More zombie library games

Image from Matthew Stewart on flickr 

This is a paper that Ashley brought to my attention and I think it's totally awesome! ...

The Library is Undead: Information Seeking During the Zombie Apocalypse

Also, check out Zombie walks! (found this via the flickr image)

Short blog post cause I'm off to Sardinia tomorrow!

Zombie Library Games

Because I'm into games, libraries and zombies (who isn't!), today I googled zombie library games and I discovered so many exciting things I thought I better share with you! Chandler library teens section has a link to many excellent zombie games that are however, not library related. There are in fact many libraries linking to non library related zombie games. There seems to be a lack of library related zombie games! There are also many libraries coming up with brilliant zombie related promotion campaigns.The University of Florida has come up with a clever library promotion disguised as a Zombie survival guide with videos and other support. As well as zombies, libraries and games I'm also into information literacy so I added that to my search. So next I looked for - zombie information literacy and you'd be amazed at what's out there! My favourite is this graphic novel by McPherson College's Miller Library that features students taking cover in the library while zombies run amok on campus, and they quickly learn how to use the library and outsmart the living dead! Please let me know of any other zombie-library related goodness out there! I'll leave you with this video about what makes libraries so great when the zombie apocalypse comes! 

What I need to do vs What I have time to do

Drawing by MissSophieMac

Last week I taught a workshop on finding images for presentations and research, that also explores digital image copyright, including creative commons licenses. It's hands-on and I showed people how to refine their google image or flickr search to things that can be reused (among other things). Part of this process is explaining how the licenses work in relation to educational use and how things should be used and attributed according to the license. Last week one of the students wanted to know the definitive answer on copyright - "what do I have to do" and the answer "that depends", did not please her. If anyone knows anything about copyright it's that there are no definitive answers. This frustrated the student who just wanted to know what they have to do! I said you should only use images according to their license and attribute any you use by the way of a link etc. somewhere in the presentation and she said "but is that what I have to do? Or just what I should do?" I was perplexed by this question and she continued "because it's going to take me much longer to attribute all the images I use and I don't have time". This was the crux of the situation. The right answer vs the right now answer. While we might aspire to be ethical digital citizens in reality we've all used images off the web that we didn't attribute when we were in a hurry. There is no way to stop this and saying 'because you really should' isn't going to cut it! Anyway, I told her to do her best and things ran smoothly after that but it did challenge me to think about how I explain the importance of copyright when the educational use clause makes it seem so vague. Something I didn't share with the students: one way I get around this if I can't find an image that adequately depicts what I'm trying to convey - draw it yourself. Always an option! I've seen many great conference presentations recently featuring hand drawn graphics! Maybe the next top trend?

Rough guide to building digital literacies

In my post yesterday I alluded to being interested in building digital literacies. So here is my vague 'how to' guide. I think the first step is to think about your clients/community. Who are they and what are they doing?

Guide to building digital literacies

The who and what will depend on the library and even within one library it can vary wildly. Just remember there is no one size fits all library client. Whatever you decide to do needs to be flexible and modifiable. In an academic library our clients need to find, evaluate and use information for assignments, teaching and research, collaborate and work in groups, create and manage content like images, posters, models, presentations, video, animation, blogs and podcasts. They also like to share content via social media like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr. Increasingly they like sharing where they are with Facebook and Foursquare checkins. When we figure out who they are and what they're doing we should try what they're doing so we can better understand how and why they're doing it. For example, having library Facebook, Twitter and Youtube sites to connect with your community, learn from them and share with them. The final step is helping them do things better and this is tricky. This might mean you have to try new things to come up with a solution. For example, developing new workshops on how to use collaborative tools to improve groupwork and dispersed communication. This is something many of our clients struggle with and there are many tools out there that can assist. One of our roles as librarians is to make connections (see awesome video by Kathryn Greenhill on librariansmatter) and this is an example where we can connect people with the right tools to help make groupwork more efficient and effective. Some of the tools are:

• Diigo for shared bookmarking
• Google docs for real-time shared editing of a wide range of document types
• Dropbox for file sharing
• Mendeley for sharing bibliographies
• Elluminate for online conferencing
• Skype for video calls and chatting
• there are many, many more...

