Is it a book? Is it a plane? Is it a man? No, it’s the International Information Literacy Logo – get it here!

I have just got back from a two-day event investigating the potential for a cross-sectoral information literacy framework for Wales (announced in October). The event was funded by CyMAL, organised by WHELF (Wales Higher Education Libraries Forum) and the Regional Library Partnerships, and took place at Gregynog Hall. Attendees were drawn from the broad spectrum of public, FE, HE, and school library services, as well as other interested stakeholders such as DCELLS. A comment overheard many times was how great it was for everyone to come together under one banner to share experiences and find a way forwards. I believe that information literacy as a broad term underpins every single aspects of what libraries and learning resource centres do, and therefore a co-ordinated approach to promoting its value in Wales can only be a good thing.

I should point out that this was not a passive conference – all the delegates had to do something, which was to work together in sector group workshops to discuss the importance of information literacy to that sector, how an information literacy strategy could help, how sectors could collaborate, and how these aims could be achieved. It was a pleasant change to be a delegate at an event but to also be able to drive the agenda forward as an active participant.

Monday started with various talks which helped to set the context of where we are now in Wales, and what unites the various library sectors. I’m not going to attempt any fancy thematic separations, I just want to give a summary of  the talks for the benefit of those in FE who couldn’t attend. Comprehensive rather than selective: prepare for me to move into wordy-mode…

‘Information literacy – the Welsh context’
Huw Evans, Head of Advice & Support, CyMAL: Museums Archives and Libraries Wales

Huw reminded us of the core skills that you need to be information literate, and the fact that information literacy does make a difference in people’s lives, before demonstrating how information literacy maps to One Wales (the agenda for the WAG coalition of Labour and Plaid Cymru – not the One Wales WAG sustainable development policy). He emphasised the importance of partnerships, a message many of the speakers agreed on. Another message that we heard again and again was the importance of evidence to demonstrate impact the of information literacy; we still have a way to go before there is consistency in provision.

‘Information literacy in the curriculum’
Marjorie Page & Jennifer Davies, DCELLS

Marjorie and Jennifer are DCELLS subject specialists. They said that information literacy is not a common concept or phrase in schools, nor a discrete part of the curriculum, though schools are moving gradually towards a generic skills emphasis where it would be relevant. They argued that the 3-19 skills framework in Wales includes elements of information literacy, since a lot of the framework is about communication and use of ICT. It is non-mandatory but underpins it statutory National Curriculum subject orders. Marjorie gave advance notice of two potentially relevant new literacy-related guidance publications that will be launched in 2010 – about the teaching of reading and writing. Also we were told that there will be new Key Skills in operation from next September – called Essential Skills Wales, they will merge Key Skills and Adult Literacy Basic Skills.

‘Information literacy and school libraries’
Alison Bagshaw (LRC Manager, Llanishen High School) and Liz Smith (Librarian, Pembroke School)

Alison confirmed that information literacy in school libraries is patchy across Wales – partly because libraries and school librarians (let alone qualified staff) are not a statutory requirement. There is  a lack of understanding of information literacy amongst many teaching staff, and they are not aware of how information literacy can help them develop their students into independent learners. Some may not want to admit that they don’t have good research skills. We were then given some examples of information literacy implementation in schools, including posters and models that helped children to remember concepts such as the ‘who what when why where’ criteria for evaluating resources. The conclusion was that information literacy needs fully embedding in the curriculum, with librarians and teaching staff working in partnership.

‘Information literacy in FE’
Carolyn Howe, Learning Centre & Reprographics Manager, Coleg Glan Hafren

Carolyn gave an excellent overview of what’s going on in the FE sector – I took lots of notes! She also described the ’shape’ of the sector for those not familiar with it, including the core facts such as 24 colleges (which mergers may cut down to 16), and 250,000 learners in Welsh FE annually. In FE information literacy mostly targets full-time students, though it has an impact on part-timers too. There is no central Welsh FE strategy, though the FE quality toolkit ‘Services Supporting Learning in Wales: a Quality Toolkit for Evaluating Learning Resource Services in Further Education Colleges’ does include some information literacy. However not all colleges have resources to act on them. Nonetheless there is lots of activity going on, with awards won for developments in these areas. Carolyn then gave an overview of the many ways in which colleges teach information literacy, though she pointed out that it may not be referred to by that name, but as ‘research skills’ or ’study skills’. Getting tutors on board is vital, with the greatest successes coming when sessions are delivered with the tutors or embedded into the curriculum. Finally Carolyn reiterated the importance of measuring impact and evaluating our work.

