Our first talk to the Finnish information literacy librarians network was entitled “Information Literacy models: learning from the past to inform the future”. Our aim was to give a brief overview of some existing models as well as dipping into some teaching and learning theory to stimulate discussion on the use of models in IL. We looked at some of the issues and criticisms of models as well as discussing how they can help in IL. Ruth and I both believe models can be helpful and were keen to explain how we have built on existing theories and pedagogy in developing the revised SCONUL Seven Pillars model. You can find our slides here.

Ruth Stubbings and I are in Finland at the invitation of the Finnish IL network to talk about how we went about revising the SCONUL IL model. The Finns have their own model, called a recommendation which they want to revise. At present it is focused on undergraduates and they’d like to extend it to include researchers. From discussions we’ve had, it seems that facilitating research is just starting to become a big agenda item here ( so I’ve recommended they all buy my book on Developing library services for research!) There are around 120 librarians at the 2 day conference, which is held every year, and the plan is to get together in groups representing the different kinds of academic library and actually start to redesign their model.

(Pictures to follow)

Well, I’ve just arrived in Helsinki with Ruth Stubbings. We are going to meet lots of Finnish librarians on Monday and Tuesday; they have asked us to talk about how we devised the new seven pillars model and chat about the role of models in general. We are both sitting here in our room in the university guest house, typing away on our notebooks, how sad are we?

Hopefully we will manage some sightseeing tomorrow, the city looks spectacular ( from what I’ve seen in the dark) and we may even peek into a library or two along the way…

PS Here’s Roo on the ferry to Suomenlinna sea fortress

It’s good to see the RIN report on the role of supervisors in developing information literacy has now been published.

• Research supervisors
  

We’ve been having fun at Newcastle over the last few months, creating a series of subject guides on our web pages. We’ve subscribed to the LibGuides software from Springshare (and I have to say they were very good about allowing us a lengthy trial period and being patient while we sorted out the paperwork). It’s not very expensive and enables the creation of a pretty flexible set of web pages, very quickly. We’re still developing them and have yet to discuss how consistent we want them to be, but we are delighted with their impact so far. They’re an excellent way of drawing together a few key resources at subject level. Mine are still fairly basic (here’s my Agriculture Guide), but my colleague Lucy is adding a lot of interesting content (here’s her Arts Guide)

“Prior research has highlighted the isolation felt by some researchers engaged in academic writing. This article aims to examine whether such isolation might be partially overcome by membership of an online community of writers (CoW), hosted by higher education library services. A review of the literature was followed by action research based around the authors’ own long distance collaborative writing task in order to explore the issues at first-hand. Case studies of existing online writing communities known to the authors but not currently hosted by libraries were also undertaken. Themes emerging include the importance of finding a medium for a CoW that is familiar and comfortable. Motivators to join a CoW include demands that academics be research active. Demotivators may include lack of trust and reluctance to share.” (Emerald/Library Hi Tech abstract)

Can we ever have too much information literacy related teaching? A few years ago I’d have found this difficult to believe, but now I’m feeling more than a little overwhelmed by the hours which I could devote to it. I haven’t managed to write my blog for quite a while because I have been teaching around 25 hours a week for the last few weeks. then there’s preparation…
I try to work with academic staff to integrate IL into the curriculum, so I know my workload would be even higher if they weren’t doing some too. What’s the solution? I’m giving more “lectures” to large groups of 100+  backed up with optional workshops, less than ideal. We’re also making more of the skills element avaialble as online tutorials, but I feel uneasy about doing this without some subjective context around it.
I wonder if the increase in demand is because at last there’s a wider understanding of the importance of IL or just that we simply have more students. Is this happening elsewhere too? I’d be interested to hear

 “A Guide to teaching information literacy: 101 tips” has been written by Helen Blanchett, who works with me at Newcastle, Jo Webb, with whom I co-authored the research support book a few years ago and her husband, Chris Powis, published by Facet, 2011. They’re all experienced teachers and excellent writers, so I’ve no doubt it will be well worth reading:

“This book is a much-needed sourcebook to support library staff in the delivery of information literacy teaching, by providing practical guidance on tried and tested ideas and techniques for sessions. Full of hints and tips grounded in learning theory, it is a practical reference tool designed to be dipped into as needed when planning teaching and training. Where applicable the activities are mapped to models of information literacy, with guidance on adapting ideas for different levels and contexts. Advice is given on activities in the following areas such as: designing sessions; preparing sessions; delivering sessions; different types of sessions; teaching by topic; creating teaching / support materials; assessing learning; evaluating teaching sessions; and, e-learning. This easy-to-use book is an invaluable source of inspiration for any librarian involved in teaching information literacy, whether they are new to teaching or experienced but in search of fresh ideas. “

Carrying on from my previous post about the New Curriculum for Information Literacy, Jane and Emma have also devised an IL landscape. This landscape is looking at concepts and terminologies relating to IL and demonstrates how IL is an overarching concept which links together digital, media and academic literacies. It’s a neat way to present the links which I’m sure will be helpful when discussing the concepts, for example, with academic staff.

I’ve just been reading the excellent output from Jane Secker and Emma Coonan’s Arcadia Project. It’s good to see that many of their findings accord with my own views of IL and how it should be developed in HE. Jane and Emma identify 3 key attributes of IL, that it is transitional, transferable and transformational. Transitional in a practical way, learners moving into HE and also a personal learning approach from dependent to independent learning. Transeferable, in that IL needs to be viewed as part of education and not training (I’ve said that a lot over the years!) and transformational, back the Ida of threshold concepts in how learners change their attitudes and behaviours as they become more information literate.