Will you share this without clicking?

Thanks to Megan Blauvelt Heuer who shared (on ili-l) a Washington Post story:
Dewey, C. (2016, ). 6 in 10 of you will share this link without reading it, a new, depressing study says. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/06/16/six-in-10-of-you-will-share-this-link-without-reading-it-according-to-a-new-and-depressing-study/#
I felt I ought to, ahem, read the story before sharing it here. It highlights a spoof article in Science Post in which only the first paragraph was actual meaningful text, but which nevertheless was shared widely, often by people who evidently hadn't realised most of the article was "ipsem lorum" (meaningless filler text in latin). Dewey then goes on the discuss findings in an ACM paper. Since the very topic of the article was "sharing without reading" I thought I should at least skim this article too.

Interestingly, I would say that, whilst Dewey doubtless had read the paper, I would not say that she gives an unbiased picture of its message. It is late at night and I haven't read the stats properly, but I think the ACM paper compared the number of shares of a URL (on Twitter) with the number of times the URL itself was clicked. Although this implies that some people shared without clicking or reading, it does not actually make that claim. However (as the title of her article implies) Dewey's focus is on people who share links without having clicked them themselves, which she sees as part of the "oft-demoralizing cesspool that is Internet culture" (she also mentions "the utter lack of intelligent online discourse around any remotely complicated, controversial topic").

In fact this could make it an interesting article for information literacy discussion from several angles: how people treat spoof articles; the issue of sharing web links that you haven't investigated at all; the way in which mass media simplify and possibly distort the findings of scientic papers.

It did make me reflect: I do share items on this blog that I haven't read in full (you may be shocked to learn) but I have always checked the link and skimmed enough of it to tell whether I think it is worth looking at. However, I may sometimes share a link on Twitter without reading it, if it's from someone I trust and I think my followers might find it interesting. I would imagine that some people might share my tweets of these blog posts similarly (do reply if you have any comments on this - though bear in mind that I moderate comments - as otherwise I have loads of spam - so there will be a delay before it appears).
Photo by Sheila Webber:  trees, June 2016

Google-map of information literacy pages on university websites

Thanks to Alejandro Uribe-Tirado for alerting me to the fact that the linked Google-map of Information literacy in university libraries in South America and the rest of the world (it is particularly strong in identifying Hispanic websites) is up to date (with 600 links) and can be found here: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?ll=21.724722%2C-49.87793&spn=30.906208%2C92.548828&hl=es&oe=UTF8&msa=0&source=embed&ie=UTF8&mid=1bGIKuxOoP2QHC9eoxtqGLwWyBGE (actually there are a few libraries which are not in universities, but most of them are).

A paper which does some analysis of the Ibero-American information is:
Uribe-Tirado, A. and Pinto, M. (2013). La incorporación de la alfabetización informacional en las bibliotecas universitarias iberoamericanas. Análisis comparativo a partir de la información de sus sitios web. [Integration of information literacy in South American university libraries: comparative analysis based on information on their websites]. Anales de Documentación, 16(2), 1-10. [In Spanish] http://eprints.rclis.org/20803/ English abstract "This article seeks to identify from the information provided by the websites of university libraries in the 22 Ibero-American countries, the possible levels of integration since these libraries are doing for training in information literacy. The results identify that a total of 2136 Ibero-American university libraries; only 171 have information literacy training programs (6.2%). The paper evidences that from the Ibero-American context, information literacy is not yet the full extent you would expect and it is necessary. However, increasingly, there are prestigious universities who are taking on the challenge of this training and therefore, by working collaborative, benchmarking and sharing strategies and learning objects will be a guide for most Ibero-American universities develops this training."

Advanced (systematic reviews) Searching Techniques Workshop

There is an Advanced Searching Techniques Workshop on 25-26 July 2016 at Cardiff University, Wales. "This interactive workshop will provide a step-by-step guide for constructing an advance search strategy for a systematic review with a focus on the health/medical literature". Cost is £400 (Reduced fee of £350 may be available for Cardiff University and NISCHR portfolio attendees) Go to http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/learn/training/courses/systematic-reviews/searching-techniques/ for more information.