‘Information literacy in HE’
Cathie Jackson, Senior Consultant in Information Literacy, Cardiff University

Cathie gave a summary of how information literacy is taught in HE – from lectures to 300 students, to small group teaching, to guidance at helpdesks. The priority is to embed it into a module, so students understand its importance. There are training needs for the staff too, and some institutions have invested heavily in staff development, encouraging staff to do PGCEs or become Fellows of the Higher Education Academy. Some HEIs in Wales have information literacy strategies but generally they are library-focused. They do not have the central strategic place that information literacy does at Sheffield University. Cathie suggested that maybe libraries have to let go of information literacy a bit so that it becomes adopted by the university as a whole. Cathie then gave a summary of a number of relevant JISC reports about learning literacies, including words of warning from Higher Education in a Web 2.0 World:

“Information literacies, including searching, retrieving, critically evaluating information from a range of appropriate sources and also attributing it – represent a significant and growing deficit area”

Cathie ended by saying that we want progression in student information literacy skills throughout their education; we need to join the ends up, so that there is a continuum that goes on to lead to successful lifelong learners.

‘A National Information Literacy Framework for Scotland: How did we get here?’
John Crawford, Library Research Officer, Glasgow Caledonian University

John is well known for his work in establishing a framework in Scotland, and I had attended a talk by John and Christine Irving at a previous LILAC. There are many valuable lessons to be learnt from the Scottish experience, and John began with a history of where the framework came from, back in 2003. He warned that it takes a long time – years – to fully develop and embed a framework. In Scotland the framework doesn’t have statutory authority, but parts of it are being recognised. It is currently being restructured and is now web-based, backed up by examplars of good practice.

Key lessons:

• Working with partners is a key success factor. Information literacy is not just for librarians – we need to also include business and employers, adult and community learning etc. otherwise we are not joined up and not working together. We need to extend to people who are not in the library sector but who have an interest in information literacy.
• Training should be given to all trainee teachers so that they understand information literacy; then we won’t have situations where children are just sent to search for something on web without having concepts such as key terms, appropriate sources, and resource evaluation taught to them.
• The Government talk about e-skills and digital literacy, but don’t yet recognise information literacy as an essential skill for the modern employee.
• We need to develop a community of practice, networking with our partners. Librarians are good at talking to each other about information literacy, not so good at talking to other people – yet that is what we need to do. Hang it on to other groups’ objectives; get convincing examplars of good practice; focus on what the end customer needs and what they can gain from information literacy.

‘International perspective – national frameworks’
Sheila Webber, Senior Lecturer, University of Sheffield

Sheila started by describing the genesis of the international logo for information literacy (see the top of this post), which was picked from 190 submitted designs. Expect to see this elsewhere, especially when a Welsh version is created.

Sheila’s talk was a chance to get the wider, international picture. She pointed out that national information literacy strategies are still a pioneering idea, and the major successes have been in small countries like Finland and Scotland. She went on to give tips on advocacy and awareness-raising, including examples of declarations and initiatives.

When pointing out that information literacy isn’t just relevant to education Sheila made many points that agreed with those made by John Crawford. For example:

• Governance / citizenship: rarely is information literacy stated outright in government publications, usually they refer to it in a roundabout way or call it digital literacy. It was noted that some governments are against information literacy, since censorship-heavy regimes may not want citizens to know things. An illustration of how empowering information literacy can potentially be.
• Information literacy is relevant to sectors such as health (evidence-based health and medical work make this a rich area) and business (which can be difficult to target, partly because business’s definitions of information literacy vary and may be more collaborative).

Sheila ended with a summary of the factors that can lead to successful initiatives, and left us with the positive message that information literacy can also be important just to enhance your life generally – it can make us happy, motivate, and empower us to engage with politicians and the media.

No rest for the literate

That was quite a lot to take in for one day – but it wasn’t over yet! At 8.30pm we got back together in sector groups to begin our workshop discussions. I was the facilitator for the FE group, which included Ian Cockrill (Swansea College), Carolyn Howe (Coleg Glan Hafren), Jean Sullivan (Coleg Sir Gar), Julie Jones (Coleg Powys), Marjorie Page (DCELLS) and our fast-writing note-taker Mandy Powell (CILIP Cymru). During the discussions that evening and the next morning we examined core information literacy questions and how they related to the FE sector. As a very brief summary:

