Autoethnography: Research as Reflection, Inclusion and Empowerment #ecil2016

I'm continuing to liveblog at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2016, in Prague, Czech Republic. Anne-Marie Deitering, Bob Schroeder, and Richard Stoddart presented on Autoethnography: Research as Reflection, Inclusion and Empowerment.
They were talking about a project which involved a learning community of librarians developing their autoethnographies. I'm using autoethnography in a couple of projects, so this was very interesting for me.
Deitering started by defining autoethnography - which is essentially a researcher researching their own experience. The researcher is the subject of enquiry. There is a connection to culture, as the researcher is looking outwards at culture as well as inwards towards experience. The practice that librarians are reflecting on and enquiring into is situated and particular to that person's culture and context. Narrative and story is important in autoethnographic, and so personal stories and voices that might otherwise get submerged, can emerge.
Schroeder talked about the learning community and how it empowered those in it. They felt they were able to validate their own experiences, starting with what they knew, not having to submit to others' perspectives. They tapped into their varied backgrounds, and also tapped into non academic questions, to enrich the process. This included using methods and approaches from other disciplines. It meant that research could become "part of your own life", in a learning community that supported you and enabled you to take rich approaches. For example, Schroeder felt he could not have produced his autoethnography as a zine (front cover pictured) without the community's support. Deep reflections on experience and practice could help others to reflect on their own similar situations and perhaps feel empowered to produce their own autoethnography.
Stoddart described it as tranformative self-discovery, with thick descriptions based on personal experience. Autoethnography could help make changes. The reader engages at an initimate level with the autoethnography and learn they are not alone. Autoethnography changes the writer as they learn about themselves, and so change their practice in the library. Thus this changes what happens in the library. This change is not easy. Autoethnography in not neutral, and can be traumatic - it may look at issues such as injustice, lack of control, anxiety. There are a lot of hidden and buried emotions, which can get unpacked through revision of the autoethnography.
Whilst sometimes a traumatic and a difficult process, it is a powerful and positive process. The idea of praxis - connecting theory and practice - is important here. Stoddart characterised autoethnography as a "moving and motivating methodology".
The pictures show the sample autoethnographic chapters which were handed round.

3D Librarian: Information Literacy in an Accelerated Age #ecil2016

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I'm liveblogging at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2016, in Prague, Czech Republic. The first speaker is keynote speaker, Tara Brabazon (Flinders University, Australia) talking on 3D Librarian: Information Literacy in an Accelerated Age.
You can listen to her ideas directly at http://tarabrabazon.libsyn.com/. Given her criticism of fast information, I'm not sure how keen she'd be on this liveblog, so feel free to go there instead ;-) Brabazon shoots out her ideas with a flourish, and I certainly haven't captured all her nuances, but hopefully this gives you a flavour. These are my interpretations of what she was saying - i may comment in another post.
She recalled her early days at university, where deep reading was encouraged, computers were in the background and just emerging, and she found the librarians really helpful. Fast forward, and she was engaging with an online course "a coke machine for research" where the teacher and librarians were invisible behind the virtual learning envirnoments and information and knowledge was served in gobbets.
She described as information literacy in an inclusive society "the most important topic of our time". She made it clear that she was "not confusing digitization with social justice" nor technology with democracy. This involved hard engagement with information, and librarians as custodians of culture.
So, she explained her concept of the 3D librarian. Ideas move over time and space, more swiftly because of technology. However, there is a problem that - that which fast tends to get consumed before that which is slow (though the slow might be more important). Brabazon mentioned her book Digital Dieting. Many people might gain from life on the screen (citing Turkle's work) however, there are also problems. Conversations and people get "deanchored in time on space" - our position is decentred in the physical world, as it becomes more flexible in the digital worls. She felt that the physical identity was separated from the digital identity - she asked the question of how these identities differed. Brabazon used the term deterritorialization. She defined it in this article thus "Deterritorialization refers to a two stage process: The disconnection from physical geography, place, and location. The reimagining of new spaces, places, and allegiances."

The new relationships that can be fostered on screen mean new communities are opened up to librarians, and Brabazon wanted librarians to at the centre of these communities. It was then important to make conscious choices between the asynchronous and synchronous (I think, in terms of enagagement and identity)
Brabazon moved on to the issue of disintermediation - are librarians rubbed out of the "supply" chain of information, or is there an increased role for librarians? Disintermediation has potential for empowering, cutting out the useless middlepeople. However, it can lose this power when the process is owened/ undermined by corporate interests. Also the flattening out can lead to confusion between valuable and rubbish information. Popularity, relevance and imporatnce can get confused together when faced by search engines like Google. Corporate interests are re-intermediating (I think she meant by filtering etc. by Apple, Google etc.) which is problematic. Librarians need to be active in this landscape, to seize new opportunities for dissemination.
Brabazon addressed a question "are we all librarians now"? She talked about the nature of the information market, publishers packaging their information, companies making money out of content that we create. She felt that user-created content was being harnessed by corporates (e.g. user comments becoming part of a consumer platform like Amazon).
This brought Brabazon to the value of information literacy and that "Librarians are the reintermediating force in this field". She identified noise and cultural nonsense, and the challenge of "moving information through time" whilst enabling reflection.
Brabazon felt that the literature of information literacy had moved from being confident about the role of the librarian in the budding information age, but that uncertainty about this role had moved in: in particular that the rise of digital information led to a discourse about disintermediation and saying that librarians are not needed and not up to the new job. Brabazon obviously disagreed with this: disintermediation had led to low level engagement with information, and librarians were needed more than ever.
Brabazon celebrated open access material, but emphasised on people stretching themselves, learning to discriminate (supported by librarians). Librarians were also key in helping academics disseminate their work so that "the expert" was not "lost in a cacophony of nonsense". Additionally the local collection is growing in value and publishers' collections of journals and ebooks are the same globally.
As mentioned earlier, Brabazon felt that librarians have become less visible, and they need to become more visible and visibly active to learners, reintermediating. She mentioned the University of Wollongong's Startsmart programme as an example of taking the librarians intervention seriously.
Brabazon slammed decline in standards, quality and rigour, with too little expected ofstudents and a lack of metacognition. She felt that whilst librarians didn't cause the problem, they could fix it.
The photo shows yummy things in a nearby cafe - for some reason the internet kept refusing to upload my photo of the lecture hall (probably because of its poor quality)

