Information literacy presentations from WILU conference

There are abstracts and presentations from the major Canadian conference, WILU, which took place in May 2012. Numerous very interesting presentations e.g. (to choose a few at random)
- Massive! Open! Online!: Understanding MOOCs and Their Impact on Library Instruction and Services
- Faculty Members’ Perceptions of Technology-Oriented Support by Liaison Librarians at the University of Alberta
- Reel Life, Reel Students, Reel Experiences: Videos as a Teaching and Learning Tool
- Best practices for Very Large Team Teaching: A Case Study of a Graduate Course in Health Librarianship
- A Sampling of Post-Secondary Integrated Information Literacy Programs in British Columbia
Abstracts and links at http://sites.macewan.ca/wilu2012/program/program-abstracts/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Trees, shadow, autumn, November 2012

Study of American graduates and employers

The latest report of Project Information Literacy (PIL) is the output from interviews with 23 employers in the USA and 33 recent graduates from US universities. They were asked about the ways in which they were expected to work with information in the workplace. Similar results to some previous studies in this area emerged e.g. the need to find and present information to short deadlines and the need to work well with others to solve information problems. The graduates did feel that some of the skills the developed at university (e.g. being able to evaluate information) were valuable in the workplace and there are some interesting quotes. "This report is the first in a new research initiative at PIL called the "The Passage Studies." These studies investigate the information transitions young adults go through at critical junctures in their lives." The full report is at http://projectinfolit.org/pdfs/PIL_fall2012_workplaceStudy_FullReport.pdf
There is a prereview video about the new study http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gOtjexhyvE&feature=youtu.be
Photo by Sheila Webber: Red leaves against blue sky, October 2012

Research project into delivery of Information Literacy and Digital Scholarship

SCONUL (Society for College, National and University Libraries) and RIN (Research Information Network) are funding a year-long research project into delivery of Information Literacy and Digital Scholarship. There are two strands to the project. The first strand, co-ordinated by Research Information Network (RIN) on behalf of Research Information and Digital Literacies Coalition (RIDLs), aims to identify and promote "good practice in information handling and data management training and development across the (UK) Higher Education and research sectors."
The second strand, coordinated by SCONUL under the JISC Developing
Digital Literacies (DDL) programme, "aims to identify, harvest, and use materials to progress the development of digital professional expertise."
Stephane Goldstein (RIN) and Alison Mackenzie (SCONUL) are project leaders and Charlie Inskip is the project officer. More info at http://rilads.wordpress.com
Photo by Sheila Webber: autumn branches, October 2012

Recent articles

Journal of academic librarianship (priced publication) http://www.journals.elsevier.com/the-journal-of-academic-librarianship/
- Greer, K. et al (2012) "Beyond the Web Tutorial: Development and Implementation of an Online, Self-Directed Academic Integrity Course at Oakland University." Journal of academic librarianship, 38 (5), 251-258
- Gibbs, D. et al (2012) "Assessing the Research Needs of Graduate Students at Georgetown University" Journal of academic librarianship, 38 (5), 268-276
- Weiner, S. (2012) "Institutionalizing Information Literacy" Journal of academic librarianship, 38 (5), 287-293. [This is a slideshare of the same name, by her http://www.slideshare.net/infolit_group/weiner-13631500]
- Baro, E. and Keboh, T. (2012) "Teaching and Fostering Information Literacy Programmes: A Survey of Five University Libraries in Africa" Journal of academic librarianship, 38 (5), 311-315
Photo by Sheila Webber: autumn anemones and foliage, October 2012

Survey for academic librarians

Laura Simmons (Assistant Professor, Simmons College) is conducting a survey of reference and instruction/ information literacy librarians' approach to teaching. This survey is a follow up to a study that was recently published in The Journal of Academic Librarianship, on academics' perspectives on information literacy. "The survey should only take about 15 minutes to complete and your participation is GREATLY appreciated" she says. The survey is at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RPGQ8WL
Photo by Sheila Webber: Prizewinning striped aubergines at Blackheath Framers' market