• “Why is information literacy important for the FE sector?”
  It not only enables our learners to succeed in the course they are undertaking, but it also prepares them for whatever comes after – be it employment, training, university, or anything else!
• “What would you want an information strategy to achieve for FE?”
  For many years library staff have been doing bottom-up training; what is needed now is for there to also be a top-down approach from policy makers and senior management and for the two to meet in the middle.  Ideally a strategy would lead to closer collaboration between library and teaching staff: building up relationships; training teaching staff in information literacy; partner teaching. A policy would ideally help policy makers and senior management to have an awareness of and interest in the LRC, and to recognise the expertise it contains.
• “How could information literacy skills transfer between sectors?”
  There are many examples of a smooth transition from FE to HE (e.g. access courses priming students successfully). A similar transition needs to be in place for schools to FE/HE, which may required directed and sustained funding to school library services for resources and trained staff in order to develop a cradle-to-grave progression (rather than the current ‘adolescent-to-grave’ progression in many cases).
• “What actions are needed to achieve these outcomes?”
  A Wales strategy itself could help in working with policy makers, managers, inspectors etc. We need collaboration between the different sectors.
• “Who are your decision/policy makers and fund holders? How can you best influence them?”
  Funders such as WAG (CyMAL / DCELLS).
  Inspectors and assessors e.g. Estyn, Exexcel, WJEC.
  SMT and curriculum managers.
  Influencers such as Colegau Cymru / JISC – for case studies and best practice.
  To influence them: dogged advocacy; showing best practice; lobby ministers.

It was great facilitating such an eager group with so many ideas – I didn’t need to crack the whip at all, just listen and learn from all the great points and examples!

This morning we had the last few sessions in the thorough programme.

“Information literacy in public libraries – the lifelong learning agenda”
Gareth Evans, Business Development Manager, Caerphilly

The tour of the landscape in Wales continued with the view from public libraries. Gareth gave the background of partnership projects based around the learner’s needs such as Gateways to Learning (56 libraries took part, including public, FE, HE, and prisons). Gareth linked these to the Public Library Standards and Libraries for Life Strategy 2008-11, asking how can we measure our success at delivering information literacy?

Some of the success factors in projects and schemes included having a learner-centred approach, and accreditation (via OCN). However there were some challenges in staff engagement, such as the potential lack of confidence of library assistants when they have to formalise their knowledge in teaching, and issues around whether they are paid adequately to do it. However this only applied to about a proportion of the staff.

Gareth concluded by reminding us that no sector can do it on their own, information literacy has to be developed with partners and tied to the curriculum. Information literacy is a vital umbrella for many other literacies such as health literacy, core skills, citizenship and employability skills, and digital and media literacy.

Where do we go from here? Putting it all together

The sector groups then fed back on their discussions so that we could pull elements from them together for an all-Wales approach. Janet Peters (Cardiff University) and Cathie Jackson did an excellent job of the unenviably difficult task of constructing  an action plan for taking things forward. It was based on the conclusions of each group plus group discussion as the plan was developed. It included timescales and assigned tasks to progress an information literacy strategy for Wales.

So where now? Presentations and documents will be made available later, probably via the Library Toolkit (I will incorporate the link here once I have them). A draft statement will be drawn up, and a steering group will be sought that incorporates representatives of all the relevant stakeholders and sectors. We will use the FE-LRC-WALES list to seek an FE representative once that is in place, and the steering group will probably first meet in February.

This may have been the start of a new era for raising the profile of information literacy in Wales as a unified collaboaration. Keep your eyes peeled for a Gregynog Proclamation!

[See also: the WHELF blog; Sheila Webber's Information Literacy Weblog; and the Scottish Information Literacy Blog.]

I’ve been out of the office a lot recently, crossing the length and breadth of Wales, hence the lack of new posts here. To justify my silence I’ll give an update on where I’ve been. I should also say that when there are no new learning resources posts here, it is worth looking at the Chrissie’s Muses blog – Chrissie Turkington is a Learning Resources E-learning Adviser for RSC North West, so writes great posts on a lot of relevant topics, e.g. her recent post on using the Nintendo DSi to read e-books.

Another reason for my lack of time for blogs is that I only work for RSC Wales on Mondays and Tuesdays (for the rest of the week I work as a librarian for Aberystwyth University), normally job-sharing with Sam who covers the RSC role Wednesdays to Fridays. Sam is on maternity leave (and is doing really well!), so I’ve been on my own for a while, but now there is now extra learning resources support because Owen Phillips is providing maternity cover until Sam returns. LRC staff will no doubt be hearing from him soon!