Critical information literacy unconference #ecil2016

I'm in Prague for the European Conference on Informaation Literacy, and today there was an additional event: an unconference on critical information literacy. These notes are ones that I took at the time (for technical reasons I didn't liveblog them absolutely at once). Several people had pitched ideas for sessions and noone added to these ideas, so in the end there were five topics which had already been pitched.
Andrew Whitworth started by introducing the topic of xenophilia (love of difference) and information literacy. He had done a talk on this earlier in the year, which is here http://www.slideshare.net/DrewWhitworth/xenophilia-how-a-love-of-difference-is-essential-in-making-connectionskeynote Whitworth was concerned about being open and welcoming and sensitive to different perspectives and contexts, in the workplace and everyday life, and he talked about a range of theories and communities.
Shelly Buchanan led a discussion on authentic co-enquiry in schools. She observed how there has been less and less emphasis on openness and creativity in education, and more and more on block by block learning, with a focus on marks and clear objectives. This makes it more challenging to introduce broader perspectives, with students becoming anxious when faced with diversity and lack of directive teaching.
There was discussion about the importance of dealing with both affective and cognitive aspects of the learning experience, the value of experimenting with teaching approaches, of challenging students. One participant talked about an exercise in which learners had to formulate a meaningful question in statistics – which ended up being “why do a larger proportion of minority students end up in the principal’s office”. This was powerful, as the process of finding the actual statistics revealed a problem that the school had not been aware of, and actual change came about.
Another example was students being allowed to chose any topic at all for a paper, which the students found exciting as well as challenging. I gave an example I had heard about at the IFLA conference, where there was a big whole-school theme (e.g. poverty), with an enquiry-based approach, and the librarian was an important part of the support for enquiry. However, these kinds of initiatives are hard to push through, because of the standards-based approach to school education. The conversation went on to talk about wider problems with the political and educational system – e.g. not taking account of the reality of the changing job market, not giving adequate training to teachers to help them deliver more innovative (values based) curricula, the social and power imbalances in education. There was also a reminder from one participant that Kuhlthau’s guided inquiry model included affective aspects. As part of this, there was the importance of developing a third space, where people feel comfortable and safe to exchange and develop ideas.
The next discussion leader was Bill Johnston, who talked about information literacy as anti-librarianship, as an opposition to “traditional” librarianship. Those espousing information literacy might also be against hierarchy, against a “right answer” approach to information work, against the idea that librarians “have” IL (and it just remains for others to “get it”), against a sense of neutrality as a library professional and towards a position of commitment. This seems to align with emerging narratives about diversity in IL discourse.
There was discussion around the issue of the requirements and expectations of employers, the challenges of enacting educational and activist roles in public libraries, and possibility for more intervention when the librarian has an educational role (and therefore the importance of education in pedagogy). One option is to make a policy statement setting out intentions and rights (for example public libraries making statements about their support for the homeless). There were also dangers in not playing to the standards-based educational system (e.g. The ACRL IL standards were useful in that they gave librarians status within a standards-focused environment).
Next up, Yanan Xie introduced the topic of how to implement critical information literacy in higher education. It could be challenging to take a student-centred approach when the main concern was academic information literacy. She asked for practical examples. One example given in response was when the librarian was asked to do introductions to the library; he sent students to different floors and they had to take pictures of things they found interesting or challenging, those were emailed to the tutor, the pictures were shown to the students and then the students could explain what they had found and also ask questions. Another librarian used a “jigsaw” approach, with different groups of students being asked to research different aspects or different topics, and then having to collaborate to build up the whole picture. Another idea was interviewing a professional in the discipline to discover how they approached the knowledge base and information literacy.
I talked about the exercises l have done with students teaching each other how to search and sharing tips in order to develop their understanding. Another participant mentioned the first year experience conferences and the material there which is relevant. A further suggestion was taking students to specialist libraries, which show the range and variety of information and knowledge. This led to an example of students being introduced to material in order to talk about the development and history of knowledge and what knowledge and information mean in disciplines. There were also suggestions about how librarians could help students understand more why they needed to cite and what citation means e.g. getting students to develop and justify their own citation scheme. The concept of “evidence” was important in developing understanding.
Finally, Bob Schroeder introduced the issue of how class played out in the library. He outlined categories of worker such as student workers, management, faculty, tenured and not tenured (this is in the North American context). Librarians could be seen as elitist because they asserted that they had certain roles, with consequent tensions with other workers. Some of the subsequent discussion was around differences between different countries (e.g. in some countries librarians were not able to interact with students except in the library, because they were not invited into classrooms) and some about the nature of class. There were some very different situations in different countries, with flatter, or more hierarchical, settings. There could be also tensions between different levels of staff when discussing changes.
Thanks to Lauren Smith and Denis Kos for organising the unconference, and the CILIP Information Literacy Group for supporting it.

Supporting Young People in the Digital Information Age Event

CILIP's Information Services Group (London & South East) and CILIP Information Literacy Group have organised an event: Supporting Young People in the Digital Information Age Event: The role of libraries in promoting transition skills on 30 November 2016 (afternoon) at CILIP HQ in London, UK. Speakers are:
Natasha Skeen - Community Liaison Librarian, The Hive, University of Worcester: Supporting KS5 students with public library resources
David Bowles and Simon Finch - Bexley Libraries: This discussion will focus on David and Simon's work with local 6th form EPQ (Extended Project Qualification) students, enabling them to complete their qualification successfully and helping to improve their information literacy.
Elizabeth Bentley - Teen Tech: Elizabeth will focus on the Information Literacy Group's work with Teen Tech, a national STEM and innovation competition aimed at pupils from Yr7-13.
"The rest of the afternoon will be focused on discussion. It can be your chance to talk to others about how you are involved in this area or you can ask for advice from others. You can suggest a topic that you would like to talk about when you book your place or at the beginning of the afternoon or you can just come ready to join in the discussions and be inspired. You can be as brief and as informal as you wish and you definitely don't need to bring a PowerPoint presentation."
Cost is £10 (plus VAT) for CILIP ISG and CILIP ILG members; £15 (plus VAT) for non-ISG or ILG members.
More info and booking at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/supporting-young-people-in-the-digital-information-age-the-role-of-libraries-in-promoting-tickets-28230922449
Photo by Sheila: flowers on the table, September 2016

Recent articles: Faculty librarian collaboration; political science students; IB of students with visual impairment

