Catch up from John Crawford

Dear All, 

I am very much aware that I have been very uncommunicative lately but I have benn busy with other things, not ot mention major IT problems which are now hopefully sorted out. Not that there is nothing to report.

Lauren Smith, a PhD researcher at Strathclyde University has been awarded a grant by the Information Literacy Group (See press release below and CILIP news item 'Groundbreaking research in schools and workplace will marry information competenncies with citizenship and employability') and she will be working with the Community of Practice among others. 

Morag Higgison, John Crawford, Lauren Smith at the Il Symposium 2015

Learning, lending, liberty? Can school libraries be engines for youth citizenship?

The first research project, Learning, lending, liberty? Can school libraries be engines for youth citizenship? will explore the role of school libraries in the wider school environment including citizenship education. The project will identify how Scottish school libraries support young people’s political participation in two major political events – the Scottish Independence Referendum 2014 and the UK General Election 2015. The project will also explore the information and information literacy (IL) needs of young people outside the school environment and identify how IL provision is vital in helping them become informed and meaningful participants in politics. Principle Investigator Lauren Smith (the University of Strathclyde) will work in partnership with YoungScot, a young people’s information charity; the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC); The Right Information, Scotland’s information literacy community of practice and CILIPS. 

IL Symposium, 13/02/2015The conference on February 13^th at Atlantic Quay in Glasgow seems to have been a success, judging by informal feedback. One of its main aims was to bring together people from a range of sectors so that they could understand each other’s problems and understand how IL can help to solve them. Bill Johnston, Ian McCracken and I are meeting with SLIC staff next Monday to review feedback and consider what to do next. 

I submitted a proposal to speak at this year’s CILIP conference in Liverpool at the beginning of July and it has been accepted http://cilipconference2015.org.uk/programme/ . My topic will be: An information literacy policy for a small state? No prizes for guessing what the small state is.

Rather further down the line is ECIL 2015 http://ecil2015.ilconf.org/ which will take place at Tallin University, Tallin, Estonia from 19^th to 22^nd October. Scots have presented at the two previous conferences and it would be good if there were Scottish presentations again this year, a co-ordinated panel perhaps.

Rather more locally I hope to attend the Welsh Information Literacy Project conference www.library.wales.org/informationliteracy . It is taking place in Wrexham on 26^th March.

Best wishes

John  Crawford

ECIL Conference Dubrovnik 20-23rd October 2014

The second European conference on information literacy took place in Dubrovnik this year. Bill Johnston was the rapporteur for the conference this year and with his permission I enclose his summary of all 175 abstracts from the conference. It is an excellent summary of the conference content.

John Crawford

ECIL 2014

Commentary on the Abstracts

Bill Johnston, Honorary Research Fellow, Centre for Lifelong Learning, University of Strathclyde, Scotland, UK b.johnston@strath.ac.uk 

The following impressions are based on my reading of the abstracts for papers, posters, pecha kucha sessions, workshops and panels accepted for ECIL 2014. 

During the conference I will be accessing a variety of sessions in order to present my further impressions and conclusions in the closing session of the conference.  I look forward to meeting colleagues and hearing their views on the current status of information literacy and the directions for future research, practice and advocacy.  

Introduction – What are we talking about in 2014?

The elements which constitute information literacy, as described in the abstracts, are mainly based on long-standing accounts of information literacy, such as those entailed in the ACRL Standards, Big6 model and other professional contributions. Consequently ‘assessing’ ‘searching’ ’ managing’ ‘evaluating’ ‘applying’ etc. are recurring key terms used to express the concept of information literacy.  Additional terms in use include:

• digital literacy;
• health literacy;
• visual literacy;
• infographics;
• media and information literacy;
• information behaviour;
• trans-literacy;
• post-literacy.  

This range of terms suggests an opportunity for a focused debate on the nature and scope of information literacy at this point in time. 

A frequently used framing strategy in the writing of the abstracts is to position the significance of information literacy in relation to broader notions of: 

• information society;
• digital society;
• multimedia society;
• knowledge economy;
• the 21^st century.  

These entities may suggest a relatively homogeneous perspective, with connotations of a particular kind of socio-technological formation and political economy.  However complementary and alternative conceptions of information literacy are represented in the abstracts, which should serve to extend the discussion. For example:  

• indigenous perspectives;
• post-colonial experiences; 
• critical information literacy;
• socio-cultural  interpretations of information literacy;
• radical information literacy;
• Green perspective.

Again an opportunity to discuss where and how information literacy connects to wider social and economic formulations and movements.  

In essence we have the opportunity to talk about not only the micro levels of information literacy experiences, individual’s searching for example, but also the broader social, cultural and historical contexts that encompass them. 