Newport, Tuesday 13th – Wednesday 14th October

Ironically (considering I hadn’t had time to blog here for a while), I was in Newport on these days, teaching librarians how to blog! I ran a number of workshops which gave the background on Web 2.0, Library 2.0, and blogging, before looking at examples of library blogs from Wales. The librarians who came to the sessions were all great, and we had some thought-provoking discussions about how and why blogs can be used, as well as a hands-on where many trial blogs were created.

Getting to the fun part of the workshop...

Cardiff, Thursday 15th October

I was in Cardiff to visit Coleg Glan-Hafren with other RSC Wales staff. We discussed a range of e-learning topics, including technologies like voting systems, and ways of assessing the use of technology to enhance teaching and learning. Then I got to do my favourite thing – have a tour of the LRC! Carolyn Howe, the LRC Manager, showed me round. I enjoyed their Online Book Club displays, and took samples of the colourful leaflets and bookmarks that go with them. Students are encouraged to read the books, post reviews, read other students’ reviews and discuss them online via Moodle. This is a good way of encouraging reader development even when a group is unable to meet at regular times. Students can even write short reviews on the bookmark, and the data will be uploaded by LRC staff – a good example of making things easier for students! Another example of LRC staff going out of their way to be helpful is that some of the most relevant journal articles are indexed and records are added to the OPAC. This increases the use of the valuable print journals and aids resource discovery for students.

Coleg Glan-Hafren uses a PC booking system to ensure fair use of the PCs (which had the pleasant side-effect of  improving LRC staff and student relationships!). The LRC takes the innovative (and successful) line of not having fines for overdue books – instead they use the PC booking system to block the offending student’s access to the workstations until the items are returned, which ensures that the books do get returned – quickly! The system is also used for room bookings. There is a kiosk for students to book things themselves which frees up staff time for more valuable work, as well as encouraging student independence in the allocation of their own time.

Coleg Glan-Hafren is promoting the E-books for FE project, and even has a search box on every PC desktop that takes users straight through to relevant books. Currently Coleg Glan-Hafren uses OpenAthens and IP to provide students with access, but the college is considering moving to Federated Access Management in the future.

Aberystwyth, Friday 16th October

I made one of my rare appearances at CyMAL on that date, for a Libraries for Life meeting. I made suggestions concerning improving information dissemination about regional courses in Wales, and the importance of documenting library refurbishments funded by CyMAL in order to benefit other libraries. The truth is that the notion of new build as a cure-all is flawed, partly due to: the expense; the all or nothing nature and dangers when things go wrong (see here, here, here and here); and the environment/resource issues. However renovation and innovation are much more interesting, and there are a huge number of libraries in the position of being based in a building that they consider to be unsuitable, and looking for ideas. So what is needed is more imaginative focus on what can be done with existing estate. Refurbishments can have a stepped approach e.g. lower level funding for furniture, wi-fi, flexible learning and teaching spaces; but with more ambitious plans for if funding is available (restucturing, replace walls, moving entrances and staircases etc.) which avoids the ‘all or nothing’ danger inherent in new build projects. Fully documenting and promoting this kind of work is important for making people aware of the options.

Deeside, Tuesday 20th October

A visit to Deeside College with other RSC Wales staff (Owen Phillips, Helen Hodges, and Christine Davies). Deeside College has now merged with the Welsh College of Horticulture, so it was interesting to discuss the ways in which the best practices of both institutions can be combined. We also discussed a topic dear to many librarians’ hearts – the blocking of Web 2.0 resources. YouTube and other video sites have now been unblocked at Deeside College, since they are relevant to teaching (e.g. the catering courses use lots of clips from professional chefs). However some social networking sites such as FaceBook remain blocked. The debate about the educational utility of Web 2.0 continues! Where do you stand? Frivolous use of resources and time, or invaluable tools for education? I imagine most people fall between the two extremes, which is why the debate is so important so that policies can achieve the best balance.

The Learning Zone (LRC) is a two-floor open space which acts as a one-stop shop for many services. Patrick Cox (the LRC and E-learning Manager) told us that the Learning Zone is wi-fi enabled and students can bring their own laptops, or borrow a laptop from LRC bank of laptops. LRCs lead the way in providing flexible options like this, catering for different student learning styles and needs.

Wrexham, Wednesday 21st October

While in the North we visited Yale College, as the final leg of our tour! Owen and I spent time with Joanne Stewart and Maria Lewis, finding out more about the LRC.  The multi-floor LRC is heavily used, spacious and welcoming, with great use of exhibition space and displays of student art. There was also an interactive whiteboard in an open teaching area of the library, used during induction and information skills sessions – a great way of taking information out of closed rooms and into the relevant spaces and showing the teaching that LRC staff do.