The latest issue (volume 42, no. 5) of The Journal of Academic Librarianship (priced publication) includes:
- Information Behaviour of Students Living With Visual Impairments in University Libraries: A Review of Related Literature (Pages 522-528) Stephen Mutula, Rebecca M. Majinge
- Characteristics of Articles Coauthored by Researchers and Practitioners in Library and Information Science Journals (Pages 535-541) Yu-Wei Chang
- Library Resources and Students' Learning Outcomes: Do All the Resources Have the Same Impact on Learning? (Pages 551-556) Maximiliano Montenegro, Paula Clasing, Nick Kelly, Carlos Gonzalez, Magdalena Jara, Rosa Alarcón, Augusto Sandoval, Elvira Saurina. (Pages 569-580) Bonnie L. Fong, Minglu Wang, Krista White, Roberta Tipton
- A Pragmatic and Flexible Approach to Information Literacy: Findings from a Three-Year Study of Faculty-Librarian Collaboration. (Pages 604-611) Barbara Junisbai, M. Sara Lowe, Natalie Tagge
- “I Have Ten Peer Reviewed Articles. Now What?” How Political Science Research Methods Textbooks Teach Students About Scholarly Context. (Pages 612-619) Erin Ackerman, Brian K. Arbour
Contents page at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00991333/42/5
Photo by Sheila Webber: rose and hips, September 2016

Teaching in HE/FE for new library professionals

The Yorkshire & Humberside branch of the CILIP Academic and Research Libraries Group has organised a one day event: Teaching in HE/FE for new library professionals: Does one size fit all? Tailoring your teaching to your target audience. It will be on 15 November 2016 at the University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, UK. Sessions are: Warm-up: posture and voice for confidence in lectures; Games in teaching; Teaching postgraduates; Doing assessments in your teaching; Study skills; Teaching one-to-one/small groups. Cost: £17+VAT for CILIP members; £22.50+VAT for non-members
To book a place, please send Katherine Turner K.Turner@leedsbeckett.ac.uk this information:
- Name
- Job title (if applicable)
- Institution (if applicable)
- CILIP member Y/N If Yes, membership number:
- Dietary requirements
- Access or support requirements:
- Will you be driving to the event? If Yes, car registration:
- Name and address for invoicing:
- Do you need a purchase order for payment to be raised? Y/N
Info at http://www.cilip.org.uk/academic-research-libraries-group/events/training-day-teaching-hefe-new-library-professionals
Photo by Sheila Webber: Marine mailbox, Brännö, August 2016

Latest articles: Information Research: children's information behaviour/ practice; cancer information seeking; student collaboration

Articles in the latest issue of the open access peer-reviewed journal Information Research (volume 21 number 3) include:
- Anna Hampson Lundh: Subject positions of children in information behaviour research
- Sanghee Oh, Yan Zhang and Min Sook Park: Cancer information seeking in social question and answer services. Identifying health-related topics in cancer questions on Yahoo! Answers
- Reijo Savolainen: Elaborating the conceptual space of information-seeking phenomena
- Sarah Barriage: ‘Talk, talk and more talk': parental perceptions of young children's information practices related to their hobbies and interests
- Chris Leeder and Chirag Shah: Strategies, obstacles, and attitudes: student collaboration in information seeking and synthesis projects
The contents page is at http://www.informationr.net/ir/21-3/infres213.html
Photo by Sheila Webber: Big Ben at dusk, September 2016

PRIMO tutorial: Primary and Secondary Sources

The latest Peer-Reviewed Instructional Materials Online (PRIMO) is Information Literacy: Primary and Secondary Sources. The authors are Cynthia Lewis and Jessica Owens of Ashford University, USA. "This interactive learning module takes students through the process of identifying the differences between primary and secondary sources." The interview with the authors is at http://acrl.ala.org/IS/september-2016-site-of-the-month/ and the tutorial itself is at https://bridgepoint.equella.ecollege.com/curriculum/file/5c17df70-5030-4d35-a7e4-46a471082f11/1/Primary%20and%20Secondary%20sources.zip/story.html
Photo by Sheila Webber: Window, Brännö, August 2016

CFP: Moving Beyond the “Framework Blues”: Teaching Information Literacy with a social justice lens

There is a call for papers for a preconference before the American Library Association Conference 2017. The preconference takes place on June 23 2017 in Chicago, USA. "The transition from the ACRL Standards to the Framework is in full force, yet many academic librarians are unsure how to proceed with this new, unfamiliar document and feel daunted by the task. Moreover, with the push for critical information literacy and social justice-oriented instruction in academic librarianship, some librarians have critiqued the Framework for having liberal ideological underpinnings and assuming a universality that doesn’t account for historical difference or responsibility to the other. The Framework mentions power relations in some places, but these references and gestures towards critical information literacy are inconsistent. Many questions about teaching with the Framework remain. How can the Framework be used to teach critical information literacy fully and authentically? How is the Framework compatible with social justice-oriented instruction?" You can propose roundtable discussions, workshops, presentations, or panels. Deadline for proposals is 14 October 2016. There is more information at http://acrl.ala.org/IS/call-for-proposals-2017-ala-annual-is-preconference/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Cat mailbox, Brännö, August 2016

International day for Universal Access to Information #accesstoinfoday

Today is UNESCO's International day for Universal Access to Information day. The themes include "freedom of information [including freedom of the press], promotion of open access and the importance of adopting right to information laws". The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16.10 focuses on access to information (the International Federation of library associations and Instititutionsd lobbied hard to get information included in the SDGs). SDG 16.10 aims to "“Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements”. I would like to highlight the IFLA Toolkit: Libraries and the UN post-2015 development agenda http://www.ifla.org/publications/toolkit--libraries-and-the-un-post-2015-development-agenda
There is a website for the International Day on the UNESCO website http://en.unesco.org/iduai2016 and below is a UNESCO video on this theme (which emphasises freedom of the press and journalists' rights: I would say that at the moment access to media, freedom of information and use of technology are more prominent than access to information in a broader definition). There seems to be a full video (all in one video) of the accompanying conference here http://en.unesco.org/ipdc-talks

ACRL immersion 2017

If you are interested in participating in the ACRL immersion programme (which "provides instruction librarians the opportunity to work intensively for several days on all aspects of information literacy"), the online application material will be coming out shortly. Dates are:
Program Track: July 23-28, 2017, Burlington, VT, USA: Application materials available October 2016.
Teacher Track: July 23-28, 2017, Burlington, VT, USA: Application materials available October 2016.
Lots more information at http://www.ala.org/acrl/immersion
Photo by Sheila Webber: boats, Southern Archipelago, Gothenburg, August 2016

