Conference Agenda

As we foray further into the digital information age, we seem to be searching for moral guidance. In recent years, discussions of information ethics have proliferated along with emerging fields of ethics regarding specific technologies (e.g., AI ethics); and increasingly, this work in the ethics of information and technology has implications for information literacy. Of the three main traditions in ethics (deontology, consequentialism and virtue ethics), deontology and consequentialism have been the focus of the majority of work. But I suggest that of these three, virtue ethics is uniquely well suited as a moral guide in the digital age, given the pace of sociotechnical change and the complexity of society. That is because virtue ethics focuses on the traits, situations and actions of moral agents, rather than on rules (as in deontology) or outcomes (consequentialism). In this talk, I provide an overview of virtue ethics as relevant to information literacy, I discuss existing work that is already compatible with virtue ethics, and I suggest a future vision of a virtue-oriented information literacy.

This article explores the potential of experiential education for students in the field of information culture. Specifically, it investigates experiences using information for learning and knowledge building, focusing on the materiality and sensory/sensitive dimensions of these experiences: giving equal attention to things, objects, materials, and sensory experiences (Thrift, 2008; Savolainen, 2020). In this view, information is understood in a broad sense, as “related to becoming informed”: something is information if it is informative (Bukland, 1991). The idea is that students are not disembodied cognitive beings (Bruner, 1986, p. 5), they are active beings who learn through action and experiences (Dewey, 1925), active agents in the historical process of constructing their own world (Bruner, 1986); and that in this process, the body has an active, productive and sensuous role, throughout the information activities: each object, each material constitutes a path towards knowledge, each gesture expresses a becoming in service to its construction (Ingold, 2018). Field experience is inductive, it is both a voyage of world discovery and of self-discovery.

In this perspective, referring to an active self, articulating the sensitive and the social (Laplantine, 2009), the experience is creative. From primary experience, in its subjective version, a way of experiencing the world, to secondary experience, more reflective, which clarifies it by organizing it, experience is formative and transformative; it participates in the creation of useful knowledge (Dewey, 1925). Knowledge is thus constructed in the flow of experiences, with phases of self-reflection and distancing; it is not a linear and mechanical process. Culture – like information culture as “culture” - is alive, context-sensitive and emergent (Bruner, 1986).

We propose investigating and questioning here these different relationships to materials, objects and information, involved in the learning process and knowledge construction, by considering how knowledge is informed by experience, putting the body and the mind on alert in a same movement. In addition, we propose conducting this investigation and questioning from an anthropo-social perspective, by focusing on the dynamics that emerge, paying attention to the ordinary, the banal, as well as to the unexpected or the event, to what “happens and becomes” (Laplantine, 2022).

The empirical data that informs this article is drawn from a research project in school context, still ongoing in its qualitative part (2019; 2020; 2021). They are ethnographic data, collected over time, in immersion, closely to the actors, without an a priori grid (which would orient towards an interpretative system), but with a requirement of globality (rich observations, interviews, informal conversations, documents, photographs). Consistent with this approach, the references to an interpretative universe remain open: functioning as starting points, theoretical levers (vs. framework), they form a space open to reflection, intuition and the uncovering of meanings.

For this article, we focus on three projects observed in secondary schools, aiming at opening the school to the world, beyond the school space, and in which the sensitive/sensory dimensions play an important role (walking, as a learning path; creative production using the five senses; tinkering and making in fablabs/libraries). The passage through the material, the sensitive, the sensory is of great heuristic potential in the construction of knowledge and culture.

References

Buckland, M. K. (1991). Information as thing. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 42(5), 311–388.

Dewey, J. (1925). Experience and nature. Chicago: Open Court Publishing.

Ingold, T. (2018). Anthropology and/as education. London: Routledge.

Laplantine, F. (2009). Le social et le sensible. Paris: Téraèdre.

Maury, Y. (2019). Expériences sensibles en bibliothèque: Peut-on parler d’un tournant? Revue Cossi, 6, 27–40.

Maury Y., & Kovacs, S. (2020). In-former le territoire local par l’exercice scolaire. In C. Tardy & M. Severo, Dispositifs du visible et de l’invisible dans la fabrique des territoires (pp. 59–78). Paris: L’Harmattan.

Savolainen, R. (2020). Elaborating the sensory and cognitive-affective aspects of information experience. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 52(3), 671–684.

Turner V. W. & Bruner, E. M. (1986). The anthropology of experience. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

Initially, the purpose of this study had been only to explore information behavior of freshly retired scholars from a wide range of Polish university faculties. However, as the research progressed, it appeared that information practices, along with their affective background, described by former faculty members followed an astonishingly salient pattern resembling mourning. Following this path, I adjusted the research goals to provide the answers to the following questions: a) in scholar’s everyday life, is retirement a triggering event likely to provoke an information mourning? and, b) if so, what are the behavioral manifestations and consequences of such an information mourning process? This study pursues four goals: 1) to identify and describe retired scholars’ information behaviors that mightconstitute information mourning; 2) to assess the harmfulness/neutrality of these behaviors for ex faculty members’ wellbeing and, in cases of observed negative impact, reflect on possible remedies; 3) to identify and describe constant and individually variable coping strategies applied by scholars in order to mitigate information losses(see Williamson, 2005; Israeli, 2020); and 4) to interpret the findings in the light of information ecology.

The study consisted of a series of 12 individual in-depth interviews conducted with researchers in the humanities and sciences who had retired from Polish universities within the last 2 years. , . The interviews were treated and processed en bloc as a set of narratives and submitted to discourse analysis using the method of cognitive metaphor mapping. Based on this textual material only, I extracted simple and ramified metaphors and interpreted them following a nomothetic approach without any preconceived assumptions (Massey & Ehrensberger-Dow, 2017; Csatár, 2014). Interviewed scholars tended to consider their retirement from university as a colossal personal loss, often described in terms such as banishment, amputation, and orphancy. The majority of the interviewees felt outcast from their familiar identity-shaping information ecosystem. The scale of experienced loss seems to set off a regular process of mourning with its typical stages of rebellion, anger, resignment, and so forth. Based on key assumptions of information ecology, as theorized inter alia by Fidel, Nardi and O’Day (Fidel, 2012; Nardi & O’Day, 2000) and research findings on information behavior of seniors (Williamson, 2005; Kim et al. 2016), combined with the conceptual framework of information horizons by Diane H. Sonnenwald (2005), information mourning could be defined as morbidly prolonged, harmful disturbance of individual information space caused by a loss of physical and immaterial connections with a larger community. Caught in the spiral of grief, the individual does not have enough agency left to recover without aid. It appears, however, that the affective heaviness of being cut off from the university information ecosystem might by relieved, and coping mechanism enhanced, by putting in place some simple practical remedies. The aim of these remedies should be to restore the sense of belonging and rebuild broken attachments with the academic community and, hence, accelerate readaptation. I will describe these remedies in the paper.

References

Csatár, P. (2014). Data structure in cognitive metaphor research. Peter Lang Edition.

Fidel, R. (2012). Human information interaction: An ecological approach to information behavior. Mit Press.

Israeli, T. (2020). Losing information is like losing an arm: employee reactions to data loss. Behaviour & Information Technology, 39(12), 1297–1307.

Kim, M. J., et al. (2016). Seniors’ loyalty to social network sites: Effects of social capital and attachment. International Journal of Information Management, 36(6), 1020–1032.

Massey, G., & Ehrensberger-Dow, M. (2017). Translating conceptual metaphor: The processes of managing interlingual asymmetry. Research in Language, 15(2), 173–189.

Nardi, B. A., & O’Day, V. (2000). Information ecologies: Using technology with heart. Mit Press.

Sonnenwald, H. (2005). Information Horizons. In K. Fisher, S. Erdelez, L. McKechnie (Eds.), Theories of Information Behavior (pp.191–197). Information Today.

Williamson, C. (2005). Ecological theory of human information behavior. In L. McKechnie (Ed.), Theories of information behavior: A researcher’s guide. (pp. 128–132). Information Today.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on information phenomena is being actively researched in information sciences (e.g. Lloyd & Hicks, 2020; see Montesi, 2021 for a review). The pandemic created unique possibilities to study different populations in extreme circumstances and unique crisis situations. One such unique situation emerged on the Faculty of humanities and social science at the University of Zagreb, Croatia. There, a group of 20 library and information science (LIS) students in an online information literacy course were faced with the task of reflecting about their information experience at the height of the pandemic. The material they submitted showed authentic and deep free reflection on a subject of interest related to the real, lived experiences of participating students. In this report we will show how emerging Croatian LIS professionals experienced the pandemic.