There is also wi-fi in the Yale College LRC – users register their MAC addresses and can then use laptops, iPod Touches etc. There are more access points being added around the college, and also a trolley of rechargeable laptops for flexible access.

The LRC promotes reader development in many ways, from displays expanding on topics near the relevant book stock, to an ‘LRC Book of the Week’ on the staff intranet. The LRC is also hoping to embed resources within the relevant course areas on the VLE, which can be a great way to increase the visibility of quality resources and weaken the grip of Google! The LRC is keen on using Web 2.0 tools to communicate with users – there ia a blog and accounts for Twitter, Flickr and Netvibes (I’ll add links here once I have them).

Visiting all three college LRCs (Glan-Hafren Deeside, Yale) was great, you can see how popular and central to the college they all are by the buzz of use. If I was an FE student again I’d love to use any of them for my research.

Swansea, Friday 23rd – Monday 26th October

Across Wales again – but not for work this time! A long weekend in Swansea to enjoy one of my favourite eating places, my new hobby of kayaking, and a chance to do a bit of creative writing.

Windblown sand on Swansea beach

Morning view on holiday

CyMAL FE Reader Development Funding was used for a programme of Reader Development activities across a number of participating colleges between Oct-Dec 2008. The programme was developed by the steering group of the fforwm LRS Managers Network in consultation with the Learning Resource Advisers from JISC RSC Wales.

Aims the programme set out to achieve

• Promote reading: promoting reading as a fun/leisure activity by focusing on readers, opening up reading choices, promoting literacy (reading skills) as a whole, encouraging readers to try different genres and authors, and helping participants to develop the confidence to try something new.
• Offering people the opportunity to share their reading experiences: encouraging the formation of book clubs with both physical meetings and online.
• To reach new audiences in colleges: via book clubs to engage new users for the LRS, sometimes focussed on particular groups such as reluctant readers.
• Libraries working in partnership: as well as sharing best practice (case studies) and peer support from the FE community, the proposal could also lead to promotion of the local public library as a source of (additional) fiction material and the use of reciprocal borrowing schemes where they exist.
• Complement the ‘National Year of Reading’ and CyMAL’s ‘Happy Days’ campaigns.
• To build upon existing reader development activities in the sector and encourage other LRSs to try something similar.

How the funding was used

The funding was used for prizes for readers taking part in the reader development initiatives, to help launch the book clubs and projects and help to achieve the interest and critical mass required to make them successful and long-term. It should be added that many of the colleges also put up other prizes from their own funds.

Each of the seven participating colleges tried something different so that a wide a range of good practice could be generated and shared amongst libraries. However there was a central ‘FE Wales – Get Reading!’ logo uniting the initiatives, the result of a competition (the logo was created by Swansea College).

Summary of the participating colleges and their projects

Each LRS was required to demonstrate evaluation from users, using whatever methods were appropriate e.g. interviews/discussions with participants, or surveys. The LRS also gave feedback and evaluation on how successful their projects were, using a standard form. Full summaries of each project can be found on our Reader Development Moodle area here.

The overall feedback from users and LRCs has been extremely positive. Many LRCs are going to be continuing with the projects, or have used them as a springboard to new projects, e.g.:

• Coleg Llandrillo are now working with the STEPS (adults with learning difficulties) tutors to develop a fully accredited AQA module for use with STEPS students which will teach them how to use a library.
• Neath Port Talbot College plan to develop an online and face-to-face book club.
• Swansea College look forward to more partnership activity with the City & County of Swansea Libraries, as well as running the Book Review activity in the second term of each year with ESOL students and continuing the Book Swap.
• Yale college have held a ‘Quick Reads 6 book challenge’, and have also been invited to work on another project which addresses family learning in the community.

The projects have involved a large number of students and staff across Wales. The individual college evaluations give further figures, but a quick summing up is that well over 600 people across Wales were involved with the book clubs and initiatives, or entered competitions, or submitted book reviews.

Finally, quotes from two of the students involved at Yale College act as a great example of the positive value of this reader development work:

“I’ll never forget the feeling I had when I come to class and said I’d read my first book. I wouldn’t have done it if Janet hadn’t gone on at me to do it. Then when you asked everyone what we’d read that week I was able to say – I felt like crying, but I didn’t.”

“The thing that really makes me take a book is so that I can join in the discussion when you ask us what we read the week before. I like to say something about the book I’m reading, instead of the TV page of the newspaper. That makes me feel good, like part of what’s going on instead of being on the outside. I know you don’t make a fuss if we don’t read, it just makes me feel better if I do. I’ve really got into the Quick Reads.”

