Photo by finchlake2000 on Flickr

I was lucky enough to attend yesterday’s South and Mid Wales Partnership Staff Conference 2010 (Twitter hashtag #swamp) which brought together all varieties of librarians from the region to the distinctly swampy-green Hotel Metropole in Llandrindod Wells. Days out like this are great for networking and staff development but the real value is the ideas and nuggets you can take back and incorporate into your own work. I came away with my head buzzing. A day’s reflection later and my thoughts had simmered down as follows…

Much of what we heard and discussed comes back to librarians feeling threatened, both by financial cuts and by a lack of understanding of the value we bring. Rather than being a negative, this generated a huge amount of positive and innovative ways of tackling this. The following is a high-speed, subjective round-up of the highlights for me:

Keep doing things better = often means do things differently.

1. 

   Image by Waka Jawaka on Flickr

   Balls! Recent years have seen the growing use of the “clicker” (or Voting System) to take rough-and-ready surveys and to increase participation in a teaching session. This was all swept aside yesterday by the triumphant return of the plastic balls in a bucket system: Powerpoint slides with a 30 second timer to give you the questions, colour-coded answers, grab a ball and put it in the corresponding bucket. Lots of movement, fast-paced, thought-provoking questions and lots of fun! Courtesy of the Swansea Public Libraries team.

2. Embrace Web 2.0 = “web pages you can do things with”. Key tips from Swansea Public Libraries: “Do it anyway and apologise later!”, find libraries that are already doing it well and learn from them, crowd-source so constant updating does not fall on one person. Not sure about the relevance of Web 2.0? It’s our job! Mark Hughes pointed out this CILIP statement: “As a library and information professional you will develop the ability to design, create, identify, locate, retrieve and exploit information in all formats.”

Information Literacy has never been more needed!

• New Information Literacy Officer for Wales, Joy Head, re-iterated the timely comparison that giving Wales 21st Century broadband without supporting digital literacy training is like being given a Porsche without having a driving licence. She put it much better than that but you get the gist!
• A quote from Martin Bean, the Vice Chancellor of the OU: “In my mind now the digital divide is much more about those that actually understand how to use and apply technology in their lives and their work as a necessity, rather than simply getting access to the technology per se,” (another one from Mark Hughes’ presentation)
• Discussion amongst the sectors present showed so much of what librarians do meets these needs but we are not good at pointing it out. This moves swiftly on to….

Making External Partnerships is Essential

This came out of both the Information Literacy strategy and Christine Clarke’s “Libraries Changing Lives” document. It was also fresh in my mind from the trending “Escaping the Echo Chamber” Prezi presentation by WoodsieGirl and theWikiMan which has been stirring up librarians all over the place.

Christine Clarke had a great set of “lessons learned” on how to do this effectively which could be applied to so many scenarios:

1. Talk the language of your partner: tailoring material to suit the audience is essential to get attention.
2. Put the impact on people first, not the library perspective.
3. External information adds value: quote non-library sources to support your case.
4. Try and quantify what you do in appropriate ways (e.g. generic social outcomes).
5. Use numbers people can visualise.
6. Get a fresh pair of eyes to look something over.
7. Use “for you this means….” and always bear in mind the “So what?” test.

Unfortunately I only have one link to share from the day so far but hopefully more will follow! Mark Hughes’ presentation on Twitter can be found on Slideshare.

Image by Karin Dalziel on Flickr, under CC Licence

This turned out to be no easy question to answer – there IS no set definition of media literacy, as Ofcom concluded when they were given the duty of promoting it in the 2003 Communications Act. They came up with their own (”the ability to access, understand and create communications in a variety of contexts“). Wikipedia has its own definitions for Media Literacy (“a repertoire of competences that enable people to analyse, evaluate and create messages in a wide variety of media modes, genres and forms”) and Digital Literacy (“the ability to locate, organize, understand, evaluate, and create information using digital technology”). The Information Literacy website also has a good overview of the topic – it also shows how many definitions there are of information literacy. Finally, Becta refer to “the term digital literacy, sometimes called web literacy, information literacy, internet literacy or media literacy” which made me realise I could be going round in circles! However, it is a good process to mull these terms over, come to your own conclusions and then argue the toss of it with anyone you can find who’s interested! There is also a strategic angle, given that media and digital literacy tend to feature more prominently on government agendas.