The task created what Bruce et al. (2014) frame as the intersection of the experience of information using and experience of learning. This assignment offered a unique research opportunity to study an information experience through student-created media. Students were asked to create a video log during the semester about the problems they faced because of the pandemic and the global health crisis. They reflected upon the impact of those events on experiences of information and their information practices. Through a subset of questions they were asked to consider how practices have changed, ways in which they encountered information, strategies they used to resolve their information needs, and how they responded to information they were exposed to sought themselves.

We provided the students with some technical information on how to create their video logs. Out of 20 undergraduate students attending the course in their final (third) year of study, 18 students gave permission to use their video logs for research purposes, thus creating a unique convenience sample of rich content about the information student experience during the pandemic. The resulting videos were 4 minutes and 17 seconds long, on average. Together the films totaled an hour and twenty-five minutes of filmed material. This study used an intepretivist grounded theory approach in studying the films. We focused on a systematic exploration of the diversity of students’ information experience during the COVID-19 pandemic as the basic phenomena of interest. We also sought to portray the kinds of information needs, behaviors, and practices they found relevant to their information experience during the pandemic. We will map examples and contexts of the students’ information experience, illustrating the phenomena relations, strategies, and consequences about which the students freely reflected. We also considered the students’ stances and chosen approaches to video creation. This included taking account of the students’ personal experience, their attempts at expert analyses, their artistic expression of experience, and so forth.

We transcribed and coded the video logs in accordance with the grounded theory approach (following Strauss & Corbin, 1990). We organized the coding process as an inductive qualitative research process involving a stage of open coding. This was followed by an axial coding stage where elicited codes were combined into more general categories. These general categories defined aspects of students’ information experiences and formed the basis for a deeper understanding of the diversity of students’ information experience. We interpreted the results in the context of Croatia and related phenomena as perceived by emerging LIS professionals. We will explore whether the applied pedagogical method created authentic learning experiences for LIS students and whether it can, on the methodological level, be used as a basis for information experience research. Since this research emphasized information experience, future research needs to explore the same learning experience as an informed learning event.

References

Bruce, C. et al. (2014). Information experience: approaches to theory and practice. Emerald Publishing Limited.

Lloyd, A., & Hicks, A. (2020). Risk and resilience in radically redefined information environments: Information practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. Proc. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol., 57, e336. https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.336

Montesi, M. (2021). Human information behavior during the Covid-19 health crisis. A literature review. Library & Information Science Research, 43(4), 101122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2021.101122

Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. M. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Sage Publications, Inc.

The main objective of this research is to define the correlation between film criticism, social issues in films and student audience reception, and how media literacy affects this process. In this case study the quantitative research will be used as a main method. A questionnaire will be used to question 400 students in 4 different Croatian universities. Croatia will be used as a case study and the results will be compared to those of other researches in this field.

A detailed questionnaire will be used with questions about the students (age, gender, etc.), how many of them read film reviews and where (printed media, online written media, video blogs, social networks, etc.), and the way the film reviews and different social issues in the films affect their decision to watch the film and its reception. We will also ask them how and which film books from university and public libraries they read influenced their choice and reception of films, and how the film courses they attended at their universities affected their choice and reception of films.

Qualitative research methods will also be used, with in-depth interviews with film professors at these 4 universities, in order to see how they present the importance of film criticism to students, what social issues in films they discuss with students, how the students react to film reviews and to films that deal with different social issues in their discussions on classes and in written papers.

In analyzing and commenting on the results of this research, the works of renowned researchers in these fields will be consulted. Eliashberg and Shugan (1997) empirically researched the correlation of critical reviews and box office; Livingstone (2004) considered how far existing theories and methods for researching audiences can be extended to new media; McDonald (2007) emphasizes the need of critical evaluation of films challenged by cultural studies and media democratization; Hobbs (2011) demonstrates how to incorporate media literacy into the classroom, providing the tools teachers need to effectively foster students’ critical thinking and communication skills; Gillespie (2012) claims that criticism is opposing the consumerist approach to culture and resisting the monetization logic of the cultural market; Frey (2014) writes about the challenges of film criticism in the age the new media and Eagan (2020) proved the influence of contemporary film reviews, especially negative ones.

This study will show how different aspects of media literacy affect the ways in which students choose and evaluate films. On the basis of this research an evaluation model will be established, applicable to other countries, and could have a wider impact on film literacy researches at universities. It should also be emphasized that the proposed research model, taking into account the specifics of theatrical and literary works, could be applied to theatrical and literary criticism. Therefore we believe that this research will give relevant scientific results, inspire new studies in mentioned similar contexts and give valuable input to a better understanding of information and media literacy.

References

Eliashberg, J., & Shugan, S. (1997). Film critics: Influencers or predictors? Journal of Marketing, 61, 68–78.

Livingstone, S. (2004). The challenge of changing audiences or, what is the researcher to do in the age of the internet? European Journal of Communication, 19(1), 75–86.

McDonald, R. (2007). The death of the critic. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Hobbs, R. (2011). Digital and media literacy: Connecting culture and classroom. Twelve Oaks: Corwin.

Gillespie, R. (2012). The art of criticism in the age of interactive technology: Critics, participatory culture, and the avant-garde. International Journal of Communication, 6, 56–75.

Frey, M. (2014). The permanent crisis of film criticism. The anxiety of authority. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

Eagan, O. (2020). The influence of film critics on movie outcomes. In Oscar Buzz and the Influence of Word of Mouth on Movie Success. Cham: Palgrave Pivot.

Objectives

It is crucial that people have access to quality information about their health and about healthy behaviour. Health information is increasingly being disseminated digitally, which creates a requirement for people to adapt to the information environment and take new technologies in use. The Prague Declaration describes the ability to make effective use of the information environment to enhance one’s knowledge throughout life as a basic human right of lifelong learning. To be able to benefit from digital health information demands that people possess the informational and technological competence which is required to take advantage of the digital information environment (Bol, et al., 2016). Older adults have been found to adopt new information and communication technology (ICT) at a slower rate than those who are younger (Anderson and Perrin, 2017; Statistics [country], 2014; Vorrink, et al., 2017). However, although they lag behind those who are younger there has been a substantial growth in older people’s use of digital sources. This includes the use of the internet, as well as mobile technology such as smartphones and tablet computers (Anderson and Perrin, 2017; Statistics [country], 2014; Loos and Ivan, 2022), and the same goes for the use of social media (Faverio, 2022). Thus, to examine the adoption of health ICT by older people in more detail, it was decided to focus specifically people aged 56 years and older and examine changes in their attitudes to and use of health ICT in the period 2019 to 2022.

Methodology

Quantitative methods were used and data for the studies were gathered by surveys. Random samples from the National Register of Persons in [country] were used. In 2019 the total sample size was 1.500 people, response rate was 39%, and in 2022 the sample size was 1,200 people, response rate was 45%. Because of the response rates, the data for both surveys were weighed by gender, age, place of residence and education, so that it corresponded with the distribution in the population. Reference figures for age, gender and place of residence were obtained from the National Registry of [country] and for level of education from Statistics [country]. The focus of the paper is only on people that are 56 years or older only. In 2019 the number of participants in that age group was 173 and in 2022 it was 214. In addition, the emphasis was on questions that measure the use of health information and communication technology and their perceived possibilities of doing so, and attitudes towards it. The measurements consisted of two sets of questions: 1. Frequency of the use of health ICT was examined by two questions about the participants use of the system “Heilsuvera”: a) to communicate with doctors or to get information about their health, for example to book appointments, view drug prescriptions, or send messages to their doctor; b) to seek information about healthy lifestyle, such as nutrition or exercise. A five-point response scale was used (Very often – Never). 2. Possibilities of taking new health ICT in use was examined by two questions in the form of statements. The first asked if the participants found it difficult to begin to use new technology; and the second, how easy it was for them to get help at using technology when they were in need for it. A five-point response scale was used (Strongly agree – Strongly disagree). The analysis of the data is descriptive. All analysis is based on weighed data. Survey results from 2019 and 2022 will be compared.

Outcomes

The purpose of addressing this is to understand better how older adults can benefit from development in information and communication technology and enhance their abilities to adopting healthier lifestyles through health information. An improved awareness of the issue may help to identify their needs for support at using health information and communication technology and increase the efficiency of providing them with digital health information.