European Association for Viewers Interests - Media Literacy videos

EAVI: the European Association for Viewers Interests is "an independent, non-profit international association ... which promotes and advocates for Media Literacy" which grew out of a project funded by the European Commission. They recently started a series of short cartoon-y videos about media literacy http://www.eavi.eu/videos/ (though what I want to know is - why did Jack break up with Jo between videos 1 and 2?).
Their blog highlight media literacy stories (today's is headlined "VIDEO: Trump Supporters’ Conspiracy Theories Shows Need for Media Literacy" - http://www.eavi.eu/blog/)

Items wanted for ACRL Instruction Section newsletter #ACRL_is

The ACRL Instruction Section newsletter editors, Angelica Delgado and Kelly LeMeur, are seeking content for the forthcoming issue. They seek submissions of the following types:
- "Short articles of 250-500 words on any aspect of instruction or information literacy
- "Annotated bibliography or recommended reading list of 250-500 words on any teaching or information literacy issue
- "140 character length (tweet length) reflections, suggestions, best practices, worst practices on all things to do with teaching information literacy"
Submit writing to ctxlibrary@gmail.com by September 30 for consideration
The archive of the newsletter is at http://www.ala.org/acrl/aboutacrl/directoryofleadership/sections/is/iswebsite/projpubs/newsletter
Photo by Sheila Webber: sparling sea, Southern Archipelago, Gothenburg, August 2016

cfp #LILAC17

The call for papers for LILAC 2017 will be opens on October 3 2016, and it isn't open for very long (closing 26 October!) so if you are interested in participating you may want to start preparing your proposals, and you can already create a LILAC account. LILAC takes place in Swansea, Wales on 10-12 April 2017. There is no specific theme, any aspect of information literacy is welcome, but they note that proposals make "explicit reference to your innovative practice or research in information literacy.
Options are: Lagadothon (showcase prototypes for new IL products/games/innovations); Workshops; Short papers; Long papers; Symposia; Posters.
More information at http://www.lilacconference.com/lilac-2017/call-for-papers
Photo by Sheila Webber: Brännö, August 2016

Miriam Dudley Instruction Librarian Award

There is a call for nominations for the Miriam Dudley Instruction Librarian Award, which "recognizes an individual librarian who has made an especially significant contribution to the advancement of instruction in a college or research library environment. The award honors Miriam Dudley, whose pioneering efforts in the field of bibliographic instruction led to the formation of the ACRL Instruction Section (formerly ACRL Bibliographic Instruction Section)." The award winner gets a plaque and US $1000. "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 programs". Deadline for nominations is December 2, 2016. For more information, go to http://www.ala.org/acrl/awards/achievementawards/miriamdudley
Photo by Sheila Webber: wild rose, Brännö, August 2016

cfp #LOEX2017 breakout sessions

There is a call for proposals for breakout sessions at the 45th annual LOEX (US Information Literacy) conference, which will be held in Lexington, USA, on 11-13 May 2017. The theme is: Growing Stronger Together: Diversity and Community in Information Literacy. The tracks are: Pedagogy: Reaping and Sowing Transformative Teaching; Technology: Saddling Up; Leadership: Taking the Reins; Assessment: The Lay of the Land; Collaboration: Never Ride Alone; Innovations and Failures: Roots of Our Success
(I think some of these subtitles may be inspired by the fact that Lexington is famed for horses and relatively close to the home of the Kentucky Derby). Proposals for 50-minute long presentations or interactive workshops can be made. Deadline is November 18, 20
16. More details and link to the online submission form at http://www.loexconference.org/breakoutproposals.html
Photo by Sheila Webber: Top Notch Tonto in the pre-parade ring, Chester, May 2016

ACRL Infolit Innovation and Publication awards

The ACRL Instruction Section Awards committee seeks nominations for two awards. The Innovation Award is for a project at an academic/research library that demonstrates creative, innovative, or unique approaches to information literacy instruction or programming. The winner(s) of this award will receive a certificate and a US $3000 award, sponsored by EBSCO Information Services. More info here: http://www.ala.org/acrl/awards/achievementawards/innovationaward.
The Ilene F. Rockman Publication of the Year Award is for an outstanding publication related to instruction in a library environment published in the preceding two years. Eligible publications include journal articles, books, book chapters, and published proceedings. Submitted publications may be authored by one or more individuals, a group, organization, or committee. The winner(s) will receive a plaque and a US $3000 prize, donated by Emerald Group Publishing Limited. More info here: http://www.ala.org/acrl/awards/publicationawards/publicationyear
Deadline for nominations for both awards is December 2, 2016.
Photo by Sheila webber: London Eye at night, September 2016

Information skills outside formal education

A powerpoint given at the ALIA National Conference Adelaide (Australia) on 31 August 2016 by Judy Reading (Macquarie University Library) and Paul Jewell (Western Sydney University Library) was Enterprise and Acumen: Real World Information Skills and Employability for Business Graduates. It is embedded below.

Enterprise and Acumen: Real World Information Skills and Employability for Business Graduates from Western Sydney University

cfp #WILU2017

There is a call for papers for the Workshop for Instruction in Library Use (WILU), the Canadian conference on information literacy and issues of teaching and learning in library and information settings. Deadline for proposals is November 4, 2016. WILU will take place May 23 – 25 2017, at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The theme of the WILU 2017 conference is Engage-Expand-Explore.
"Engage: How do we engage with and beyond our communities? How do we engage with each other and with our teaching work? This may include topics such as partnerships and collaborations, peer learning, active learning, assessment, advisory groups, workload issues, and reflective practice.
"Expand: How do we support learners in asking big questions that lead to deeper learning? How do we broaden and diversify our programs and our approaches to teaching? This may include topics such as sustainability, critical librarianship and pedagogy, inquiry-based learning, and professional development.
"Explore: How do we get out of our comfort zones and reach beyond conventional practices? How do we take risks, experiment, and learn from our histories? This may include topics such as new tools, teaching in new or unique areas, and historical and theoretical issues relating to library instruction and information literacy."
Types of Sessions can be: Presentations: 45-minute sessions reporting on research, practice, or both; Lightning talks: 7-minute presentations; Posters; Workshops: 2.5-hour participatory sessions on an aspect of the theory, practice and/or social/political dynamics of teaching and learning in libraries and information settings.
For more information on how to submit your proposal go to https://wilu2017.library.ualberta.ca/program/call-for-proposals/
Photo by Sheila webber: Cranes near Waterloo Station, September 2016