Dissertations on information literacy

There are a few online PhD dissertations relevant to information literacy that can be accessed via the British Library's ethos service. You have to register (free). If the thesis are not already digitised (the ones below are) then you can pay £49 to get it digitised. They include
-- What is 'digital literacy'? : a pragmatic investigation. Beshaw, Douglas A. J. Durham University, Awarded: 2012 (as a shortcut, the download is actually from http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3446/)
-- Information literacy instruction for Kuwaiti students and the role of cultural relevance. Lesher, Teresa M. Loughborough University, Awarded: 2002
-- Negotiating information literacy pathways : learner autonomy in higher education. McDowell, Liz. University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Awarded: 2004.
-- Conceptions of effective information use and learning in a tele-health organization : a phenomenographic study of information literacy and knowledge management at work. Toledano O'Farrill, Ruben. Robert Gordon University, Awarded: 2008
-- Developing a new blended approach to fostering information literacy. Walton, Geoffrey. Loughborough University, Awarded: 2009. (Again, as a shortcut, the thesis is also availabe here https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/dspace-jspui/handle/2134/8148)
Photo by Sheila Webber: Green and gold, October 2012

Digital and Information Literacies at Cardiff University

Earlier this month Cardiff University launched its Digital and Information Literacies Strategy: Embedding learning literacies at Cardiff University: INSRV's Digital and Information Literacies Strategy 2012-2014. This builds on their continued substantial developments in the area of information literacy, and also the JISC project they had on digital literacies.
The strategy is at http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/insrv/news/infolitstrategy.html and digital literacy project at Cardiff University has a blog here http://digidol.cf.ac.uk/ and this is the page on the JISC site, which has project documents right at the bottom of the page http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning/developingdigitalliteracies/DigiDol.aspx
Photo by Sheila Webber: Today is Apple Day in the UK. This is part of my small crop of apples this year (bad weather has affected the British apple crops generally)

RDMRose project develops learning materials

JISC have funded the White Rose Consortium of the libraries of the universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York and the Sheffield iSchool to develop learning materials about Research Data Management tailored for the needs of LIS professionals.The project, RDMRose, will develop learning materials to be made available as Open Educational Resources (OERs). Learning materials should begin to be available from January 2013. RDM refers to “the organisation of data, from its entry to the research cycle through to the dissemination and archiving of valuable results”.Project web site is at http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/is/research/projects/rdmrose
Photo by Sheila Webber: White rose.

Badke's books: Research processes and Research Strategies

Badke, W. (2012) Teaching Research Processes: The Faculty Role in the Development of Skilled Student Researchers. Oxford: Chandos; New York: Neal-Schuman. ISBN: 9781843346746
The book "suggests a novel way in which information literacy can come within the remit of teaching faculty, supported by librarians, and reconceived as "research processes." The aim is to transform education from what some see as a primarily one-way knowledge communication practice, to an interactive practice involving the core research tasks of subject disciplines." Info here.
Also just a reminder that there is a free online abridged version of William Badke's Research strategies (updated March 2012). The full book is available in print and e-book versions:
Badke, W. (2011) Research Strategies: Finding Your Way Through the Information Fog. 4th ed. iUniverse.com ISBN-13: 978-1462010172
The website with details of the publication and the abridged web version is at http://acts.twu.ca/library/textbook.htm

George Kuh article for discussion in October

The article which the ACRL Student Retention Discussion Group has chosen for October is:
Kuh, G. and Gonyea, R.M. (2003) The Role of the Academic Library in Promoting Student Engagement in Learning. College and Research Libraries, 64(4), 256-282. http://crl.acrl.org/content/64/4/256.abstract
To join the discussion, go to http://connect.ala.org/node/189260
George Kuh is an influential figure in US Higher Education, and I think that this article is still worth reading (whether or not you decide to join in the debate!) The authors took data from the College Student Experiences Questionnaire and compared various sets of questions including the set of questions relating to library use, some key questions to do with satisfaction, and a set of questions which they selected as being a (sort of) match with ACRL standards.
The authors make some pertinent remarks about how important variables to do with previous academic achievement, ethnicity etc. are, when trying to link library use with academic success, something which some other studies gloss over.
The evidence does not support an easy correlation between academic excellence and library use, or library use and (the authors' measure of) information literacy. The final paragraph reads:
"The findings of this study indicate that it takes a whole campus to produce an information-literate college graduate. For this reason, librarians would do well to redouble their efforts to collaborate with faculty members, instructional development staff, and student affairs professionals in promoting the value of information literacy in various in-class and out-of-class activities and to provide students with as many opportunities as possible to evaluate the quality of the information they encounter, on and off the campus."
Photo by Sheila Webber: Autumn arriving, Sheffield, October 2012

