IPRA 2017 – Winner – Dr Jane Secker

Dr Jane Secker was nominated by Emily Shields. She is the winner of the Informed Peer Recognition Award 2017, recognising her significant contribution and her activities as an exceptional information professional.

The text of her nomination is below.

"I would like to nominate Jane Secker, Copyright and Digital Literacy Advisor at the London School of Economics for an award for her commitment to the promotion and development of information literacy (IL) and copyright. She has worked tirelessly to raise the profile of these vital areas of librarianship building networks and developing relationships wherever possible.

In 2004, Jane, with a like-minded colleague, set up the LILAC conference. She believed that IL practice was important to share in the library community and grew a small event at LSE into the successful annual conference now a must in librarians’ calendars. Annual feedback proves that such an event boosts IL knowledge and understanding in the community, with delegates feeding this back to their institutions and employers building IL competence and knowledge throughout organisations and communities. All from Jane’s conviction in 2004 that such a conference would be of benefit to the profession and those we engage with.

This involvement in IL advocacy didn’t stop with one conference and over the years Jane’s activism and achievements in this area have been unparalleled. Jane is one of IL’s leading promoters and her belief that being information literate is not only an important life skill but also a fundamental human right is clear in her numerous publications and conference presentations.

As well as being the Copyright Advisor for LSE, Jane has also found time to
Be appointed Editor-in-Chief of the twice yearly Journal of Information Literacy;
Chair the CILIP Information Literacy Group;
Work on a number of projects to promote the use of Open Educational Resources, collaborating with the IL section of UNESCO ;
Win an Arcadia Fellowship at Cambridge University to run a research project on IL and co-write ‘A New Curriculum for IL’ (ANCIL) a much used framework for many IL practitioners;
Co-write ‘Copyright and elearning: a guide for practitioners’;
Develop and champion an initiative with TeenTech, to sponsor an award for 11-16 year olds that recognises excellence in research and information literacy

Her continuing enthusiasm for IL has developed further in recent years as Jane has also focussed on a more specific area, that of copyright. Jane strives to make a traditionally dry topic of copyright fun and engaging. Because of Jane, copyright is now the subject of games and t-shirts as well as more traditional publications and conference talks. Her advocacy for the world of copyright has led to a greater interest within the profession, leading in its turn to better compliance and a better understanding within Higher Education and elsewhere. Her work with the Universities UK / Guild HE Copyright Working Group led to the Copyright Licensing Agency increasing the extent limits from 5% to 10% making life easier for students and academics.

Jane’s commitment to her profession has led to many collaborations and a furthering of understanding within the profession of both IL in general and copyright in particular. She would be a deserving winner of this award."

Comments from the judging teams on the nomination are below.

“Clear that Jane Seeker has gone well beyond her job, and started things that are of real and lasting value to the profession and society, and will continue without her input.”

“It was very difficult to decide between these excellent nominations. All three are great examples of what can be accomplished when an individual goes the extra mile. Jane Seeker's prolificacy, however, is utterly inspiring and this person would be a deserved recipient of the 2017 award in return for what is a huge contribution to the profession and beyond.“

Jane Seeker is nominated for this award for her tireless commitment to the promotion of information literacy and copyright. We were extremely impressed by this nomination; in particular, what stood out for us was her willingness to share knowledge and expertise, and the wide-ranging and tangible benefits generated for the profession and for others as a result of her work. We felt unanimously that she met the criteria for the Informed Peer Recognition Award several times over.”

Jane Seeker was selected because her work has reached beyond the profession and has impacted on other areas. It has also highlighted issues to the public and has made what could be considered a "dry and boring" topic, fun and engaging whilst raising important points.”

Dr Secker's response to her nomination is below:

"I must thank all the people who've inspired me over the years - Debbi Boden who I set up Lilac with, Emma Coonan who I worked with on A New Curriculum for Information Literacy and Chris Morrison who is my copyright literacy co-researcher, author and games buddy. I also want to thank LSE and all my wonderful colleagues there and the Information Literacy Group Committee who work so hard.

Congratulations to Dr Jane Secker on being the first winner of the Informed Peer Recognition Award, as a result of her impressive and wide ranging achievements!