Scottish Information Literacy Project

A recent article by Dylan Jones-Evans Information Literacy and the Digital Divide  (Daily Post, 10th August 2009) discusses the Welsh Affairs Committee report which “highlighted the problem areas with limited or no access to high-speed internet connects”.

Whilst attention has been drawn to the following quote:

The report by the Welsh Affairs Select Committee is a welcome first step but if we are to create a truly digital society, we must not only build a world class broadband network in Wales but also give everyone the skills to access it properly.

If not, it is like buying a seventeen year old a Ferrari without paying for the driving lessons first.

I hope that it is not just the last sentence that is remembered but the rest of the article where he highlights a pressing problem that of the

inability of many of those within our poorest communities to access the information they need to conduct their daily lives from the internet.

As a result of this lack of information literacy, some of the most vulnerable groups in Wales are becoming even more excluded from modern society, yet it remains an area which has yet to be properly addressed by policymakers. This is despite overwhelming evidence that the growing gap between those who are “information rich” and “information poor” within our society has the potential to create significant social and economic problems in the future.

Certainly, there is little evidence that information literacy forms a part of any initiative to support the educational and training needs of those within our more deprived communities. Indeed, as government services, educational resources and information move online, those who have not been adequately trained to access such services become increasingly excluded and increasingly financially disadvantaged if they cannot access support.

Yet the importance of information and a clear strategy to ensure its dissemination to the wider community is being ignored even by those who should know better.

This is an area that John and I have been giving some thought to over the last couple of years particulalry in conjunction with Government Digital Divide Reports that have seen the answer to the digital divide as providing more access to computers and information rather than making the link to information literacy / the skills people need to access, evaluate reuse etc. and Public Libraries. Last week we were in Greenock doing some learner interviews from recent employability courses that Inverclyde Libraries have been running. We hope to do more in this area if funding is secured.

He also makes a sound statement regarding ’search engines and Google’ in that

if individuals are not supported properly in how to use search engines such as Google effectively, then it becomes a completely useless tool that may, worryingly and potentially dangerously, provide wrong and misleading information.

There certainly seems to be a lot of news / activities regarding school libraries.

Back in June there were a couple of articles in CILIP’s Library + Information gazette with the front page showing Into battle for school libraries  and School librarians: a role that deserves shouting about on page 4 & 19.

At this years Umbrela Conference CILIP Council were also talking about school libraries as Isabel Hood’s Council Briefing Notes posted on LIS-LINK @JISCMAIL.AC.UK highlights: 

• CILIP Policy Forum is shortly to have an electronic debate, initiated by the School Libraries Group,  re the Campaign for the Book  initiative and the  online petition to campaign for statutory school libraries for England & Wales. 

I heard about this from several different quarters and have signed the campaign.

• At Westminster there’s a new Bill which includes the creation of a new national negotiating body for school support staff, CILIP is working with other bodies to develop role profiles for school library / LRC managers that could be used within this context.

Hadn’t heard about this but would have thought that there was an existing  role profile for school library / LRC managers but maybe not or it may be that the current profile needs updated to emphasise the important role they play in learning and teaching and the curriculum.
 

• Latest Scottish developments re school libraries SLIC/CILIPS is bringing out self evaluation tools in the Autumn through HMIE to support school libraries there. 

Don’t see anything on the SLIC / CILIPS website apart from the existing forms / guidance such as How Good is our School which was produced a few years ago now (in fact it was 1999 according to the website). Good to keep these things up to date and also to keep contacts / work with HMIE. HMIE are strong supporters of school libraries and the work they do.

June’s edition of Information Scotland  contained an article by Elspeth Scott speaking about Glow, the Scottish Schools Digital Network – the first national education network of its kind. I have blogged about GLOW before but Elspeth a Dundee school librarian  has been heavily involved in GLOW and the article A glowing report is worth a read whether you are familiar with the network or not. Regardless of the sector you work in.

The third Scottish Information Literacy Project Open Meeting will take place on Wednesday 16^th September between 10.0am  and 4.15 pm  at Glasgow Caledonian University. It is a free event to encourage maximum participation.  The programme is enclosed below.

