It seems that every day we hear about new technologies, tools and websites. The question is always: does this enable us to do something new, or perhaps to do something in a better way? Learning technologists focus on how the tool can enhance learning. My focus is a more specific sub-question: how can this tool improve the library service for users, enabling them to find, evaluate and use the LRC resources more effectively in order to enhance their learning?

I thought I would bring together a few tools or sites that I had played with over the last year:

• QR codes
• Cartoons
• Animoto
  
• Crosswords
• Quizzes

QR codes

The basics of these have already been covered by Sam. I have been following examples of use, from US studies of their potential, to commercial uses such as Google’s ‘Favorite Places’. I also tried things out using my work mobile phone, and was impressed at how easy it was. You just have to download some software to your phone if it isn’t already on there (I used QuickMark software but I have also heard good things about the Kaywa Reader). Then you can point your phone camera at QR codes and in a fraction of a second the code is deciphered and displayed on the screen. You can make your own (e.g. try here or here), or point at the code below.

How might libraries use QR codes? Below are a few ideas:

• QR code on textbooks in the library – scan to get a subject guide to resources that area (e.g. catering), including classmarks to look at, core texts, useful magazines, websites etc.
• Fiction collections – scan the code to get the e-book version, e.g. from
  Project Gutenberg if it is a classic text.
• Reference collection book – scan the code to go through to a reference
  website on that subject (e.g. online dictionary or style guide), or the library’s own virtual reference collection.
• Posters linking to the relevant web pages. Or notice boards could have
  QR codes next to headlines, which when scanned take the user through to a blog entry on that subject.
• Used as part of induction, for an innovative quiz where there are blocks of QR code information around the library, with a sort of treasure hunt following QR code clues on signs and hidden in some books. Students would be lent a phone if they don’t have their own. The hunt would involve using library resources such as the OPAC, and only if things are done in the correct order will they get the correct final code (which might open a safe; be a classmark for a book with a voucher in; it could be a map reference; or something more imaginative).
• Library cards could have QR codes with user information on, or to take the user to their library account on their phone so they can renew books etc (after some other form of authentication too, of course).
• Other uses for QR codes on a physical item, enabling users to see the
  catalogue record, reviews, similar items etc.
• On the OPAC so users can get locations, classmarks and item details onto their phone for finding item on shelves, or adding to bibliographies. This was done at Aberystwyth University as one of the mobile phone enhancements (the OPAC also has the ability to send an SMS with item details to a mobile phone). To view the QR code function, search the OPAC then click on the “QR code” link in the “Availability” section when viewing a record.
• To provide context specific help and information in the library, as
  at Huddersfield University.

Will any of this be commonplace in LRCs in 5 years? Let me know if you are
using them yourself!

Cartoons

Librarians are always looking for ways to get information across to users. Pictorial methods are attractive, but not many of us have any artistic talent. That is where sites like Bitstrips come in, since with Bitstrips it is easy and quick to create a cartoon. You can design your own characters to appear in it, or use the hundreds that are provided on the site already. The system is easy to use – pose the figure, choose a facial expression, stick some props in the background, and add a text or speech bubble; then tweak until you are happy with it. The end result is that you can link to the cartoon on Bitstrips, or download it as an image to use in newsletters and on notice boards. Bitstrips are obviously aware of educational uses, since they have recently launched ‘Bitstrips for Schools‘.

I created a few for my RSC Wales job, see the RSC Wales LR Netvibes account. Also in my other role at Aberystwyth University, to promote our federated search tool. The fact that it is so easy to edit the cartoons means it is simple to go back in and create a Welsh version.

Animoto

I have always been a fan of Animoto. It is a site that lets you upload images and select music, and they get mixed together into a video slideshow which can then be viewed online, embedded on a webpage, or downloaded. In the early days you had to add words to an image yourself if you wanted text, but nowadays there are options to include titles and subtitles, and even to incorporate video clips. The basic version which creates short 60 second clips is free to use; however I took out a subscription so that I can create videos of any length.