New articles: Information literacy and leisure; LIS skills; personal archiving

The latest issue of open access journal Information Research (volume 21 no. 2, 2016) is available and includes:
- Andrew Demasson, Helen Partridge and Christine Bruce: Information literacy and the serious leisure participant: variation in the experience of using information to learn
- Katherine Howard, Helen Partridge, Hilary Hughes and Gillian Oliver: Passion trumps pay: a study of the future skills requirements of information professionals in galleries, libraries, archives and museums in Australia
- Maja Krtalić, Hana Marčetić and Milijana Mičunović: Personal digital information archiving among students of social sciences and humanities
http://www.informationr.net/ir/21-2/infres212.html
Photo by Sheila Webber: daisies, June 2016

Copyright and E-learning

New book this month: Secker, J. and Morrison, C. (2016). Copyright and E-learning: A guide for practitioners. 2nd edition. Facet Publishing. ISBN 9781783300600. Price: £49.95. CILIP members price: £39.96.
It says "Through its practically based overview of current and emerging copyright issues facing those working in e-learning, this book will help equip professionals with the tools, skills and understanding they need to work confidently and effectively in the virtual learning environment with the knowledge that they are doing so legally." More information at http://www.facetpublishing.co.uk/title.php?id=300600
Photo by Sheila Webber: Handkerchief tree (Davidia involucrata) again, Sheffield Botanic Gardens, June 2016

July 1st deadline for research applications

The UK's CILIP Information Literacy Group provides funds of up to £10,000 for high quality research through an annual bursary scheme. The IL Group seeks "proposals that have the potential for high impact beyond HE and librarianship.... The bursary might be used, for example, to pay for staff to be released to work on a research project by funding appropriate cover for unpaid leave (2-3 months). Half the funding would be presented at the beginning of a project and the other half upon successful completion of measurable objectives. Different modes of research may attract different levels of funding; for example, a literature review may attract a lower tier of funding (£2,500), while funding for field work could range from £5,000 to a maximum of £10,000." The principal investigator (the person who leads the research) must be a member of the CILIP Information Literacy Group. A key aim is "to help practitioners to gather evidence or conduct action / field research in support of well-framed research questions." In particular ILG are interested in funding projects which:
- "demonstrate collaboration between sectors
- "have tangible, practical benefits (i.e. produce a new process or product with potential application beyond education)
- "address current issues affecting areas outside of librarianship
- "show potential for further large-scale study, dissemination and exploitation"
The next closing date for applications is 1 July 2016
http://www.cilip.org.uk/information-literacy-group/sponsorship-and-bursaries
Photo by Sheila Webber: candytuft, June 2016

Teachmeet in Chelmsford, 9 July

There is a free Teach meet in Chelmsford (at Anglia Ruskin University), UK, on the afternoon of 9 July 2016. It is organised by ARLG Eastern and CILIP East. "Please join us for an afternoon of knowledge sharing. Everyone is welcome to speak for as little or long as they like. Why not use your time to run a game? Or spark a discussion? We will have enough room for break out groups for informal learning on sofas and for more academic style lecture learning, how you use the space is up to you..."
More information at http://www.cilip.org.uk/east-england/events/teachmeet-east
Book at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/teachmeet-east-tools-and-tips-for-teaching-tickets-26028268251
Photo by Sheila Webber: Handkerchief tree (Davidia involucrata), Sheffield Botanic Gardens, June 2016

Outreach to Faculty: participate in online discussion

The ACRL ULS Academic Outreach Committee is running a series of Online Roundtable Discussions, each lasting 1 hour, limited to 9 participants [this was in the announcement, but the registration form I looked at said 12] and 1 facilitator (like a face-to-face roundtable discussion). These are hosted on Google Hangouts on Air. The sessions are recorded and posted to the ACRL ULS Academic Outreach Committee YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjxSyisSf1WgdclboIzfM7Q
June’s Topic is Outreach to Faculty. "We will talk about reaching faculty, and developing programming for faculty whether they're new, tenure-track, or adjuncts. Come prepared to talk about what you're doing, share ideas, successes, and lessons learned. Join us for a lively discussion and leave with great ideas to bring back to your library!" At time of writing there were places for participants, or you can watch the live broadcast.
Sign up to participate at http://connect.ala.org/node/253918
Tuesday, June 14: US times: 10am PST / 11am MST / 12pm CST / 1pm EST; this means it starts 6pm UK time
Wednesday, June 15: US times 11am PST / 12pm MST / 1pm CST / 2pm EST; this means it starts 7pm UK time
Thursday, June 16: US times 12pm PST / 1pm MST / 2pm CST / 3pm EST; this means it starts 8pm UK time
You need a valid Gmail account to participate, and must use a microphone.
Live broadcast will be at https://plus.google.com/+ACRLULSAcademicOutreachCommittee/post
Photo by Sheila Webber: marguerites, June 2016

New articles in #JInfoLit : instructor perceptions; assignments; schoolchildern's IL; I-LEARN

