Information literacy: the digital library and beyond

1. Information literacy: the digital library and beyond Sheila Webber University of Sheffield, Department of Information Studies May 2004 Sheila Webber, 2004

2. Project Description • Three-year, £137,000 Arts & Humanities Research Board - funded project (Nov 2002-Oct 2005) To explore UK academics’ conceptions of, and pedagogy for, information literacy • University of Sheffield (Sheila Webber & Stuart Boon), University of Strathclyde (Bill Johnston) Sheila Webber, 2004

3. Sheila Webber, 2004

4. Definitions Informed, critical citizen Successful student What? Lifelong learning Inventor Why? When? Information Literacy Policymaker Family Wealth creator Friends Who? Where? Colleagues Teachers Organisations Everywhere? Librarians "Experts" Sheila Webber, 2004

5. What: Definitions of information literacy Sheila Webber, 2004

6. “Information literacy is the adoption of appropriate information behaviour to identify, through whatever channel or medium, information well fitted to information needs, leading to wise and ethical use of information in society.” Johnston & Webber, 2003 Sheila Webber, 2004

7. "But what is information literacy and how does it differ from information skills? Is it just another name for something old hat, or is it a developmental concept that needs to be taught and supported through school and into FE/HE and work? I believe it’s the latter, and I don’t think many would disagree with me"Barrett and Danks (2003) Sheila Webber, 2004

8. "Information Literacy encompasses knowledge of one’s information concerns and needs,and the ability to identify, locate, evaluate, organize and effectively create, use andcommunicate information to address issues or problems at hand; it is a prerequisite forparticipating effectively in the Information Society, and is part of the basic human right of lifelong learning." Information Literacy Meeting of Experts (2003) Sheila Webber, 2004

9. When: Lifelong learning Sheila Webber, 2004

10. "lifelong learning must cover learning from thepre-school age to that of post-retirement, including the entirespectrum of formal, non-formal and informal learning.Furthermore, lifelong learning must be understood as alllearning activity undertaken throughout life, with the aim ofimproving knowledge, skills and competences within apersonal, civic, social and/or employment-related perspective.Finally, the principles in this context should be: the individualas the subject of learning, highlighting the importance of anauthentic equality ofopportunities, and quality in learning." Council of the European Union (2002) Sheila Webber, 2004

11. IL is important for LLL • “In particular, a large number of respondents have identified ‘information literacy’ … as a key set of skills that people will need in the ‘information age’ ”. New Zealand. Department of Labour, Labour Market Policy Group. (2001) • “Information literacy initiates, sustains, and extends lifelong learning through abilities that may use technologies but are ultimately independent of them.” Council of Australian University Librarians. (2001, p2) Sheila Webber, 2004

12. The information literate person in a changing information society • Information economy: • Law • Changes in media • Pricing etc Personal goals, habits, special needs Technical changes Information literate person Local & national culture & society • Organisational culture: • Mission; Values; Norms • Management style • Information strategy Johnston & Webber 2003 Sheila Webber, 2004

13. formal, non-formal and informal learning. Sheila Webber, 2004

14. Why: Information literacy achieving various goals Sheila Webber, 2004

15. IL as … • Helping people to deal more confidently with the world • Giving people a competitive advantage in the workplace • Fostering creativity Sheila Webber, 2004

16. "According to the survey, 53% of corporate workers report they spend more than three hours a week searching for relevant information to perform their job functions. Forty-three percent of respondents indicate they spend two-three hours a week recreating information that already exists."Econtent (2004) Sheila Webber, 2004

17. Not just individuals… • Organisations need to embrace information literate approach to become learning organisations practising knowledge management • Governments need to become information literate to be able to respond to citizens' needs/rights for information & make informed policy decisions • Educational institutions need to have management and infrastructure that supports information literacy in staff and students Sheila Webber, 2004

18. Staff development for information literacy Information literate research Wider society - employers, peers etc. Information literate university • Management for information literacy • strategy • resourcing • policy • infrastructure Information literate students and graduates • Information literate Curriculum • IL as discipline • Learning, teaching & assessment Johnston & Webber 2004 Sheila Webber, 2004

19. Goals and outcomes for the Information Literate University "I think it was a sort of kind of utopia where people knew [laughs] about internal information and links to external information that would avoid wasting time …" (ENGINEERING 10) "Just more learning. It’s a simple as, better, better, fuller, uh, student learning experience that goes beyond the confines of the classroom and the university, and you know, better research, more informed research. (ENGLISH 16) (quotes from academics from our Information Literacy project) Sheila Webber, 2004