I have used Animoto in various ways.

• Sometimes when I am doing a teaching session I like to have looped music and video playing as people come in and settle down: to help create an informal atmosphere, act as a border between the ‘outside world’ and the session proper, and possibly to raise some questions in advance of the session. This is an example I used in a session I ran on using multimedia resources.
• An attractive way of getting a simple message across.
• To promote a new service (ac yn Saesneg)
• As an ‘attract mode’ running on a laptop when you are on a stall e.g. a recent stall I ran demonstrating e-book readers had this animation playing to pull people over.
• A fun way of introducing people with photos and names.
• For your own projects outside of work e.g. presenting a poem, holiday snapshots.

Crosswords

LRCs often like to offer quizzes as ways of summarising information or reinforcing it later. Crosswords are an easy way to do this, something some users might enjoy (though they shouldn’t be over-used, and many students will hate them – it is just an alternative way of giving information). Creating a crossword by hand is a daunting task, and thankfully unnecessary! Lots of software is available. My favourite is Eclipse Crossword, which is free and simple to use, yet powerful and fast. If you haven’t tried it before, why not incorporate a quick crossword into one of your information literacy sessions, leaflets, inductions or competitions, or use one as part of a promotion of resources and services?

Quizzes

At the end of a teaching session it is good to include some way of reviewing the content. Institutions with voting systems or interactive whiteboards can use those, but there are many other options for running a quiz. One of my favourites at the moment is ‘Multiple Choice Quiz Creator‘, which resembles ‘Who Want To Be A Millionaire?’ in format and sounds. I like the fact that you only need a laptop/PC, speakers, and (ideally) a projector. Sometimes I get a student to take part, helped by the rest of the people at the session; sometimes I get people to call out answers; other times I put the lecturer on the hotspot (depending on the vibe of the session and how relaxed people are!) It has proven to be a fun way to finish off with a laugh, with a prize of some sort for the winner (e.g. a USB memory stick or some pens). The quizzes are free to play (since the display software has no limits), but the quiz creator programme itself is only free for thirty days. You can download sample quizzes here if you want to try it out.

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.]

Over the years I have found many useful sources of video clips which I sometimes use to spice up a presentation or an information literacy teaching session with students. There are pros and cons to using other people’s clips: on the plus side they can save you time and may have higher production levels than you could achieve yourself; on the downside they are sometimes just slightly out of kilter with local needs.

The Commoncraft Show is a good example of the latter – they are simple breakdowns of technical subjects, often related to Web 2.0, but because they are US-based they don’t always fit perfectly into a UK/Wales setting. However they can be used as inspiration for ways of explaining things in a language that non-librarians can understand. Take the following example where Commoncraft give some concise tips on improving search strategies, which has obvious implications for information skills teaching:

Commoncraft are popular with me because they are also unafraid to tackle pressing issues of the day:

So as sources of inspiration, as well as things to use in teaching, it is worth becoming familiar with sources of video clips. (One big tip – if you are going to use one in a teaching session it is best to download it in advance if possible, in case there are network problems on the day, so that you don’t stand at the front of a class saying “Well it worked last night…”)

If you want to make your own videos there are many commercial options, however with a bit of lateral thinking even photo-slideshow tools like Animoto can be used for getting a simple message across. When teaching I sometimes make one that is themed to the session and let it play in the background while distributing handouts and getting people logged into PCs. Or you can use them to promote a service or resource – this is an Animoto video I created in my ‘other job’ to promote Aberystwyth University’s federated search tool, then uploaded to YouTube (Welsh version here):

You can see an FE LRC-themed Animoto video in the top right of the Netvibes account Sam and I share.

In terms of creating your own – also see Sam’s blog post and Moodle areas on screencasting; and the first comment below (by Christine) for some other software you can use.

