Information Literacy in an evolving online information context

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Information Literacy in an evolving online
information context

• Niall McSweeney
• ANLTC Perspectives in Online Information, July
  27th, 2006

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Contents

• Information Literacy history, key issues
• Why IL is good?
• Standards
• KEY IL issues
• Student/academic perceptions
• Are we doing enough?
• Information Society

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Contents cont.

• Online developments sfx, metalib, others
• How do they effect IL key issues here
• Surveys
• What next and future?

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Information Literacy

• Developing research in late eighties
• Developing in Ireland last 5 years
• Various definitions abound
• Standards US (ACRL), Aust/NZ and SCONUL (UK),
  CILIP
• Still being amended and applied
• Research on-going

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Cont.

• Curriculum integration and embedding of library
  information literacy training
• Issues such as learning outcomes/assessment and
  credits also important.

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Standards/skills

• SCONUL
• - Recognising need for information
• - Distinguishing sources and access
• - Constructing search strategies
• - Locating and accessing

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Cont.

• - Comparing and evaluating
• - Organising, applying and communicating
• Different information skills together give you
  information literacy

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Why IL is good?

• Helps learners learn
• Deeper awareness of information possibilities
• Independent learning skills
• Lifelong learning skills
• Strengthens our professional role
• but !

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Cautionary note

• Too often library only issue
• Certain connation with term literacy
• Time and technology moving in, while we make up
  our minds about IL

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Information Literacy key issues now

• Re-engineering of teaching and learning
  frame-work world-wide
• Problem and enquiry based learning
• Student centered.
• Our library sessions have to reflect this.

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Cont.

• What do we feel about curricular and pedagogical
  environments?
• How should we address our involvement in a
  contemporary and changing online environment?
• What are effects of online developments generally
  on IL? (Google generation)

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Are we doing enough regarding IL in an online
world?

• Is our vision clear?
• Do we believe or accept in it?
• Are we taking too long to decide our views?
• Can we assert as a full partnership model? Or do
  we see ourselves as support agencies?
• Why partnership? Outcomes of such partnership?
  what do we want to assert here?

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Are we doing enough? Cont.

• Is our vision (if we have it) developing to
  reflect changing online environment?
• At national level CONUL LAI groups
• Dept of education role? schools
• Library schools? Are they addressing changing
  needs and roles sufficiently? Who trains the
  trainers?
• What research and advocacy is going on in
  Ireland?
• What professional skills set do we need?
• How far do we need to go, or can go in teaching
  role?

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Student/Academic Perceptions

• Google generation
• So long as get what they want, do they care about
  source?
• Not interested in Boolean logic, comfort zone Web
• How do we get Google generation to reflect on
  process of finding sources on web?
• Whats our attitude to this? Can changing
  technologies actually help us achieve information
  literacy without us spelling it out?
• Is it just technology or technology with training?

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Cont.

• Will academics accept our increasing involvement
  with curriculum process?
• Are academics engaged with Information Literacy
  at all, or is it just an issue for libraries?
• Could re-positioning of Information Literacy to
  fully embrace changes in online environment
  strengthen entire process?
• Linking and meta-searching making people see
  where they should be going

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Information Society

• IL is about information in all forms
• Information may come from person, paper-bases
  resource, digital source such as database, search
  engine etc
• IL competencies cross all media
• They certainly need to be adaptive to changing
  online world
• IL training gives us key stake in an Information
  Society

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Easier and varied e-access routes implications
for IL?

• Link resolvers SFX
• Serials Solutions/MarcIt
• Metasearching E-knowledge
• Federated searching too
• Google scholar
• IREL

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Cont.

• VLES in an online world, do we offer our
  availability online? E-learning and research
• Information Literacy content on web
• Use of new technologies podcasting,
  video-streaming, animations, weblogs, wikis,
  others etc.
• EndNote

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SFX

• Context-sensitive linking
• SFX finds related information, you dont have to
• One click and youre there
• Empowering us in terms of guiding users
• Users linked to resources they would not have
  known to search

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SFX just one click on button
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Sfx Menu
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Metalib

• We brand as E-knowledge
• Challenge and opportunities offered by
  cross-searching
• Native interface and cross-search interface
• Gives choices to users
• Will we have issues with cross-search?