DLSU Libraries is composed of one main library and five satellite libraries located at four campuses, serving more than 25,000 patrons. In September 2020, the Libraries launched AnimoSearch, a next-generation discovery service powered by Ex Libris Primo that offers a unified search interface for accessing diverse library resources. AnimoSearch allows users to find relevant materials quickly and easily, utilizing multiple databases and advanced search features like relevance ranking, filtering, and saving searches.

In thi study I investigated the use of transaction log analysis to study the information behavior of AnimoSearch users. My goal was to learn how users interacted with the service as well as what information needs and behaviors they exhibited during the information-seeking process. Specifically, I attempted to answer the following questions:

• What are the most commonly used search terms in a discovery service?

• What are the most frequently used facets and how do they affect the success of a user’s search? and,

• How do users’ search behavior and resource access patterns vary by user segment?

I utilized transaction log analysis to investigate user behavior and information needs. Analysis of transaction logs is a non-obtrusive approach to gather data from a significant number of users with the aim of comprehending the behavior of online users (Jansen, 2006; Philip, 2004). Log studies take the most natural observations of how people use systems without experimenters or observers changing what people do. In Primo, transaction logs refer to a record of all the activities that occur within the system such as searches, clicks on search results, and access to specific resources. I quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed the transaction logs from the academic year 2021-2022 , with an emphasis on identifying patterns of user behavior as a way to understand the context and motivations behind these behaviors. I obtained relevant data from the Primo usage reports such as actions, devices, facets, sessions, and popular searches as well as zero result searches. I used descriptive statistics to calculate frequency counts, means, and standard deviations to summarize the characteristics of the user population, such as their search behavior and the sorts of resources accessed. I also analyzed various user segments to identify common patterns in user activity. In addition, I undertook a content analysis of the search queries to discover prevalent themes and subjects sought by users. These data will aid in identifying popular subject areas and informing collection development decisions.

The study’s findings provided important insights into the information behavior of AnimoSearch users. Results reveal users typically conducted a large number of searches and interacted with a wide range of different resources during a single search session. Most initial searches were conducted in the “Everything” category, while the “resource type” filter was the most commonly utilized for refining results. In contrast, filtering by author was the least frequently employed. Zero search results often occurred when users entered a long string of keywords in the search box. According to the logs, users frequently modified their search queries and employed a variety of search strategies to find the information they required. The study’s findings had important implications for the design of discovery services. It emphasized the importance of systems that support complex and iterative search processes, provide users with a variety of relevant resources, and ensure the reliability and relevance of search results.

This study added to the growing body of research on transaction log analysis as a method of studying information behavior. This approach can provide valuable insights into users’ information needs, behaviors, and preferences by analyzing interactions between users and information systems. The study also emphasized the significance of taking into account the context of use when designing and evaluating information systems. Results of the study will also help developers and vendors to gain insights into how users engage with the system that can be used to improve the design and functionality of the service to better meet user needs.

References

Jansen, B. J. (2006). Search log analysis: What it is, what’s been done, how to do it. Library & Information Science Research, 28(3), 407–432. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.LISR.2006.06.005

Philip, D. M. (2004). Information-seeking behavior of chemists: A transaction log analysis of referral URLs - ProQuest. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 55(4), 326–332.

This paper reports on a study that aimed to understand what self-tracking practices LGBTQ+ students engage in and why; and to reveal how these information literacy practices connect with their LGBTQ+ identities. LGBTQ+ refers to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community, with the plus standing in for a wide range of other identities such as pansexual, asexual and aromantic, and intersex. People with LGBTQ+ identities can have specific challenges with mental and physical wellbeing, combined with a fear of discrimination when accessing formal healthcare (Bachmann and Gooch, 2018). An information literacy practice is understood to be a contextual, socially constructed and embodied way of knowing in an information landscape (Lloyd 2017).

The discourse on self-tracking identifies that it can engender a sense of empowerment and control through the collection of data that builds knowledge about oneself (Lupton 2016). This can lead to a sense of positive change and improvement and the achievement of health goals (Lunde et al. 2018). Previous research identified four dimensions to information literacy in self-tracking: understanding the value of quality in data inputs, the ability to interpret tracked information in the context of the limitations of the app or device; awareness of privacy and data ownership and the nuances of sharing tracked data (Cox et al. 2017; McKinney et al. 2019). Participatory surveillance from health apps, particularly around gendered issues such as menstruation is a concern (Healy 2021). There is little research on the distinctive nature of self-tracking in the LGBTQ+ community and the nature of information literacy in this landscape, and this small exploratory study makes an important contribution to the research in this field.

This study adopted an interpretivist, qualitative methodology: six semi-structured interviews were conducted and transcribed by a student researcher as part of a paid research internship. The research team then carried out coding and thematic analysis.

Key findings are that participants track to manage and monitor their health; experiencing tracking as a way to support mental health was emphasised. While they felt distrust about the way apps used their data, they simply accepted the risk. This was typically because the convenience of the app outweighed their concerns about privacy. Data sharing was nuanced: often restricted because of self-consciousness or fear of being judged, but embraced when there was a feeling of working towards a shared goal. There was some connection between app use and LGBTQ+ identity. The presentation concludes with some observations about the empowering nature of information literacy in this landscape in relation to data quality, interpretation, sharing and privacy, and LGBTQ+ identities.

References

Bachmann, C. L., & Gooch, B. (2018). LGBT in Britain: Health report. Stonewall. Retrieved from https://www.stonewall.org.uk/system/files/lgbt_in_britain_health.pdf

Cox, A. M., Mckinney, P. A., & Goodale, P. (2017). Food logging: An information literacy perspective. Aslib Journal of Information Management, 69(2). https://doi.org/10.1108/09574090910954864

Healy, R. L. (2021). Zuckerberg, get out of my uterus! An examination of fertility apps, data-sharing and remaking the female body as a digitalized reproductive subject. Journal of Gender Studies, 30(4), 406–416.

Lloyd, A. (2017). Information literacy and literacies of information: A mid-range theory and model. Journal of Information Literacy, 11(1).

Lunde, P., Nilsson, B. Bergland, A., Kvaerner, K., & Bye, A. (2018). The effectiveness of smartphone apps for lifestyle improvement in noncommunicable diseases: Systematic review and meta-analyses. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 20(5), 1–12.

Lupton, D. (2016). The quantified self. Cambridge: Polity Press.

McKinney, P., Cox, A. M., & Sbaffi, L. (2019). Information literacy in food and activity tracking among parkrunners, people with type 2 diabetes, and people with irritable bowel syndrome: Exploratory study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 21(8).

Introduction

Extensive research has been done on information literacy and information behaviour (e.g., Case & Given, 2016, Wilson, 2022), but less on dictionary literacy (e.g., Lew, 2013). The interrelationship between and interdependence of these fields have, however, not been addressed extensively. An interdisciplinary view of the three fields forms the topic of this paper.

Objectives

The paper intends to show that dictionary literacy forms a subset of information literacy. We contend that a user’s attitude towards both fields are influenced by their information need in a specific context, the tools available to resolve the information need and, ultimately, depends on their level of information literacy skills and critical thinking skills, from the perspective of their information behaviour. We focus on text reception, viz., understanding the meaning of a word within its context when reading a text. (Text reception and text production are aspects of the communicative function in the Function Theory of Lexicography (Tarp, 2008).)

Methodology

We discuss, at a theoretical level, why we hold the opinion expressed in the objectives. We illustrate this with examples from texts in e-readers (such as Kindle) and on the web, linked to e-dictionaries, with drill-down options on demand to further resources.

Outcomes

The advantages and limitations of such linking are briefly discussed at the hand of examples. It will also show that the information contained in the dictionary is often not sufficient to resolve a user’s information need satisfactorily and that access to additional information sources is often required. It furthermore confirms that the user should always critically evaluate the outcome of their consultation of their information sources to ensure that the meaning or sense assigned to a word is valid in context.

Conclusion

e-Dictionaries provide easy and fast access to dictionary articles, either in stand-alone e-dictionaries (apps or web), or in e-dictionaries linked to e-texts. A user is, however, still required to evaluate the results to ensure the information is valid in context, and may often be required to consult further resources. To enable the user to obtain the required information successfully in such a consultation requires a proper understanding of dictionary and information literacy and a knowledge of other potentially relevant resources, as well as critical thinking skills, and to adapt their information behaviour to use various information sources optimally.