This is just one example where we thought about who our clients are and what they're doing and by trying new things were able to come up with a way to support what they need to do and help them do it better. In this example we're building digital literacies in online collaboration, shared bookmarking and cloud based information management. There are many more things our clients need to do that we could support by building digital literacies. Most of all I believe you need to make it fun! How you try to do that is up to you. Some things are easier to make fun than others... but who wouldn't want to play reference list Bingo? Please feel free to share your ideas.

Mobile learning and the future of information literacy

To kick off 30 days of blogging with #blogjune I thought I'd share where I think the future of information literacy is headed. A couple of weeks ago I was in Brisbane for the m-libraries conference and the prezi below is kind of a Wordle of what I think were the major ideas coming out of the conference. Use autoplay for it to scroll through. The main things for me are building mobile and digital literacies, developing game-based learning, connecting/collaborating/co-creating with our clients, utilising geo-location technology and learning by doing. The future of mobile learning and information literacy is something I'm very passionate about and I'll be blogging about these things and more every day of June.

There's a librarian in my pocket! Mobile literacy at UTS Library

This is my presentation from the m-libraries Conference 2011 held in Brisbane from 10-13 May. There was a strong focus on information literacy and game-based learning at the conference and I really got alot out of it. It was an inspiring week in Brisbane with RAILS on the Tuesday followed by m-libraries Wednesday - Friday. I really enjoyed catching up with library peeps from around Australia and the world and meeting some new ones!

There's a librarian in my pocket: mobile information literacy at UTS Library on Prezi

No more us and them: mobile support for clients and staff at UTS Library

This is a presentation I gave with our IT Manager Rajan Davio at CCA EDUCAUSE on 4 April 2011. The extended abstract explains things in a bit more detail but we were basically talking about how IT staff and librarians are collaborating and learning from clients to develop mobile support and services for clients and library staff.

No more us and them: mobile support for clients and staff at UTS Library on Prezi

Hope you like it!

Information literacy for ubiquitous learning

Today Jemima McDonald and I presented at the ALIA Information Online conference in Sydney. The title of the paper was Information Literacy for Ubiquitous Learning. A quick summary: to create an environment where ubiquitous learning is possible you need to understand the context of your clients - who they are and what they do? The focus was on two of our special events - Library Fun Day and Research Week. We also discussed the vodcasts/screencasts we've made which are available online and on mobile devices. Our prezi is here for your viewing pleasure. As we said during our presentation, everything described is the work of a very talented team of librarians who are not afraid to come up with ideas, learn from each other, collaborate with people inside and outside the library world, and experiment with what works best for our clients. We are also very lucky to have a management team that allows us to experiment, that encourages us to come up with innovative solutions to issues and continue to improve our services.

Information Literacy for Ubiquitous Learning on Prezi

Hope you enjoy!
p.s. Happy to answer questions here via comments since there was no time during our session.

Making sense of transliteracy?



A gift from my sister: owl glasses holder

 Information literacy dressed up in sheeps clothing?

I'm a sucker for buzz words and the new one in libraries is transliteracy, described as the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media . AACL recently featured an article attempting to demystify the concept for those who find it difficult to grasp and not long after a witty response popped up via Twitter.

Some argue this new buzz word is just a way of describing what libraries have always called information literacy because it basically means using new tools to understand, find, evaluate, use and create information. In many of my blog posts and papers written this year I’ve talked about the need to support 21st century learners and therefore build 21st literacies. My focus has been on supporting the physical, digital and mobile worlds of our clients including making use of social media to connect with them informally in their online communities. Some might call this Library 2.0 but I  think it's just common sense to understand your clients and support them accordingly. This year I've been involved in many projects to reinvent our information literacy programs with a Fun Day, new workshops, treasure hunts, games, and mobile technology. This has taken considerable effort from a team of keen librarians who are committed to experimenting and playing with new technology in order to understand the information worlds of our clients and develop new services and support to meet their needs.Transliteracy seems to be the answer some people were looking for to make this easier and I wonder if it's already happening intuitively without the need for a buzz word?

A recent PEW internet report describes 21st Century learners as ‘networked learners’ who embrace new technology, mobile devices, gaming and social media as part of their information landscape. Obviously these people are making use of multiple platforms to read, write and interact. Is this transliteracy? Since Web 2.0 has created a blurring of the lines between work and play, we now use these platforms in multiple contexts of everyday life. I wonder if we are supposed to be transliterate at work or play or both?