Recent articles

A few assorted articles I hadn't picked up before:
- Kelley, J. (2012) "Off the Shelf and Out of the Box: Saving Time, Meeting Outcomes and Reaching Students with Information Literacy Modules" Library Scholarship. Paper 15. http://dc.cod.edu/librarypub/15
- Limberg, L., Sundin, O. and Talja, S. (2012) "Three Theoretical Perspectives on Information Literacy" HumanIT. 11 (2) http://etjanst.hb.se/bhs/ith/2-11/llosst.pdf [I had already blogged the other papers in this issue, I think this one must have been added later]
- Gunton, L., Bruce, C., & Stoodley, I. (2012) "Experiencing religious information literacy : informed learning in church communities." Australian Library Journal, 61(2), 119-132. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/51026 I already blogged an earlier article on the same research
- Emami, M. and Seify, S. (2012) "Determining the information literacy competence (ILC) of faculty members in University of Applied Sciences and Technology." Interdisciplinary journal of contemporary research in business. 3 (9), 1488-1495.
http://www.journal-archieves14.webs.com/1488-1495.pdf
Photo by Sheila Webber: Autumn starts to touch the beech leaves.

Proposed criteria for describing, reviewing and assessing practice in information literacy training

The Research Information and Digital Literacies Coalition has developed a "draft set of criteria ... to help training practitioners in higher education describe and assess their training and development interventions and resources." "The criteria take the form of a set of structured questions intended to help you describe such interventions for the benefit of learners, but also for your peers in your own or other institutions."
I'm going to have to look at these carefully, which I don't have time to do today, so I may post about them again.The page from which you can download the criteria is here: http://www.researchinfonet.org/infolit/ridls/strand2/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Ripening corn plants, Hellingly, September 2012

New information literacy articles

The magazine SCONUL Focus Number 55, 2012, has been published. It includes a number of concise articles about information literacy e.g.
- The missing link: making the connection between information literacy and an excellent student experience by Christiana Titahmboh, Carol Price, Janice Wright
- ANCIL in action: progress updates on a new curriculum for information literacy by Emma Coonan, Jane Secker, Katy Wrathall , Helen Webster
- The ‘cut and paste’ of undergraduate research by Alison Henesey
The articles can be accessed freely at http://www.sconul.ac.uk/publications/newsletter/55/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Painting on an empty shop, Hailsham: it includes a QR code (I think to link to the artist's website)

Search skills resource for history students, in French and German

Compas http://www.compas.infoclio.ch/ is a project og infoclio.ch, which is a Swiss subject portal for the discipline of history. Compas is designed to be a resource for developing history students' information literacy and searching skills. The material is produced in two languages: French and German. I looked at the German version as my German is better than my French.
There are three themes: developing your own digital skills and support for your studies (e.g. using computers to help manage your work, take notes etc.); Researching topics in your discipline; Developing your network (including using social media, blogs and publication). For each there are subsections with advice (text is kept short), links, and the possibility to download the material in pdf.
For each theme there is a short video on the (mostly unfortunate) experience of a history student, done like silent films. Below is one of them (with German text, but I don't think you need to understand German to see what's going on). I think they are meant to convey "avoid being an idiot like Sophie" but I wonder whether it might rather say "you are doomed to fail". However the videos are professionally done and the rest of the resource is nice. But ... spot the librarian stereotype!!

2 short research papers: Social Media as Information Source, and; Developing an IL game

Kim, K., Yoo-Lee, E. and Sin, S. (2011) Social Media as Information Source: Undergraduates’ Use and Evaluation Behavior. In: Proceedings of the 74rd ASIST Annual Meeting Retrieved 18 September 2012 from http://asist.org/asist2011/proceedings/submissions/283_FINAL_SUBMISSION.pdf
An interesting short paper that reports on a survey of what sources students used, what they used them for and what evaluative strategies they used. For example Wikipedia was used for initially scoping a topic, and evaluated through looking at the links and sources, whereas Youtube was used for recreation and for instructions on how to do things, and was evaluated through the video quality and people's opinions.