CONUL Teaching and Learning award

The CONUL (the (Irish) Consortium of National and University Libraries) Teaching and Learning group is offering its Annual Teaching & Learning award for outstanding contribution, achievement, excellence or innovation in the field of information literacy and teaching in Ireland. You must be a librarian working in Ireland. "The winner will receive €1,000 for use in professional development or project related activity, the opportunity to publish their findings and a certificate of recognition." Closing date for submissions is 10 October 2016. Apply on the form at http://goo.gl/forms/2Uhd9acomyn2Hlch2
Last year’s winning submission by Peter Reilly, University of Limerick is at http://www.conul.ie/sub-committees-groups/teaching-and-learning/conul-teaching-and-learning-award/2015-winning-proposal/
The winner will be announced at the CONUL annual Teaching & Learning Seminar, 10 November 2016. More information at http://www.conul.ie/sub-committees-groups/teaching-and-learning/conul-teaching-and-learning-award/ or by emailing the CONUL Teaching and Learning Team: conulteachandlearn@gmail.com
Photo by Sheila Webber: herb garden, Gothenburg, August 2016

Material from a non-con

There are presentations from the Information Literacy Non-Conference held at British Columbia Institute of Technology Library on April 22, 2016, How to make information literacy instruction more effective and innovative - for example: How marking information literacy assignments changed my approach to the teaching of information literacy. Go to https://circuit.bcit.ca/repository/islandora/object/repository%3Anoncon
Photo by Sheila Webber: wwaiting for the bus after visiting St Thomas', September 2016

Infolit at LIASA 2016

The 17th LIASA (Library and Information Association of South Africa) Annual Conference takes place at Durban International Convention Centre, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa, on 10 – 14 October 2016. There is a draft programme available, and it includes two sessions specifically focusing on information literacy. The second of them is entitled: Information Literacy a broader perspective, with the papers:
- Ms Pam Mavume, Mr Sidima Mnengi The effective role played by the library towards realising academic research priorities of Problem Based Learning (PBL) and Community Based Education (CBE): the case of Walter Sisulu University Health Sciences Library
- Dr Samuel Mojapelo (Re)thinking and (Re)positioning library programmes and services in public high schools in Limpopo Province
- Mr Darlington Musemburi and Mr Collen Nhendo Information literacy in Zimbabwean public libraries: towards information literate communities
- Dr Thomas Matingwina An integrated framework for disseminating health information to students
http://www.liasaconference.co.za/
Photo by Sheila webber (taken in Second Life): rose in the window

Academic Libraries of Indiana conference materials

Material from the Academic Libraries of Indiana

(ALI) summer conference is online:
- Sharing Information Literacy Practices Across the State (powerpoint): ALI Information LIteracy Committee Presentation, Sally Neal, ALI ILC Chair
- The Concept of Dispositions and the Information Literacy Framework: Engaging the Affective Domain (2-page paper) Bill Orme, Associate Dean for Educational Services, IUPUI University Library
- Bargain Basement Assessment: Free and easy resources to assess instruction and measure student outcomes (poster) Heather Howard & Sarah Wagner, Sponsel Library, Trine University
http://academiclibrariesofindiana.org/home/comm_infolit
Photo by Sheila Webber: tame butterfly (at Science Museum, perched on a knee)

Registration open for LILAC 2017

The 2017 LILAC (UK information literacy) conference will take place at Swansea University, Swansea, Wales, 10-12 April 2017. A call for papers will be issued shortly. http://www.lilacconference.com/lilac-2017

Recent articles: Socio-Cognitive Relevance of Information Literacy; Barriers to instruction in Pakistan; Low achieving students

Some recent articles from various sources:
- This first one is actually a poster presented at the IFLA conference in August: Kaufmann, K. F. (2016) Socio-Cognitive Relevance of Information Literacy: The impact on student academic work. Poster presented at: IFLA WLIC 2016 – Columbus, OH – Connections. Collaboration. Community. http://library.ifla.org/1580/
- A special issue of the Pakistan Journal of Information Management & Libraries (volume 17, 2016) has papers from the ICIML conference, including ones relevant to information literacy including: Barriers When Advocating or Providing Information Literacy Instruction in Medical Institutions of Pakistan by Midrar Ullah, Kanwal Ameen; Measuring Levels of Students' Anxiety in Information Seeking Tasks by Muhammad Asif Naveed, Kanwal Ameen. http://111.68.103.26/journals/index.php/pjiml/issue/view/89
- Chung, J. and Kim, J. (2016) How Do Low Achieving Students in an Urban High School Learn with Information?: An Exploratory Study. Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science, 50 (2), 25-45. http://www.koreascience.or.kr/article/ArticleFullRecord.jsp?cn=MHJBB6_2016_v50n2_25
Photo by Sheila Webber: Butterfly, feeding, Natural History Museum

September 8th was International Literacy Day; Global Report on Adult Learning #50ILD

Apologies for missing International Literacy Day on September 8th. This was the 50th anniversary of the day and information about it is here
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/events/prizes-and-celebrations/celebrations/international-days/literacy-day/
As part of the commemoration, UNESCO published the 3rd Global Report On Adult Learning and Education. It is subtitled "The Impact of Adult Learning and Education on health and Well-Being; Employment and the Labour Market; and Social, Civic and Community Life" and chapters discuss the evidence for these links, reporting on a monitoring survey to which 139 countries responded. The report can be downloaded at http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/global_report_on_adult_learning_and_education_calls_on_count/

Reading the Framework through the six frames

The open access journal College and Research Libraries News has started a new regular column, Perspectives on the Framework (i.e. the ACRL Information Literacy Framework). It starts with the September issue, in which Emily Drabinski wrires about Turning Inward: Reading the Framework through the six frames (in other words, she reflects on each frame of the ACRL IL Framework in relation to its own six frames: not to be confused with the 6 frames of information literacy identified earlier by Christine Bruce and her colleagues). http://crln.acrl.org/content/77/8/382.full.pdf+html
Photo by Sheila Webber: Another Rudbeckia, August 2016, Gothenburg.

