Information Literacy, partnerships and relationships

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Information Literacy, partnerships and
relationships

• Sheila Webber
• University of Sheffield, Department of
  Information Studies
• November 2004

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Outline

• Information Literacy
• Partnerships
• Project marketing academics
• Good indicators for IL
• Strategy management
• Staff development
• Relationships

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Information Literacy
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http//www.sconul.ac.uk/
I use as framework in teaching
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"Information Literacy encompasses knowledge of
ones information concerns and needs, and the
ability to identify, locate, evaluate, organize
and effectively create, use and communicate
information to address issues or problems at
hand it is a prerequisite for participating
effectively in the Information Society, and is
part of the basic human right of life long
learning."
Information Literacy Meeting of Experts (2003)
I use in student discussions
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Information Literacy our definition
Information literacy is the adoption of
appropriate information behaviour to identify,
through whatever channel or medium, information
well fitted to information needs, leading to wise
and ethical use of information in society. A key
discipline of the information society
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Partnership
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Challenges of partnership

• Real partnership Vs token partnership
• No obligation for academics to engage in real
  partnership with anyone (inc. other academics)

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• Real
• Trust
• Shared goals, priorities, values
• Interest in getting the best out of the
  partnership to meet the shared goal
• Discussing issues and implications
• Seeing opportunities for developing ideas

• Token
• Suspicion or neutrality
• Pragmatic association to fulfil allotted task
• Dividing up tasks so I do not do more than my
  fair share
• Interaction outside allotted task seen as waste
  of time
• Partnership lasts only as long as the task

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Tension

• Librarian as
• Educator
• Consultant
• Mentor
• Facilitator
• Change agent

• Librarians'
• Service role

Customer always right Demystifying, downplaying
expertise Need to justify benchmark what you do
Expert judgement Negative and positive
feedback Body of knowledge, commanding respect
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Students and academics as customers
Students as students

• Identifying learning outcomes
• Designing curricula
• Aligning teaching, learning and assessment
• Giving positive negative feedback

• Identifying customer needs and wants
• Tailoring products and services to needs and
  wants
• Trying to educate the user about "needs" they
  don't "want" can be a costly waste of time
• "Helpful" "Supportive" "Delighting"

Academics as fellow educators

• Collaborating on above process
• Expert contribution valued

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• "SB Do you actually work with the librarians in
  that respect?
• "Marketing13 Uh, yes and no. I order up a lot
  of books, but they end up putting them in the
  wrong section, uh, really my interaction with the
  library is more my interaction with the library
  as a researcher, as opposed to a teacher. Of the
  subjects that I teach, there should be bucket
  loads of books on the subject areas that I teach,
  so as long as the books are there, I have nothing
  to do with them. "

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• Marketing 04 "For example, I have a very good
  relationship with the Business Librarian. Shes
  a close friend so she sends me stuff and I send
  her stuff. Its a very good relationship and I
  benefit from it. You use the people and
  technology around you."

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• "SB You mentioned both the library and
  colleagues, do you work closely with them in
  terms of bringing information literacy skills
  into the classroom?
• MARK15 Pause. No is the answer, and I can
  see how that is wrong, but I really havent the
  time to be more collaborative. The business
  librarian is great and I dont mind using the
  library, but I dont have them in my classes.
  So, no."

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• Marketing10 "She is very positive and very
  helpful. She is a person who is incredibly easy
  to work with and I know she has really gone
  beyond what seemed reasonable to help students if
  they hit difficulty in their research areas.
• " I have worked in old universities, new
  universities, ancient universities, and a
  management college, so I have tried the whole
  gamut, and I have worked with some really awful
  librarians.
•  "to actually have a librarian who is positive
  and out-going, and supportive and skilled, is
  just for me a really lucky hit. You always hope,
  but its not always what you get."

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So????

• Different ideas about the partnership
• We're hoping that our research can help
  illuminate the situation from the academics'
  point of view thus help librarians in building
  relationships
• Ill talk about Marketing findings, then some
  success factors for IL

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The Research project
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Marketing academics

• 12 male / 8 female 15 UK nationality
• Ages in ranges 21-30 to 51-60
• Years of teaching in ranges 0-5 to 26-30
• All taught undergrads, 18 taught Masters, 8 PhDs
• 10 course/programme coordinators
• 12 universities 4 post-1992/ 8 pre-1992
• RAE ratings 2 - 5
• Teaching quality grades Satisfactory - Excellent

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• "Phenomenography is the empirical study of the
  differing ways in which people experience,
  perceive, apprehend, understand, conceptualise
  various phenomena in and aspects of the world
  around us.
• Marton (1994)

Qualitative research aiming for insights
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Information literacy as

• 1. Accessing information quickly and easily to be
  aware of whats going on
• 2. Using IT to work with information efficiently
  and effectively
• 3. Possessing a set of information skills and
  applying them to the task in hand
• 4. Using information literacy to solve real-world
  problems
• 5. Becoming critical thinkers
• 6. Becoming a confident, independent practitioner

