Librarians, learning and information literacy in the digital age
Dr Jane Secker, London School of Economics
Librarians as Teachers, ARLG West Midlands
10th June 2015
Image: Kevin Dooley, flickr.com CC BY-NC 2.0
2015: time to reflect
What has changed in the last 5 years in your role? Are you more or less recognised
as a teacher?
#LibTeach2015
Librarians as teachers ...
We are talking about information literacy (IL) in the digital age
But what do we mean?
Librarians as teachers ...
We are talking about information literacy (IL)
But what do we mean?
Library instruction
Librarians as teachers ...
We are talking about information literacy (IL)
But what do we mean?
Library instruction User education
Librarians as teachers ...
We are talking about information literacy (IL)
But what do we mean?
Library instruction User education Bibliographic training
Get outside the library bubble
Kitty behind the bubble by Beatnik photos licensed under CC-BY
The role of the teacher in the digital age
Signpost by thepicturedrome licensed under CC-BY-NC
Threshold concepts & liminality
“A threshold concept can be considered as akin to a portal, opening up a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking about something.” - Jan Meyer & Ray Land
Information literacy ...
… supports transition
Higher education is “not just more education, but different”. Students coming from school are not
sure what learning is - it’s always been managed for them.
(ANCIL Expert Consultation Report, 2011, p.20)
Secker and Coonan, 2011
Information literacy ...
… develops independent learners
It involves students being able to articulate the expectations of a new information context, and also being able to reflect on their own learning. Part of the process of becoming an independent learner also involves helping a student understand more about the process of learning.
(ANCIL Expert Consultation Report, 2011, p.22)
Secker and Coonan, 2011
Information literacy ...
… includes the social dimension of information
As a profession, we need to think about what students need to know and be able to apply in the information environment. Our commitment should be to life-long
learning rather than the longer life of our library resources.
(ANCIL Expert Consultation Report, 2011, p.28)
Secker and Coonan, 2011
Information literacy is a continuum of skills, behaviours, approaches and values that is
so deeply entwined with the uses of information as to be a fundamental element
of learning, scholarship and research.
It is the defining characteristic of the discerning scholar, the informed and
judicious citizen, and the autonomous learner.
(ANCIL definition of information literacy, 2011)
ANCIL: Rethinking IL
Secker & Coonan (2011)
Technology
http://www.public-domain-image.com
Challenging perceptions of IL
“… if the teachers, whether they’re school or university teachers, don’t have the same view of IL that we do, it’s always going to be [about] the skills. And the
skills are fine but anybody can teach the skills; it’s teaching the changing attitude and the different approach that I think
has to come from the teachers.”
(ANCIL Expert Consultation Report, 2011)
Credibility not capability
“Being able to use different ways of finding information and being able to
judge whether the information is trustworthy or accurate is vital: it opens up choices, empowers us and can give
us more confidence.”
(Welsh Information Literacy Project, 2011)
Qualifications and staff development
“Information literacy .... empowers people in all walks of life to seek, evaluate, use
and create information effectively to achieve their personal, social, occupational and educational goals. It is a basic human
right ... ”
(UNESCO, 2005)
‘Victorian mindmapped man’ by LukePDQ, flickr.com CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
“If the learner/user becomes information literate, that is, self-sufficient, then the
role of the information professional is necessarily redefined as the one of
facilitator of learning, rather than provider of information.”
(Andretta, 2005)
Image credit: Gungahlin Public Library(reproduced by permission of Libraries ACT)
Image © Gungahlin Public Library(reproduced by permission of Libraries ACT)
The challenge becomes, not finding that scarce plant growing in the desert, but finding a specific plant growing in a jungle. We are going to need help navigating that information to find the thing we actually need."
- Neil Gaiman
The SADL Project 2013-2015
Collaborative Project: Library Learning Technology
and Innovation (LTI) Teaching and Learning Centre Student Union IT Training
Engagement with 4 academic departments Social Policy, Statistics,
Law, International Relations 40 student ambassadors
Undergraduate support at LSE 2012 Audit of undergraduate
support proved a catalyst Used ANCIL as audit tool Report: Bell et al (2012)
Found support was ‘patchy’ Transition was offered by all / none Help offered at point of need / crisis Assumptions that others were responsible Assumptions : dangerous!
Working with students as partners
Key focus in UK with Jisc Change Agents Network
Building student engagement in conjunction with the ‘top down’ approach ie having a strategy
Digital literacy is a key area were we have a lot to learn from students
Avoids falling for the digital native rhetoric
SADL workshops Workshop 1: Introduction to the SADL
project: finding and evaluating information
Workshop 2: Reading and research practices
Workshop 3: Managing and sharing information
Workshop 4: Managing your digital identity
All resources on project website: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsesadl/resources/
How do you approach an assignment?
Workshop 2: reading and writing in your discipline?
Workshop 4: Managing your digital identity
Digital Footprint: why does it matter?
SADL Senior Ambassadors Senior ambassadors
appointed to mentor students
Planned and helped teach each workshop
Invaluable source of advice and support for teachers
Useful experience for students
Our greatest champions?
Lessons learnt to date
Developing relationships with students takes time and need to build trust
Workshops require: Clear aims and objectives but flexibility A lot of preparation time A suitable learning space
Valuable staff development – new techniques, activities
Ambassador role requires clear expectations and ways to facilitate peer support and mentoring
Need greater support from academic departments and other students to make a wider impact
The librarian as teacher?
Photo by Andrew_Writer licensed under CC-BY-NC
What did the little bird tell us?
http://visibletweets.com/
There are no answers, only more questions...
[email protected] / @jsecker
http://janesecker.wordpress.com
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsesadl
http://newcurriculum.wordpress.com
Further reading
Bell, Maria and Moon, Darren and Secker, Jane (2012) Undergraduate support at LSE: the ANCIL report. The London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/48058/
Threshold Concepts and Information Literacy http://www.ilthresholdconcepts.com/
LSE SADL Project website and resources (2014) Available at: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsesadl/resources
Secker, J and Coonan, E (2011) A New Curriculum for Information Literacy. Available at: http://newcurriculum.wordpress.com
Secker, Jane, Karnad, Arun , Bell, Maria, Wilkinson, Ellen and Provencher, Claudine (2014) Student ambassadors for digital literacy (SADL): project final report. Learning Technology and Innovation , London, UK. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/59479/