Information practices of refugees

The online pre-publication issue of the Journal of documentation has an article:
Lloyd, A., Kennan, M., Thompson,K. and Qayyum, A. (2012). Connecting with new information landscapes: Information literacy practices of refugees, Journal of Documentation, 69(1).
Information literacy practice is defined as "a coconstruction brought about by those who are co-located and participating in the everyday life of a community". Interviews and focus groups were used with refugees and service providers in an Australian town. The researchers found that there were phases of settlement (during which time the refugees had to develop new information practices), that refugees need help to cope with the new information landscape, that compliance (e.g. knowing about relevant laws) and everyday focus are the information foci to start with, and that visual and social information are important (including using storytelling).
The journal home page is here http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=17062806
There is a related article: Lloyd, A., Qayyum, A. and Thompson,K. and (2011) Settling in: the relationship between information and social inclusion. Australian academic and research libraries, 42 (3),191-211.
Photo by Sheila Webber: Autumn park, October 2012

Latest issue of Reference Services Review

Volume 40 issue 3 is the latest issue of the priced publicaion of Reference Services Review. Articles include:
- Relationship Building with Students and Instructors of ESL: Bridging the Gap for Library Instruction and Services: Julia A. Martin, Kathleen M. Reaume, Elaine M. Reeves, Ryan D. Wright
- Outreach Initiatives in Academic Libraries, 2009 - 2011: Melissa Dennis
- Reaching Out: Connecting Students to Their Personal Librarian: Cynthia L. Henry, Kimberly K Vardeman, Carrye K Syma
- Post-graduate health promotion students assess their information literacy: Catherine Hodgens, Marguerite C Sendall, Lynn Evans (there is a free pre-print version of this article archived here: http://eprints.qut.edu.au/50319/)
- "It’s Research Made Easier!" SMS and Chat Reference Perceptions: Margie Ruppel, Amy Vecchione
- A LibGuides presence in a Blackboard environment: Aaron Bowen
The home page for the journal is here: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=0090-7324
Photo by Sheila Webber: Wild rose, Hailsham, July 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).

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

Library Trends: 2nd infolit special issue

The 2nd special issue of Library Trends (volume 60, issue 3, 2012) to focus on information literacy has been published. This is a priced journal at http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/library_trends/
Articles include:
Exploring health information use by older Australians within everyday life by Christine Yates et al.
Information and health literacy in the balance: findings from a study exploring the use of ICTs in weight management by Audrey Marshall et al.
Supporting informed learning in the twenty-first century by Christine Bruce et al.
The information world of parents: a study of the use and understanding of information by parents of young children by Christopher Walker
Teen content creators: experiences of using information to learn by Mary Ann Harlan et al.
Helping the non-scholar scholar by Lark Birdsong and Jennifer Freitas
From Lampitt to libraries: formulating state standards to embed information literacy across colleges by Jacqui Weetman DaCosta and Eleonora Dubicki
Student learning and workplace IL: a case study by Barbara D’Angelo
Photo by Sheila Webber: Garlic mustard, Hailsham, April 2012.

First Year Experience: nursing curriculum; arts students

Two articles from this issue of the International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education (an open access journal).
Cassar, A., Funk, R., Hutchings, D., Henderson, F. & Pancini, G. (2012). "Student transitions – evaluation of an embedded skills approach to scaffolded learning in the nursing curriculum." The International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education, 3(1), 35-48. This included collaboration with librarians on information literacy. "The embedded skills approach adopted in this unit attempts to ensure that students transitioning from a variety of contexts acquire a range of introductory academic skills in a supported learning environment. A mixed methods evaluation of the unit of study over two years (2009-2010) has revealed that students are mostly appreciative of the scaffolded and embedded skills delivery format and cite that elements of the model have supported their learning needs." pdf at https://www.fyhe.com.au/journal/index.php/intjfyhe/article/viewFile/102/103

Secondly there is this article, which focuses on information literacy:
Cameron, C., George, L. & Henley, M. (2012). "All hands on deck: A team approach to preparing year one arts students for their first major assignment. A Practice Report." The International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education, 3(1), 101-108.
Photo by Sheila Webber: Trees reflected in windscreen, March 2012.

Religious information literacy: article

Gunton, L. (2011) "Religious information literacy: using information to learn in church community." Australian Library Journal, 60 (2), 155-164.
"What informs members of the church community as they learn? Do the ways people engage with information differ according to the circumstances in which they learn? Informed learning, or the ways in which people use information in the learning experience and the degree to which they are aware of that, has become a focus of contemporary information literacy research. This essay explores the nature of informed learning in the context of the church as a learning community. It is anticipated that insights resulting from this exploration may help church organisations, church leaders and lay people to consider how information can be used to grow faith, develop relationships, manage the church and respond to religious knowledge, which support the pursuit of spiritual wellness and the cultivation of lifelong learning. Information professionals within the church community and the broader information profession are encouraged to foster their awareness of the impact that engagement with information has in the learning experience and in the prioritising of lifelong learning in community contexts." http://eprints.qut.edu.au/41943/1/Gunton_Lyndelle_Religious_information_literacy_ALJ_May_2011.pdf
Photo by Sheila webber: Church, Tórshavn, Faroes