20. Goals and outcomes for the ILU "almost like an ideal like an exchange of knowledge and experience and skills, um… and an university that is highly information literate would provide access to information and advice to a much larger constituency than just students [ ] one that enables those kinds of enriching process of where people interact in many, many unplanned and unlooked-for ways…" (ENGINEERING 16) Sheila Webber, 2004

21. Better information report • Investigates UK official statistics: need for more neighbourhood data (more granularity e.g. more detail on ethnicity) • Social Exclusion Unit (2000) Report of Policy Action Team 18: Better information London: The Stationery Office. http://www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/seu/2000/better-information.pdf Sheila Webber, 2004

22. “The PAT’s work has repeatedly uncovered examples of waste and duplication because of poor‘information about information’. Few policy makers and service managers are aware of what isalready available and from whom. This leads to constant ‘reinvention of the wheel’ as agenciescollect information that already exists, wasting the time of those who have to provide it. (p18)” Sheila Webber, 2004

23. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2736575.stm Sheila Webber, 2004

24. Need forTwo way information literacy Citizen-Government Employee-Company Student-Education system Child-Parent Sheila Webber, 2004

25. Who involved in learning & teaching? Family, friends, teachers, librarians… Sheila Webber, 2004

26. "Programs (e.g., teen advisory) and other services should be developed that address the information needs of immigrant children and adults. Some examples include … bibliographic instruction that goes beyond use of the library for reading and school assignments, including coverage of specific information resources frequently used by ICMs [Immigrant Child Mediators], such as the phone book, mass media, and individuals …" Chu (1999) Sheila Webber, 2004

27. Marketing 09: Gathering information is vital, whether it means going down to the library or looking up something on the internet, or reading the paper, or talking to a colleague in the hall, all of it—it’s something you’ve always got to be doing.(quotes from academics from our Information Literacy project) Sheila Webber, 2004

28. Marketing 05: I use information literacy to help me to be a better searcher, I suppose. Or I try! [Laughs.] Ten years ago I would have had a pat answer with talking about going to the library and finding articles and using indexes to search abstracts and so on, but technology has changed things so much that now the library almost isn’t part of my vocabulary. I don’t remember the last time I stepped inside a library here. That’s an awful thing to say, isn’t it? (SB: You're not alone.) Well, everything can be sent to me now. Everything is so collaborative, you know. I find myself using e-mail and communicating with colleagues that way. It’s so easy to talk to people all around the world and I’ve been in a number of different places so I’ve got contacts all around the world. So I find myself becoming an e-mail guru. My latest conquest is the discussion board and I’ve begun to make myself a nuisance on those as well. Sheila Webber, 2004

29. World Library and Information Conference (IFLA) 2004 • Skills and techniques for Information Literacy instruction: a workshop • Government LibrariesThe role of information literacy in a democracy: how government libraries can help • Health and Biosciences LibrariesHealth literacy for all Sheila Webber, 2004

30. IFLA 2004 • Information Literacy International guidelines for information literacy standards - a draft for discussion • Asia and OceaniaInformation Literacy for a knowledge society in Asia and Oceania • Information Literacywith Latin America and the Caribbean Information Literacy for lifelong learning. Implementing programmes and the implications for staff developers/trainers • http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla70/prog04.htm Sheila Webber, 2004

31. Why not? Sheila Webber, 2004

32. Political inhibitors • Why would a nation want an information literate population? • Criticism, spotting mistakes, claiming rights… • Requires education, changes in attitude - not a quick fix • Technology • enabler and inhibitor: “e” can be a let-out • Those who take Wisdom conception of IL seriously take risks Sheila Webber, 2004

33. Challenges for librarians • Pressure to provide quantitative evidence that IL has "impact" • Librarians' urges to list, benchmark and quibble about terminology • More assertive groups challenging our knowledge and expertise • Exploiting the "e" agenda without being its victim • Tendency to narrow the agenda to traditional areas - seeking, gathering, selecting Sheila Webber, 2004

34. SCONUL 7 pillars of information literacy Recognise information need Distinguish ways of addressing gap Basic Library Skills & IT Skills Construct strategies for locating Information Literacy Locate and access Compare and evaluate ? Organise, apply and communicate Synthesise and create http://www.sconul.ac.uk/ Sheila Webber, 2004

35. Christine Bruce's "7 faces" • IT conception • Information Sources conception • Information Process • Information Control • Knowledge construction • Knowledge extension • Wisdom ? Sheila Webber, 2004

