Slides used at a workshop for attendees at the CILIP Public and Mobile Library Group conference 2019

1. Everyday information literacy
Dr Pam McKinney
@ischoolpam
p.mckinney@Sheffield.ac.uk

2. What we are going to do today
• Brief introduction to the evolution of everyday Information Literacy &
some current research
• What is an “Information Landscape”?
• Individual reflective exercise to map your landscape
• Share and discuss your information landscapes
• Whole group discussion – our developing understanding of
information literacy
• What is the role of the public library in supporting citizen’s
information literacy?
• Close

3. Contrasting definitions of Information Literacy
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 in a digital world
and promotes social inclusion in all
nations
UNESCO Alexandria proclamation 2005
Information literacy is the set of integrated abilities
encompassing the reflective discovery of information,
the understanding of how information is produced
and valued, and the use of information in creating
new knowledge and participating ethically in
communities of learning.
ACRL 2016
Information literacy is the ability to think critically
and make balanced judgements about any
information we find and use. It empowers us as
citizens to reach and express informed views and to
engage fully with society. CILIP 2018

4. Syrian refugees in Scotland
Sharing information with the community very important, through
technology or face-to-face. Library strategy of social wellbeing
helped develop services such Digital literacy training and peer
English teaching (Martzoukou & Burnett 2017)
Dominic Chavez http://bit.ly/2m1Ubqq

5. Disadvantaged new mothers in Scotland prefer leaflets and face to face
advice, lack of access to the internet and technologies was a barrier to
use (Buchanen 2018)
Pexels.com

6. A study in Leeds of the use and understanding of information
among parents found differences in the behavior of people
from different socio-economic groups.
e.g. differences in the use of family and friends for advice (Walker
2009)
Pexels.com

7. Family historians use a network of local and international
groups to support their research. Information sharing is
prized. They like to “give back” (Yakel 2004)
Anderson Ferreira de Deus
http://bit.ly/2kIBJCT

8. The information literacy of diet and fitness tracking using
mobile apps: people understood issues of data quality, but
were less aware of data privacy issues. There were sensitivities
around sharing data with friends and family. (McKinney et al. 2017, 2019)
Pexels.com

9. People who do not attend postsecondary educational
institutions, which typically are mandated to provide at least a
minimum level of IL skills training for students, have few
places to turn for training in this increasingly important skill
set. If citizens are to participate fully in the digital age, in
order to efficiently access, effectively evaluate, and
appropriately use information to inform their decision making
in all aspects of their lives, then these citizens require training
in IL skills. (Julien & Hoffman, 2008, p. 39)

10. 10
Conceptualisation of an Information literacy landscape (Lloyd 2017)

11. Three modalities
1) Epistemic characterized by objective, explicit, factual, often
textual information that is reproduceable
2) Social characterized as tacit information that is legitimized by
the collective, information that unwritten and refers to the norms
of social conventions
3) Corporeal, characterized by physical information drawn from the
body, and observations of the performance of a practice

12. An information landscape: learning how to
cook
Information
literacy
Social modality Corporeal modality
Epistemic modality
Talking to uni friends
about cooking
Parenting forum
(cooking for kids)
Learning how to
stir – watching and
doing
Eating food
Recipe books
Home Economics
classes in school

13. Reflective activity : An information landscape
in your life
• Think about an activity, pastime or life event when you have had to
develop competence in using information
• Think about the sources of information you had to learn how to use,
and identify social, epistemic and corporeal sources for the landscape
• What is distinctive about this landscape?
Pexels.com

14. Group discussion
• Share you information landscape with your neighbours
• What are the similarities and differences in your landscapes?
• What do these landscapes tell you about becoming information
literate?
Pexels.com

15. Feedback
What do we now know about Information Literacy that
we didn’t know before?
Has your understanding of information literacy
changed?

16. Group discussion: What is the role of the public
librarian in supporting citizen’s information
literacy?
• “Our role is to make sure that we help the customer find
their way and navigate through all the junk to get to
something that’s credible” (Rubenstein 2016)
• Is this how you think about your role? What else might be
included in IL development?
• Are librarians “the educators of the information society”?
• How can services be designed to respond to different
information landscapes?
• What are you currently doing in your library to support IL
development?
Library_mistress
http://bit.ly/2ovStPj

17. Some challenges…..
• Issues around preferences for different types of
information
• Characteristics of patrons – age, literacy levels,
socioeconomic status
• How to develop an approach to IL development
when IL is so contextual and individual
• How to develop information literacy support that
takes account of the 3 modalities of information
literacy landscapes
www.pexels.com

18. Opportunities for public libraries?
• Intergenerational engagement and learning –
learning from each other
• Raising awareness of the link between
information literacy and lifelong learning
• Librarian roles changing from transmitter of
information to facilitator of learning
• And? Over to you!
Robin http://bit.ly/2mgBEHp

19. Library and information services are key actors in providing
unhindered access to essential resources for economic and
cultural advance. In doing so, they contribute effectively to
the development and maintenance of intellectual freedom,
safeguarding democratic values and universal civil rights.
They encourage social inclusion, by striving to serve all those
in their user communities regardless of age, gender,
economic or employment status, literacy or technical skills,
cultural or ethnic origin, religious or political beliefs, sexual
orientation, and physical or mental ability. (IFLA, 2003, p. 2)

20. References
• Buchanan, S. (2018) Developing health information literacy in disadvantaged and dependent circumstances:
family nurses. ECIL conference Oulu, Finland 24th-27th September 2018
• Julien, H and Hoffman, C.(2008) Information Literacy Training in Canada’s Public Libraries," The Library Quarterly
78, no. 1 19-41.
• Lloyd, A. (2017) Information literacy and literacies of information: a mid-range theory and model. Journal of
information literacy 11 (1)
• Martzoukou & Burnett (2017) New Syrian Scots information literacy wayfinding practices: phase 1 research
findings. LILAC conference 2017 https://www.slideshare.net/infolit_group/new-syrian-scots-information-literacy-
wayfinding-practices-phase-1-research-findings-martzoukou
• McKinney, Cox & Goodale (2016) Food logging: an information literacy perspective. Aslib Journal of Information
Management, 69(2), 184-200.
• McKinney P, Cox AM & Sbaffi L (2019) Information literacy in food and activity tracking among three communities:
parkrunners, people with type 2 diabetes and people with IBS. Journal of Medical Internet Research.
• Rubenstein, E.L. (2016) Health Information and Health Literacy: Public Library Practices, Challenges, and
Opportunities. Public Library Quarterly 35(1)
• Walker, G (2009) Seeking Information: A study of the use and understanding of information by parents of young
children. Journal of Information Literacy 3 (2)
• Yakel, E. (2004) Seeking information, seeking connections, seeking meaning: genealogists and family historians.
Information Research 10(1)