Creating short instructional videos aka “screencasting” is all the rage so if you fancy trying it out, it need not be expensive or difficult (apart from not cringing at the sound of your own voice..). We have a new Moodle area which covers the basics to get started with some of the free screencasting tools that are available:
http://moodle.rsc-wales.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=174
Pros and cons of each are highlighted and you can watch some very short sample videos for each (on the riveting topic of “Finding free resources on the JISC Collections website”).

These kind of videos are ideal for
….showing how to access online resources, logging in via Athens / Shibboleth, how to use the library catalogue etc. etc.
….making all the above available permanently via the web for students who miss induction (or distance learners)
….pre-recording a demo to take the pressure out of a teaching session
….creating visual learning materials to cater for different learning styles or learners with poor literacy skills
and much more! Videos can be uploaded to your website, intranet or VLE, or hosted on sites such as YouTube.

I was lucky enough to attend the Tuesday of the LILAC conference last month. It was a long day of presentations (9-5pm!) and I came home with a fairly hefty set of notes to follow-up.  Spurred on by co-presenting a session on LILAC at the COFHE Wales day last week, I put together an area for exploring some of the web resources and technologies which were showcased:

http://moodle.rsc-wales.ac.uk/mod/book/view.php?id=3183

It is quite a subjective choice i.e. based on the sessions I attended and found interesting. I also added a couple of emerging technology-oriented sections – QR Codes and web 2.0/Twitter – which weren’t a session in themselves but seemed worthy of investigation afterwards. The presentations from LILAC were not available on the web at time of writing but I’ll be adding in the links once available.

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.

For anyone interested in Virtual Worlds / Multi-User Virtual Environments (such as Second Life), the Virtual World Watch and the Eduserv Foundation have released the latest snapshot of virtual world activity in UK Higher and Further Education – report available here, and a summary can be read here.

Second Life presents problems for FE, because of the splitting of ‘worlds’ between those under 18 and those over 18, meaning that it would be impossible for some mixed-age course groups to interact. However there are other options – for example OpenSim’s closed environment could create a secure Virtual World restricted to institutional users, with lessons or meetings held in there. There is great potential for using these virtual environments between campuses, or with off-campus learners.

Currently Higher Education institutions are the ones making most use of Virtual Worlds. Sheffield University information studies department has an information literacy island. They use it for teaching but also for hosting talks and meetings – this autumn there are sessions led by librarians from the US and UK, and an Education professor (the calendar can be checked here, if you want to join in with any of the events).  I recently attended a talk/meeting within Second Life where we discussed teaching information literacy within a virtual environment – another possibility for making these environments relevant to education and libraries. At this event on 2 Oct we examined ‘constructs’ of the SCONUL 7 pillars of Information Literacy that could be interacted with. I was also impressed by one of the tools we were shown – a Second Life voting system whereby a large circle appeared with options on; you ‘walked’ your avatar onto the option you voted for, and a chart in the centre of the circle dynamically updated to show the responses.

My avatar at the Information Literacy meeting]

Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor circulated their excellent Welsh translation of the “Internet Detective” tutorial back in May. It has been available to download from our Moodle area but now you can find it up on the official Intute site: http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/detective/downloads.html. There’s also a full press release from Intute here:
http://www.intute.ac.uk/blog/2008/09/11/internet-detective-now-available-in-welsh/

We’ve also been pulling together our RSC Wales Information Literacy / Internet Skills information area:
http://moodle.rsc-wales.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=45. For those of you who attended the Information Literacy events that were run in 2007, this is a re-working of the Moodle area used to support those events. It had become a bit redundant so we have kept the best of the content (the Welsh case studies) and have been adding a collection of other resources (online tutorials, multimedia, finding good examples of fake/spoof websites) that may hopefully be of use if you are planning any information literacy activities. If you have any suggestions for additional content or feedback, please let us know! Contact details on our Netvibes page.

‘Engaging Learners – Some Tools for Teachers’
Wed 7 May 2008, Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor, Dolgellau

My second visit to Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor, but with sunnier weather this time!