References

Case, D. O., & Given, L. M. (2016). Looking for information: A survey of research on information seeking, needs, and behavior. Bingley: Emerald.

Lew, R. (2013). Online dictionary skills. In P. Gantar, J. Kallas, I. Kosem, S. Krek, M. Langemets, & M. Tuulik (Eds.), Proceedings of the eLex 2013 Conference (pp. 16–31). Ljubljana: Trojina.

Tarp, S. (2008). Lexicography in the borderland between knowledge and non-knowledge. Berlin: Max Niemeyer.

Wilson, T. D. (2022). Exploring information behaviour: An Introduction. Retrieved January 10, 2023 from http://informationr.net/ir/Exploring%20information%20behaviour.pdf

Since the early 2010s, Instagram has been growing in popularity as a social media platform (Ebrand, 2022; OFS, 2020). Instagram has become a truly interactive platform with a vast potential for organizations such as university libraries. The Helsinki University Library is the largest multidisciplinary research library in Finland, and it provides services to the University of Helsinki community as well as to the wider public. The library employs organic Instagram marketing strategies for promoting its services and collections actively, not only for current university students, but also for aspiring future ones as well. In this presentation, I will identify our library’s experiences on how to put a social-media strategy into practice and use Instagram as an effective tool in everyday library work.

The Helsinki University Library has been publishing library-related content on its own Instagram account (@helunilib) since 2014. In 2018, the library started to employ Instagram Stories more in its communications. Instagram has evolved from a photo-sharing application into an interactive multimedia platform, which has driven the library to rethink its posting strategies. In 2019, the library updated its social media concepts and strategy. Besides Instagram, the library also posts regularly on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. For the library’s Instagram, the target groups are primarily students and other library patrons and secondarily other visitors, such as tourists and library enthusiasts.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, students in Finland were spending more time at home on their devices, which motivated the library to reach out to its customers online even more than before (Helsinki University Library Annual Report, 2021). Between the years 2020 and 2023, the number of followers of the Helsinki University Library Instagram account had increased by 567. In January 2023, the library had almost 1850 followers on Instagram.

Collaborations with other users has been an important practice for maximizing the library’s impact. To achieve this, the library has benefitted from interactive practices, such as Instagram Story takeovers, tagging relevant users and using question stickers in Stories. Many student organizations at the University of Helsinki have their own account on Instagram, which makes Instagram a valuable platform for reaching students.

In the beginning of the academic year, the library took over the University of Helsinki account and answered students’ questions on Instagram. These takeovers have helped the library to gain more followers and to reach individuals who would not necessarily follow other library channels. Having more friends and being active boosts the algorithm and thus grows the account’s visibility.

The library increased its student-engagement by using Instagram’s interactive features. One of the challenges has been posting regularly and keeping up with the changing trends and features. Recently, the library has experimented with reels and audio-based trends and even making videos on TikTok. As social media constantly changes, so too does students’ online behavior, in which case users might switch from one platform to another. The library’s task is to serve its customers and provide information using those channels that make sense for their communities.

References

Ebrand Group Oy, & Oulun kaupungin sivistys- ja kulttuuripalvelut. (2022). Suomessa asuvien 13–29-vuotiaiden nuorten sosiaalisen median palveluiden käyttäminen ja läsnäolo. [Finnish youngsters and social media 2022]. Retrieved January 4, 2023 from https://wordpress.ebrand.fi/somejanuoret2022

Helsinki University Library Annual Report. (2021). Retrieved March 5, 2023 from https://www.helsinki.fi/en/helsinki-university-library/contact-library/about-library/annual-report-2021

Official Statistics of Finland. (2020). Use of information and communications technology by individuals. Retrieved January 4, 2023 from http://www.stat.fi/til/sutivi/2020/sutivi_2020_2020-11-10_tie_001_en.html

The academic library service desk has the potential to be more of a pedagogical tool than it is today. This is our opinion after having conducted two studies to gather knowledge about the personal meeting at the library desk. In one of the studies, we investigated the meeting at the physical service desk, and the other aimed to explore our digital library desk. Both projects are in part financially supported by the National Library of Norway.

The first project we launched, in 2017, was “TREFF – towards a new platform for the desk services at the University Library of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)” (TREFF means “meeting”). The main goal of the project was to learn more about the personal meeting between students and library staff at the physical library service desk. In TREFF we used different research methods to collect data: mapping of service desk activity, focus group and individual interviews with students and a survey to the library staff.

Some of the main findings in TREFF were that the students in our interviews lacked knowledge about the library staff’s competencies and they did not know what kind of help they could get at the library desk. Although they might need it, they did not necessarily turn to the library desk to get help with their study needs. They preferred to ask short questions about practical things and did not wish to disturb or make a queue.

During the pandemic, The NTNU University Library established a digital library service desk, reference service, courses and writing activities on Zoom - The virtual library. The virtual library now continues to exist along with the traditional physical library services. In an ongoing project, SkjermTREFF (SkjermTREFF means “screen meeting”) we examined the meeting in the digital library desk, to find out more about which user groups visit the virtual library desk, how they experience the meeting and why a digital channel is chosen instead of physical attendance. The project lasted two years (2021-2023) and data was collected through different types of individual interviews, focus group interviews and statistics. Preliminary findings indicated that some of the things the informants appreciated most in the digital meeting were the focus, undisturbedness, and the experience of not having to rush, in contrast to the situation at a physical desk.

In our presentation we will discuss the findings from TREFF and SkjermTREFF and how we can use the knowledge to improve both the physical and digital library desks as pedagogical tools to help our users towards broadened information literacy skills. We also aim to learn about similar digital services, and what experiences and discoveries have been made in other libraries.

Public librarians play a significant role, as they are responsible for mediating access to information, which desirably includes training the population in information literacy. In the current context, the problems with fake news and disinformation make their action even more urgent, requiring a solid position in tackling this phenomenon, primarily through clarification and training to the population. In the case of academic libraries, few studies show the commitment of professionals in deepening actions and projects to fight disinformation (Antunes et al., 2021), even though, in Portugal, there are no studies on public libraries’ activities.

The literature highlights following advantages of developing these projects in public libraries:

• the importance of increasing the evaluation skills of information sources;

• the development of critical thinking to combat disinformation;

• strengthening citizenship and autonomy of individuals and their creative potential;

• the training of proactive critical thinkers based on validated information literacy strategies;

and urges decision-makers to put intentions and actions on their policy agenda (European Commission, 2016). However, it requires public library information professionals to be aware of the problem (Sayers, 2006), empowered with these skills and competencies (Matteson and Gersch, 2020), and committed to a culture of sharing resources and knowledge around the issue (Harding, 2008). But how can we know if and how they develop these actions? This exploratory study aims to better understand the level of knowledge, practices, and resources available in Portuguese public libraries to tackle disinformation. To this end, a questionnaire composed of 12 questions was designed and distributed via social networks of public libraries and by email. Seventy answers were obtained, and distributed throughout the national territory, representing about one-quarter of total of 303 municipal public libraries in Portugal. The results show the librarians’ consistent knowledge of the topic but still incipient actions about fighting disinformation. The practices that directly address the fight against disinformation and fake news through training in information literacy are scarce and lack guidance for their application. The fight against disinformation is global and urgent (European Commission, 2022), making it very relevant to train the librarians themselves to use their multiplier effect in training strategies with the population, contributing to the implementation of a more attentive, integrated, and critical citizen culture.

References

Antunes, M. L., Lopes, C., & Sanches, T. (2021). Como combater as fake news através da literacia da informação? Desafios e estratégias formativas no ensino superior. BiD, 46. https://doi.org/10.1344/BID2020.46.15

European Commission. (2016). Research for cult committee: Promoting media and information literacy in libraries. Retrieved from https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/IPOL_IDA(2017)573454

European Commission. (2022). The strengthened code of practice on disinformation 2022. Retrieved from https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/2022-strengthened-code-practice-disinformation

Harding, J. (2008). Information literacy and the public library: We’ve talked the talk, but are we walking the walk? Australian Library Journal, 57(3), 274–294. https://doi.org/10.1080/00049670.2008.10722480

Matteson, M. L., & Gersch, B. (2020). Information literacy instruction in public libraries. Journal of Information Literacy, 14(2), 71–95. https://doi.org/10.11645/14.2.2680

Sayers, R. (2006). Principles of awareness-raising for information literacy: A case study. UNESCO.