It’s easy to become quite academic trying to fix on a definition so I decided to play safe and highlight instead what kinds of things you can DO if you are “media literate”. This summary I focussed on was derived from the BBC Media Literacy website which suggests you can…

• USE computers, mobile phones, TV and radio to watch, listen, create and search in your daily life.
• UNDERSTAND modern media, including choosing the best sources of information and understanding your digital identity
• CREATE your own content and responses

Media Literacy covers quite a large number of skills and there are clear overlaps with Information Literacy. Many of the Media Literacy resources that are out there also have a strong information literacy component. There is a list on our RSC Wales Delicious account but here are some of the best ones:

• Get Safe Online is aimed at individuals and small busineses. It has advice on protecting your PC, protecting your online identity and also further resources for parents, teachers and young people.
• BBC Media Literacy uses BBC resources with lots of videos on how to get online, getting behind the media to see how things are made and tips on how to create your own radio/video etc.
• WiseKids has a great collection of links arranged by target audience (Young People, Parents, Educators, Businesses etc.)
• North West Learning Grid’s interactive Digital Literacy Quiz: learners can answer questions on topics around “What do you do on the internet?” (e.g. Shop, Do Homework, Get News) and there are Teachers Notes for lessons.
• Becta’s Digital Literacy for Schools website () has a short guide & planning tool for teachers and a whole load of useful resources for learners e.g. Understanding Web Addresses, Evaluating Digital Information (good collection of spoof websites).
• Internet Detective is an online tutorial on evaluating websites which is also also available in Welsh to download or view here on the RSC Wales Moodle.

If you are interested in Media Literacy, a good analysis of the UK’s current state of play is Report of the Digital Britain Media Literacy Working Group (concluding a lot of people are doing stuff, but nothing is very joined-up). If you want a very quick, high-level overview, then here is video which I used in the workshop last week:

Media Literacy in 2 min 30 seconds from Sam Oakley on Vimeo.

I have already discussed the work that has started on an Information Literacy Framework for Wales. I am one of the librarians on the project steering group, and one of our roles is to “cascade the vision of the Welsh Information Literacy Project to colleagues throughout Wales to obtain support from all sectors”. Consider this trickle to be the start of a cascade.

The steering group had our first meeting last week on Thursday 29th April. It is made up of librarians from the public, HE, FE and school sectors, as well as including colleagues from organisations with cross-sector remits such as CILIP Cymru and CyMAL.

Cathie Jackson, Law Librarian and information literacy guru from Cardif University, gave an exemplary pecha kucha (”pe-chak-cha”) presentation summarising what has gone before and where the project is now. For the rest of the morning the group discussed terms of reference, a Gregynog Statement on Information Literacy, work programmes, CyMAL grants, sector involvement, and project dissemination. There will hopefully be a project officer in place in a few months, and that will be a catalyst for further developments.

The terms of reference for the group include adopting a cross-sectoral and lifelong approach in order to meet the information literacy needs of people in Wales; promoting information literacy and embedding it in strategies; working with partners, activists and champions; and disseminating project outcomes. Once the project has a website then a lot of this information should be available there. These are exciting times!

I should add that this is not just a project run by and for libraries, though it is the library sectors that are kick-starting it. The Welsh Information Literacy Project is relevant to businesses, teachers, those involved in quality and qualifications, ACL, WBL and many others – since it is about a skill which everyone needs.

The venue was the Technium in Aberystwyth. They did a great vegan lunch, obviously making an effort. The only problem with the venue was that we were not allowed to use the stairs to get to the meeting room! As anyone who has worked with me knows, I am interested in health and fitness, environmental issues, and flexible space design. Being forced to use a lift when there are stairs nearby goes against all of the above. If you are ever involved with planning a library, don’t forget the stairs!

As an aside, this blog has just passed its ‘100 posts’ marker. Yay!

CyMAL FE Reader Development Funding was used for a programme of reader development activities across a number of participating colleges between October and December 2009. The programme was developed by some of the FE college LRC managers and the Learning Resource Advisers from JISC RSC Wales.

Aims the programme set out to achieve

• Include an element of reaching new audiences: the creation of book clubs has the potential to engage new users for the LRS and can be focussed on particular groups such as reluctant readers.
• Involve libraries working in partnership: as well as sharing best practice and peer support from the FE community, the proposal can 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. The Regional Development Officers can also be involved to support and encourage this collaboration.
• Promoting reading: promoting reading as a fun/leisure activity, opening up reading choices, promoting literacy (reading skills) as a whole, encouraging readers to try different genres, authors etc.
• Offering people the opportunity to share their reading experiences: encouraging the formation of book clubs with both physical meetings and online.