As with last year’s event there will be a strong focus on partnership involvement with presentations by  Project partners and supporters. This year’s theme is Information literacy within the wider skills agenda as defined by Government policy as the Project has been successful in locating information literacy within this agenda. Professor David Smith, the co-director of the Centre for Research in Lifelong Learning, has agreed to deliver a keynote reviewing the educational policy background to developments in information literacy.

To reserve a place email us as below listing: name, job title, email address and indicating any specific dietary and/or disability requirements by Friday 4^th September.

Best wishes

Dr. John Crawford,                          Christine Irving

Library Research Officer,              Researcher / Project Officer

Milton Street Building                    Milton Street Building

MS004, (ground floor)                   MS005, (ground floor)

Glasgow Caledonian University Glasgow Caledonian University

Cowcaddens Road                           Cowcaddens Road

Glasgow, G4 0BA                              Glasgow, G4 0BA             

Tel: 0141-273 -1248                          Tel: 0141-273 -1249

Email jcr@gcal.ac.uk                       Email christine.irving@gcal.ac.uk

Project website    www.caledonian.ac.uk/ils/

Project blog          http://caledonianblogs.net/information-literacy

Scottish Information Literacy Project Third Open Meeting – Wednesday 16^th September 2009

Information literacy and the skills agenda: a day devoted to linking information literacy with skills strategies at all levels                

Glasgow Caledonian University, Hamish Wood Building W115

Programme

9.30 – 10.00 – Registration and coffee/tea

10.00- 10.10 – Welcome and overview. Dr John Crawford, Director, Scottish Information Literacy Project

10.10-10.55 – Keynote. Information literacy and the knowledge society:  implications for higher education.  Professor David Smith, Co-director, Centre for Research in Lifelong Learning

10.55 -11.05 Comfort break

11.05-11.50 – Project overview and update.  John Crawford

11.50- 12.30 – The Scottish Government’s information literacy strategy and the launch of the Information Literacy Community of practice website. Lesley Thompson, Knowledge Management Officer, Scottish Centre for Regeneration and Jenny Foreman, Information Literacy Librarian, Scottish Government

12.30- 13.30 – Lunch

13.30 – 14.15 – Restructuring the Scottish Information Literacy Framework.  Christine Irving, Project Officer, Scottish Information Literacy Project

14.15 -15.00 – Learning Literacies for the Digital Age, a JISC funded study (LLiDA).  Lou McGill- eLearning and Information Management Consultant

15.00 – 15.20 Afternoon tea

15.20 – 16.05 – Connections between Information Literacy Skills and wider skills:  The Future Skills Project. Ian McCracken, Learning Resources Manager, Govan High School. 

16.05- 16.15 – Summary and close

Most presentations to run for 45 minutes including time for questions

Thanks to Sheila Webber for blogging about this 4 page article - 

Fister, B. (2009) “Fostering Information Literacy Through Faculty Development.” Library issues, 29 (4). http://homepages.gac.edu/~fister/
LIfacultydevelopment.pdf

It’s a really interesting article about developing academic’s information literacy through workshops and collaborative working with academic librarians. I liked the following

mastering new technology seemed to be the greatest challenge librarians faced. Yet a faculty member in a focus group said “It’s not about technology. It’s about pedagogy.” The most important thing the library could do, in his estimation, was to give faculty space and time to talk about how to help students learn in this new hybrid print/electronic information landscape.

Worth a read.

For those of you not on  LIS-INFOLITERACY@JISCMAIL.AC.UK there was an email sent out asking for support in the campaign to make school libraries a statutory right for young people in this country by taking time to sign an e-petition on the 10 Downing Street website and help influence future education policy: 

We, the undersigned, call on Her Majesty’s Government to accept in principle that it will make school libraries, run by properly qualified staff, statutory and to prepare the necessary legislation in consultation with the appropriate professional associations and trade unions.