Infolit journal club: 29 Sept: Using the I-LEARN model for information literacy instruction #ILread

The next information literacty blog post discussion will be on 29 September 2016 at 8pm UK time (which is 3pm US Eastern time, 12 noon Pacific time). It will be a one hour live blog post discussion on the article:
Greenwell, S. (2016). Using the I-LEARN model for information literacy instruction. Journal of Information Literacy, 10(1), 67–85. http://doi.org/10.11645/10.1.2045
Stacey Greenwell, the author (right), has written a kick-off post which is here: http://infolitjournalclub.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/using-i-learn-model-for-information.html
"Stacey has been a member of the University of Kentucky’s (Lexington, KY, USA) library faculty for fifteen years and is currently Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Research. She teaches an academic libraries course in the School of Information Science and is currently working on the second edition of an academic libraries textbook. The article she will be discussing is based upon her dissertation research."
Anyone can join this discussion! Participants aim to read at least some of the article in advance, then come along at 8pm UK time and join in the discussion by adding comments to the above blog post. You can see how this works by looking at previous discussions on the blog.

The Information Literacy User’s Guide: A Remixed Open, Online Textbook

This book is a remix "derived from SUNY's The Information Literacy User’s Guide: An Open, Online Textbook. The text has been tailored to reflect the educational objectives of The College of New Rochelle [USA] and its School of New Resources. Feel free to remix and adapt in accordance with the CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0 license."
Fazzino,L. et al. (2016). The Information Literacy User’s Guide: A Remixed Open, Online Textbook. New Rochelle, NY: College of New Rochelle. http://digitalcommons.cnr.edu/gill-publications/59/
Photo by Sheila Webber: butterfly in Gilbert's Pit, August 2016

cfp CCLI 2017: New Directions in Library Instruction and Scholarly Communications

There is a call for papers for The California Conference on Library Instruction (CCLI) 2017: New Directions in Library Instruction and Scholarly Communications, which will be held in San Francisco, USA, on May 5 2017. Proposals are solicited "about the intersection of information literacy instruction and scholarly communications." The deadline for submissions is 14 October 2016.

"College and university libraries are taking an increasing role in guiding scholarly communications activities on their campuses. As scholarly communications have evolved in the direction of open access and sharing of data, information literacy instruction continues to evolve in order to adapt to a rapidly changing research environment. These major shifts offer ripe territory for collaborative innovation at the crossroads. We are interested in presentations from librarians and other faculty with a focus on 2-year / community colleges and 4-year colleges and universities (first-year experience, upper-division instruction, and graduate instruction).
Potential topics to explore include curriculum design, assessment, or instructional design practice as they relate to digital humanities, data visualization, data management, open access scholarship, or open educational resources."
You can propose either a breakout session (60 minute presentations and workshops) or a lightning talk (5 - 7 minute presentations). More information at https://goo.gl/bIR8ih.
Photo by Sheila Webber: Butterflies feeding, Natural History Museum, August 2016

Using technology to develop our Information literacy teaching

On 18 August 2016, ALISS (Association of Librarians and Information Professionals in the Social Sciences) held a one day event and they have put the presentations online. They include:
- Using technology to develop our Information literacy teaching Catherine Radbourne, Subject Librarian for Nursing and Midwifery, City University London and Antonella Yarnold. Subject Librarian for Social Sciences City University London. The presentation is at http://www.slideshare.net/heatherdawson/using-technology-to-engage-students-in-information-literacy-antonella-yarnold-and-catherine-radbourne
- Inspiring learning for all: an alternative evaluation model from the heritage sector , Eleanor Payne, Education Officer at LSE Library and Archive. The presentation is at http://www.slideshare.net/heatherdawson/inspiring-learning-for-all-an-alternative-evaluation-model-from-the-heritage-sector "This presentation explains and explores the principles of the Inspiring Learning for All framework which is used extensively in the heritage sector to measure impact as well as plan projects and programmes"
Photo by Sheila Webber: at the Sensational Butterflies, Natural History Museum, August 2016

Being Evidence Based in Library and Information Practice

A new book is: Koufogiannakis, D. and Brettle, A. (2016). Being Evidence Based in Library and Information Practice. London: Facet. Paperback 9781783300716. Price: £54.95; CILIP members price: £43.96
There are two parts to the book "in the first part the editors explore the background to EBLIP and put forward a new model for its application in the workplace which encompasses 5 elements: Articulate, Assemble, Assess, Agree, Adapt." There is a chapter for each of these elements. The second part has chapters by other authors focusing mostly on specific sectors. The chapters in this section are:
- Practitioner-researchers and EBLIP - Virginia Wilson
- Academic libraries - Mary M. Somerville and Lorie A. Kloda
- Public libraries - Pam Ryan and Becky Cole
- Health libraries - Jonathan D. Eldredge, Joanne Gard Marshall, Alison Brettle, Heather Holmes, Lotta Haglund and Rick Wallace
- School libraries - Carol Gordon
- Special libraries - Bill Fisher
More information at http://www.facetpublishing.co.uk/title.php?id=300716
Photo by Sheila Webber: In the Sensational Butterflies, Natural History Museum, August 2016

cfp Effective Library Instruction: Inspiring Student Motivation

There is a call for chapter proposals for a book to be published by ACRL Press, called: Effective Library Instruction: Inspiring Student Motivation. Proposal submission deadline is October 1, 2016.
"The book’s primary focus is student motivation, with an emphasis on motivational techniques that can be incorporated into instruction settings where time is of the essence: one-shots, quick introductions, video tutorials, etc. We are open to studies that branch away from higher education as long as they focus on adult learners. New and completed research and case studies are welcome, provided any new studies can be completed within the timeline explained below. Chapters based on completed research must not be previously published or simultaneously submitted elsewhere."
They are looking for 2 types of chapter; firstly, research or examples of motivation-related topics e.g. "Establishing a connection between student needs and interests and the value of information literacy topics/frames" and secondly "Instruction exercises that use/encourage" motivation. Proposals should be up to 500 words, plus "a short author’s statement, and a writing sample and final manuscripts will be between 1500 and 5000 words (due July 2017).
There is more information about the required themes at http://www.blogarama.com/blogs/576888-library-writers-blog/8549094-call-for-chapters-effective-library-instruction-inspiring-student-motivation-acrl-publication
More information is also available from the editors: Sarah Steiner, Head of Research & Instruction Services, Western Carolina University, sksteiner@wcu.edu and Miriam Rigby, Social Sciences Librarian, University of Oregon, rigby@uoregon.edu
Photo by Sheila Webber: Sea and foam, near Gothenburg, August 2016

Recent articles: Assessment; Instructional design; IL education; Syllabus analysis