I think in an everyday life context, transliteracy is easy to grasp – basically you get the main idea of something and apply it to other platforms. For example, in a previous post I wrote about a radio interview by Kathryn Greenhill who spoke about transliteracy in terms of the way her kids make sense of their world. They read Harry Potter books, watch Harry Potter movies, play Harry Potter Lego, play Harry Potter video games, dress up as Harry Potter – what more can there be? I’ve also spent too much time with friends drawing Hogwarts and dreaming Harry Potter dreams. This isn’t necessarily reading and writing but it is interacting across a range of platforms and making sense of information by embodying the experience. To me this seems like a better way to understand transliteracy - the ability to interact and make sense across a range of platforms.

I think transliteracy is harder to define in an academic context. Does it mean students can effectively use collaborative tools like Google docs to work on group projects , share files using Dropbox, find scholarly information such as books, journal articles, videos on YouTube, images on flickr, journal articles, webpages and create interactive multimedia presentations? How is this any different from what’s already happening? Perhaps it is more to do with the ability to find information in books, ebooks, journals, websites, blogs, video, images, social networks, and friends to effectively filter and evaluate that information and then create new information using appropriate tools and media? Is that any different? This second scenario places more emphasis on evaluation rather than just using the tools which has long been considered the more important of the two.
Another option is to harness the networked learner idea and combine it with the idea of Web 2.0 blurring the lines. Can we combine the work and play context to have one everyday life context that makes use of new technology, old technology, mobile devices, gaming and social networks to read, write, interact and make sense, therefore creating the ultimate transliteracy? ELT – Everyday Life Transliteracy? No more separation between how I make sense of the world at work and play. Worlds are merged and transliteracies are merged. This is what I think the 2010 ANZ Horizon report is getting at when it describes supporting students as they move from study to the workplace: (sorry for the long quote)

The need for formal instruction in key new skills, including information literacy, visual literacy, and technological literacy, poses a continuing challenge to educational programs. As noted a year ago, students need — and often lack — a strong understanding of content and media design, the ability to interpret advertising and other media, and the capacity to create multimedia messages that demonstrate visual fluency. A handful of institutions have begun to integrate the teaching of these skills into a standard curriculum, but the practice is not widespread and too many students remain unschooled in this critical area.

In today’s networked world, learners are placing greater value on knowing where to find information than on knowing the information themselves. The ways we learn are changing. The amount of knowledge collectively held by humanity is staggering, and being able to find, evaluate, and synthesize material from a variety of sources is arguably more important than holding much of that knowledge oneself.

Young people beginning postsecondary study — and those entering the workforce — are accustomed to constant access to a network of peers on whom they rely for knowledge, expertise, and mutual learning. This cohort may well expect to be able to make use of their own personal learning and social networks, and the technologies that support them, in their places of work or study. Their world is open and mobile, and they expect access to it constantly.

I think this extract emphasises that support and instruction is needed for students to develop a strong understanding of how to build transliteracies. Libraries are well placed to  provide training and support through traditional face-to-face and online modes but we also need to think of new ways of supporting students through social media and mobile technology. I also see an opportunity for us to share our expertise and collaborate with academics who are interested but not experts themselves in these areas. The extract also point out the need to prepare students  for the future workplace. Students need to seamlessly move from study to the workplace with the ability to read, write, interact and make sense across a range of platforms. Whether or not we call it transliteracy is irrelevant. If we don't get to know and understand our clients we/they don't stand a chance. We're hearing it all the time - they want flexible, open, spaces with ubiquitous access and support. So for one last time this year, I encourage you all to experiment and play in order to understand your clients and develop new services to meet their 21st century needs.

Mobile support for learning, teaching and research

This is the presentation I gave today as part of the m-libraries 101 virtual conference hosted by QUT in Brisbane and organised by the wonderful Kate Davis. Meredith Farkas was the main presenter and gave a fantastic overview of mobile technologies and the way they can be used by libraries. The other speakers were Sarah Steed from ACT libraries and Richard Gray from UNSW. It was a fascinating look at the different ways libraries are investigating, playing and experimenting with mobile technologies. This was my first time participating in a virtual conference using Elluminate and it worked very well! The only problem I had was the lack of audience engagement as I was talking. Ever tried talking to a blank computer screen? It takes getting used to!

Mobile support for learning, teaching and research at UTS Library

View more presentations from Sophie McDonald.

Some of the slides are probably not very self explanatory - I should probably provide commentary. Maybe I'll add the link to audio when I get it. Feel free to ask me questions. Hope you enjoy!

