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

2
Definitions
Informed, critical citizen
Successful student
What?
Lifelong learning
Why?
Inventor
When?
Information Literacy
Policymaker
Family
Wealth creator
Friends
Who?
Where?
Colleagues
Teachers
Organisations
Everywhere?
Librarians
"Experts"
3
What Definitions of information literacy
4
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
5
"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 its the latter, and I dont think many
would disagree with me"Barrett and Danks (2003)
6
"Information Literacy encompasses knowledge of
ones information concerns and needs, and the
ability to identify, locate, evaluate, organize
and effectively create, use and communicate
information to address issues or problems at
hand it is a prerequisite for participating
effectively in the Information Society, and is
part of the basic human right of life long
learning."
Information Literacy Meeting of Experts (2003)
7
When Lifelong learning
8

• "lifelong learning must cover learning from the
  pre-school age to that of post-retirement,
  including the entire spectrum of formal,
  non-formal and informal learning. Furthermore,
  lifelong learning must be understood as all
  learning activity undertaken throughout life,
  with the aim of improving knowledge, skills and
  competences within a personal, civic, social
  and/or employment-related perspective. Finally,
  the principles in this context should be the
  individual as the subject of learning,
  highlighting the importance of an authentic
  equality of opportunities, and quality in
  learning."
• Council of the European Union (2002)

9
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)

10
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
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formal, non-formal and informal learning.
12
Why Information literacy achieving various goals
13
IL as

• Helping people to deal more confidently with the
  world
• Giving people a competitive advantage in the
  workplace
• Fostering creativity

14
"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)
15
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

16
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
17
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. Its 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)

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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)

19
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.u
  k/seu/2000/better-information.pdf

20

• The PATs 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 is
  already available and from whom. This leads to
  constant reinvention of the wheel as agencies
  collect information that already exists, wasting
  the time of those who have to provide it. (p18)

21
http//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2736575.stm
22
Need forTwo way information literacy
Citizen-Government
Employee-Company
Student-Education system
Child-Parent
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Who involved in learning teaching? Family,
friends, teachers, librarians
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"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)
25
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 itits something youve always got to be
doing.(quotes from academics from our
Information Literacy project)
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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 isnt
part of my vocabulary. I dont remember the last
time I stepped inside a library here. Thats an
awful thing to say, isnt 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. Its so easy to talk to
people all around the world and Ive been in a
number of different places so Ive got contacts
all around the world. So I find myself becoming
an e-mail guru. My latest conquest is the
discussion board and Ive begun to make myself a
nuisance on those as well.
27
World Library and Information Conference (IFLA)
2004

• Skills and techniques for Information Literacy
  instruction a workshop
• Government Libraries The role of information
  literacy in a democracy how government libraries
  can help
• Health and Biosciences Libraries Health literacy
  for all

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IFLA 2004

• Information Literacy International guidelines for
  information literacy standards - a draft for
  discussion
• Asia and Oceania Information Literacy for a
  knowledge society in Asia and Oceania
• Information Literacy with 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

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Why not?
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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

31
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

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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/
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Christine Bruce's "7 faces"

• IT conception
• Information Sources conception
• Information Process
• Information Control
• Knowledge construction
• Knowledge extension
• Wisdom

?
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Wisdom Creativity Ethics
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Numbers, pictures, text
IL more than just digital
People
Organisations
Broadcast
Marketing
Knowledge Management
Print
Workplace
Web
Policy
Intranet
Email
IL more than the library
Leisure
Citizens
Phone, texts (SMS)
Lifelong Learning
Rights holders
Health
36
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?
37

• "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 bugbearours 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
  doesnt, 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
  wouldnt always have to be fighting for that.
  (ENGLISH 18)

38
"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)
39
Public
Librarians
Corporate
School
University
Are the roles, knowledge and skills all the same?
40
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

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Librarians

• Increasing benefit in differentiating library
  from librarian - librarians as individual web
  personalities
• People like librarians! Let's exploit this!