Introduction

Whereas previous studies interpret collaboration between academics and librarians in higher education from a perspective of information sharing (e.g. Pham & Williamson, 2018), few studies include social networks. Since ‘social network structures play a role in how easily information circulates’ (Haythornthwaite, 2017), investigating how social networks are configured contributes to understanding how academics and librarians collaborate. This study aims to explore the collaboration in information literacy settings for first year students from a perspective in which information sharing and social networks are combined, based on a case study of Aalto University in Finland.

Method & Results

A qualitative case study approach was adopted. Aalto University was selected because of its library reorganisation. The library was divided into eight teams embedded in four institutional service sections, and librarians were allocated across these teams in 2018. Then, information literacy instructional services were divided into two teams: the learning services team responsible for first year students and the research services team responsible for graduation theses (Nagasawa, 2022). This study focuses on the learning services team after the reorganisation. The data were collected between June and December 2021 through semi-structured interviews, using Zoom, with librarians and academics at Aalto University. For this study, data was collected from a total of three interviews of two librarians in the learning services team-one group interview with both librarians and then two individual interviews. The material was analysed via thematic analysis. Findings were identified in relation to the types of information sharing proposed by Talja (2002).

Following the reorganisation, no cohesive ties between academics and librarians were formed although new ties were built between librarians and various learning service teams including units within schools. One of the librarians allocated to the learning services team was asked to deliver library orientation for first year students across all schools of the university. As a result of this, the librarian started to participate in the institutional orientation group meetings, which were composed of various learning service team members. Although information around orientation, including in the various departments of schools, began to be shared with the librarian, the librarian independently prepared library orientation materials based on previously listed basic information from the schools because the sessions’ input and outcomes were basic and universal enough to be designed without further information. Since this task is accomplished based on indirectly sharing routine information with schools rather than with academics, the information sharing between academics and librarians identified in this study is categorised as ‘nonsharing’.

Conclusions

This study finds that the library reorganisation built no cohesive networks between academics and librarians but did develop institutional learning service networks which include librarians and staff in the schools. The information literacy instructional task for first year students is carried out based not on sharing information between academics and librarians but based on routine information indirectly from schools and transmitted through the expanded learning service networks.

References

Hathornthwaite, C. (2017). Social networks and information transfer. In J. D. McDonald, & M. Levine-Clark (Eds.), Encyclopedia of library and information sciences (pp. 4235–4245).

Nagasawa, T. (2022). Collaboration between academics and librarians in information literacy instruction at Aalto University following a decentralising restructure. Information Research, 27(Special issue), paper colis2215.

Pham, H.T., & Williamson, K. (2018). A two-way street: Collaboration and information sharing in academia. Information Research, 23(4), paper isic1810.

Talja, S. (2002). Information sharing in academic communities. New Review of Information Behavior Research, 3(1).

Introduction

For at least two decades the workflow of higher education (HE) institutions in Europe has been driven by the project approach. The European Union (EU) supports HE financially and aims at maximal internationalization and cooperation among European countries.

The European Universities Initiative (EUI) was established in 2017. Its ambition is to strengthen strategic partnerships across the EU between higher education institutions by building networks of universities across the EU. In 2019, EUI opened its first call for HE institutions’ alliances. At the end of 2022, 41 European University Alliances were already gathering 340 HE institutions (European Education Area, n.d.).

Rationale

Members of such alliances are forced to change a lot in their daily work practice and acquire specific project knowledge and skills. For the majority of libraries as members of those alliances, this is the first time they have participated in joint, international (so also multicultural) projects with specific requirements, terminology, and workflows driven by grant agreement requirements and expected outcomes.

Methodology

An in-depth analysis of the skills and competencies rooted in information literacy (understood here as an umbrella concept, thus gathering many related ‘literacies’) needed for successful project management was conducted. It was based on 1) a review of literature on knowledge and project management (e.g., Bartlett, 2021; Mounir, 2018) and on new job requirements for librarians (e.g. Wojciechowska, 2018) as well as 2) the work experience on the TRAIN4EU project, co-lead by the academic librarians from the University of Warsaw Library (Poland), run by 4EU+ universities in the framework of Horizon 2020 (4EU+, n.d.).

Outcomes

The analysis resulted in a map of competencies that are useful and needed to work on international projects funded by the EU. The analysis showed that the skills traditionally associated with librarians’ and information professionals’ jobs, such as fluency in metadata, information literacy, information management, or research data management are crucial while working with EU-funded projects. Hence, on the one hand, librarians and academic professionals may already become important actors on the scene of a project-based workflow; on the other hand, there are some competency gaps that should be filled not only to support the researchers comprehensively but also to be able to conduct projects independently. The map of competencies may be useful not only for the staff of European University Alliances but also for other librarians and information professionals who would like to become members of project teams and for the library management who hire them.

References

Bartlett, J. A. (2021). Knowledge management. A practical guide for librarians. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.

European Education Area (n.d.) Factsheets on the 41 European universities. Retrieved November 25, 2022 from https://education.ec.europa.eu/european-universities-factsheets

Mounir, A. (2018). Project management between waterfall and agile. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press/Taylor & Francis Group.

Wojciechowska, M. (Ed.). (2018). Multibibliotekarstwo. Warszawa: Wydaw, SBP.

4EU+ (n.d.). 4EU+ Alliance. Retrieved November 25, 2022 from https://4euplus.eu/4EU-1.html

Problem Statement

One avenue through which academic librarians may be able to have a significant impact, both in supporting student information literacy learning and shifting the teaching culture at their institutions, is adopting the “teach the teacher” model and taking on the role of educational developer. The model has often been described as an alternative to the one-shot approach to information literacy instruction, which has been significantly criticized as an ineffective method for achieving the integration of information literacy into the curriculum. There are examples of librarians leading information literacy-centered instructor development initiatives, including workshops, courses, and faculty learning communities, and there are some indications that this approach does support changes in faculty teaching practices related to information literacy and research assignment design (Hammons, 2020; Jumonville, 2014; Wishkoski et al., 2019). However, more evidence is needed to establish the effectiveness of this approach. Adopting the “teach the teachers” model as a more primary means of teaching information literacy would require a major shift in thinking and practice for many librarians, so it is vital to better understand the effectiveness of these types of interventions and their impact on faculty teaching practices.

Purpose

In this paper, we examine instructors’ perceptions of a five-module teaching professional development workshop that promotes the transparent and equitable integration of information literacy into courses. The workshop situates information literacy within a common academic practice – the research assignment – and provides a framework for thinking about what equity means within the context of higher education and outlines teaching strategies instructors can use to make their research assignments more inclusive, equitable, and transparent. Upon completion of the workshop, participants should be able to (1) describe the potential relationship between students’ social identity characteristics, research assignments, and overall academic success, (2) describe the information literacy threshold concepts as outlined in the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, (3) apply Decoding the Disciplines and Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT Higher Ed) to their teaching, and (4) identify practical ways in which they can design assignments to increase students’ motivation.

For our examination, we analyze data collected through pre- and post-workshop surveys administered to nine cohorts of participants between August 2019 and August 2022 (n=61, 75% response rate). This study provides insight into how instructors perceive information literacy and how librarians can strengthen their understanding of information literacy through faculty-focused professional development programming.

References

Hammons, J. (2020). Teaching the teachers to teach information literacy: A literature review. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 46(5), 102196.

Jumonville, A. (2014). The role of faculty autonomy in a course-integrated information literacy program. Reference Services Review, 42(4), 536–551.

Wishkoski, R., Lundstrom, K., & Davis, E. (2019). Faculty teaching and librarian-facilitated assignment design. portal: Libraries and the Academy, 19(1), 95–126.