Transforming information literacy through experimentation and play

Last week I attended ALIA access 2010 in Brisbane and gave a presentation in the information literacy stream. The presentation was based on the paper written by Jemima McDonald and me titled: Transforming information literacy through experimentation and play. The presentation illustrated some of the ways UTS Library is creating a more dynamic and engaging information literacy program in physical, digital and mobile spaces. Some of the things we're using are games, vodcasts, podcasts, screencasts, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, flickr, blogs, QR codes, interactive teamboards, fun days and hands on workshops! Toward the end of the presentation I emphasised that none of this would be possible without the hard work and enthusiasm of all the staff at UTS Library who are willing to experiment and play to make all these projects a reality. The presentation was created in prezi and includes animations created using xtranormal.

Information literacy is seriously fun! on Prezi

The idea behind all of this is that Web 2.0 has changed the way we engage with information. Information is now everywhere created by everyone and we need to transform our information literacy programs to better support the 21stC learning, teaching and research of our clients in their information worlds. Not only online but in physical and mobile spaces by understanding the concept of Library 2.0 which is about users, participation and interaction (Luo, 2009). If you're interested, I recommend reading the paper - it's not too long!

We've had a lot of great feedback about the presentation and genuine interest in what we're doing at UTS Library. I'd like to thank everyone who came to the presentation and shared their thoughts with me at the conference. I also have many people to thank for their help in making this presentation happen. Firstly, my co-author Jemima for all her hard work and support through this experience from initiating and leading many of the projects, to abstract submission, paper writing, presentation creation and presenting! Thanks to Sally for help with the abstract, making the projects happen and grilling me with potential questions, Belinda for super quick editing, Mal for reminding me I'm from UTS Library and that means no rules,  Ashley for being my spirit lifter and helper in all things, Fides for beaming at me from the back row and Alex for his leadership in all of this and trusting a newbie like me to represent the Library! Finally I'd like to thank all the staff who've made it all possible. This is becoming a bit of a love fest but I really want to express how much I appreciate the people I work with. They're a great bunch!

Information literacy in context

Today I'm considering what information literacy in context means and why it is important. I believe first and foremost that it's important because information is experienced in socio-cultural context and outside this information has no meaning. I work in an academic library which means the context of IL I'm dealing with is a tertiary education setting in which information literacy instruction is delivered in accordance with the Australian and New Zealand Information Literacy Framework with the aim of enabling individuals to know when information is needed and identify, locate, evaluate, organise and effectively use the information to help resolve personal, job related or broader social issues and problems (Bundy, 2004: 3). However, most of the time in academic libraries those wider contexts are forgotten and all that is addressed in instruction is the immediate context of formal education. By that I mean IL instruction that transfers generic skills and attributes such as how to find a book or use a database. Those skills are necessary in a formal educational setting but are they transferable to wider contexts? Possibly, however the context in which learning these skills occurs could dramatically influence the outcome. What I mean by that is the p word, 'pedegogy'. If academic libraries consider IL instruction in the context of everyday life information seeking rather than purely in the context of formal education then we have a real chance of achieving the goal of creating lifelong learners.

Web 2.0 has created a blurring of the lines between formalised learning and informal play. That means curriculum has changed and now learners are expected to be active content creators engaged in collaborative projects in both physical and digital space. Is our information literacy instruction supporting learners in this context? Does the framework apply? Traditionally, IL instruction would provide learners with the skills to find information relating to the content they need to create but I believe we have an opportunity to move beyond that and provide skills in how to create and share content collaboratively. Lee Rainie considers so called 'digital natives' to be networked learners who embrace new technology, mobile devices, gaming and social media as part of their information landscape. If we want to support learners in the 21stC we should take up the challenge and provide new IL programs supporting this changing information landscape.

Getting back to context. I believe IL instruction should be situated in an everyday life context so learners can apply their experiences to formal and informal educational settings. If learners can apply IL instruction to formal and informal learning environments we may be able to achieve the elusive goal of creating lifelong learners. For example, there is an abundance of literature about students prolific searching of google over library resources. Why not teach them to use google more effectively so they can evaluate results and find more scholarly resources? (In doing so they may better understand the weaknesses of google and the strengths of library databases.) This provides them with skills they can apply in formal and informal contexts in everyday life.