Reader development activities are an excellent way to reach new potential users of the LRS – both students and college staff – and therefore can be an excellent promotion for the service. This work can therefore link in with the Libraries for Life Marketing Action Plan.

How the funding was used

The funding was used to purchase prizes for readers taking part in the reader development initiatives. In some cases this helped to launch book clubs and projects and aided in achieving the interest and critical mass required to make them successful and long-term.

£2,500 was available (originally £2,000, but it was later increased by £500). However one FE college dropped out in the early stages (Coleg Llysfasi) so the final invoice to CyMAL was for £2263.86. The summary of the costs of the prizes distributed to readers by the participating institutions is shown in this spreadsheet.

It should be added that the sector in turn contributed their own resources:

• Staff time (running the schemes, designing publicity, post-event dissemination such as presentations).
• Some LRCs purchased materials to support their reading groups  (e.g. Coleg Morgannwg, Yale College) or donated books to swapping schemes (e.g. Neath Port Talbot College).
• The LRCs paid for their own publicity materials (posters, flyers, bookmarks etc).
• RSC Wales staff time in coordinating the proposal, management and dissemination of the project.

It is appropriate here to thank Deirdre Magoris, the Welsh Video Network Administrator, who kindly helped with the finances: ordering items, keeping track of spending, and making sense of a mass of invoices!

Summary of the participating colleges and their projects

1: Coleg Glan Hafren
A competition asking students to think about what the learning centres or libraries mean to them, then to create things to illustrate their thoughts. Creations from students were put forward for the CyMAL competition, enabling a close link with CyMAL campaigns. Evaluation and supporting material.

2: Coleg Llandrillo Cymru
Denbigh Site: Working with STEPS groups (adults with learning difficulties) to increase library usage, incorporating the 6 Book Challenge. Promoted reading activities in the classrooms with other students, and tried to do the same for ESOL students.

Rhos Site: Worked with ILS (Independent Living Skills) students made up of three groups with four to five students in a group. Tried to get them to see the library as a useful, welcoming and safe place, and to increase their usage of the resources suitable to them. Also linked with the 6 Book Challenge and encouraged book reviews.

Evaluation and supporting material.

3: Coleg Menai
Book swaps and a Reader Reviews Competition of any reading material (e.g. fiction, course texts, magazines, audio books, newspapers etc) with prizes for each of the three sites. Submissions could be by email, post, dropped off at the libraries, or submitted via the library pages on Moodle. The projects were promoted in many ways: at inductions and teaching sessions; via posters; Moodle; staff intranet; staff e-zine; postcards tucked into books and left on tables; and screensaver adverts on student machines. Evaluation and supporting material.

4: Coleg Morgannwg
The LRC built on last year’s success and further developed the Reader Development Group known as ‘Chapter2′. Using a number of technologies including blogs, the student run website, as well as Skype and face to face meetings, they continued to encourage both reluctant and active readers to develop their skills. They promoted the group through the four campuses of the college and activities led up to a final short story writing competition which they hoped would appeal to a broad range of the student population. Evaluation and supporting material.

5: Coleg Powys
A ‘Match Book’ competition during induction, hoping to encourage further reading and increase knowledge of the library and how to find resources. Evaluation and supporting material.

6: Deeside College
Planned work with ESOL learners, with a story/writing competition. However this project had to be postponed due to the college merger and other issues, and will now take place later.

7: Gorseinon College
Work on wider reading with students, encouraging reading in different genres and authors, and even formats, related to themes connected with Wuthering Heights. Primarily (but not limited to) English literature students. Collaborated with public libraries on book loans and promoting books related to certain themes. It was planned that students would contribute to a mind map connecting ideas and themes, as well as submitting reviews. Evaluation and supporting material.

8: Neath Port Talbot College
‘Switchabook’ book swapping scheme with plans to add reviews to a forum on Moodle, reaching out to reluctant readers and aiming to get them reading more. Staff took part too. High quality publicity material was created. Evaluation and supporting material.

9: Yale College
‘RD2’ [Reader Development 2] working with a number of groups and their tutors to encourage reading and discussion. Working with students with learning difficulties and disabilities and students who require additional support. Students selected and wrote reviews of books. The scheme was a great success and the evaluation has lots of valuable reflection and useful tips on running such schemes. Evaluation and supporting material.

Evaluation of the projects

Each of the nine participating colleges tried something different so that a wide a range of good practice could be generated and shared amongst libraries. Many of the projects built upon existing reader development initiatives, but new approaches were tried too. The core that links all the projects together is the attempt to promote 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. The LRCs involved all promoted CyMAL’s ‘Express Yourself’ campaign, sometimes tying it into their own initiatives.

