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Sheila Webber, 2004
Information literacy: the digital library and beyond
Sheila WebberUniversity of Sheffield, Department of
Information StudiesMay 2004
Sheila Webber, 2004
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
Sheila Webber, 2004
Information Literacy
Definitions
Wha
t?
When?
Lifelong learningWhy?
Informed, critical citizenSuccessful
student
Wealth creator
Inventor
Where? Who?
Everywhere? TeachersColleagues
FriendsFamily
Librarians
Policymaker
Organisations
"Experts"
Sheila Webber, 2004
What: Definitions of information literacy
Sheila Webber, 2004
“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
"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
"Information Literacy encompasses knowledge of one’s 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)
Sheila Webber, 2004
When: Lifelong learning
Sheila Webber, 2004
"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)
Sheila Webber, 2004
• “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)
IL is important for LLL
Sheila Webber, 2004
Information literate person
Information economy:•Law•Changes in media•Pricing etc
Organisational culture:•Mission; Values; Norms•Management style•Information strategy
Personal goals, habits, special needs
Local & national culture
& society
Technical changes
The information literate person in a changing information society
Johnston & Webber 2003
Sheila Webber, 2004
formal, non-formal and informal learning.
Sheila Webber, 2004
Why: Information literacy achieving various goals
Sheila Webber, 2004
IL as …
• Helping people to deal more confidently with the world
• Giving people a competitive advantage in the workplace
• Fostering creativity
Sheila Webber, 2004
"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
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
Information literate university
Information literate research
Management for information literacy•strategy•resourcing•policy •infrastructure
Staff development for information
literacy
Information literate
students and graduatesInformation literate
Curriculum•IL as discipline•Learning, teaching & assessment
Wider society - employers, peers etc.
Johnston & Webber 2004
Sheila Webber, 2004
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
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
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
“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 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)”
Sheila Webber, 2004
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2736575.stm
Sheila Webber, 2004
Need forTwo way
information literacy
Citizen-Government
Child-Parent
Student-Education system
Employee-Company
Sheila Webber, 2004
Who involved in learning & teaching? Family, friends, teachers, librarians…
Sheila Webber, 2004
"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
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
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
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
Sheila Webber, 2004
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
Sheila Webber, 2004
Why not?
Sheila Webber, 2004
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
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
SCONUL 7 pillars of information literacy
Recognise information need
Distinguish ways of addressing gap
Construct strategies for locating
Synthesise and create
Organise, apply and communicate
Compare and evaluate
Locate and access
Inform
ation L
iteracy
Basic Library Skills
&
IT Skills
http://www.sconul.ac.uk/
?
Sheila Webber, 2004
Christine Bruce's "7 faces"
• IT conception• Information Sources conception• Information Process• Information Control• Knowledge construction• Knowledge extension• Wisdom
?
Sheila Webber, 2004
Wisdom : Creativity : Ethics
Sheila Webber, 2004
IL more than just digital
IL more than the library
Broadcast
Numbers, pictures, text
Web
People Organisations
Knowledge Management
Citizens
Leisure
Workplace
Intranet
Rights holdersHealth
Lifelong Learning
Policy
Marketing
Phone, texts (SMS)
Sheila Webber, 2004
Libraries Role as gathering place, community centre, learning centre
CorporateSchool
University
Public
(Virtual) Role in KM, intranets, collaborative software, e-learning etc.
Place where students do group work & borrow textbooks?
Collection & learning & literacy functions
Place where students find electronic stuff?
Sheila Webber, 2004
• "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
"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
Librarians
CorporateSchool
University
Public
Are the roles, knowledge and skills all the same?
Sheila Webber, 2004
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
Librarians…• Increasing benefit in differentiating library from
librarian - librarians as individual web personalities
• People like librarians! Let's exploit this!
Sheila Webber, 2004
Sheila Webber, 2004
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
Tomorrow
Sheila Webber, 2004
http://dis.shef.ac.uk/literacy/project/http://ciquest.shef.ac.uk/infolit/
Sheila Webber, 2004
Sheila Webber, 2004
ReferencesBarrett, 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
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_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
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/infolitconf&meet/papers/ryynanen-fullpaper.pdf
Sheila Webber, 2004
Other materialACRL 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/LIRT/
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.
Sheila Webber, 2004
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/InfoLiteracyFramework.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/index.html
Sheila Webber, 2004
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/infolitconf&meet/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/
Sheila Webber, 2004
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.htm
Virkus, S. (2003) "Information literacy in Europe: a literature review." Information Research, 8 (4). http://informationr.net/ir/8-4/paper159.html
Sheila Webber, 2004
The Research project
Sheila Webber, 2004
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
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)
Sheila Webber, 2004
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
Sheila Webber, 2004
"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)