I also believe there is context within context. (Has anyone seen Inception?) Within an everyday life information seeking context there are socio-cultural contexts to consider when planning IL training. For example, an academic library IL program might be three tiered consisting of: generic skills, subject specific skills, assignment specific skills. When teaching subject or assignment specific skills is there a way to apply an everyday life lens so the experiences can be applied to formal and informal settings? I believe we can achieve this by understanding the needs of learners and the socio-cultural context of their learning.

Summing up. Learning occurs through formal and informal means knowingly and unknowingly throughout life. If we embed IL training in an everyday life context learners can apply these experiences to formal and informal settings and perhaps achieve the goal of lifelong learning.

Scenario building for the Library of the Future

There is so much speculation about what the future will bring for libraries. Just last week this blog sparked a string of comments about the many optimistic/pessimistic views of possible future scenarios. I thought I'd look into it a bit more and here's a few things I found.

This article by Marcum from 2003 looks at the library of 2012. Only 2 years away and I think he's done a great job of putting a pretty out there vision of the future forward. Marcum thinks we'll be Cybrarians in InfoSpace which is dominated by 'multiple-media' and utilising video-displaying walls, situation room theaters, learning "cafeterias," dispersed, theme-centered constructions and multi-media "books". Does anyone else think 2003 sounds really long ago? Weren't ebooks on the horizon yet? I guess the vook has only just become a reality?

In 2004 IFLA published Defining Information Literacy in the 21st Century. The scenario they imagine is: Libraries are no longer the primary source of information, we will not be dealing with clients face-to-face, information literacy with be client driven which they see as point-of-need and just-in-time, and evaluation will become more important. At the time this was written it might have been considered radical? But I think alot of this is (and probably was) already the case. This scenario is now. We want to know what you think will happen next?

In 2006, Futurist Speaker put forward some suggestions for libraries wanting to transform with the changes that confronting us and recommends: evaluating library experiences, embracing new technologies, preserving the memories of our communities, experimenting and being creative with space and the role of the library. He emphasises the need for creative spaces and suggests: band practice rooms, podcasting stations, blogger stations, Art studios, Recording studios, Video studios, Imagination rooms, Theater-drama practice rooms (dancing rooms - Mal that was for you). Pretty good stuff huh!

This year at #plff2010 the State Library of New South Wales launched the Bookends Scenarios which goes into great detail about scenario planning and the process they went through in coming up with a matrix of four possible future scenarios for public libraries. I was at the panel discussion for the launch of the report and there was much disagreement over each scenario and the plausibility of each one. Pretty much all of them had both optimistic and pessimistic elements which I think is where the problems were born. The optimists couldn't imagine the negative things in the scenario occurring while the pessimists obviously felt the opposite. Can we ever bring the two together? SO what were they?

No.1. Silent Spring: Climate change has ravaged the world and due to resource shortages the only place people can access technology and resources is through the library. There is move back to print based products and a more local approach to community life. It' seems a bit like when your mum decides you won't have TV for a year when you're a kid and everyone bonds and reads books and feels better about themselves and the world. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! (oooh that sounded cynical!)

No.2. How Buildings learn: technology overload has created a fast-pased globalised world of digital everything. Information overload has made everyone uneasy (who?) and libraries have become community centres, cafe's gyms, etc and vital in helping navigate the information overloaded digital world... not sure how I feel about this one. It doesn't seem all that far away from what's happening now - except for some reason it makes me feel uneasy.

No.3. Neuromancer: The world  gone mad, everything is in short supply and prices are sky high due to big corporations creating, owning and controlling information! People have to go to the library because they can't afford computers or Internet access. I think this is the least likely of all the scenarios. User- generated content cannot be stopped and with open source, open content movements on the rise I don't think it's reasonable to think that big corps will suddenly create, own and control everything. Hang on... what am I saying... Google... Apple... etc...

No.4.  Fahrenheit 451: "A screenagers paradise" with physical books almost dead this is a post-literate world where digital is all. For some reason in this scenario libraries struggle due to funding cuts and in desperation they start mental health gyms, screening rooms and download centres... This one is just too disparate for me. I like the first part but predictably I don't like the second part.

What else is in the works 'out there'? ARL is embarking on a scenario planning project for research libraries and plan on releasing a report in Oct/Nov this year. They claim "Each scenario will tell a different plausible story that starts at the current state and takes the reader out into highly divergent future situations of research libraries". From what I can see this project looks really constrained. They refer the Bookends Scenarios and a UK project exploring academic library of the future scenarios. Can't wait to see what these projects come up with.