A few years after the publication of the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (Association of College and Research Libraries, 2016), its impact has been studied at different levels and in several regions (Guth et al., 2018; H. Julien et al., 2020; H. E. Julien et al., 2020). However, it was only very recently that this main document was Portuguese-translated (ACRL et al., 2022), which poses a challenge for information professionals in Portugal. Regardless, this shift has brought renewed energy and a new level of discussion around the training provided by academic information professionals, who pay increasing attention to teaching and learning methodologies. The pedagogical role of librarians becomes more pressing as teaching becomes more researched, with pedagogical methods, constructivist learning, multiplying research techniques, and information literacy as fundamental learning elements (Caffrey et al., 2022). How do Portuguese professionals react to the opportunity to know it deeply and objectively and to the possibility of applying the orientations emanating from this document? This study is part of a national project on information literacy applied to academic students and aims to analyze the perceptions of LIS professionals about the knowledge and practical applicability of the six conceptual frames that make up the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education. From an extensive literature review and the creation of an online survey of academic librarians’ perceptions of the ACRL Framework, conducted in January 2023, the survey used a 5-point Likert scale on aspects of understanding the frames, knowledge practices, and dispositions that students can develop in an academic context with the support of LIS professionals. The results show librarians’ initial knowledge of the topic but a solid will to proceed with actions regarding it. Therefore, based on the translation of the Framework into Portuguese, a set of activities associated with each of the frames and the creation of pedagogical materials (e.g., open PowerPoints) and training spaces (e.g., webinars, conferences), to support the informal training provided by the LIS professionals, were promoted. As information literacy programs continue to be integrated, implemented, reflected, and reviewed in libraries (informal education) and integrated into academic curricula (formal education), the Framework is a reference document on which information professionals and teachers can find and support inspiration. In this context, and if we want more and better information to pass through higher education, we need to optimize and make valuable access to it. Given the proliferation of (dis)information, librarians must urgently assume the task of training in this area, developing their skills at the pedagogical level.

References

ACRL, Sanches, T., Antunes, M. L., & Lopes, C. (2022). Referencial da literacia da informação para o ensino superior (tradução portuguesa). BAD. Retrieved from https://bad.pt/formacao/projetos/combater_desinformacao/

Association of College and Research Libraries. (2016). Framework for information literacy for higher education. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/acrl/files/issues/infolit/framework.pdf

Caffrey, C., et al. (2022). Library instruction and information literacy 2021. Reference Services Review, 50(3), 271–355. https://doi.org/10.1108/RSR-09-2022-0035

Guth, L. F., et al. (2018). Faculty voices on the Framework: Implications for instruction and dialogue. Libraries and the Academy, 18(4), 693–718.

Julien, H., et al. (2020). Information literacy practices and perceptions of community college librarians in Florida and New York. Communications in Information Literacy, 14(2), 287–324. https://doi.org/10.15760/comminfolit.2020.14.2.7

Julien, H. E., Gross, M., Latham, D., & Baer, A. (2020). The information literacy framework: Case studies of successful implementation. Rowman & Littlefield.

Introduction

To assess the development level of an information system, the so-called maturity models (MM) are commonly used. In (Anderson and Jessen, 2003), maturity is defined as a state in which an organization is able to perfectly achieve the goals it sets for itself. The MM is understood as a set of successive levels that together form the expected or required logical path from the initial state to the final state of maturity (Pöppelbuß and Röglinger, 2011). MM is often a matrix of three to five maturity levels and several to a dozen evaluation criteria (dimensions) of the capability framework. This is a tool similar to one of the methods used to assess the information/data literacy (IL/DL) of information users, the so-called rubrics (Oakleaf, 2008). Rubrics for IL assessment are a tool that describes parts and levels of a specific task, product, or service (Hafner and Hafner, 2003). They are “descriptive scoring schemes” created by educators to improve the analysis of students’ work (Moskal, 2000). They include target indicators or “criteria” in rows and levels of performance in columns of the matrix or grid of benchmarks. This brief comparison of the two tools shows the need and likelihood of their interaction.

Objectives

This article describes the way of presenting DL problems in selected MMs for research data management services (RDMS). RDMS MM, especially their DL dimensions are therefore the subject of research. The correctness of the hypothesis on the inclusion of DL problems as one of the dimensions of RDMS MMs was tested. Answers to the following questions were sought: Do the authors of RDMS MMs recognize the role of DL problems? What DL issues are present in selected MMs? At which MM levels are DL problems placed? To what extent can DL rubrics be used in creating MMs?

Methodology

Content analysis of six RDMS MMs (all found in the literature) was performed with the aim of searching for matrix elements to evaluate data-literacy (DL)-related problems. RDMS MM were chosen because of their topicality (they were created in recent years, from 2014 to 2021) and the large enough number of existing MMs of this type. This choice resulted in the research also taking into account the problems of DL.

Outcomes

IL/DL problems are represented in most MM for RDMS, which means that the hypothesis has been confirmed. They are placed in dimensions defined as leadership, services, support services, users and stakeholders, accessibility, usability. The rubrics used in the DL assessment should be included in the construction of the MM for RDMS because they contain agreed values and descriptive, yet easily digestible, data.

References

Anderson, E., & Jessen, S. (2003). Project maturity in organizations. International Journal of Project Management, 21, 457–461.

Hafner, J., & Hafner, P. (2003). Quantitative analysis of the rubric as an assessment tool: An empirical study of student peer-group rating. International Journal of Science Education, 25, 1509–1528.

Moskal, B. (2000). Scoring rubrics: What, when, and how? Practical Assessment Research & Evaluation, 7.

Oakleaf, M. (2008). Dangers and opportunities: a conceptual map of information literacy assessment approaches. Portal: Libraries and the Academy, 8, 233–253.

Pöppelbuß, J., & Röglinger, M. (2011). What makes a useful maturity model? A framework for general design principles for maturity models and its demonstration in business process management. In Proceedings of the 19th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), paper 28. Helsinki, Finland.

Background

Problem-based learning (PBL)is a method of instruction where students are given a real or realistic problem, such as a case study or hypothetical situation, and asked to use inductive reasoning to learn both information about the topic and how to think critically about it. (Repanovici & Koukourakis, 2021)

Literature Review by Scientometric Methods

Scientometric methods helps us review literature quickly, using algorithms to automatically select the most relevant articles. Scientometric methods help us create an image of a certain field within a certain database. Using the research question “problem-based learning”, we obtained 7,137 results in the Web of Science database. We downloaded the database in a tab-delimited file format withfull records and cited references. We analyzed the data with VOS Viewer, a software for scientometric analysis. One of the key features of VOS viewer is its ability to identify clusters of related research based on co-occurrence of keywords in article titles, abstracts, or keywords. These clusters represent groups of articles that are highly related to each other in terms of their content and can provide valuable insights into the structure of a research field or discipline. We analyzed keywords used by authors. Three hundred and twenty seven terms used in the document descriptions occurred at least ten times. The software calculates the relevance, and identified 196 terms. The term map was generated and four clusters were identified: Teaching methods using PBL;PBL in medicine; PBL effects on students; and PBL in engineering education.

Objectives, Methodology & Outcomes

Within the EU project 2021-1-IE02-KA220-HED-000035812, (Developing Information and Research Skills for Business, Innovation and Entrepreneurship) modern teaching methods based on PBL are implemented at Transilvania University. There, a PBL model was implemented in the Digital Repository Management course for students in the Digital Media specialization. Starting from the hypothesis that PBL was no longer used in teaching, we introduced his method and measured the impact of the change in the pedagogical approach for students.

PBL is a student-centered and constructivist educational method that emphasizes the development of problem-solving skills and critical thinking. The students were introduced to the PBL model, througha pedagogical model that also explained the differences between the inverted pedagogy and classical pedagogy. Students carried out activitieswhere a problem was defined. They then, saw how specialists work in practice and they made practical applications after the theoretical model was presented to them. We as the researchers designed a questionnaire to measure the impact of the PBL method on the students. We followed the students’ positive and negative opinions about the method. In the end, we released an online questionnaire with 21 questions in Survey Monkey . All 61 students completed the survey. The students appreciated the results of the implementation of the PBL method and were satisfied with the knowledge they gained. Qualitative research demonstrates the need to change the classical learning method by applying interactive, intuitive methods to engage the student more in the teaching process. Especially in the field of LIS, this method is much more appreciated considering the dynamics of changing technology and the mentality of students. This model and its associated activities can be implemented to other courses.

References

Developing Information and Research Skills for Business, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (InRS) - Kaunas University of Technology | KTU. (n.d.). Retrieved June 15, 2023, from https://en.ktu.edu/projects/developing-information-and-research-skills-for-business-innovation-and-entrepreneurship-inrs/

Repanovici, A., & Koukourakis, M. (2021). Problem-based Learning Method Used in Using 3D Printing Training – A Quick Review. In 11th International Conference on Information Science and Information Literacy (pp. 153–158). https://doi.org/10.2478/9788395815065-016

Information literacy has been recognized as a maturing, soft discipline (Webber & Johnson, 2017). Despite the acknowledgment of its evolution as a discipline (Johnston and Webber, 1999; 2006), the information literacy community has been slow to acknowledge the disciplinarity of information literacy. Revisiting this idea, this panel describes how information literacy aligns with elements of a discipline, including 1) a community of scholars, 2) communication networks 3) code of ethics, 4) traditions and history 5) modes of inquiry, and 6) shared knowledge. Panelists will engage attendees in considering potential outcomes of recognizing information literacy as a discipline, including more robust collaborations, new research agenda, and enhanced curricula.