36. Wisdom : Creativity : Ethics Sheila Webber, 2004

37. Numbers, pictures, text IL more than just digital People Organisations Broadcast Marketing Knowledge Management Print Workplace Web Policy Intranet Email Leisure IL more than the library Citizens Phone, texts (SMS) Lifelong Learning Rights holders Health Sheila Webber, 2004

38. Public Role as gathering place, community centre, learning centre Libraries Collection & learning & literacy functions Corporate School University Place where students find electronic stuff? (Virtual) Role in KM, intranets, collaborative software, e-learning etc. Place where students do group work & borrow textbooks? Sheila Webber, 2004

39. "SB: how might you envision an information literate university?  • ENGL18: Hmm. [Laughs.] •  SB: What might that mean to you? •  ENGL18: Well, it would have to call its library a library, which is my pet bugbear—ours is called the learning centre, but we call it the mock-learning centre. It would have to know, it would have to do various things that ours doesn’t, I am sorry to say, because I mean, although they try to be very helpful, they do have the bad habit of throwing out anything they think is old, and we wage this constant battle that in English old books are often really quite good books. It would know that kind of thing, we wouldn’t always have to be fighting for that. (ENGLISH 18) Sheila Webber, 2004

40. "Libraries are a good answer to many of the challenges in the Information Society, including the promotion of information literacy. The demand for libraries' expertise in modern society is quite clear. What is still unclear to many decision-makers is the wide range of functions that libraries can fulfil if they are asked to do so and supplied with adequate resources. For this reason libraries must continue to draw attention to their own role and opportunities in different connections, with perseverance and courage!" Ryynänen (2003) Sheila Webber, 2004

41. Public Librarians Corporate School University Are the roles, knowledge and skills all the same? Sheila Webber, 2004

42. Librarians… • Should be more information literate than anyone else (inc. searching Google better) - a taken-for-granted staff development area? • Role emphasis depending on library type? (nothing new!) - educator, broker, consultant, taxonomist, searcher, knowledge manager …. • Role tensions e.g. educator/consultant vs. service role Sheila Webber, 2004

43. Librarians… • Increasing benefit in differentiating library from librarian - librarians as individual web personalities • People like librarians! Let's exploit this! Sheila Webber, 2004

44. Sheila Webber, 2004

45. Librarians … • Lobbying for 2-way information literacy - supporting & leading citizens • Confidence • Not submerged in online anonymity • Vibrant catalysts and leaders • Sharing excitement in "higher order" IL • Developing the subject/discipline of IL • Breadth of vision of IL - not drawing the line with print or digital Sheila Webber, 2004

46. Tomorrow Sheila Webber, 2004

47. s.webber@sheffield.ac.uk http://dis.shef.ac.uk/literacy/project/ http://ciquest.shef.ac.uk/infolit/ Sheila Webber, 2004

48. Sheila Webber, 2004

49. References Barrett, L. and Danks, M. (2003) Information Literacy: a crucial role for schools" Library and Information Update, 2 (5), 42-44.http://www.cilip.org.uk/update/issues/may03/article3may.html Bruce, C. (1997) Seven faces of information literacy in higher education. Brisbane: QUT. http://sky.fit.qut.edu.au/~bruce/inflit/faces/faces1.htm Chu, C.M (1999) "Immigrant Children Mediators (ICM): Bridging the Literacy Gap in Immigrant Communities" 65th IFLA Council and General Conference: Bangkok, Thailand, August 20 - August 28, 1999: Proceedings. IFLA. http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla65/papers/109-145e.htm Council of Australian University Librarians. (2001) Information literacy standards. Canberra: Council of Australian University Librarians. http://www.caul.edu.au/ Sheila Webber, 2004

50. Council of the European Union (2002) "Council Resolution of 27 June 2002on lifelong learning(2002/C 163/01)" Official Journal of the European Communities C. (163) 9 July. http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/pri/en/oj/dat/2002/c_163/c_16320020709en00010003.pdf Econtent (2004) "TripleHop Releases Enterprise Search Survey Results" Econtent, 27 April http://www.triplehop.com/press_room/EContentMag_TripleHop_survey.mht Information Literacy Meeting of Experts (2003) The Prague Declaration: towards and information literate society. Washington: National Commission on Library and Information Science. http://www.nclis.gov/libinter/infolitconf&meet/post-infolitconf&meet/post-infolitconf&meet.html Sheila Webber, 2004