There are many blogs about the future of libraries and various aspects of the future such as information literacy, ebooks, mobile devices, etc.. etc... So what do I think? Well, in case you haven't seen it yet, check out my post on my presentation from VALA this year with Mal Booth and Belinda Tiffen. The most popular video from the presentation is above. We made it ourselves as an homage to the commoncraft videos. But on top of that, here are some general observations that I think will help people slide into the future... Don't get stuck on definitions or semantics. The future is coming no matter what you call it. Be prepared to constantly change and learn. Experiment and be creative. Staffing and spaces will be flexible and lines will be blurred between work and play. Services will be 24/7 and mobile. Library spaces will be social, comfortable, well lit, safe, full of facilities and tech know how. In other words - who wouldn't want to be there? It's not about the technology - which will always change. It's about the social practices of us 'humans' that determine the direction the future will take.

Response to the future of libraries and librarians debate

Yesterday all my posts about the future of information literacy seemed to come to a head and cause some heated debate in the comments of yesterday's post. Two opposing sides seemed to form: the optimistic and the pessimistic view of the future. Let's be clear, I'm on the optimistic side and I have to say the pessimistic side really baffles and confounds me! I think this debate is fantastic because it really makes us think about where we stand on these issues. Even though I disagree with everything the pessimistic view says, this debate makes me ask 'why'. Today I thought I'd post a response to yesterday and look forward to your thoughts.

OK pessimist, I suppose you think in this future of yours that we’ll have robots to create and manage these entirely online libraries, automated response systems to manage virtual reference (or no need for reference at all) and all our clients will be studying as individuals from home, Mars or wherever else they exist with no need for social interaction? I just can’t see any signs that the future you imagine is even remotely possible. Have you not seen how vibrant and social the library is? Most people don’t want to study at home alone all the time – why do you think the library is so busy?!? Not because people come here ‘just for the books’ or even ‘just for the computers’ it’s because they like the social space the library provides. It gives them somewhere to meet up, see and be seen, a sense of community, a place they feel they belong and belongs to them! And as more and more of our lives is spent online the desire to spend time online together increases. As long as this trend continues I can't see people suddenly not coming to the library which is what you're saying will happen. As long as students continue to flock to the library - libraries will continue to be vibrant social spaces.

As for your notion that the future for librarians lies in collection development - maybe I should change professions now! I really can't see where that idea comes from. We already have approval plans for much of our collection development as a way to automate the system so we 'librarians' can spend our time on other things. What are those other things and what will they be in the future? I think we spend out time trying to engage with clients in more collaborative ways. Embed ourselves in their study and research practices (online and physical). The thing is they 'don't know what they don't know' so we need to find ways to connect with clients and join them as active content creators, advocates of a social approach to information seeking and use, mentors in evaluating, synthesising, analysing and ethically reusing information. I'm sure more and more of our library services will be online, librarians will be able to work from home but I don't think we'll be less visible - I think we need to be more visible - regardless of physical or digital space. Another whole can of worms would be to bring up the ever growing digital divide - how can you assume all clients will stop needing our help?

To sum up, I think in 100 years from now libraries will be very different but only because of changes to sociocultural practices surrounding technology which I think will bring us all closer together not further apart. As I've said before: the future is what we make it, there is no truth, reality is socially constructed and I'm proud to be a librarian.

Information literacy thoughts of the day

Today I was feeling a bit brain fried from all this blogging so for a bit of fun I was messing around with our new mac and decided to make a little vodcast of what I've been thinking about today. This was unrehearsed and unscripted so please be kind. This is in no way a comprehensive overview of all my thoughts but simply a glimpse inside my brain in a short moment of time. enjoy

Information literacy 2.0

Although I'm not sure how I feel about anything '2.0' it gives us a point of reference so I'm using it for now, ok... Following on from yesterday I thought I'd look more closely at how web 2.0 has impacted on information literacy (IL) programs.

Web 2.0 initiatives have been implemented across libraries in many ways and there is a growing amount of literature dealing with how libraries are using blogs, wikis, RSS, podcasting and other tools to communicate with clients in new ways. There is a smaller amount of literature that evaluates client use of these tools and services with an emphasis on vague "what if" type questions that provide little insight into user experience. The smallest section of this literature pie is dealing with the point of intersection between Web 2.0 and information literacy instruction and in particular evaluation of such programs.  