Methodological Features

A number of studies are founded on research, with a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods in use.   Research approaches and designs include:  

• correlations between a chosen population’s perceptions and capacities, and an established professional/governmental framework for information literacy;
• comparative evaluations of specific technologies and course designs;
• phenomenography;
• ethnography;
• action research;
• grounded theory;
• bibliometric analysis and systematic literature reviews 

Equally a number of the studies offer detailed accounts of projects, new service designs and collaborative initiatives aimed at improving practice and raising the profile of information literacy in particular institutions. 

Universities

The bulk of contributions is from higher education institutions and mainly constituted by examples from university library practice. They illuminate multiple aspects of academic practice including:

• adoption of educational theory and concepts as a basis for pedagogical decision making;
• introduction of relatively new constructs, such as ‘Threshold Concepts’;
• expanding/evaluating the range of technologies, particularly mobile devices, entailed by blended learning;
• gameification of instructional design and teaching practice;
• emphasis on active, collaborative, inquiry-based pedagogy to engender independent learning, critical thinking and a wider range of academic and professional skill;
• acknowledgment of the importance of systematic course design as a key element of academic practice;
• focus on assessment of learning;
• specific initiatives for postgraduates and post doctoral students;
• discipline specific examples, including LIS education programmes;
• dealing with plagiarism and academic dishonesty.

Dissatisfaction with ‘one-shot’ teaching sessions is evident and linked to moves to develop longer sequences of integrated activities, with a much greater engagement with disciplinary and professional curricula and university-wide values and strategic objectives.  Consequently there is attention to larger units of analysis and action such as Freshman/First Year Experience initiatives, and institution/department-wide reform and re-design of curricula.

It seems clear that many university librarians are determined to make their universities more information literate, and to do this by moving their teaching and instructional services forward as part of educational development in their organisations. 

Primary and Secondary Schools 

A significant number of contributions focus on this sector and include:

• implementation of national curricula;
• teacher/librarian collaboration;
• inclusion of parents and families in supporting pupils;
• online ‘risks’ and ‘safety’;
• entailing information and other literacies in curricula and school practice;
• measures to improve pupil information literacy; 

Public Libraries

Whilst there are a small number of contributions, there is a strong sense of ‘mission’ to provide information rich environments for the widest range of patrons to meet their varied purposes, and to foster the skilled use of information technologies in the service of that mission.  There is an equally strong sense of combating inequality and helping marginalised sections of the community.   Given the capacity of public libraries to impact large and varied populations, the number of contributions should not be taken as a potential weakness for the conference.

National Studies

A variety of studies are provided including: 

• information literacy in citizen development;
• public libraries contribution to socioeconomic inclusion;
• sectoral and cross-sectoral overviews of information literacy policy and practice;
• whole age group studies;
• specialist groups studies;
• historical accounts of information literacy;
• development of a professional community of practice for information literacy;
• database development;
• implications of copyright legislation.

The range of national origins of these contributions goes beyond the formal borders of Europe and underlines the strong international character of the conference.

Themes 

The themes I identified are diverse; some are discussed singly in their own right, whilst others are entailed in particular contexts.  Themes include:

• nature and definition of information literacy;
• relations between research and practice;
• nature and meaning of ‘reading’ in understanding information literacy;
• implications of changes in copyright arrangements in digital publishing;
• generational approaches, seniors as well as younger age groups;
• media socialisation.

Conclusion – Where are we going in 2014?

It is difficult to sum up the riches promised by the abstracts, however my short formulation of the direction of travel is – creating information literacy and lifelong learning for digital citizenship in the 21^st century.

Bill Johnston

12/09/14

Meeting with Chris Yiu. Director of Digital Participation / SCVO

On Wednesday 10^th September Ian McCracken, Bill Johnston and I met Chris Yiu, the Director of Digital Participation at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO). The meeting was held because the Scottish Government has delegated the implementation of much of the digital participation agenda to the voluntary sector and the SCVO will have a major role leadership and training role. We were keen to find out what his views on information literacy are how he sees IL fitting into the digital participation agenda.

We began by outlining what IL and why we think it important. It was clear that he has an excellent understanding of IL and appreciates its importance.

He explained that he sees the agenda as a skills and capabilities one and he wants to encourage more charities to be involved. He is less concerned with basic IT skills than with helping people get things done online like stay in touch or find jobs. He wants charities to learn from other organisations like businesses and he wants to develop the expertise of charities. There is clearly a role for IL here as IL skills are both needed and little understood in the work environment.

EU funding has been obtained to develop a Scottish Charities Digital Strategy and graduates will be recruited as trainers. About 120 Scottish charities will be involved. (SCVO has 1700 members). The aim is to link social media and the Internet to the training of organisations. Mentors will be recruited from the Scottish business community. Small grants also will be given to charities for digital promotion activity. The intention is to bring together those seeking funding with appropriate organisations. Plans for projects will be published which will then be put out for evaluation. There will be a funding round every six month and appropriate research will be funded.

An information infrastructure will be built up based on the existing public library list of courses which will offer face to face help. This will include housing associations, community groups and charities as well as the original libraries.