The four panelists are members of an international group of researchers (ILIAD: Information Literacy Is A Discipline) interested in advancing scholarly conversation around the idea that information literacy is a maturing discipline. The session will begin with the panel moderator describing the work this group has undertaken to further this discussion, including hosting conversations with members of the information literacy community around the world, and plans to publish an edited book on the subject in 2025. Contrasting with alternative views, we will outline how information literacy aligns with the characteristics of a discipline, and its relationship with other disciplines.

The panelists work in different areas of the field. (1) An instruction coordinator at a community college will focus on how acknowledging that information literacy is a discipline supports promoting information literacy instruction to departmental faculty. (2) A librarian at a research institution will emphasize how recognizing information literacy as a discipline supports librarian researchers in exploring information literacy in new contexts. (3) A library and information science educator (LIS) and (4) an educational researcher will focus on how the idea of information literacy as a discipline may influence research as well as impact graduate education. Each of the panelists will answer these questions in turn: 1) what do they see as the implications of recognizing information literacy as a discipline? and 2) how can this recognition help us advocate for more institutional resources to develop new information literacy curricula and research? After each has answered, the panelists will engage in discussion.

Following discussion by the panelists, attendees will be asked to share their views concerning recognizing information literacy as a discipline and the implications for their work in the field, leading to an open discussion. At the end of the session, attendees will be invited to continue the discussion in a community channel on a Discord server.

References

Johnston, B., & Webber, S. (1999). Information literacy as an academic discipline: An action research approach to developing a credit bearing class for business undergraduates. In M. Klasson, et al. (Eds.), New fields for research in the 21st century: Proceedings of the 3rd British Nordic Conference on Library and Information Studies, 12-14 April 1999, Boras, Sweden (pp. 183–197). Boras: The Swedish School of Library and Information Studies, University College of Boras.

Johnston, B., & Webber, S. (2006). As we may think: Information literacy as a discipline for the information age. Research Strategies, 20(3), 108–121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resstr.2006.06.005

Webber, S., & Johnston, B. (2017). Information literacy: Conceptions, context and the formation of a discipline. Journal of Information Literacy, 11(1), 156–183. http://dx.doi.org/10.11645/11.1.2205

Not quite 20 years ago, Simmons (2005) positioned academic librarians as information literacy discourse mediators between instructors, who are expert researchers within their disciplines, and students, who are typically scholarly and disciplinary novices. This positioning puts librarians in a potentially powerful role in bridging the gap between instructors’ expectations and students’ performance on information literacy-related assignments, such as research assignments. Indeed, previous research provides evidence of this expectations gap. Even though much of academic librarianship was still subscribing to a skills-based conceptualization of information literacy when Simmons (2005) wrote her seminal article, elements of the second-wave constructivist conceptualization of information literacy (Hicks and Lloyd, 2021) are evident in her argument that librarians could and should help students to identify and understand the ways of thinking and knowing that are valued in disciplines and higher education more generally.

Existing research has provided some insight into how instructors perceive or define information literacy, and this research is foundational for considering how academic librarians can serve as discourse mediators. However, most of these studies predate the second-wave shift to a constructivist perspective of information literacy emphasizing “conceptual ideas rather than teaching practices” (Hicks and Lloyd, 2021, p. 569). Because of this shift, the role of academic librarians as discourse mediators might be more relevant now than ever. For example, the ACRL Framework, a second-wave document, is rooted in threshold concept theory, which is the idea that students must cross particular conceptual thresholds to begin understanding the ways of thinking, knowing, and acting with respect to information use and knowledge creation within academic and disciplinary communities.

In this paper, we describe a qualitative study that employs a novel approach to exploring the information literacy perceptions of 51 instructors across a range of disciplines at a research university in the United States. We used Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy, which is a commonly used framework for the development of learning outcomes related to the complexity of cognition required to meet instructors’ expectations, to bridge the second-wave abstract conceptualizations of information literacy, such as those found in the Framework, and the practical needs of the classroom that were addressed in first-wave documents like the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. As a result, we have developed a draft model of an information literacy taxonomy that accounts for both foundational information literacy skills and ways of thinking and knowing. We believe that this model has implications for how we approach the development of students’ information literacy with intentionality, in collaboration with instructors, and as we consider our own classroom teaching practices.

References

Hicks, A., & Lloyd, A. (2021). Deconstructing information literacy discourse: Peeling back the layers in higher education. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 53(4), 559–571.

Simmons, M.H. (2005). Librarians as disciplinary discourse mediators: Using genre theory to move toward critical information literacy. portal: Libraries and the Academy, 5(3), 297–311.

Information literacy is crucial in our digitalised society, where access to information is easier and more abundant than ever before. It empowers us to locate, evaluate, and effectively, as well as ethically, use information in private and professional contexts. Without information literacy, individuals may struggle to make informed decisions or, even worse, fall prey to misinformation.

Science literacy, which we consider a part of information literacy, refers to an individual’s understanding of science and its methods, as well as their ability to critically evaluate scientific information and arguments (Liu, 2009). Science literacy is an important aspect of being an informed citizen in a democratic society, as it allows individuals to understand and engage with scientific issues that have an impact on their lives or even society as a whole (National Research Council et al., 2007, p. 34). This is especially essential during a pandemic, when misinformation can have serious consequences for public health and safety (Loomba et al., 2021).

The COVID-19 pandemic is a prime example of the importance of science literacy for everyone. The ongoing pandemic has highlighted the need for individuals to be able to critically evaluate and understand scientific information, as well as navigate the vast amount of information that is available on the internet and social media. The lack of science literacy skills can result in confusion, misinformation, and a lack of trust in scientific authorities and experts.

The concept of “scientificness” refers to the degree to which something is perceived as scientific or having characteristics of science (Thomm & Bromme, 2012). Scientificness and credibility are closely linked. People who associate a high level of scientificness with, for example, a specific style of documents are likely to rate their credibility higher as well (Zaboski & Therriault, 2020). However, something that appears to be scientific does not necessarily have to be accurate or true. In fact, a scientific appearance might be used to “claim” the categories of scientificness and credibility for something that is not: This is called pseudoscience (O’Brien et al., 2021).

Our paper focuses on perceived scientificness and credibility of information. We conducted a scoping review of scientific literature to summarise the various factors that can mislead individuals into thinking information is credible or scientific, even when it is not. Furthermore, we discuss different types and ways of emergence of scientific misinformation or pseudoscience. Critically evaluating scientific health information is a challenging task, but with the help of information literacy, it is possible to become more discerning consumers of scientific information and better equipped to make informed decisions. By understanding the various factors that can mislead us, we can then build greater resilience to misinformation and pseudoscience.

References

Liu, X. (2009). Beyond science literacy: Science and the public. International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 4(3), 301–311.

Loomba, S., de Figueiredo, A., Piatek, S. J., de Graaf, K., & Larson, H. J. (2021). Measuring the impact of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on vaccination intent in the UK and USA. Nature Human Behaviour, 5(3), 337–348. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01056-1

National Research Council, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, Board on Science Education, Center for Education, Committee on Science Learning, Duschl, R. A., Schweingruber, H. A., & Shouse, A. W. (2007). Taking science to school. National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/11625

O’Brien, T. C., Palmer, R., & Albarracin, D. (2021). Misplaced trust: When trust in science fosters belief in pseudoscience and the benefits of critical evaluation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 96, 104184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2021.104184

Thomm, E., & Bromme, R. (2012). “It should at least seem scientific!” Textual features of “scientificness” and their impact on lay assessments of online information. Science Education, 96(2), 187–211. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.20480

Zaboski, B. A., & Therriault, D. J. (2020). Faking science: Scientificness, credibility, and belief in pseudoscience. Educational Psychology, 40(7), 820–837. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2019.1694646

Introduction

Information literacy (IL) has been one of the most extensively researched concepts within Library and Information Science (LIS), interrogated as a phenomenon and practice, through a range of methods. Numerous bibliometric studies have been conducted to map the field, and they indicate the overwhelming use of quantitative methods (e.g., Kolle, 2017). However, these mapping studies, especially until more recently, have not focused on the content of IL research, and have restricted analysis to a short time span and a narrow range of databases.