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E-knowledge

• So much more than cross-search
• E-portal
• E-resource and e-journal list
• E-books
• My space/alerting
• Weblinks/endnote etc

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Google Scholar

• Links to publisher material
• GS has harvested metadata
• At least 29 top publishers covered
• Institutional repository open access material
• Links to ingenta,worldcat, BL
• SFX link to libraries subscribed full-text
• Searches invisible web
• Often very useful

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But also watch

• AMAZON book chapters
• Microsoft live Academic Search April 2006
• Wikipedias, Blogs, Podcasts
• Will libraries be out of the loop?

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IREL

• National Electronic Resource
• SFI funded originally
• HEA
• Arts and Humanities
• 20,000 e-titles
• Implications for IL programmes
• Online methodology such as SFX, E-knowledge help
  users not be over-whelmed

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VLES and IL

• What content - library specific courses
• Or linking to other courses etc
• Technology do we use and manipulate enough to
  get most out of VLES
• Use of new technologies
• If using VLES, should we also put IL material on
  our web pages.
• Not entirely sure

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Bibliographic Management Tools -EndNote

• Offered as key IL course by many Libraries
  world-wide
• Creation of personal databases of references.
• Searching of databases through EndNote interface
• Transfer of references from Online databases

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How do these developments affect IL?

• We think about teaching information skills, but
  also need to develop learning programmes that get
  students to use these information skills to use
  our e-resources
• But also, we need to look at changing our focus
  from information retrieval to fostering student
  learning, if we devise the above linked to
  curriculum process

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cont

• New tools to use that students will be more
  likely to use
• Use of Google Google Scholar in our teaching
  programmes
• Metasearching resources on their own
• All this has potential to make IL more attractive
  to students

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cont

• Peter Godwin, London South Bank University
• Use and recommend Google and Google Scholar
  fearlessly, alongside gateways, databases and
  meta search as appropriate to level and subject.
  Stress the need to improve student critical
  evaluative skills

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Key issues for IL and online resources?

• What are our responsibilities with plagiarism?
  we buy resources and provide access and?
• Do our e-resources effect teaching and learning
  or how are they used?
• Surveys and User statistics counter etc

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National Research Support Survey2005

• Over 80 of researchers cite weekly online
  access.
• A third access from home
• Use of online twice as popular
• Over 80 of researchers cite using online
  journals frequently
• Web search engines most popular resource at 92.5
  usage
• A third like idea of online tutorials

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Key issues cont.

• Based on survey results are we doing enough in
  terms of e- learning
• In an electronic context, who owns curriculum?
• an issue for us too potentially.
• In a post Irel environment, are students
  overwhelmed by what we offer?
• What plans do we have to deal with vast content?

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What next?

• Re-positioning of Information Literacy
• to reflect changing information environment.
• IL wont go way, but will develop, ideally
  reflecting possibilities created by online
  environment.
• IL needs to be bought by wider community
• - lifelong learning by IT savvy generation.
• - information rich society, a good thing.
• Thomas Jefferson information is the currency of
  democracy

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Cont.

• Not a time for faint-hearted
• Window of opportunity to account for professional
  contribution in 21st century
• IL has to be foundation of learning in a
  continuously changing technological environment.
• Post Irel ?
• - perhaps a national portal i.e. ARLIN
• - a national IL strategy/portal in tandem
• - bringing us to a e-learning strategy (IT and
  IL)

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Future

• Vast quantities of digital information easily
  accessible
• User expectation and comfort with GOOGle, Amazon
  and other web resources
• Empowerment through technology such as SFX
  open-url
• On-going major challenge for IL
• Libraries must compete in terms of interface,
  access and role
• Avoid digital divide with 21st century IL
  programmes.