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Pedagogy for Information Literacy as

• 1. Someone elses job
• 2. Upgrading students information toolbox at an
  appropriate point
• 3. Facilitating access to a variety of resources
• 4. Showing students how and when to use
  information skills
• 5. Helping students understand how information
  literacy is critical to them, for marketing
  life
• Key factors 1) Academics' conceptions of
  information literacy
• 2) Their approach to pedagogy

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Pedagogy for Information Literacy as

• Someone elses job
• Focus on The subject (marketing) Assumptions
  about students
• IL Access or toolbox
• Its my job in a two hour lecture to lecture to
  them on the subject area for two hours. Uh,
  when I go to a lecture I teach in a lecture. I
  dont teach them how to use the library. I dont
  teach them how to use the internet. I dont teach
  them how to do electronic searches. (13).

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Pedagogy for Information Literacy as

• 2. Upgrading students information toolbox at an
  appropriate point
• Focus on The course Assumptions about students
• IL Toolbox
• Well, it means having a, uh, a kind of toolbox
  of skills that I can show the students how to
  use. But I should point out that I dont teach a
  lot of information literacy, not as it would be
  called information literacy, but there are
  important bits or specific tools that I do bring
  out for different classes. (14)

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Pedagogy for Information Literacy as

• 3. Facilitating access to a variety of resources
• Focus on Their teaching Students expectations
• IL Access or Using IT to work with information
• As an educator, I suppose it would mean, um,
  well, if we are talking about education, then I
  suppose it information literacy would
  meanbecause my first answer was based on
  researchI suppose this would mean more about
  using it in teaching and teaching other people
  where to get information from, and what exists
  out there, and how to get a hold of it. (18)

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• So information is vital. And being up to date
  with the information you are gathering is
  vitalbeing on top of events. In business,
  nothing remains the same. One day the sky is
  blue, the next day its green or red. Youve
  always got to be on top of the news and pulling
  in information from every angle. (09)

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Pedagogy for Information Literacy as

• 4. Showing students how and when to use
  information skills
• Focus on The course Students expectations
• IL Access or Using IT to work with information
• Aside from all the stuff they have to learn
  about what this topic is, I like them to learn,
  um, how to find things out to use for essays and
  the resources that are available on the computer
  and in the library. I like them to learn, um, a
  more practical side of things like communication
  and discussion and things like that, but I dont
  know if youd class that as information skills or
  not. But I think that the learning experience is
  about, um, can you go out and work at the end of
  the degree and not just can you recite who wrote
  this particular journal article in 1978? (03)

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Pedagogy for Information Literacy as

• 5. Helping students understand how information
  literacy is critical to them, for marketing
  life
• Focus on Student understanding
• IL Problem solving Critical thinking
  Independent practitioner
• The MBA is all about learning to swim in
  information and to make heads or tails of where
  you are and where you need to go. (01)
• I want them to think about information. I want
  them to feel like they can really participate. I
  put a lot of pressure on the students to get
  interactive, to go out and to learn. I want them
  to see that information is essential and that it
  doesnt have to be boring." (20)

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Importance of pedagogic approach!

• As (or, if) academics become more reflective,
  better teachers, can shift category
• As part of this may (no proof!) embrace critical
  thinking/ confident practitioner conception of IL
• People in last 2 categories (particularly no. 5)
  talked about themselves as learners a good sign
  for partnership

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Good indicators for IL?
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Strategy management

• Framework for IL agreed at institutional level
• Champion(s) for IL in senior management
• IL identified as important graduate attribute
• Exploiting initiatives that involve
  reaccrediting/ rethinking/ revising curriculum
• Academics always prompted to think about IL when
  planning courses
• Variety of approaches to IL catered for
  (online/offline dedicated class/integrated etc.)
• Qualitative targets for IL education
• IL assessed
• There is a library strategy for IL ( a plan in
  the drawer)

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Staff development

• Enthusiasm for IL and teaching role at the top
• Acknowledged as key part of librarians role
  not add-on
• Staff encouraged to discover develop own
  pedagogic style (beyond the we all use the same
  ppts stage)
• Support for education about teaching -
• Learning Organisation

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Relationships

• Understanding and empathy with potential partners
  listening and learning
• Using knowledge of potential partners for
  Relationship Marketing approach (tailoring
  product, promotion, place, process)
• Motivators e.g. research
• Toolbox and Access wont appeal so much to
  Category 5
• Some relationships will be real some token -
  some are not worth the effort what sort of
  relationships do you want or are you willing to
  put up with? what is your Relationship
  portfolio

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Staff development for information literacy
Information literate research
Wider society - employers, peers etc.
Information literate university

• Management for information literacy
• strategy
• resourcing
• policy
• infrastructure

Information literate students and graduates

• Information literate Curriculum
• IL as discipline
• Learning, teaching assessment

Johnston Webber 2004
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s.webber_at_sheffield.ac.uk

• http//dis.shef.ac.uk/literacy/project/
• http//ciquest.shef.ac.uk/infolit/