In much of the literature there is an emphasis on the problem learners have with evaluating information and understanding how to manage it's ethical reuse. This is seen as one of the biggest problems facing IL instructors. So how can Web 2.0 help address this issue? Many libraries now teach clients how to make better use of google, RSS feeds, collaborative software etc. but we need to embed this training within the context those tools are used in so clients can learn to evaluate information and ethically apply its reuse? Godwin (2007) suggests web 2.0 is not about technology but a "state of mind" that needs to be reflected in our IL training. Thus, web 2.0 can help but, it's not about the tools... it's about what you do with them...

Luo claims web 2.0 is blurring the "boundaries between formalised learning and informalised play" (p.33) in a way that encourages learners to integrate their sense of self into their learning. Her research examines how web 2.0 is being used in IL instruction and how effective it is. Findings suggest IL instructors who are proactive and creative in their approach to integrating web 2.0 into their teaching are effective in helping students master IL concepts and skills through enhanced interaction and collaboration (p.39). Staying current, experimentation and creativity are seen as very important if trainers are to cope with the constantly evolving web 2.0 world (Godwin, 2007). 

To achieve IL 2.0 success Williams suggests a hybrid model (just like the prius) of IL instruction that combines online and face-to-face learning. Most libraries have already taken on this model by providing face-to-face and online training however, can we bring the two closer together so they are more of a complimentary pair rather than competing individuals. A convergence of physical and digital IL programs can enhance the learning environment by providing multiple learning pathways, 'just in time' access and revision of training. Williams also suggests web 2.0 has enabled IL training to encompass multi-media and gaming which ultimately means FUN!

In general the debate seems to be divided over how we can use web 2.0 to enhance our IL instruction delivery versus how we can do that and also teach how to use web.2.0 to effectively organise, evaluate, create and reuse information. Quite different perspectives. In case you can't tell I'm for the latter.   

Overall, the literature emphasizes four main points:

• teaching critical thinking skills so clients can effectively evaluate the validity and authority of information
• develop an understanding of ethical issues relating to reuse, copyright and correct attribution
• constant experimentation by educators in the face of a rapidly evolving 2.0 world
• more emphasis on evaluation of these new programs

That's enough for now. Maybe tomorrow I'll do away with the serious stuff and tell ya'll about all the cool innovative IL 2.0 training going on out there. Would love to hear your thoughts.

Some light reading:
Luo, 2010. Web 2.0 integration in information literacy instruction: An overview
Williams, 2010. New tools for online information literacy instruction
Godwin, 2007. Information literacy meets web 2.0: how new tools affect our own training and our teaching

My information literacy manifesto

It's not about the tools...

Following on from yesterday. My head is in an epistemological, ontological, pedagogical three way over information literacy right now. There, I've used all my big words, now I can get down to business (or try to make some sense anyway).

The traditional notion of the library and librarian are changing (when are they not).

Libraries are no longer the gate-keepers of information and knowledge they once were. With easy access to an explosion of information online, today's learner can find almost anything without the mediation of a library. Despite this change, libraries have evolved since the spread of web 2.0 into an important part of the new information seeking ecosystem. Rather than become redundant repositories of the old way, libraries have become vibrant social spaces.

Learners now have access to more information than ever in a multitude of media. However, with great freedom comes great responsibility and that's where librarians come in. The stereotype of the scary pearl and twinset wearing librarian is slowly dissapearing as learners begin to consider us a partner in their everyday life information seeking. We are on facebook, twitter, YouTube and other spaces they inhabit and when they can't find something in google we know how to help (among other things). We need to reexamine our role as mentor and focus our teaching on ways of thinking/seeing rather than technology to be mastered.

Web 2.0 and social media has led to a more social and collaborative approach to information seeking and this is where we should look to reinvent our framing of information literacy (IL). Traditionally IL has been described as a set of skills or competencies that we can teach individuals regardless of context. However, we must consider information seeking as a social process based on the context of learners. By this I mean the socio-cultural time and space within which learning occurs. Too often the tools are the focus of IL training when it should be on the symbiotic relationship between technology and changing social practices. By situating learning in context, we allow learners to construct and attach meaning to new skills rather than seeing them as apart from their everyday life information seeking.