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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

44
Tomorrow
45
s.webber_at_sheffield.ac.uk

• http//dis.shef.ac.uk/literacy/project/
• http//ciquest.shef.ac.uk/infolit/

46
(No Transcript)
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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/face
s1.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/
48
Council of the European Union (2002) "Council
Resolution of 27 June 2002 on 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_16320020709en0
0010003.pdf Econtent (2004) "TripleHop Releases
Enterprise Search Survey Results" Econtent, 27
April http//www.triplehop.com/press_room/EContent
Mag_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
/infolitconfmeet/post-infolitconfmeet/post-infol
itconfmeet.html
49
New Zealand. Department of Labour, Labour Market
Policy Group. (2001) Closing the digital divide
summary of stakeholder discussions Wellington
Department of Labour. http//www.lmpg.govt.nz/
Ryynänen , M. (2003) "Information Literacy,
Libraries and Policy Makers" White Paper prepared
for UNESCO, the U.S. NCLIS, and the National
Forum on Information Literacy, for use at the
Information Literacy Meeting of Experts, Prague.
http//www.nclis.gov/libinter/infolitconfmeet/pap
ers/ryynanen-fullpaper.pdf
50
Other material
ACRL Information Literacy Institute
http//www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlissues/acrlinfolit
/professactivity/iil/welcome.htm ALIA Information
Literacy Forum (2003) A Library Advocate's Guide
to Building Information Literate Communities.
ALIA. http//www.alia.org.au/advocacy/literacy.kit
.pdf American Library Association Library
Instruction Round Table http//www3.baylor.edu/LIR
T/ Australia New Zealand Institute for IL
http//www.anziil.org/ Basili, C. (Ed.) (2003)
Information Literacy in Europe a first insight
into the state of the art of Information Literacy
in the European Union. Rome Consiglio Nazionale
delle Ricerche.
51
Bundy, A. (ed) (2004) Australian and New Zealand
Information Literacy Framework principles,
standards and practice. 2nd ed.  Adelaide
ANZIIL. http//www.caul.edu.au/info-literacy/InfoL
iteracyFramework.pdf Catts, R. (2003) Information
Skills Survey for Assessment of Information
Literacy in Higher Education. Administration
Manual. Canberra, Council of Australian
University Librarians. ISBN 0 86803 999
3 Chevillotte, S. and Saby, F. (eds) (2004) La
formation à la maîtrise de l'information à
l'heure européenne problèmes et perpectives.
Presses de l'enssib. ISBN 2-910227-54-5. DORIL
http//www.lib.usf.edu/ref/doril/ Eberhardt, T.
e-literate? (video produced for the Pacific
Bell/UCLA Initiative for 21st Century Literacies)
http//www.newliteracies.gseis.ucla.edu/video/inde
x.html
52
FORMIST (French IL website) http//formist.enssib.
fr/ Information Literacy Meeting of Experts
(2003) Cluster group paper assignments.
Washington NCLIS. http//www.nclis.gov/libinter/i
nfolitconfmeet/grouppaper.html Library Review,
52 (7) (whole issue on European IL) Johnston, B.
and Webber, S. (2003) Information literacy in
higher education a review and case study.
Studies in higher education, 28 (3), 335-352.
Johnston, B. and Webber, S. (2004) The role of
LIS faculty in the information literate
university taking over the academy? New Library
world, 105 (1/2), 12-20. Michael Lorenzen's
Library Instruction http//www.libraryinstruction
.com/
53

• Martin, A. and Rader, H. (Eds) (2003) Information
  and IT literacy enabling learning in the 21st
  century. London Facet Publishing. ISBN
  1-85604-463-7.
• Marton, F. (1994) "Phenomenography." In Husén, T
  and Postlethwaite, T.N. (Eds) The International
  Encyclopaedia of Education. 2nd ed. Volume 8.
  Pergamon. 4424 4429.
• Nordinfolit http//www.nordinfolit.org/
• Ola Pilerot's IL article list http//hera.his.se/
  bib/enginfolit.shtml
• US Department of the Navy Chief Information
  Officer Information Literacy toolkit
  http//www.doncio.navy.mil/iltoolkit/disclaimer.ht
  m
• Virkus, S. (2003) "Information literacy in
  Europe a literature review." Information
  Research, 8 (4). http//informationr.net/ir/8-4/pa
  per159.html

54
The Research project
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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)

56
Key aims

• Investigate academics' educational practice as
  regards information literacy
• Identify whether there are differences in
  conception and practice in different disciplines
  (marketing, English, civil engineering, chemistry)

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Approach

• Phenomenographic study Interviews and Analysis
• Hard Pure Chemistry
• Hard Applied Civil Engineering
• Soft Pure English Literature
• Soft Applied Marketing
• 20 interviews x 4 disciplines 80
• Survey of wider practice Questionnaires and
  Analysis

58

• "Phenomenography is the empirical study of the
  differing ways in which people experience,
  perceive, apprehend, understand, conceptualise
  various phenomena in and aspects of the world
  around us.
• Marton (1994)