The Scottish Information Literacy Project

The Scottish Information Literacy Project: working with partners to create an information literate Scotland The Scottish Information Literacy Project: From ICT to Digital Literacy the importance of information literacy Christine Irving & Dr John Crawford digital literacy in an e-world 2008: The 8 th Annual E-Books Conference - Thursday 30 th October 2008

Presentation
Scottish Information Literacy Project
Early beginnings – ICT and the Drumchapel Project
Project objectives – progress to date, partnership and contacts
A National Information Literacy Framework (Scotland)
Digital Literacy, Digital Information Literacy, Information Literacy
Information Literacy in the workplace
What’s next
Quotes / Final thoughts

ICT / Drumchapel Project
An exploratory project – initially ICT skills orientated
Community ICT facilities little used - Library and Cybercafés – implications only now being addressed
School and School Library are main focus for IT use in deprived areas
Little integration of information literacy into the curriculum
Levels of ICT ‘deprivation’ did not seem to be high
Basic IT skills exist- WP, email, Internet
Pupil evaluation of websites poor
An asylum seeking issue
An information literacy skills agenda emerged

The Scottish Information Literacy Project - objectives
to develop an information literacy framework, linking primary, secondary and tertiary education to lifelong learning including workplace and adult literacies agendas
Advocacy on behalf of information literacy for education and the wider community
Working with information literacy champions both UK and worldwide
Researching and promoting information literacy in the workplace
Identifying and working with partners, both in education and the wider community
Researching the role of information literacy in continuing professional development
Researching the health literacies agenda

Progress to date
First draft of Framework produced and piloted
Information literacy in the workplace study
Promoting international contacts
Contacts developed and strengthened with NGOs
Extensive communications programme
Website further developed
Contact established with Glasgow Chamber of Commerce
Initial health literacies contacts made
Creation of an information literacy network
Stimulated unprecedented level of activity in the schools sector in Scotland

Partnerships and contacts
Schools mainly with librarians
FE/HE
Dept. Educational Foundations, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Delegation from Finland
US National Forum for Information Literacy
University of Aalborg?
Workplace – Scottish Government; Glasgow Chamber; CBI Scotland
LTS/SQA

A National Information Literacy Framework (Scotland) – draft outline

A National Information Literacy Framework (Scotland) – draft contents
Back ground information and provenance
Acknowledgements
Information literacy – what it is
Information literacy and lifelong learning
Information literacy education
Use of the Information Literacy framework
The framework levels
Information literacy and assessment
Appendices

Draft Framework
Piloting and evaluation survey carried out – good feedback, more work to do - ongoing
Exemplars
Some good examples from partners – primary, secondary, FE, HE, workplace, transition
More to come – some still being developed. Not as many as hoped - practitioners tend not to think of their activities as exemplars of good practice
Sharing Practice for schools
Learning and Teaching Scotland
Adding value to LTS Information Literacy Online Service:
Exemplars of good practice http://www.caledonian.ac.uk/ils/LTS.html
Key point
Need to link to Curriculum for Excellence
single coherent curriculum for all young people aged 3-18 in Scotland
provides a framework within which excellent learning and teaching can take place
it is an integral part of the improvement agenda in Scottish education.

Curriculum for Excellence Literacy
Literacy and English Outcomes – Draft experiences and outcomes
February 2008
The three lines of development for literacy skills are:
Reading - Enjoyment and Choice, Tools for reading, Finding and using information, Understanding, analysing and evaluating
Writing - Enjoyment and Choice, Tools for writing, organising and using information, creating texts
Listening and talking - Enjoyment and Choice, Tools for listening and talking, Finding and using information, Understanding, analysing and evaluating, creating texts
Within each of these there are organizers relevant to all curriculum areas.
www.curriculumforexcellencescotland.gov.uk/Images/literacy_across_the_curriculum_tcm4-470951.pdf

Digital Literacy
The ability to use ICT and the Internet becomes a new form of literacy – “digital literacy”.
Digital literacy is fast becoming a prerequisite for creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship and without it citizens can neither participate fully in society nor acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to live in the 21 st century.
European Commission, 2003:1

Digital Literacy
the ability to understand and use information in multiple formats from a wide range of sources when it is presented via computers.
Digital literacy is fast becoming a prerequisite for creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship and without it citizens can neither participate fully in society nor acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to live in the 21 st century.
Paul Glister, 1997:1-2

Digital Information Literacy?
A review of digital information literacy in 0-16 year olds: evidence, development models, and recommendations
“ What will information sources and access be like for our children in another decade or two and again when they grow into old age? Clearly
we are teaching our children to be flexible handlers of information – to enable them to cope with information sources and access technology not yet invented. The why and how of education immediately becomes more important than the here and now. We need to teach them how to find out, not teach them ‘the answers’ …”
Geoff Dubber (2008) SLA Guidelines, Cultivating Curiosity : Information Literacy Skills and the Primary School Library (p.8)
Digital information literacy or information literacy in a digital world?