The latest issue of Portal: libraries and the academy (Volume 16, Number 3, July 2016, priced publication) includes:
- Instructional Design: Skills to Benefit the Library Profession by Jennifer Turner
- Using Rubrics to Assess Learning in Course-Integrated Library Instruction by Laura W. Gariepy, Jennifer A. Stout, Megan L. Hodge
- Motivated Reasoning, Political Information, and Information Literacy Education by Mark Lenker
- What Do Undergraduate Course Syllabi Say about Information Literacy? by Britt McGowan, Melissa Gonzalez, Claudia J. Stanny
- Assessment for One-Shot Library Instruction: A Conceptual Approach by Rui Wang
Go to https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/33776 for the contents page
Photo by Sheila Webber: Dahlias, Gothenburg Botanic Gardens, August 2016

Journal Club discussion #ILread

I was away last week so I couldn't participate in the Information Literacy blog-post Journal Club on Thursday 25th August, but there was an interesting discussion, which of course is still open for you to read (and add to!) People were discussing:
Turner, J. and Schomberg, J. (2016) ‘Inclusivity, Gestalt principles, and plain language in document design’, In the Library with the Lead Pipe.
Go to http://infolitjournalclub.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/inclusivity-gestalt-principles-and_7.html#comment-form to see the discussion
Photo by Sheila Webber: sculpture by Pal Svensson, Gothenburg, August 2016

2 Health Information Literacy articles: Older Irish Adults; Systematic review

McCabe, A. and Wickham, S. (2016). Health Information Literacy among Healthy Older Irish Adults. Journal of Nursing and Care, 5, 333. http://www.omicsgroup.org/journals/health-information-literacy-among-healthy-older-irish-adults-2167-1168-1000333.php?aid=69220 (open access)
"Methods: This study utilized a validated health literacy assessment tool to profile a sample of older adults in terms of health information access and utilization... Results: Of the participants recruited 40% had limited HL. The General Practitioner (GP) was considered by 80% of participants to be the first preference for sourcing health information. While 80% of the sample had Internet access at home, only half of them used it to source health information, but that 50% had substantially higher HL scores than the other 50%. ... Conclusion: The study confirmed that a cohort of older Irish people has difficulties with HL. The finding pertaining to better HL skills in those who used the Internet to source health information is interesting and requires further research"

van‘t Jagt, R.K. et al (2016). Comprehensibility of Health-Related Documents for Older Adults with Different Levels of Health Literacy: A Systematic Review. Journal of Health Communication, 21(2), 345. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10810730.2015.1049306 (priced publication)
"A systematic review was conducted to assess the available evidence for the effectiveness of interventions aiming to improve the comprehensibility of health-related documents in older adults (≥50) with different levels of health literacy.  ... Only for narratives and multiple-feature revisions (e.g., combining revisions in textual and visual characteristics) did the included studies provide evidence that they may be effective for older adults. Using narrative formats and/or multiple-feature revisions of health-related documents seem to be promising strategies for enhancing the comprehensibility of health-related documents for older adults. The lack of consistent evidence for effective interventions stresses the importance of (a) replication and (b) the use of standardized research methodologies."
Photo by Sheila Webber: Southern Archipelago, Gothenburg, August 2016

Exploring Creative Information Literacy Practices via Divergent Thinking

ACRL periodically highlight an article relevant to the ACRL framework for information literacy. The latest Framework Spotlight on Scholarship highlights Exploring Creative Information Literacy Practices via Divergent Thinking by Joseph Hartnett which can be found free at http://creativelibrarypractice.org/2016/04/12/exploring-creative-information-literacy-practices-via-divergent-thinking/
The introduction and link to the article can be found at
http://acrl.ala.org/framework/?p=276
Photo by Sheila Webber: Boat, ‎Brännö, Sweden, August 2016

Hip Hop Information Literacy

Through an article:
Bonifay, E. (2016, August 17). Hip Hop Lib Guide. Bringing Information Literacy to your Fingertips. Dallas weekly. http://www.dallasweekly.com/education/article_391b07b6-64d3-11e6-98e4-97557349860e.html
I learnt about the Hip Hop Information Literacy Libguide at https://hiphoplibguide.wordpress.com/
"The online resource seeks to reach students from around the world and succeeds in communicating and informing them in a context that is familiar, complex and captivating." It says on the LiGuide that "Hip Hop Information Literacy is comprised of a group of knowledge practices that are necessary for students in an academic setting to be cognizant of how to find, retrieve, evaluate, apply, and acknowledge cultural, visual, and data literacy information in the digital age." It draws on the ACRL IL Framework
My superficial impression is that it has information about hip hop and also uses hip hop for examples e.g. for data literacy, but that it also aims to educate in information literacy generally.
Photo by Sheila Webber: Rudbeckia, Gothenburg Botanic Gardens, August 2016

Sign the petition for a global MIL week!

There is a petition aimed at UNESCO to acknowledge and support a global Media and Information Literacy (MIL) week. Although there IS a gloabl MIL week being organised by the part of UNESCO which supports MIL, it isn't an official global event (unlike e.g. World Book Day). Having this week supported by UNESCO will help raise the profile of MIL internationally.
The petition is at https://www.change.org/p/support-the-call-for-an-internationally-recognized-global-media-and-information-literacy-week and the person who set it up is the Chair of the international committee of Global Alliance partnertships on Media and information Literacy (GAPMIL).

CPD guidelines and Best Practices for library services for children and young adults #WLIC2016

A number of guidelines and projects are either launched or officially endorsed at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress, still currently running in Columbus, USA. So far, these include:
- IFLA Guidelines for Continuing Professional Development: Principles and Best Practices. "The guidelines are intended to alert the LIS profession to the importance of investing in the development and maintenance of the expertise of staff. It aims to advise individuals, associations, and institutions in their efforts to assure ongoing learning for a profession that will be well qualified to provide excellent service to its publics." http://www.ifla.org/publications/node/10532 (currently just in English)
- The Libraries for Children and Young Adults IFLA Section launched a new project: collecting and displaying Best Practices for library services for children and young adults. "The Best Practices may be events, reading promotions, campaigns, outreaches, partnerships, innovative use of library space or some other aspect of library services. The Best Practices hopefully serve as a source of inspiration, benchmarking and a way to reach other library professionals for advice and discussion." Phase 1 for the project involves collecting videos showing best practices on the Section's Youtube channel. See http://www.ifla.org/node/10425 for more information.
Photo by Sheila webber: a conference hall, August 2016

Information Literacy in Europe, MIL and #SDGs #WLIC2016

I presented in the Information Literacy session at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Columbus, USA today. My powerpoint is embedded below, and I've also put all the links in my presentation, under that.