Markey, K. and Leeder, C. (2011) The Effect of Scoring and Feedback Mechanisms
in an Online Educational Game. In: Proceedings of the 74rd ASIST Annual Meeting. Retrieved 18 September 2012 from http://asist.org/asist2011/proceedings/submissions/38_FINAL_SUBMISSION.docx

This describes the stages of piloting this information literacy game, and the changes that needed to be made as a result.

I discovered these 2 papers (and further interesting ones) as part of the October 2011 ASIST annual conference proceedings; http://asist.org/asist2011/proceedings/openpage.html.
Photo by Sheila Webber: Blackheath Farmers' Market, September 2012

The Busy Librarian’s Guide to Information Literacy in Science and Engineering

A new book published by ACRL: The Association of College and Research Libraries:
O'Clair, K. and Davidson, J. (Eds.) (2012) The Busy Librarian’s Guide to Information Literacy in Science and Engineering. ACRL. ISBN-13: 978-0-8389-8619-6
It "provides a practical guide for librarians responsible for science, engineering and/or technology information literacy instruction to understand and apply the ACRL Information Literacy Standards for Science and Engineering/Technology into curriculum design and ongoing instruction". You can get it in print, or as an e-book, or both together. Information is here: http://www.alastore.ala.org/detail.aspx?ID=3999
Photo by Sheila Webber: Ducklings, Blackheath pond, on Sunday (I'm a bit worried about them surviving this time of year!)

ACRL Student Retention Discussion Group

The September rticle for the ACRL Student Retention Discussion Group is
Blackburn, H. (2010) "Shhh! No talking about retention in the library!" Education libraries, 33 (1), 24-30. http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ887231.pdf
This is an asynchronous discussion about the article: to join in you need to register at the site (free). Go to http://connect.ala.org/node/186985

New articles in Reference Services Review

The latest issue of (priced publication) Reference Services Review is online: volume 40 issue 4 2012. As with all issue 4s of this journal, it includes the useful annual annotated bibliography of articles on information literacy (522 identified this year).
- Library Instruction and Information Literacy 2011 by Anna Marie Johnson, Claudene Sproles, Robert Detmering, and Jessica L English.
Other articles include
- Development of the Graduate Library User Education Series by Lori Critz, Mary Axford, William Matthew Baer, Chris Doty, Heidi Lowe, and Crystal Renfro
- Working Together: Library and Writing Center Collaboration by Elise Ferer
- Information Seeking Behaviors of Music Students by Kirstin Dougan
Journal home page at: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=0090-7324
Photo by Sheila Webber: Hawthorne branch, late sunshine, Hellingly September 2012

Presentations: Supporting Diverse Student populations

Presentations from the ALISS conference on Supporting Diverse Student populations (held in August 2012) are available. They include:
- Ethnicity and Study Skills: active intervention in the library setting (Suzanne White and Lisa Lawrence, Subject Librarians Coventry University.)
- Using Elluminate to deliver library training to distance/ part time learners (Helen Clough Learning and Teaching Librarian, The Open Univeristy.)
- Library support for International students (Helen Ireland , University of Warwick.)
- Online learning: Can a generic tutorial meet the disparate needs of researchers? (Jenny Coombs- University of Nottingham)
Go to http://www.alissnet.org.uk/Display.aspx?id=10737418259
Photo by Sheila Webber: seed head, Jonkoping, August 2012

Pew Report: Future of Higher Education

In July, The Pew Internet/Elon University (USA) published results of a survey of about 1000 "nternet experts, researchers, observers and users". Most people thought there would be more reliance on technology (e.g. teleconferencing, more blended learning), and not everyone thought this was a good thing. “They are worried over the adoption of technology-mediated approaches that they fear will lack the personal, face-to-face touch they feel is necessary for effective education,”
Anderson, J., Boyles, J. and Rainie, L. (2012) The Future of Higher Education.
http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Future-of-Higher-Education.aspx
Photo by Sheila Webber: Albert Memorial, August 2012