Information Literacy in a digital environment
No need for a new definition for IL in a Web 2.0 world
Key issue is how you understand the concept of ‘information’
Commentators on IL make the assumption that ‘information’ in IL definitions refers to textual information, but that is not necessarily the case.
The notes on IL skills which accompany the CILIP definition make it clear that information may be available on paper, digitally, through other media such as broadcast or film or from a colleague or friend
Webber , Sheila. (2008) Educating Web 2.0 LIS students for information literacy in Information Literacy meets Library 2.0 edited by Peter Godwin and Jo Parker (p39)

Information Literacy
"Information literacy is knowing when and why you need information, where to find it, and how to evaluate, use and communicate it in an ethical manner." CILIP (2004) Information Literacy Definition
“ Information Literacy was defined as the ability to identify, locate, evaluate, organize and effectively create, use and communicate information to address an issue or problem.” Prague Declaration

Information Literacy – Prague Declaration
To date, advancements in information and communication
technologies have only increased the divide between the
information rich and the information poor.
Three elements to improve this situation:
ready access to information and communication technologies;
unrestricted availability of needed information;
an information literate citizenry
Information literate citizenry is required to mobilize an effective
civil society and create a competitive workforce.
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13272&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

Information literacy in the workplace
Workplace studies Project objective
Based on 20 interviews with employees mainly in the public sector in central Scotland
Not a heavily studied area – limited literature
Founded on a review of the pedagogic literature of learning in the workplace
Interviews arranged with the help of Project partners and contacts in Adult Literacies, Tribunals Service, Scottish Government Library Services and health libraries
Lack of private sector contacts
Funded by the British Academy

Conclusions (1)
The traditional ‘library’ view of information as deriving from electronic and printed sources only is invalid in the workplace and must include people as sources of information
It is essential to recognize the key role of human relationships in the development of information literacy in the workplace
The public enterprise with its emphasis on skills and qualifications is a fertile area for further investigation and developmental work
Adult Literacies training is a powerful driver to encourage workplace information literacy

Conclusions (2)
Advanced Internet training extends employees’ information horizons
A skill and qualifications based agenda is an important pre-condition
Most interviewees viewed public libraries as irrelevant for anything other than recreational purposes
Information literacy training programmes must be highly focused on the target audience
All organizations have information policies but may be unaware of the fact
An understanding of what constitutes information literacy is widespread in the workplace but is often implicit rather than explicit and is based on qualifications, experience, and networking activities
Organizations which access a wide range of information, of high quality, including sources outwith their organization, will make the best informed decisions

Contacts should be established with chambers of commerce, skills agencies and other organizations involved in workplace training
Organizations’ information polices which are largely implicit should be made explicit and should include accessing a wide range of information, of high quality, including sources outwith their organization
Preliminary skills audits should be carried out within organizations to determine staff information literacy skills and the organization’s information literacy policy
The viability of developing information literacy training programmes should be further researched
Information literacy training programmes should initially target sympathetic organizations
Advanced Internet training programmes should be offered to all workplace employees
The private sector should be researched further
The provision of information literacy training programmes by public libraries should be investigated
Developmental work should be undertaken with Adult Literacies agencies
NHS contacts should be expanded to progress the health literacies agenda
Recommendations

Scottish Information Literacy Project - what we want to do next
Restructure the National Information Literacy Framework Scotland in the light of feedback from piloting in the school and FE/HE sectors
Expand the Framework to extend the lifelong learning/community engagement component using the data from the workplace/Adult Literacies study currently completing
Investigate the development of information skills training modules which could be delivered via public libraries, workplace training and Adult Literacies programmes
Review and develop our existing workplace information literacy skills expertise with chambers of commerce, Adult Literacies partners, etc
Have more time to publicise and promote our work to the sectors which we are targeting and to disseminate and develop strategic collaborations and partnerships on a national and international basis.
To develop further strands in media and health literacies
Get information literacy incorporated into Scotland's’ lifelong learning policy

Quotes / final thoughts
Glister identifies critical thinking rather than technical competence as the core skill of digital literacy , and emphasizes the critical evaluation of what is found on the Web, rather than the critical skills required to access it.
Allan Martin (2006) A Framework for Digital Literacy
The internet needs a way to help people separate rumour from real science, says the creator of the World Wide Web
Pallab Ghosh, Science correspondent, BBC News (2008) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7613201.stm
That's why library and information specialists build / built portals and gateways for their users but a lot of people don't want to use them preferring to using Google as they think Google has all the answers.
Sounds like people want technology to do our thinking for us instead of not believing everything they read but being able to evaluate what they read and become information literate.
Christine Irving (2008)

Information Literacy in practice
Pupils from Craigholme School in Glasgow working on their Information Literacy Project (Junior 6)

Contact details
Dr. John Crawford, Christine Irving
Library Research Officer, Researcher / Project Officer
Milton Street Building Milton Street Building
MS004, (ground floor) MS005, (ground floor)
Glasgow Caledonian University Glasgow Caledonian University
Cowcaddens Road Cowcaddens Road
Glasgow, G4 0BA Glasgow, G4 0BA
Tel: 0141-273 -1248 Tel: 0141-273 -1249
Email jcr@gcal.ac.uk Email [email_address]
Project website www.caledonian.ac.uk/ils/
Project blog http://caledonianblogs.net/information-literacy/

The Scottish Information Literacy Project

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