The latest issue of the open access Journal of Information Literacy (volume 10 no. 1, 2016) has been published: it includes:
- Instructor perceptions of student information literacy: comparing international IL models to reality by Patricia Sandercock
- Student perspectives: redesigning a research assignment handout through the academic literacies model by Alison Hicks
- Auditing information literacy skills of secondary school students in Singapore by Shaheen Majid, Yun-Ke Chang, Shubert Foo
- Using the I-LEARN model for information literacy instruction by Stacey Greenwell
- Find the gap: evaluating library instruction reach using syllabi by Erin Alcock, Kathryn Rose
There are also numerous conference reports, and book reviews.
https://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/ojs/index.php/JIL/issue/view/178
Photo by Sheila Webber: wild rose, June 2016

Teaching Information Literacy Reframed: 50+ framework-based exercises for creating information-literate learners

New publication: Burkhardt, J. M. (2016). Teaching Information Literacy Reframed: 50+ framework-based exercises for creating information-literate learners. Facet. 9781783301638. Price: £49.95 CILIP members price: £39.96
http://www.facetpublishing.co.uk/title.php?id=301638#
This is also published by ALA Neal Schuman http://www.alastore.ala.org/detail.aspx?ID=11694
Photo by Sheila Webber, May 2016

LIRT top 20 articles

The Library Instruction Round Table have announced their top 20 articles for 2016: you can find the annotated list (with links) in their latest newsletter at http://www.ala.org/lirt/sites/ala.org.lirt/files/content/archive/2016jun.pdf
Photo by Sheila Webber: the Sheffield peregrine chicks have fledged (flown for the first time) - if you look closely you can see the anxious parent birds swooping round the tower where they nest - today I saw 2 of the fledglings perched near the nesting platform. The blog here has some wonderful photos and the webcam of the nesting box is here (you still see a bird in and around it now and then)

New issue of #comminfolit : Threshold concepts; Reflection; Assessment; Zines; Public librarians' skills

The latest issue of Communications in Information Literacy (CIL) (volume 10, number 1, 2016, open access) is published:
- Empowering Students to Make Sense of an Information Saturated World: The Evolution of Information Searching and Analysis by James H. Wittebols
- Two Parts Reflection, One Part Selfie: A Visual Alternative to the Minute Paper by Kellie Meehlhause
- Identifying Threshold Concepts for Information Literacy: A Delphi Study by Lori Townsend, Amy R. Hofer, Silvia Lin Hanick, Korey Brunetti
- Institutional Assessment of Student Information Literacy Ability: A Case Study by Christopher Peter Chan
- Reporting or Reconstructing? The Zine as a Medium for Reflecting on Research Experiences by Silvia Vong
- Creating an Engaging Library Orientation: First Year Experience Courses at University of California, San Diego by Crystal Goldman, Dominique Turnbow, Amanda Roth, Lia Friedman, Karen Heskett
- The Development of Digital Literacy and Inclusion Skills of Public Librarians by Konstantina Martzoukou, Joanneke Elliott
http://www.comminfolit.org/index.php?journal=cil&page=issue&op=view&path[]=19
Photo by Sheila Webber: summer in Weston Park, Sheffield, June 2016

Second European Media and Information Literacy Forum

The Second European Media and Information Literacy Forum takes place in Riga, Latvia, 27-29 June 2016. Participation is free and there are still some places at the moment. It is sponsored by UNESCO, the EU, the Government of the Republic of Latvia and the Global Alliance for Partnerships on Media and Information Literacy. The Theme is Promoting media and information literacy in a shifting communication/media landscape for open and secure societies. You can download the draft programme and register from the website. I am contributing to the opening plenary and chairing another.
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/

Recent articles: Information landscape of refugees; Collaborative inquiry; Politicians use of Twitter; Health literacy; Understanding

The latest issue of the Journal of Information Science (vol. 42, no. 3: priced publication) is a special issue with papers from the i3 conference, and a number of them relate to information literacy, information practice or information behaviour:
- David Bawden and Lyn Robinson: Information and the gaining of understanding
- Annemaree Lloyd and Jane Wilkinson: Knowing and learning in everyday spaces (KALiEds): Mapping the information landscape of refugee youth learning in everyday spaces
- Pia Borlund: Framing of different types of information needs within simulated work task situations: An empirical study in the school context
- Jannica Heinström and Eero Sormunen: Students’ collaborative inquiry – Relation to approaches to studying and instructional intervention
- Alison Hicks and Annemaree Lloyd: It takes a community to build a framework: Information literacy within intercultural settings
- Heidi Enwald et al.: Everyday health information literacy among young men compared with adults with high risk for metabolic syndrome – a cross-sectional population-based study
- Lynn Killick, Hazel Hall, Alistair S Duff, and Mark Deakin: The census as an information source in public policy-making
- Simon Burnett and Lyndsay Bloice: Linking for influence: Twitter linked content in the Scottish Referendum televised debates
- Michael Olsson: Making sense of the past: The embodied information practices of field archaeologists
The contents page is at http://jis.sagepub.com/content/42/3.toc
Photo by Sheila Webber: summer coming along, May 2016