Information Literacy in Europe, MIL and Sustainable Development goals from Sheila Webber

Links from the presentation (in the order they are in the presentation (I did this rather quickly, apologies that it is roughly formatted)
•SCONUL 7 Pillars model http://www.sconul.ac.uk/sites/default/files/documents/coremodel.pdf
•James Herring’s model http://farrer.csu.edu.au/PLUS/
•Welsh Information Literacy project & Framework https://libraries.wales/national-information-literacy-framework/
•Scottish IL Community of Practice & Framework http://www.therightinformation.org/framework-home/
•Royal College of Nursing’s Nursing, midwifery health and social care information literacy competences (2011) https://www.rcn.org.uk/professional-development/publications/pub-003847
•InformALL’s Determining the Value of Information Literacy for Employers tool https://www.informall.org.uk/employment/il-value/il-value-tool/

•Information Literacy Standards for University students (2009) (Germany) (see http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/Events/mil2016_lativa_forum_fabian_franke.pdf)
•AKVS/ IVIG (2008). The concept of Information education in universities in the Czech Republic (includes standards for IL) http://www.akvs.cz/komise-iniciativy/komise-ivig/dokumenty/zakladni-dokumenty-o-iv-a-ig/
•InFlow model (outcome of a European project, iTec) https://sites.google.com/site/inflowinformationflow/
•GAPMIL page http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/media-development/media-literacy/global-alliance-for-partnerships-on-media-and-information-literacy/

2nd European Media and Information Literacy Forum: links
•Storify https://storify.com/sheilayoshikawa/2nd-european-mil-forum-riga-latvia-27-29-june-2016
•My liveblogs of the conference: http://information-literacy.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/2ndeurmil
•Conference presentations http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/media-development/media-literacy/global-alliance-for-partnerships-on-media-and-information-literacy/second-european-media-and-information-literacy-forum/
•Riga Recommendations on MIL in a Shifting Media and Information Landscape http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/riga_recommendations_highlight_media_and_information_literac/
•Twitter stream https://twitter.com/search?q=%232ndeurmil

Sustainable Development Goals https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs

References
•Blasco Olivares, A. & Durban Roca, G. (2012). La competencia informacional en la enseñanza obligatoria a partir de la articulación de un modelo específico. Revista Española de Documentación Científica, 100-135. http://redc.revistas.csic.es/index.php/redc/article/viewArticle/746 (chapter in a book edited by A. Calderón-Rehecho, Competencias sin competencia: la ALFIN y sus circunstancias)
•Grizzle, A. and Carme Torras Calvo (Eds) (2013). Media and Information Literacy: policy and strategy guidelines. Paris: UNESCO.
•Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia. (2007). Real Decreto 1631/2006, de 29 de diciembre, por el que se establecen las enseñanzas mínimas correspondientes a la Educación Secundaria Obligatoria. (BOE-A-2007-238). http://www.boe.es/
•UNESCO (2016) Media and Information Literacy. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/media-development/media-literacy/mil-as-composite-concept/
•Wilson, C. et al (2011) Media and information literacy curriculum for teachers. Paris: UNESCO. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/resources/publications-and-communication-materials/publications/full-list/media-and-information-literacy-curriculum-for-teachers/

IFLA Statement on Net Neutrality and Zero-Rating #WLIC2016

The IFLA Statement on Net Neutrality and Zero-Rating was launched at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Columbus, USA. They define network neutrality and zero-rating (I have copied some of this text, below) and identify the issues for libraries and librarians (which touch very much on issues of access on equality). The Statement can be downloaded at http://www.ifla.org/publications/node/10700
"Network neutrality, or net neutrality, is the principle that all data or traffic on the Internet should be treated equally. Internet users’ freedom of choice should not be restricted or affected giving preferential treatment to certain content, services, applications, or devices."

"Zero-rating is the practice according to which data consumption of specific applications or services is not counted against users’ data allowance. ... Zero-rating violates the principle of net neutrality because the services that are zero-rated are positively discriminated, thus allowing ISPs to orientate the choice of the users. Moreover, in spite of the acclaimed risk that infrastructure may not bear traffic growth, zero rated services attract inordinate levels of traffic due to their low or no cost. This distorts the consumption of content and can lead to the “walled garden effect” where a user’s experience of the Internet is limited to the zero-rated services alone."

#Wikipedia and libraries #WLIC2016 @GLAMWiki

I'm attending a session on Wikipedia and Libraries at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Columbus, USA. It started with a presentation from Alex Stinson and Jake Orlowitz (Wikimedia Foundation/Wikipedia Library, United States). This presentation is at https://goo.gl/DPDqUQ and so I won't give a detailed account of it, but here are some main points.
They indicated the scale of wikipedia in terms of editors, content and reach. They mentioned some apps including the medical app. The speakers stressed the importance of references and verification of information, and described how they were trying to ensure that wikipedia entries included references to articles behind a paywall (i.e. they wanted to make sure that articles from priced journals were not excluded as evidence). They highlighted that "50% to 90% of physicians use Wikipedia" (as a starting point) and there have been 10,000 downloads of the medical app (which is also available in Chineses, Farsi and Arabic).
The speakers also mentioned the 1Lib1Ref campaign. Finally, they talked about some specific Wikipedia projects and picked out some points from: Todorinova, L. (2015). Wikipedia and undergraduate research trajectories. New Library World, 116 (3/4), 201-212. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/NLW-07-2014-0086

Two draft discussion papers were prepared for this session, both of which will be publicised as consultation documents. The presentation I linked to above i.e. https://goo.gl/DPDqUQ also includes both the presentations that were made, which picked out key points from the papers. The academic library presentation was made by Vicki McDonald (State Library of New South Wales, Australia), who talked about how her own library had contributed to, and used, Wikipedia. This included creating a manual for Wikipedia editing. This page includes a link to the training manual https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GLAM/State_Library_of_New_South_Wales

The consultation papers can already be downloaded, but there isn't a consultation mode yet. One paper is on public libraries http://2016.ifla.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/08/112-IFLAWikipediaandPublicLibrariesDiscussionDRAFT.pdf and Wikipedia and one on academic and research libraries and Wikipedia http://2016.ifla.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/08/112-IFLAWikipediaAcademicandResearchLibrariesDiscussioDRAFT.pdf. Both of them describe the different kinds of projects and activities that libraries might adopt using Wikipedia, with existing examples.