The Value of Information Literacy: Conceptions of BSc Nursing Students at a UK University

I'm currently travelling to the Special Interest Group Phenomenography and Variation Theory conference in Sweden (my first blog post from a plane! (Norwegan airlines) and so it is appropriate to highlight a recently completed PhD using the phenomenographic approach: Dr Antony Osborne's The Value of Information Literacy: Conceptions of BSc Nursing Students at a UK University. This investigated the perceptions of nursing students at a UK university. In phenomonography you aim to discover what the differences are in the way in which people experience or conceive of a phenomenon. You normally do this by conducting indepth interviews probing this experience or conception, and then you put all the interview data together and identify the qualitatively different ways in which people are experienncing/ conceiving of the phenomenon. I haven't had time to read the thesis yet (actually I'm having family health problems which mean I'mjoining the conference later than intended) but you can find the whole thing at: http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/14577/
Photo by Sheila Webber: View from St Thomas' Hospital ward (of Houses of Parliament and Big Ben etc.), August 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

Presentations from CILIP Information Literacy day #infolit2012

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

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

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

eagle-i and information literacy

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

"The Power of Information" (new Government strategy)

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

Health Information Obesity

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

2 articles: IL in health; policymaker's information behaviour

- Stevenson, P. (2012) "Evaluating educational interventions for information literacy." Health Information and Libraries Journal, 29 (1), 81–86.
- Greyson, D.L., Cunningham, C. and Morgan, S. (2012) "Information behaviour of Canadian pharmaceutical policy makers, Health Information and Libraries Journal, 29 (1), 16–27.
The journal home page is http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/%28ISSN%291471-1842
Photo by Sheila Webber: rain-soaked apple blossom, April 2012.

New Libri

There's a new issue of Libri (2012, Volume 62 issue 1). Articles include:
- Keller, A. "In Print or On Screen? Investigating the Reading Habits of Undergraduate Students Using Photo-Diaries and Photo-Interviews" (pp 1-18)
- Bankole, O. M., Oshinaike, A. B.and Banwo, C. O. "HIV/AIDS Knowledge, Attitudes and Sources of Information among Librarians in Southwestern Nigeria (pp 41-51)
- Tan, S., Gorman, G. and Singh, D. "Information Literacy Competencies among School Librarians in Malaysia" (pp 98-107)
The Libri website is at http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/libr (priced journal).
Photo by Sheila Webber: Daffodils, Botanic Gardens, Sheffield, April 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.

Medical information specialist as a teacher

In the Journal of the European Association for Health Information and Libraries (EAHIL), 2011, Vol. 7, issue 3, there are articles based on prize winning presentations and posters from the previous EAHIL Workshop. These include:
- Medical information specialist as a teacher: teaching searching skills: by L. Lodenius and M. Honkanen (reports on the findings from a survey of information professionals in Finnish medical schools)
- Keeping students engaged by simulating continuing medical education; by D. Storie
The whole issue is here: http://www.eahil.net/journal/journal_2011_vol7_n3.pdf and the journal home page is here http://www.eahil.net/journal/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Daffodils, Sheffield, March 2012