Critical Literacy Unconference #cilunconf #ecil2016

The Critical Literacy Unconference takes place on 9 October 2016 in Prague, Czech Republic, the afternoon before the European Conference on Information Literacy (which is 10-13 October 2016). You can pitch a session beforehand or on the day "In keeping with the ECIL 2016 theme, Information Literacy in the Inclusive Society, the Critical Information Literacy Unconference seeks to take a reflexive look at how information literacy practices may inadvertently hinder inclusivity and may be improved through critical approaches. We invite you to consider how critical information literacy approaches can contribute to, explain and/or reframe the debate on inclusivity in the field of Information Literacy.​" It is organised by ECIl and the Radical Librarians Collective.  http://cilunconference.wix.com/home
Photo by Sheila webber: my apple blossom, May 2016

Value of trained information professionals

CILIP (the UK's Chartered Instititute of Library and Information Professionals) has just published a report, commissioned from the University of Salfordw, hich identifies evidence supporting the employment of trained and professionally registered library, information and knowledge professionals. The report on the Value of trained information professionals is at http://www.cilip.org.uk/about/projects-reviews/value-trained-information-professionals

Reports from #ckviii day 2: Focusing on students: Librarians and writing tutors working together; Lisa Hinchliffe's keynote

More from Pamela McKinney who is attending the Creating Knowledge conference in Reykjavik. Pam writes here about 2 talks:
(1) "Focusing on students: Librarians and writing tutors working together: Miritt Zisser and Bodil Moberg, Karolinska Institutet Universitetsbiblioteket, Stockholm, Sweden (Presenting authors)
"This is a Large library with 120 employees and a student body of 6000. Academic writing support has been located in the library since 2008. Students can get support with writing texts in either Swedish or English, and get support with information searching.
"They found that they were often referring students between the two different services, indicating that Students had difficultly in determining the nature of their own inquiry. So they have been experimenting with running various development sessions jointly with a librarian and an academic writing tutor, for example a plagiarism seminar and a 2 hour workshop where they attempt to collaboratively write an essay with a students to model the research and writing process. They also run events called "late night at the library" where they offer targeted support at assessment time from writing tutors and librarians. The collaboration is fruitful for identifying new ideas for activities they could do to enhance support for students, and gives both professional groups a wider understanding of students' working processes.
(2) "Lisa Hinchliffe, University of Illinois, USA, @LisaLibrarian, gave the final keynote talk.
"Lisa outlined the framework for her presentation with some questions. Firstly she asked us "are you information literate?" But not everyone in the audience raised their hands, which she said indicated that IL is a difficult concept to pin down and is due to the contextual nature of information literacy.
"Teaching isn't telling, it's about creating learning environments" this can be a library building as a space for learning as well as active teaching sessions.
"Lisa helped create the ACRL standards for libraries in higher education which sets out the 9 areas of library activity. Number 3 relates to the educational role of libraries but this is not just restricted to "just" information literacy teaching, but also how libraries can facilitate lifelong learning. Lisa challenged us to produce our own definitions of IL before going on to discuss the unfolding of formal definitions of IL. Christine Bruce challenged the idea that there is one view of IL with her work on the seven faces or conceptions of information literacy.
"The Prague declaration tied IL to the information society and lifelong learning, and this was extended in the Moscow declaration on IL. Is there a right way to be information literate? Given the situated nature of information needs and information behaviour this is difficult to answer positively. "Many students in the us take their entire college degree on their phone, but do they therefore have access to the right information. We like to think that information is positive and empowering but actually there are times when information is challenging and upsetting. Some of us deliberately choose to reject information, and this was one of the findings of Kondwani Wella in his research on sero-discordant couples in Malawi. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/10743/
"Lisa advocates information literacy as a way of life, to support lifelong learning."
Thanks again to Pam for her reports from the conference!
Photo by Pam McKinney: Street art in Reykjavik, Iceland, June 2016

Reports from #ckviii day 2: Partners in information literacy: The research mentor program at UNH

Pamela McKinney continues her reports from the Creating Knowledge conference. Pam writes:
"Partners in information literacy: The research mentor program at UNH: Ann Donahue, Kim Donovan, and Carolyn Gamtso, University of New Hampshire, Manchester, United States of America (presenting authors)
"The Research mentor programme began in 2002 and is a collaboration between the library and the Centre for Academic Enrichment. They make extensive use of paid peer tutors, who are trained in writing, research and how to support learning in HE. The library also then offers training in IL, as they relate to the information that tutors might need in a one to one appointment with a tutee. They use the ACRL framework to provide a conceptual and theoretical framework for the IL classes.
"The Boston marathon bombing is used as a stimulus for discussion about information sources and information quality, and this develops knowledge of the "scholarship as conversation" frame.

