Information culture - different views on information literacy

An interesting new powerpoint from Thomas Hapke (University Library, Hamburg University of Technology, Germany) on the meaning of information literacy.

Information culture - different views on information literacy

View more presentations from Thomas Hapke

Survey on librarian's view of literature review

Wendy Highby, a Reference Librarian at the University Libraries of the University of Northern Colorado, USA, is investigating academic librarians' concept of the literature review and their experiences in teaching students about the literature review process. Participants should be working, or have worked, as an academic librarian. The online survey form is here: https://unco.us.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_55CJutgxiQwLQWg
Any questions to wendy.highby@unco.edu
Photo by Sheila Webber: Sunlit escholtzia, May 2012

Information Skills for a 21st Century Scotland

Activists from the former Scottish Information Literacy Project have launched an online information literacy community of practice: Information Skills for a 21st century Scotland at http://www.therightinformation.org/ hosted by Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC). It includes the Scottish Information Literacy Framework, information about the Scottish Information Literacy Project (formerly based at Glasgow Caledonian University from 2004 to 2010) and a valuable archive of material, including the Project blog.
The community is open to everyone who is interested in information literacy: you can join the community, share practice, contribute to the community’s knowledge of information literacy activities news, conferences and events, new research etc. They are also looking for individuals and groups across the library and information community to work with them to update the framework with new case studies.
There is a launch event on 11 June at 10.30 – 10.45 at the Apex hotel, in Dundee, as part of the Chartered Institute for Library and Information Professionals in Scotland (CILIPS) Conference 2012. The launch will be followed by a parallel session from 14.00 to 15.00 "Finding the right information: improving professional practice using the Scottish Information Literacy Framework" which will be an informal discussion to help build a Scottish Information Literacy Community of Practice.
I'm happy to see that the definition that they have on their logo is the one by me and Bill Johnston ;-)

Adult Students using a Scoring Rubric to develop Information Literacy Skills.

An "in press" article online at the Journal of Academic Librarianship (likely to be published in vol. 38 no. 3, 2012) is:
van Helvoort, A.A.J. How Adult Students in Information Studies Use a Scoring Rubric for the Development of Their Information Literacy Skills. "The purpose of this article is to expand on a previous study on the development of a scoring rubric for information literacy. The present paper examines how students at the Department of Information Services and Information Management, The Hague University, use the scoring rubric for their school work and/or in their regular jobs and social life."
JAL is also implementing Article Based Publishing so that "individual articles [are] to be published in their final form, including volume, issue and page number, before the volume itself [is] completed." Recent articles are at http://www.journals.elsevier.com/the-journal-of-academic-librarianship/recent-articles/
Photo by Sheila Webber: free art, seen on my way to work last week.

Developing Information Literacy for Lifelong Learning and Knowledge-Based Economy in the Western Balkan Countries

Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) Library is managing a project, funded by the Tempus IV European Union programme, Developing Information Literacy for Lifelong Learning and Knowledge-Based Economy in the Western Balkan Countries, a project worth €1,171,557. The project is managed by Jerald Cavanagh (Institute Librarian, LIT) and coordinated by Padraig Kirby. It involves 12 other higher education institutions in Romania, Greece, United Kingdom, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Kosovo.
There is a prezi with a project update (March 2012) from Jerald Cavanagh and Padraig Kirby http://prezi.com/dvff9rgxxc6c/tempus-project-update-march-2012/. There is a report on an initial information day http://unsa.ba/s/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1151&Itemid=348&lang=english. Finally, there is a press release http://www.library.ie/2011/08/05/lit-library-wins-e1-2m-to-lead-major-eu-project-on-information-literacy/
Photo by Sheila Webber, Chandelier, York, May 2012

"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.