Conclusions

Colleges in Wales had been starting to focus on reader development and literacy in order to engage users and improve literacy levels. Work had included setting up book clubs for students and staff, as well as classroom visits and ‘sneaky reading’. Additional funding is rarely available within colleges for this kind of activity, even though it can support key aims such as improving literacy.

These innovative reader development initiatives built upon initial developments in this area – and now the best practice can be shared. The RSC Wales Moodle site has further information on reader development in FE, and the Fforwm LRS managers meetings will continue to provide peer support in this area.

Andrew Eynon’s Library 2.0 blog is already added to our blogroll, but it is worth giving it a bit of extra publicity. It is part of a CyMAL-funded project, and covers how libraries can use Web 2.0 to become Library 2.0 institutions. So if you are interested in this area, follow that blog, or subscribe to its RSS http://andrewey.wordpress.com/feed/

European Sources Online (ESO) is an online database which provides information on
• the institutions and activities of the European Union
• the countries, regions and other international organisations of Europe
• the issues of importance to European citizens, researchers and stakeholders

Following a grant from CyMAL: Museums Archives and Libraries Wales, ESO is free to libraries in Wales (including public, school, college and university libraries) until 31 March 2009.

To register for a free subscription for the period 1 April 2008 – 31 March 2009 then request an application form by emailing eso@cardiff.ac.uk . Subscribers can access the service by password, library card number, IP address recognition or via remote access management systems such as Athens.

Today I attended one of the training sessions that the National Library of Wales is offering on the on-line developments connected to CyMAL’s Libraries for Life programme. The aim is to provide us with information about the ProQuest e-resources (KnowUK and NewsUK), the developments to the library.wales.org website and the project to provide Wales with a cross-catalogue search system that will enable anyone to search across all online library catalogues in Wales.

The first session was on library.wales.org and how it will enable all libraries in Wales to have a web page (or pages) on its site. As a bare minimum it could be worth giving your LRC an entry, with opening times and contact details; some people might find it worthwhile to add more information. The online editing tools were easy to pick up, and before long all the attendees had created webpages with library details, maps, images, embedded videos, and social bookmarking tagrolls. We were also shown the federated search across all Welsh online catalogues, and the options that will be available for refining the searches (e.g. by library, or region, or sector).

After lunch we were given a demonstration and talk about KnowUK and NewsUK. Even though I would count myself as someone who was familiar with both resources it still led to new thoughts on their use – e.g. using KnowUK to generate a list of art exhibitions during the summer months to show to teaching staff in an art department as a way of getting their interest, before moving on to show how useful it could be to base a student assignment around art and design research on the database… (I think all successful librarians have devious minds). We were given a bilingual printed guide to go with the session, and this should be available as an online document later which LRC staff could use as a ready-translated basis for helpguides, web pages, or training in helping users to make the most of these resources.

The other good thing about the day was the chance to meet librarians from other sectors, as well as the staff involved in running these projects – and to ask any questions directly.

Over the next few weeks, other sessions will be held across Wales, as follows:

Thursday 6 March – Cardiff
Friday 7 March – Wrexham
Friday 14 March – Newport
Monday 17 March – Bangor
Thursday 20 March – Swansea
Tuesday 25 March – Llandrindod Wells
Wednesday 26 March – Carmarthen

Information literacy: skills for success

In my previous post I mentioned the first two ‘Information literacy: skills for success‘ events, held on Wednesday 28 November 2007 (Deeside) and Friday 14th December 2007 (Swansea).

Feedback on these events has been very positive, with all 26 evaluations stating that the events were ‘Excellent’ (17) or ‘Good’ (9). The feedback forms were full of librarians’ ideas for taking the information literacy agenda further in their institutions, or in cascading information to colleagues who were not able to attend. The main strand that I pulled out of the comments was that LRC staff value the chance to meet up and share good practice, as shown by the following comments as to what was most valuable about the days:

“Learning about what is happening at other institutions.”
“Opportunity to talk to staff from similar environments”
“Sharing experiences with other people doing similar jobs”
“Talking to staff who work in the same environment – sharing experiences”
“Networking and finding out how other librarians/libraries operate”
“Meeting staff from different colleges and sharing good practice.”

Information literacy: strategies for success

The ‘Information literacy: strategies for success‘ event has now been held as well, at the University of Wales Newport, on Thursday 24 January 2008. This event aimed to help participants develop a strategic approach to information literacy and increase its impact in their organisation. The emphasis was on developing strategies to engage with hard-to-reach audiences, and the focus was on the starting point of the learner. The event also offered an opportunity for staff to exchange news of information literacy developments in their organisation, and thus further build capacity across Wales. The trainer was Sharon Markless, of the Institute for Learning and Teaching, King’s College London. Lis Parcell has done a blog entry on the event, so see that for full details, since I wasn’t able to attend this one.