[The walk to Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor 1]

[The walk to Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor 2]

My colleague Paul Richardson led heroically on a number of sessions on mind-mapping, and enriching teaching and learning with learning objects.

[Paul directing us to useful resources]

My contribution was a hands-on session on the importance of three things: information literacy, quality learning resources, and close liaison between the teaching staff and the LRC, which ended with evaluating various copyright-free image banks for use in teaching or mindmaps. The attendees were a mix of teaching and library staff, which helped to reinforce my central message of working together. Some of the materials used in the event can be seen here.

‘RSC Wales Annual Conference for Further Education’
Wed 14th and Thu 15th May, Gregynog Hall

[Gregynog Hall - photo by Lis Parcell]

Further details here. This year’s themes were Learning Space Design and Green Computing, and Social Networking and Web 2.0 technologies from both technical and pedagogical angles. I was there for the first day, and in the afternoon I chaired the sessions on ‘Expectations of Space: Comparing Public and FE Libraries’ by Alan Clark, Designing Libraries (Alan was my line manager for many years, so it was an interesting situation to be introducing him!), and on ‘Space Design for Videoconferencing’ by Phil Davison, Manager of the Welsh Video Network. I will pay more attention to the Videoconference Studio the next time I am using one.

[Introducing a session - photo by Lis Parcell]

The final session of the day involved working in groups to design learning resource centres for different college scenarios – then comparing the results with what learners themselves came up with when given the same tasks. It was interesting to note that the learners’ designs were often very similar to the ones designed by library and technical staff. The only real difference was that the student designs were more likely to include ‘chill out’ areas with plasma TVs and a PS3/Wii, or a jacuzzi, or a board-table where the top can be inverted to become a pool table. All of which get my vote.

It was good to meet LRC staff at the conference, my second since joining the RSC, and talk went on until late into the night in the cellar bar. The next morning I was replaced by Sam, ensuring that there was fresh LRC support (so we were a bit like a WWF tag-team but wearing more clothes).

Welsh Libraries Conference
Friday 16th May, Llandrindod Wells

I only attended for the second day of this two-day event, in order to give a talk. The morning sessions were all on the subject of leadership, and gave much useful advice based on the experiences of the speakers (including an illustration of why laptops and water don’t mix well).

I was the last speaker of the day in the HE/FE libraries seminar – the death slot! It was good to have a familiar and friendly face as chair in the form of Donald Mitchell, Coleg Morgannwg, and I enjoyed both previous talks on RFID at Cardiff University and on the Virtual Academic Library project.

My title was ‘Social networking: making it work for you’, intended to encourage people to think about the possibilities and uses of social networking in HE and FE. The talk went well thanks to the responsive audience. I have linked to a form of the presentation below – feel free to contact me if you want clarification on any of the points.

['Social Networking: What is all the fuss about?' - photo by Lis Parcell]

Today I got to visit Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor, Dolgellau Campus. (Google map of colleges in Wales, focused on Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor). It was my first visit, and I was really taken by the small town with stunning views, and all the interesting-looking pubs (that I sadly didn’t get to visit, thanks to the Arriva timetables).

[Two amazing views seen by walking along the river-side towpath to the college, rather than walking along the A470]

It is always interesting to find out what different colleges and their LRCs are doing; to meet the staff who are running these vital services; to find out what issues they face and what innovations they are making; and to get a tour around a new college. Today I met with a number of staff and we discussed a range of subjects, such as open-source library management systems, e-resources, and information literacy. We also discussed the training day that RSC Wales will be running in Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor on 7 May 2008, which will be based around mind-mapping and the importance of integrating e-resources into the curriculum, as well as the role of the LRC and information literacy in developing students’ potential.

It was good to see that the Internet Detective had been embedded into the college VLE. The college is also justifiably proud of the new touch screen technology based in the training kitchen, from which staff and students can download recipes, access the VLE, and upload or download to USB memory stick from the screens.

["Can I help you?"]