Further Education sector page is now live on informationliteracy.org.uk!

The information literacy website now has a a further Education sector page at  www.informationliteracy.org.uk/information-literacy/further-education/ 

I like its title Further Education is unique ... just like everybody else: the sector that prides itself in its diversity.

The Information Literacy group is asking those in the Further Education sector to: 

Share your information literacy strategy 

A rapidly changing environment, combined with scarce resources, necessitates careful planning and decisions over priorities. Below is an anonymous example of an information literacy strategy that was created for an FE service. If you have a strategy that you would be prepared to share please send it to the ILG group.

The website has an example of an information literacy strategy for FE.

It reminded me of work that I was involved in re FE / Colleges in Scotland in 2009 with the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) in the production of a service development and self-evaluation framework for library and information services in Scottish Further Education (FE) colleges that included information literacy.

The framework states that:

College library services offer: 
• Access to a wide range of information in a range of formats 
• Support for attainment across the college community 
• Support for the development of information literacy 
• Assistance with effective utilisation of ICT in learning and teaching 
• Knowledge and skills in promoting reading for enjoyment 
• Support for personal and social development and citizenship skills 
• The type of flexible learning environment which can encourage independent learning 
• Access to structured information skills programmes to develop critical thinking skills.

The framework is now in its 4th iteration see http://www.scottishlibraries.org/sectors-fe-se/

See also a blog posting by myself from the 2009. 
http://www.therightinformation.org/framework-blog-home/2012/6/1/scottish-further-education-colleges-service-development-and.html

FE Scotland survey identifies request for information and digital literacy training

In the February edition of CILIP Update Penny Robertson talks about the 2012 ETNA survey which focuses on further education, and is intended to support the identification of training needs, and inform strategic planning and decision making.

Amongst the training areas requested were providing:

• digital literacy training
• information literacy training

Penny highlights that 'the provision of information and digital literacy training have increased since the 2009 survey'.

'Between one third to a half of all learning resource staff indicated that they would welcome training in the use of social media tools, and showed an interest in how these could be used to aid the promotion of library services and to form communities online'.

Further information on the training needs analysis survey - http://www.rsc-scotland.org/?p=2945

LILAC 2014: bursary winners

Congratulations to the winners of LILAC's bursary scheme which was set up this year to enable access to the LILAC conference for librarians from sectors which traditionally struggle to secure funding from their employers.
 
They are:

• Public - Jacqueline Geekie, Information Literacy and Learning Librarian, Aberdeenshire Libraries

• NHS - Ruth Jenkins, Librarian, Healthcare Library, Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust

• Schools/FE - Donna Gundry, Head of Library Services, Plymouth College of Art.

Congratulations also to CILIP's Information Literacy Group / the LILAC Comittee for offering this bursary.

LILAC News: paper accepted, bursaries and awards nominations announced;

Plans and news from LILAC are coming thick and fast.

Paper accepted - the paper I submitted has been accepted - so good news there. The paper is on the community of practice 'Information Skills for a 21^st century Scotland: a National Information Literacy Community of Practice'. I'm going to look at the achievements and lessons learned from the Scottish Information Literacy project; what a community of practice is; what the online information literacy community of practice: Information Skills for a 21^st century Scotland  looks like and reflect on what has been achieved to date by this community of practice with no budget or funding but through the generosity of people and organisations’ time and commitment to the community; the benefits of a community of practice; what has worked and what hasn’t; lessons learned and the challenges it faces. 

LILAC bursaries announced - three conference places are being offered for the following sectors: Shools/FE, Public, Health. For details see http://www.lilacconference.com/WP/bursaries/ Closing date 7th February 2014 at 17:00 GMT. 

LILAC 2014 awards launched

•  The Information Literacy Award rewards an individual contribution by a practitioner or researcher (sponsored by the CILIP IL Group and Talis) Closing date: Thursday 6th March 2014.
• The Credo Reference Digital Award for Information Literacy rewards the best new digital IL resource Closing date: Thursday 6th March 2014.
• The Student Award provdes 2 students with fully funded places at LILAC (sponsored by the CILIP IL Group) Closing date: Thursday February 20th 2014.

For full details of the nomination process see http://www.lilacconference.com/WP/awards/ 

Welsh Information Literacy Project

On Monday 28th January I attended a meeting of the Welsh Information Literacy Project at a college in Rhos on Sea in North Wales. The Project is now in its third year and plans to seek funding from Cymal, the body in Wales which funds LIS R&D,  for a fourth  year.

There were short presentations on public, school, further and HE libraries. Those on public and school libraries were the most interesting. In Gwynedd public library service, four staff are taking Level 2-3 training units (Agored Units) in information literacy. This pilot is intended to develop consistency in IL training for public librarians. Gwynedd is one of five local authorities running pilot projects on developing IL skills for library staff. Anglesey public library service is running training sessions for local people, mostly on family and local history in conjunction with tutors from a community learning and development partnership.

Information literacy champions are being appointed in all public library services to assist in the delivery of training, to keep staff up to date with IL developments and ensure that local plans are consistent with national planning.

On the school library front a secondary school in Holyhead is using IL techniques to develop the skills of children who are poor readers, something not unlike Abi Mawhirt’s work at Dundee College.

 IL awareness meetings have been held with head teachers and contact is being make with two university departments of education to raise IL awareness of trainee teachers before they go out on placement.

There are a lot of lessons for us to learn here: IL champions in public libraries, standardised training units for public librarians and meeting with head teachers and university departments of education.  Full details of the day are available at

http://librarywales.org/en/information-literacy/case-studies/north-wales-information-literacy-best-practice-sharing-day-2013/

John