The presenters have published extensively about their activities and the bibliography can be seen in the photo [taken by Pam of the slide at the conference, click on it to see larger size]."

The references include this open access article:
Donahue, A. (2015) Charting Success: Using Practical Measures to Assess Information Literacy Skills in the First-Year Writing Course. Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, 10(2). https://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/EBLIP/article/view/24183
Photos by Pam McKinney: Conference food, and conference slide

Reports from #ckviii day 2: Implementing Team Based Learning in an information literacy course

More from Pamela McKinney at the Creating Knowledge conference in Reykjavik! Pam writes:
"Implementing Team Based Learning in an information literacy course: Dr. Marijn Post (Presenting author), Marja Duizendstraal, Marian Van Harmelen, and Renée De Waal, Wageningen UR, Wageningen, Netherlands
"Marijn identified the challenges in motivating students to improve their IL capabilities. She heard about the team-based learning at the Lilac conference in 2014 (I also went to this session!) TBL for Il teaching has a small research evidence base, however there have been publications looking at the practical application of TBL for IL. Marijn introduced the TBL model which is available at http://www.teambasedlearning.org and outlined how they implemented TBL with 1st year students in nutrition and health.
"Students did really like using the scratch card! I remember enjoying this part of the LILAC workshop session, showing that everyone likes a gimmick! The method features lots of peer discussion and also open discussion with the tutor."
"The implementation was evaluated through student feedback and a statistical analysis of students exam results to see if their grades were higher than in the previous year. The findings were that students did score higher in their exam, and that they reported spending more time than usual preparing for the class and found the individual elements of the TBL model useful for supporting their learning. Overall the librarians thought that students were more engaged and active in the IL classes."
Photo by Pam McKinney: mossy rocks at the Blue Lagoon, Iceland

Report from #ckviii day 1!

My colleague Pam McKinney is supplying me with reports and pictures from the Creating Knowledge conference in Reykjavik. Here's her report on day 1!

"It is really exciting to be here in Reykjavik for the 9th nordinfolit information literacy conference. The theme of the conference is Practices, goals and visions for information literacy in higher education, and there is a truly international set of delegates and presenters a and I'm really proud to be representing the university of Sheffield information school. The opening keynote was given by Anneke Dirkx from Leiden University library in the Netherlands. Anneke gave a critical overview of the ACRL information literacy standards, which have widely used in the Netherlands, the new ACRL IL framework, which is still in development. The new framework reflect changing conceptions of information literacy, but universities are still determining if the framework will be as useful for them as it is more conceptual and less practical. She then went on to look at the SCONUL seven pillars model and how this has been mapped onto the vitae researcher development framework. This framework is more popular with the research led institutions in the Netherlands as it speaks to them from a researcher standpoint but in more practically oriented institutions it is less popular. It was interesting to reflect on the differing benefits and challenges of applying these models and frameworks in different contexts, and hear how they can be applied in a practical way."

"Employing students as "peer inquiry specialists" at UCLA was the focus of the presentation from Danielle Salomon, Julia Glassman and Simon Lee. It was interesting how much their positive experience of employing slightly higher level students to support the IL development of new students mirrored the experiences of project leaders in the CILASS projects (Centre for Inquiry Based Learning in the Arts and Social Sciences). They also spoke about The need for librarians to work in partnership not just with academics but also other professional groups in the university and many presentations from Gothenberg university, University College Norway, Copenhagen Business School and University of Alaska Anchorage reflected this theme. It seems that these collaborations are key to embedding IL in students' learning experiences and in making IL an integral part of curricula.

"The second keynote speaker was Alison Head from the University of Washington who gave an overview of the project information literacy research that has taken place in the US over the last 9 years. One of the striking features for me about Alison's presentation was the finding that students seem fairly confident with searching for information, but struggle with defining and narrowing a topic in order to start a search. This then needs to be addressed with IL teaching and reflects a change in emphasis from traditional approaches."
Pam has already sent me a few more reports, so I will post more from her today and tomorrow
Photos by Pam McKinney: Icelandic water, and the conference venue, June 2016