The online learning package to be used will be Learnmyway to help people develop Internet skills, using online banking and shopping websites. Training will be linked to specific learning centres where people can go and there will be abasic literacy and numeracy included in the course. Commonality between various public sectors in developing digital participation will be encouraged. Over time the Project will be scaled up to reach the million plus people in Scotland lacking digital skills. However deprivation and health issues are major barriers.

We discussed the development of IL skills in the voluntary sector and it was agreed that this could be a fundable research project. A further meeting to discuss this with the voluntary sector was agreed.

John Crawford

Recent IL developments

Things seem to have moved quite fast lately, mainly involving Ian McCracken, Bill Johnston and me. On the 28^th July we had a very positive meeting with Amina Shah, the CEO of SLIC (Scottish Library and Information Council). She explained that SLIC is developing a national strategy for public libraries with a wide range of partners and that IL will have a place in it. She explained that the Scottish Government (SG) accepts that Scotland’s network of over 500 libraries is the best venue for digital participation training although the inclusion of information literacy (IL) training will be left up to individual libraries. She mentioned the work of digital champions and, in order to understand their work better, we will attend a digital champions meeting on the 15^th September. She also explained that the SG does not have the capacity to take the digital participation agenda forward and will rely on the voluntary sector to deliver training, a distributed model, although SG recognises a major role for libraries. There was some discussion about information needs which will have to be addressed and these include information about housing and housing associations, health information and welfare rights information. Another issue raised was whether SG still sees digital participation as a technical access and infrastructure issue or whether the agenda is moving towards skills development including IL skills. Amina indicated that the latter was the case and advised us to speak to SG civil servants.

Discussion then turned to the previously proposed IL symposium and it was agreed that it would be a cross sectoral event which would take place in early 2015. It was agreed that the CofP should play a major role in this. Potential participants and themes might include:

• Health & Health Literacy
• Education: all sectors + Learning Scotland/SQA
• Housing Associations/Local Authority Housing
• Scottish Govt.
• RSE
• CILIPS
• SLIC

Themes/Topics

• Best Practice in IL/Digital Participation

• Distributed V Integrated models
• City/Region/Rural models
• Person-centred models
• Research & Publication
• Where will we be in x years?

These suggestions will need refining

On the basis of the meeting we met with two SG civil servants, Alan Martin and Alan Rodden, the following day. They outlined the SG’s digital participation strategy especially in relation to the voluntary sector. We were impressed by their understanding of information literacy and its role as a necessary skill for the Scottish people and they also believe there is strong potential to raise awareness of IL in Scottish Govt thinking, possibly at Cabinet level, with a view to influencing policy and future programmes although this is dependent on SG priorities.  We also discussed various training packages and learning opportunities although these do not yet contain IL. We asked to be sent the relevant URLs and I agreed to send the URLs for the work the Scottish Information Literacy Project and others has done for Education Scotland. We also discussed issues concerning information about employability, housing and health. Contacts with appropriate bodies were also discussed including the NHS and the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).

Both Alans were happy to support the proposed symposium, perhaps even extending to providing a venue. They also mentioned the SG Campaign (Lets Get On), planned for the Spring of 2015 which might be linked to the symposium. We will continue to pursue appropriate contacts in the coming weeks. Official support for IL is very welcome

John Crawford, Bill Johnston, Ian McCracken

The Internet: A Human Right?

I attended this event at the Edinburgh Festival on the 4th August 2014. It took the form of a discussion, ably led by Professor Fourman who led on the production of the Spreading the benefits of digital participation report. It was well attended and included representatives from the Scottish Government and SCVO.  I have been to similar events lately and several faces are getting quite familiar now .There was much discussion about what you can do with the Internet. These include, buying online and saving money, claiming social security benefits, receiving education, supporting a democratic society, growing businesses and being part of a common culture.

This was followed by discussion about whether the Internet is dangerous. It is decentralised and is hard to monitor but in a free society that is no bad thing. There was also mention of the dangers of inaccurate and harmful information. I chipped in at this point and emphasised that the solution is to have an information literate Scottish people and that the Scottish Government (SG) should develop an IL policy. Professor Fourman pointed out that there were SG representatives present who might want to take note of that.

Other issues mentioned included the consequence of having a digital footprint, Internet addiction, the consequences of old friendships and more being rekindled by such things as Friends Reunited. More seriously there is the danger of the surveillance society as revealed by Edward Snowden. The advantages and disadvantages for small businesses were also discussed.  Are companies like Amazon destroying them or are they benefiting from improved marketing opportunities?

There was some further discussion about the reliability of information and I was pleased that someone else mentioned IL.

There was no conclusion as to whether access to the Internet is a civil right but Professor Fourman did make the point that, for good reasons of their own, some people did not want to use the Internet. He also pointed out that people with access to the right technologies are more powerful than the rest of us.

Nothing really very new emerged from the debate but most of the issues were discussed and all the contributions from the floor were sensible, reasonable and often expert. IL seems to have an accepted place in the debate now. All Guardian readers obviously.

 John Crawford