The feedback on the event was again very positive (all ‘excellent’ or ‘good’). Many people gave feedback on what they felt were the most useful things about the day:

“Learning how to improve the image and profile of Information Literacy.”
“Definition of Info Literacy and the need to have a clear and realistic strategy re: content design, take-up and timescales”
“Practical actions that could be started now”
“It made me look at IL from a different perspective. The ‘how to sell’ IL in the institution is also something I will adopt.”
“some good ideas on marketing and raising the profile of information literacy within your organisation.”
“Sharon’s professionalism and experience of IL issues was noticeable and I felt I could adopt her ideas knowing they had been ‘road tested’.”

LILAC 2008

The final part of the CyMAL information literacy grant grant is part-sponsoring a place for an FE delegate at LILAC 2008 (The Librarians’ Information Literacy Annual Conference) which will take place at Liverpool John Moores University, 17th – 19th March 2008.

I just realised I hadn’t written about the information literacy events that have been taking place organised by the Fforwm Learning Resource Managers’ Network in association with RSC Wales. They have been free to participants thanks to funding from CyMAL under the CyMAL Reader Development Grant Programme 2007-2008.

The first two have been very successful, and were on the theme of ‘Skills for Success’, aimed at staff delivering information literacy training. The third takes place this Thursday 24th January (!), and will be taking things to the next level with ‘Strategies for Success’. I will mention each event in more detail below.

I should add that I have received copies of most of the presentations given (with permission to distribute upon request) as a further means to disseminate the information from the events.

North Wales ‘Skills for Success’ event, Deeside College, Wed 28 November 2007

The two ‘information literacy skills for success’ events (one in North Wales and one in South Wales) were aimed at staff who are involved on the front line, planning and running information literacy and induction sessions for learners. We intended to focus on some practical tools and skills to improve the success of these sessions, with a particular focus on ‘hard to reach’ learners; also to offer participants the chance to update their knowledge of some new developments.

Lis Parcell and myself introduced the day, using a variant of the Cephalonian method to get the announcements out of the way. This led to useful discussion of the Cephalonian method as a form of induction. Combining the participant feedback from both events, it was felt that the possible downsides were:

• Staff reluctance to use the method – but won over eventually? [Tip - it helps to pair up with another librarian the first few times.]
• Student reticence – shy students, or they feel the method is patronising?
• Potential technology failures
• Problems with SEN students?

However the possible benefits of the method were:

• Engages students – unexpected, mulitmedia, drama!!
• Students remember more?!
• Encourages questions + interest
• Broke down barriers (between staff and students) – informal
• Cues to all information (helps the presenter)
• Fresh for the presenter – staff enjoyment!
• Tip – base the questions on the most common questions asked at LRC desks

We then showed a video about the learner’s voice and experiences – which is the thing information literacy is aimed at in the final analysis.

Priscilla Dawson, LRC Manager from Swansea College, then talked about critical success factors for information literacy, and ran a workshop where we tried to identify what some of those critical success factors might be – they may be different for each institution, at different times, with different students and so on.

Patrick Cox is the LRC Manager at Deeside College, who had kindly offered to host the event. He then gave a case study of what Deeside had been doing in terms of information literacy and induction. The LRC at Deeside College – The Learning Zone – is central to the college physically, and also now has a strong virtual presence in the college virtual learning environment (Moodle). The rotating panorama of the Learning Zone for students was particularly impressive! It was also an eye-opener that since revising the whole induction process and incorporating the VLE into it LRC staff now look forward to inductions in September!

Anthony Beal then gave a talk about the experience from West Cheshire Colleges, so that we could share experience across borders. Anthony’s talk led to lots of people scribbling down tips and links that could be useful later.

Anthony Beal distilling what information literacy is about

Lisa Charnock then gave an overview of the Virtual Training Suite, Intute, and new features such as Informs. I had accidentally used the acronym ‘RDN’ (the old name for Intute), and she was very gracious in correcting my mistake! The day ended with a hands-on session using Intute; I used the time to improve my interactive whiteboard skills.