With regard to the specific aims of the Further Education grant:

• Include an element of reaching new audiences: this was the intention of most of the projects that took place, many of which targeted reluctant readers (e.g. the projects at Coleg Llandrillo Cymru, Coleg Morgannwg, Yale College).
• Involve libraries working in partnership: some of the sharing of best practice will take place later. However the public library services were involved in some cases e.g. Gorseinon College.
• Promoting reading: as mentioned above, this was a core theme of all the projects. As just one example of a success in this area, you can listen to the audio files submitted as supporting material by Coleg Llandrillo (Denbigh site) – the students state that they had enjoyed reading together in class, felt that it helped them, and as a result they were going to read more books.
• Offering people the opportunity to share their reading experiences: this was a central part of many of the projects (e.g. the projects at Coleg Llandrillo Cymru, Coleg Menai, Coleg Morgannwg, Neath Port Talbot College, Yale College).

Each LRS was required to demonstrate evaluation from users, using whatever methods were appropriate e.g. interviews/discussions with participants, quotes, statistics, visitor numbers, number of books issued, comment cards, photos, video clips, surveys. The LRS also gave feedback and evaluation on how successful their projects were. Attached to this overall evaluation there should be evaluation/case study forms for each college that took part, including the details of the project, and relevant extra materials (the forms also sometimes mention further supporting material that is available on request). These are also available with additional material on the RSC Wales Moodle ‘Reader Development’ information area, which was used as a support site throughout.

The overall feedback from users and LRCs has been positive. Many LRCs are going to be continuing with the projects, or have used them as a springboard to new projects. The projects have involved a large number of students and staff across Wales.

Finally, I would like to highlight a few quotes from the evaluation forms which illustrate some of the positive things that came out of this reader development work.

“It was established that one of our finalists had never thought anyone would like her work, and that she had not been good enough to enter. Therefore being a winner had given her the confidence to experiment and take up art as a hobby. [...] Another finalist enjoyed rapping to music. He used his skills to write a poem featuring how the learning centre resources and staff had helped him turn his attendance around and can now realise his dream of attending university.” Coleg Glan Hafren evaluation

“Our prize winners were very pleased to have taken part, and felt they had gained a lot from doing so, not only in terms of reading, but also learning about what makes a good review.  Our winner (from ESOL) of the prize for the most reviews was probably the most delighted of all our winners, and was amazed at his achievement as a learner of English at also winning a second prize for his course text review.” Coleg Menai evaluation

“If I had to say which the biggest success of the group was, I would say that it is the way that the members have taken to this activity, met new people and broadened their own reading as a result of helping others broaden theirs.  … the supportive nature of the group has really helped bring people out of their shells.” Coleg Morgannwg evaluation

“A highlight of the scheme was the interest actively demonstrated by one of the students involved in the College’s enterprise scheme.  Following the launch of Switchabook, she regularly gave up her lunch breaks to distribute flyers and she also created a Switchabook profile on Facebook; which, to date, has 19 fans.” Neath Port Talbot College evaluation

“The students were so excited about getting the certificates – although I know some of them didn’t seem to want to collect them. I had to leave early so missed the end part but they came rushing up to me later to show me their certificates. For most of these students, they have never achieved anything in their life so this was quite a big thing for them.  I heard one of the girls who won a prize on her phone to her dad to tell him all about it and she was over the moon. It was wonderful to hear.” Lecturer, quoted in the Yale College evaluation

Conclusions

Colleges in Wales focus on reader development and literacy in order to engage users and improve literacy levels. Additional funding is rarely available within colleges for this kind of activity, even though it can support key aims such as improving literacy. As the Yale College evaluation said: “Like every other LRC, our day-to-day work is hectic and sometimes we feel that every learner in college has descended upon us”. With the threat of increased budget cuts impacting on staffing and books, there may be less resources (staff, time and materials) available for these important projects.

The CyMAL funding made it possible to build upon initial developments and encourage other innovative reader development initiatives in this area, sharing best practice and offering incentives to readers. The wide range of good practice is being shared with other colleges e.g. through the RSC Wales Moodle site which ensures that best practice can be disseminated and inspire in the future (as well as being used for LRS advocacy); and the ColegauCymru LRS managers’ meetings which can also used to provide peer support after the end of this project.

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!

Update 27 April 2010: I have just become aware of this article by Andrew Walsh, ‘Quick response codes and libraries’ (2009).

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.

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.]

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.

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.

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.