The email highlights that:

School libraries should be a statutory right because access to a library and a professional librarian

  a.. helps raise reading levels,

  b.. provides a range of cultural experiences

  c.. develops their independent learning skills

  d.. and ultimately helps them to have a better life.

and that

If you feel interested in making your MP do some work on your behalf, there is a message below from the author Alan Gibbons, (with the wording of the Early Day Motion that needs to be supported by them) and the following website will locate your MP’s contact details for you:  

http://findyourmp.parliament.uk/

This is the Early Day Motion 1939 Manifesto for Education Libraries

That this House notes the contribution made by more than 20,000 UNISON members working in libraries and resource centres in schools, colleges, universities and local authority settings; acknowledges that libraries are at the heart of learning; welcomes the publication of UNISON’s manifesto for education libraries designed to keep libraries at the heart of learning; supports its key objectives to promote and enhance the role of library staff in teaching and learning and to campaign for well resourced libraries with modern facilities; encourages the education sector to prioritise professionally-run libraries; and calls on the Government to acknowledge the value of school libraries by putting them on a statutory footing.’

Recently I attended the launch of the Ofcom Scotland Communications Market report, published on August 6^th 2009. http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/features/cmrscot.  Ofcom staff presented the report and much of the discussion centred round the decline in spending by BBC Scotland and STV and there was concern about low Broadband take-up in Glasgow. There is really only one page (p.99, Figure 5.25) detailing Internet use in Scotland and does not give comparative figures for other parts of the UK.  The two highest categories: Any and General surfing/ browsing don’t really mean much. Although sending and receiving email is the largest meaningful category (77%) there is no breakdown between work and leisure. Finding/downloading info for work   comes in quite high at 28% for a serious activity and there is clearly possible further work here.

Ofcom’s commitment to media literacy is not in doubt as it is specified in Section 11 of the Communications Act 2003 which requires it to promote media literacy. Ofcom also has a definition of media literacy:

‘the ability to  access, understand and create communications in a variety of content’

which must take its place alongside the CILIP definition of information literacy.

However Ofcom (UK) has recently produced a range of information reports in a Digital lifestyles series including:

Digital lifestyles: adults aged 60 and over   

Digital lifestyles:  young adults aged 16-24

Digital lifestyles:  parents of children under 16

Digital lifestyles:  hesitants, resistors and economisers

These reports, although not usually containing regional breakdowns, give a lot of information, useful to the IL specialist. For example the 16-24 report Figure 4 p. 9 give a list of Internet activity carried out at least once a week.  This rates Work/studies information second (48% all; 60% 16-24) which shows a high level of purposeful activity. On p.14; Figure 8 lists Interest and confidence in using Internet functions. Joining in debates come out lowest. The research was done in 2007. Would the same question asked now produce different results? Figure 18 on p.24 lists checks made when visiting websites and has a strong IL ‘feel’ as it includes questions like: How up to date the information is and Who has created the page and why.

The parents of children under 16 report contains the worrying statistic (p.23) that only a fifth of parents are very confident in being able to tell if a website is truthful and reliable.

Food for thought obviously.

Thought some of you might be interested in the following event :

Title: Introducing Twitter as a professional development tool
Date: 17 Sep 2009
Time: 09:30 – 12:30
Venue: [Google map ] The Mitchell Library, North Street, Glasgow G3 7DN
Fees: CILIP members:GBP 20.00; institutional members:GBP 25.00; non-members:GBP 30.00
Organiser CILIPS
Contact Catherine Kearney (t: 01698 458888; f: 01698 283170; e: cilips@slainte.org.uk )
More information www.slainte.org.uk/cilips/cpd/twittercourse.html
Deadline Friday 11th September
Notes This session is likely to be of interest to anyone who wants to learn more about ‘Twitter’ and its practical uses in professional activities including staff development.

