the Government money - except Information Age reports that - "Online GP records will save over £2bn, DoH claims". Hmm.
On Thursday I did a post on my cpd23 blog about using Storify and coincidentally they have put together a Storify page on the new strategy: http://informationstrategy.dh.gov.uk/storify/ It would be an interesting task for an information literacy class to match the stories snagged for this Storify, and see whether they reflect the full spectrum of commentary on it, or indeed to assemble alternative stories.
Photo by Sheila Webber: Goat in Maryon Park, May 2012

Health Information Obesity

Today there was an event from CILIP Career Development Group (Yorkshire and Humberside Division) here at Sheffield University. Vicky Grant, Faculty Librarian for Medicine, Dentistry and Health at Sheffield, was talking about Health information obesity: the new epidemic? It was a very interesting presentation, and I'll mention a couple of things she talked about.
One was a new strategy from the Department from Health The power of information. I'm going to put more about that in a separate posting. Secondly, whilst talking about the value of patient networks for health information she showed some of a TED video about e-Patient Dave: http://www.ted.com/talks/dave_debronkart_meet_e_patient_dave.html "When Dave deBronkart learned he had a rare and terminal cancer, he turned to a group of fellow patients online -- and found the medical treatment that saved his life." Dave is also an advocate for libraries. Finally, she showed this video which tells the story of one person becoming empowered to find, evaluate and use information (including stories from fellow patients) to apply to her own illness.

CoLRiC Roadshow 22 June

On 22 June in Liverpool, UK, there is the final CoLRiC roadshow Embedding information skills in the curriculum where you can "hear how the award winning Library Team at Northampton College collaborated with curriculum colleagues to embed information and study skills into the curriculum with enormous benefits for students" and have the opportunity to "Discuss concerns with colleagues in our professional surgery". Cost £20 for CoLRiC members, £40 for non-members. More info at http://www.colric.org.uk/roadshows.
Photo by Sheila Webber: York City Walls, May 2012

Information Literacy briefing from CILIP

CILIP's Information Literacy Executive Briefing is on 5 July in CILIP HQ in London, UK: Information Literacy: Working together for the future of our profession. There are a number of speakers and opportunity for discussion. Early bird registration before June 1st gives a discount (e.g. £156+ VAT for CILIP members). More information at http://www.cilip.org.uk/infolit2012/pages/default.aspx
Photo by Sheila Webber: New concourse, Kings Cross Station, London, May 2012

Journal Club: 22 May in Second Life

Journal Club, led by Ridvan Ata, University of Sheffield, England.
When: 22nd May, 12 noon to 1pm Second Life time (8pm-9pm UK time)
Where: In the virtual world, Second Life, http://slurl.com/secondlife/Infolit%20iSchool/106/208/30/
Ridvan will lead a discussion of:
William C. Diehl & Esther Prins (2008) Unintended Outcomes in Second Life: Intercultural Literacy and Cultural Identity in a Virtual World. Language and Intercultural Communication, 8:2, 101-118. available from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14708470802139619
You need a SL avatar, and the SL browser on your computer, to participate. http://secondlife.com/

A Sheffield iSchool Centre for Information Literacy Research Event

Reference Services Review: twittering

There's a Twitter focus in the latest issue (vol 40 no 2) of Reference Services Review:
- Libraries atwitter: trends in academic library tweeting: by Darcy Del Bosque, Sam A. Leif, Susie Skarl (pp. 199 - 213)
- To tweet, or not to tweet? by Susan Jennings (pp. 214 - 216)
- Students tweet the darndest things about your library – and why you need to listen. by Steven Bell (pp. 217 - 220)
- Just the right tweet at just the right time. by Ameet Doshi (pp. 221 - 223)
- Beyond broadcasting: Customer service, community and information experience in the Twittersphere. by Lyndelle Gunton, Kate Davis (pp. 224 - 227)
Other articles include:
- Reference Services Review: content analysis, 2006-2011: by Katy Mahraj (pp. 182 - 198) This analysis confirms that the vast majority of authors are from the academic sector, with 83% from the United States, and "information literacy and instruction" is the topic with the biggest share of articles.
- Information literacy on Facebook: an analysis. by Donna Witek, Teresa Grettano (pp. 242 - 257)
- Student preference for tutorial design: a usability study. by Lori S. Mestre (pp. 258 - 276)
- Engaging undergraduates in discipline-based research. by Heidi Gauder, Fred Jenkins (pp. 277 - 294)
This is a priced publication: here is the home page: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=0090-7324
Photo by Sheila Webber: York castle with bluebells, 2012

Short course in South Africa

ITOCA (Information Training and Outreach Centre for Africa) is running workshops called 21st Century Information Literacy Skills in Centurion, South Africa on June 18-22, 2012 and July 2-6, 2012 and also via a web version. "Participants will learn how to acquire, and facilitate the acquisition and application of information literacy skills that are relevant for the information user in the 21st century." http://www.itoca.org/node/135

The ways that young people experience information

Marian Smith gained her PhD from Loughborough University in 2010, with an interesting dissertation about children's perceptions of information (I was external examiner at her viva) entitled "Young people: a phenomenographic investigation into the ways they experience information". Mark Hepworth, who supervised Marian at Loughborough, recently did a blog post in which he outlines the framework she identified, that could be used to guide information literacy teaching to children. His blog post is here: http://markhepworthsblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/young-peoples-perception-of-their.html and Marian's full dissertation is here: https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/dspace-jspui/handle/2134/6632
Photo by Sheila Webber: Wildflowers, Maryon Park, May 2012