As an aside, I have used four different interactive whiteboards recently – a Mimeo; the short-throw system at Swansea; the Hitachi system at Deeside; and the system at Aberystwyth University. They are all fun, and I like the idea of getting fit by flailing your arms to check your email, but unfortunately they are too expensive for my living room (I did seriously look into it…)

Me doing an information literacy equation, it is very advanced stuff…

South Wales ‘Skills for Success’ event, Swansea College, Friday 14 December 2007

Much of the programme for this event, generously hosted by Swansea College, was similar to the event in North Wales – so that everyone had the chance to participate. Therefore there was an introduction by myself and Lis, then a session on critical success factors for information literacy run by Priscilla Dawson. The case studies and speakers for the rest of the day were different though.

Helen Hodges from Coleg Gwent gave a case study of what the learning centre has been doing with its presence in the college VLE, and how it tied in with information literacy training.

The West Cheshire College case study was this time given by Leo Appleton, and included a game of buzz-word bingo. Leo coped very stoically with an operating system blip during the talk – it is good to have speakers at an event who are more reliable than Microsoft Windows!

Leo talking about the West Cheshire College programme

After lunch the session on the Virtual Training Suite, Intute and Informs was this time given by Emma Place, and I avoided saying RDN at any point. She led most people for the hands on session; at the same time there was an optional look at accessibility equipment, which reminded me of a present-giving by extra-terrestrials, as we opened various boxes then tried to work out what the item did and what the various brightly-coloured buttons were for (the TechDIS site helped us there).

‘Information literacy: strategies for success’ event, University of Wales Newport, Caerleon Campus, Thursday 24 January 2008

This event takes place in two days’ time. It is aimed at FE Learning Resource Service managers and others interested in strategic approaches to the development of information literacy, and should help participants develop a strategic approach to information literacy and increase its impact in their organisation.

One definition of information literacy is “knowing when and why you need information, where to find it, and how to evaluate, use and communicate it in an ethical manner”. Information literacy skills are something which all learners and staff need, at a level appropriate for their studies and for their work.

The emphasis will be on developing strategies to engage with hard-to-reach audiences, and the focus is very much on the starting point of the learner.

The programme for the day is expected to include:

- Models of information literacy
- Linking to the curriculum
- Impact and evaluation
- Strategic issues
- What has worked for you?

The event will also be an opportunity for staff to exchange news of information literacy developments in their organisation, and thus further build capacity across Wales.

We are delighted to welcome as the trainer Sharon Markless, of the Institute for Learning and Teaching, King’s College London.

The winner of the CyMAL national e-resources contract has now been announced – ProQuest has won on both counts, with KnowUK for Lot 1 (general reference) and NewsUK for Lot 2 (newspapers). The new contract will begin on 1 January 2008, so there will be no break in the service at all, and Welsh libraries can continue using the current access arrangements and publicity. This way there will be no extra training requirements which there would have been had the contract gone to a different provider.

Today was the latest Libraries for Life meeting at CyMAL in Aberystwyth. Priscilla Dawson (Swansea College) and myself were there as FE representatives. All the members of the group who attended in person had braved some very wild weather to be at the meeting!

['After the Rain' from morgueFile]

The main item of interest regarding learning resources was that the winners of the National Resource Discovery system (a means for a user to search all library catalogues in Wales, regardless of sector) and the E-resources for Wales tender (to replace the current Proquest KnowUK and NewsUK deal) will be announced in the near future. For legal reasons even the members at the meeting could not be told who the selected providers were yet.

With regard to the E-resources for Wales tender it was good to see statistics showing that FE colleges had been using those resources. I am hoping that when the replacement deal is put in place, FE colleges will continue to be able to access the e-resources through a variety of means (e.g. IP, Athens, fixed login and password, Shibboleth) – there has been an agenda for Single-Sign On for many years, so hopefully the new deal will enable college students to access the resources directly as before.

The ‘Little Book of Libraries’ should have reached all FE colleges by now (Joanne Stewart from Yale College kindly distributes a number of them at the last fforwm LRC Managers’ Network meeting in Coleg Powys).

Under the Marketing Strand of Libraries for Life there will a ‘Recommend a Friend’ competition – this will now only be for public libraries, because HE and FE libraries have closed memberships so the concept of recommending a friend to join wouldn’t work. There may be a different promotion for education libraries at a later date.

As ever the meeting was a good chance to catch up with people. I got to meet Mandy Powell, the new CILIP Cymru Development Officer. I had an interesting discussion with Rheinallt Jones, the Libraries for Life Programme Manager about online communication tools (such as Instant Presenter) and virtual worlds such as Second Life. Rheinallt mentioned one that I hadn’t come across or linked to that sounds interesting educationally, Metaplace.

As ever, lunch at CyMAL was very tasty!