Apologies for the delay in posting this brief report on the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals’ (CILIP’s) Under one Umbrella conference at the University of Hertfordshire at Hatfield on the 14^th- 15^th July but holidays etc have got in the way.  I had to be up early for the 7 o’clock flight on the 14^th July but not organised enough to get to any sessions before my own at 2.15. I shared the session with Debbi Boden (University of Worcester) and Ruth Stubbings (Loughborough) who have perfected an excellent double act. I spoke about the work of the Scottish Information Literacy Project, including latest developments.  Debbi and Ruth described SMILE which is an online IL and writing skills programme based around a ‘Life Cycle of Study’ model. Funded by JISC, SMILE is a joint project with the University of Worcester, University of Loughborough and Imperial College London. The programme has successfully been piloted as a credit bearing course at Worcester and will be available through Jorum with a toolkit of lesson plans, assessment criteria and presentations. I must have a closer look at it as it may be of interest to support and academic staff at Glasgow Caledonian.

After coffee I went to the discussion on ‘Our professional future’ chaired by Sheila Corrall of Sheffield University. A number of key questions were addressed: Is a professional qualification necessary? - there was no clear answer to this – for ‘core activities’ yes but for others like marketing a qualification in the speciality might be more appropriate. What are the benefits of having a degree in librarianship? – Ayub Khan from Warwickshire thought a rigorous education develops a reflective practitioner; do education programmes need to change to meet professional needs? – Skills like marketing, strategic thinking; advocacy, customer service and accountancy skills were all identified. Sheila Corrall believes strongly that academics should have professional experience so they can help students prepare for the real world of work which lies ahead. How should professional education evolve? –  Issues identified include more mixed routes into the profession, more competency based training, more flexibility in learning opportunities and more CPD and more employer engagement with information departments.

In the evening I attended the conference dinner at the RAF museum at Hendon where I had an opportunity to indulge my ‘Biggles’ enthusiasms.

In the morning of the 15^th I went to the first session on the Value of Libraries, something I have an interest in and which, in part, led to the Scottish Information Literacy Project.  I had hoped to doze quietly in the back row but was immediately asked by Philip Payne (Birkbeck College) to facilitate a discussion group. Philip and Angela Conyers (University of Central England) reviewed the work on value and impact which LIRG and SCONUL promoted earlier in the decade and Philip emphasised its value in view of probable further budget cuts. Angela reviewed the work of SCONUL including the recent VAMP (Value and Impact Measurement Programme) which is looking at how data is being collected.  After this we broke up into small groups. Our group was mainly from HE around which discussion focused. We looked at the accountability mechanisms of out institutions where there is some evidence of quality departments and requirements. Some school and faculty committees have requirements especially if they are part funders. There are the usual sources – module questionnaires, staff/student committees, course boards etc but the rather depressing conclusion was that there is an overall lack of institutional accountability requirements. However there are plenty of pressures to accountability: increasing demands for opening hours extension and pressure on space, restrictions on budgets, non replacement of staff and increased pressure from students because of fees, perhaps most notable among overseas students. We discussed evidence for the difference the University library makes. We agreed that the most direct contributions are likely to be understood such as the library’s contribution to costed Project proposals. Also mentioned were hours of teaching and impact on programmes. ‘Good news’ stories are an attractive idea but prone to subjectivity. Unfortunately there was not much time for us all to pull the threads together.

After coffee I went to the next Value of libraries session but this seemed more concerned with research methodologies rather than outcomes.

After lunch the Libraries Change Lives Award ceremony took place. This is not unconnected with value and impact. Leeds Library and Information Service was a worthy winner with Across the Board: Autism support for families.  The Service’s ability to pick up an unfamiliar idea and develop it to excellence was noteworthy.

The final session I attended was also chaired by me, The Library and Information History Group’s, Books, buildings and social engineering: the design of early public library buildings (1850s to 1939) in Britain from past to present. Alistair Black and Simon Pepper, both professors, reported on the outcomes of their joint Arts and Humanities Research Council funded study which sets out to rehabilitate the early public library building and review its modern social role as about 65% of them are still in use. This was an outstanding joint presentation and noteworthy for content, analysis and interpretation.  .

Overall it was a fairly useful conference although shoehorning it into two days perhaps reduced the ‘buzz’ a bit although I had useful discussions and networking opportunities which I am following up. The University of Hertfordshire continues to be an attractive venue with all the lecture rooms conveniently grouped together and easy to find.