Web 2.0 has created a blurring of work/play in everyday life as new technologies enable collaboration and sharing like never before. Social learning and collaborative construction of meaning in context is the crux of a 21stC model of information literacy. With my postmodernist hat on, 'there is no truth, all meaning is socially constructed'. This theory brings to mind the creative commons movement and how critical it was in developing the 'share and reuse' revolution that has led to a more open web. This open, sharing and collaborative online environment allowed a new way of finding, reusing, sharing and creating information which is available via multiple pathways in a multitude of media and user-created content. Learners are now active content-creators and we must take up the challenge ourselves and collaborate in creating shared meanings. All this creativity has led to a push for more fun and games in the library which should of course be integral to any 21stC model of information literacy.

To sum up, I've been thinking about how information literacy came to be and where it's at now. Since developing out of a print paradigm (sorry another big word) IL has failed to naturally adapt, as it should have in response to constantly evolving technologies within a wide range of socio-cultural contexts. I believe we have an opportunity to revitalise IL by taking a more social approach to the way we consider learning, and situating it in socio-cultural context, rather than as a set of competencies or skills/tools that need to be mastered.

Hope that wasn't too out there...
I'm now reading it back and wondering what the hell I'm going on about...

Some of my inspirational reading:
2010 Horizon report
Tuominen et. al. 2005. Information literacy as a sociocultural practice
Kapitzke, Cushla (2003) Information literacy : a review and poststructural critique. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 26(1). pp. 53-66.

p.s. we got a new mac today and photos in this post are 'librarians being silly while playing with Photobooth'.

Reinventing information literacy

Two things happened this week relating to information literacy that made me go 'efgweifbbfmmmeh' (loosely interpreted that's the noise in my head when I have too many things to say at once). One was @flexnib asking on twitter "librarians, what are ur thoughts on info lit in the 21st century? scrap the concept, start again? broaden it? swap it (eg dig lit)? #lazyweb

The other thing was a meeting of my pod/vodcasting community where one of the academics asked me, "do you think the library will exist in the future or just be virtual"? I actually laughed in his face! I know that might seem harsh and some of you would probably say he asked a valid question but seriously... (so many responses were forming that I heard that noise in my head again and had a hard time answering him)! Immediate thoughts: assumptions, change, social, personal, skills, multi modal...

Before I start to rant I'll try to sum up all my thoughts in one pithy sentence, here goes: Information literacy is dead, long live information literacy.

We make so many assumptions about so called digital natives but just because they want geospatial tagging and they want it now doesn't mean they know how to find academic resources for their assignments!!!!!!! Information overload = librarians needed more than ever! At best these 'digital natives' can do a basic google search, use the first few results that look OK and wonder why they're asked to resubmit an assignment (to grossly generalise). That's when the light bulb goes on and they think 'maybe I should go to the library and ask a librarian'? I see this all the time on the reference desk and it's amazing to see their faces light up when you show them a few tips and tricks to easily finding what they need. One girl I helped was so impressed, when the lecturer asked in class how she found her sources, she replied 'I asked the librarian' and they all went 'oooooooh'.

I think the way we define and teach information literacy needs to change to reflect client needs. I know this is the most obvious statement in the world but this should be a constantly evolving process, why does it seem to stop/start sporadically?  Curriculum is changing and drawing on new ways of communicating through the use of blogs, wikis, multimedia and user created content. This means a whole new set of skills is needed to find this kind of information and then know how to create your own. Information is no longer just in books, journals or printed form. We need to understand the multi modal approach learners are facing and equip them with skills to understand, find, use and create all forms of information. In addition we need to take a multi modal approach to our teaching. This is already the case with online and face-to-face information literacy programs but more can and must be done.

The library plays a vital social role in our university community. It's a place to see and be seen. As more and more of our lives are spent online, physical social spaces to gather, share and engage are very important. Personally, I can't imagine a future where social engagement disappears and we all work/study from home sitting at our desks alone all day/night. BORING! We need libraries and other cultural institutions to gather, work together, share experiences and feel a part of a community. Related to this is the importance of personal face-to-face help. We can provide dozens of virtual reference options but for some people actually talking to a person is really important. And I must say I find it a very satisfying part of my job.

No matter what you call it, what's currently known as information literacy needs to change but continue to exist. That's my rant for now. Much more to come on this throughout the week.

p.s. the photo above is of Bronte pool yesterday during a brief break in Sydney's ongoing bleak weather.