A relatively popular research method, introduced in IL research by Doyle (1992) to develop an IL definition and competence outcomes, is the Delphi method. Delphi is employed for facilitating structured group communication and soliciting expert opinions via rounds of surveys. It applies particularly well to complex issues and exploratory studies in emerging research areas, and can contribute to theory and practice. Therefore, it is well suited to IL research, including potentially to information (literacy) experience since it allows qualitative exploration of subjective judgments and individual experiences. By integrating views from different disciplines – thus bridging the theory-practice gap and silos within IL – Delphi can be beneficial to IL coherence and progress. Several studies have explored Delphi in LIS (e.g., Lund, 2020); however, they have not focused on its application to IL research.

Objectives

This research aims to develop a critical understanding of how IL research is operationalised and executed by means of the Delphi method and its current state of usage in IL research. Specifically, it seeks to determine what IL issues and which research contexts are studied using Delphi. It also explores the key characteristics of IL Delphi studies: the types of Delphi utilised; the profile and ways of recruiting experts; the number of rounds and of experts in each round; and the types of findings.

Methodology

A systematic review of IL research studies that have utilised Delphi was undertaken, using studies retrieved from five databases (Web of Science, Scopus, Library and Information Science Source, ProQuest Library and Information Science Collection, and LISTA). 799 articles were retrieved by querying the databases for peer-reviewed articles in English, with a non-defined temporal span, vetted for relevance to IL research and actual usage of Delphi. 38 articles were identified for analysis, using critical literature review and descriptive statistical analysis.

Outcomes

While Delphi is not a common research method for IL studies (averaging 2 studies per year), it was used to study various issues, including digital literacy, health IL, and IL standards, models and concepts, mainly in the contexts of education, health care and librarianship. Modified Delphi was the most common type, and information experts and information science researchers the most common populations, recruited through employment and publication in scholarly journals. Studies with 2 rounds were most frequent, averaging 17 panelists. The most common finding retrieved is competence and skill framework, followed by opinion and tool development. The paper may serve as a useful base for IL theory and practice, providing guidance for future IL research, both content- and methodology-wise.

References

Doyle, C. S. (1992). Outcome measures for information literacy within the National Education Goals of 1990. Final Report to National Forum on Information Literacy. Summary of Findings. National Forum of Information Literacy, 1–18.

Kolle, S. (2017). The electronic library global research on information literacy: A bibliometric analysis from 2005 to 2014. The Electronic Library, 35(2), 283–298.

Lund, B. D. (2020). Review of the Delphi method in library and information science research. Journal of Documentation, 76(4), 929–960.

The digital divide manifests not only in an unequal distribution of Internet access and connectivity but increasingly in the lack of digital literacy. Drivers for bridging the digital gap and promoting digital inclusion are measures to advance digital literacy in society. This is especially true for vulnerable populations, such as refugees, as they are more likely to be exposed to social, financial, and educational risks (Nüßlein & Schmidt, 2020). Therefore, the non-profit organisation Grenzenlos Digital e.V. (https://www.grenzenlos-digital.org/) promotes digital skills particularly for refugees, asylum seekers and migrants. People fleeing from their home countries are confronted with many hurdles in the countries in which they seek asylum. Next to the strenuous public authority procedures and the need to find accommodation, they often face professional reorientation as they need to find or train for new jobs or need additional qualifications to enter the labour market. However, the job search and orientation process are difficult and require knowledge about the labour market, the skills for online research and communication, and the attitudes, which include values, aspirations and priorities. The barriers to the job market are becoming even higher for people with low digital skills, as recruiting is moving online and companies rely solely on digital application processes. Targeted digital literacy training is fundamental to successful labour market orientation laying the foundation for digital inclusion. In this best practice session, we present experiences and learnings from a digital skills course for refugees and migrants in Germany that is set up in an online learning environment. The project “Intro - Finding work using computers and the Internet” (https://www.grenzenlos-digital.org/en/intro) runs for one year with participants from all over Germany. The course enables attendees to increase their information literacy and digital skills and apply them to learn more about the German job market. Goal of the project is to increase participants’ digital skills so they can use the Internet to orient themselves on the German job market as well as to communicate online about their preferences and qualifications. The training implements a new concept by triangulated synchronous (online live sessions) and asynchronous (via online learning platform) teaching methods. The curriculum of the course and its learning goals are based on the “Digital Competence Framework for Citizens - DigComp 2.2” (European Commission, 2022) from the EU covering two of the five competence areas, namely 1) information and data literacy and 2) communication and collaboration. The course content and methods employed are shaped by experiences and lessons from four years of digital skills training for refugees and migrants. In addition, the course considers findings from scientific research on barriers to information-seeking during labour market orientation, such as inadequate operational skills (Stiller & Trkulja, 2018) resulting from restricted availability of laptops and computers. The best practice session covers different aspects that need to be acknowledged when designing low digital skills training, such as the target group, evaluation of students’ progress and course content, motivations, and the settings in which the course will take place. The benefits and drawbacks of aligning the course content with the digital skills framework are elaborated and discussed. Furthermore, we will share tips on teaching practices and methods that proved to be successful in conveying low digital skills.

Acknowledgments

The project “Intro - Finding work using computers and the Internet” is supported by the non-profit organization The Digital Collective (DigiCo) which is promoting digital inclusion in Europe.

References

Nüßlein, L., & Schmidt, J. (2020). Digitale Kompetenzen für alle. Weiterbildungsangebote nach DigComp für Personen mit geringen digitalen Kompetenzen in Deutschland. Retrieved January 20, 2022, from https://de.rescue.org/report/forschungsbericht-digitale-kompetenzen-fuer-alle

Stiller, J., & Trkulja, V. (2018). Assessing digital skills of refugee migrants during job orientation in Germany. In G. Chowdhury, J. McLeod, V. Gillet, & P. Willett (Eds.), Transforming digital worlds (pp. 527–536). Springer International Publishing.

European Commission, JRC, Vuorikari, R., Kluzer, S. & Punie, Y. (2022). DigiComp 2.2. Publications Office of the European Union. Retrieved from https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC128415

Since 2018 I have been module leader for a 15 credit masters level course taught at City, University of London as part of the Masters in Academic Practice, which is a teaching qualification in higher education offered to internal and external staff. Typically there are 100 students on the programme. The module EDM122 Digital Literacies and Open Practice explores digital and information literacies of staff and students, including dispelling the myth of the ‘digital native’ and how to embed various literacies into academic programmes. The module also helps develop copyright literacy (Morrison & Secker, 2017) and situates this as a key component of digital scholarship (Weller, 2011). In addition to being offered to academic staff, it is an elective module for students in the Library and Information Science (LIS) department and has been completed by several members of library staff at City. The module webinar series is available to anyone to join and recordings and resources are shared on the module blog: https://blogs.city.ac.uk/dilop/

In this reflective practice session I will share my experiences of teaching this module for the past 5 years and the impact it has had on my students’ open educational practices. I will also reflect on the role of the open access board game The Publishing Trap (Morrison & Secker, 2022) which is played on the final teaching day of the module. To illustrate the session I will share feedback and assessments created by students that highlight their own understanding and experiences of digital, information, and copyright literacy and its relationship to open educational practices (OEP). The students are teachers in a wide variety of disciplines, but it is worth noting that there has been a high number of health sciences lecturers and nurse educators who appear to find the module particularly transformative. I will discuss any new practices they might have adopted, drawing on how previous studies conceptualise OEP (Cronin & MacLaren, 2018).

The impact of the module will be considered from broader perspective and I will briefly report on findings from an ongoing research project on staff attitudes towards technology enabled teaching and its relationship to open practices (Secker, 2020) I will be collecting additional data in Spring and Summer 2023 so I should also be able to share more recent findings at the conference that explore the impact of the pandemic on staff attitudes.

Finally, I will invite contributions from the delegates to share any insights into the way a module of this type might contribute to building staff understanding of digital literacies and OEP.

References

Morrison, C., & Secker, J. (2017). The publishing trap. Retrieved August 3, 2021 from https://copyrightliteracy.org/resources/the-publishing-trap/

Weller, M. (2011). The digital scholar: How technology is transforming scholarly practice. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Morrison, C., & Secker, J. (2022). Copyright education and information literacy. In Navigating copyright for libraries: Purpose and scope. (pp. 285–318). Walter de Gruyter. Retrieved from https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/28858/1/

Cronin, C., & MacLaren, I. (2018). Conceptualising OEP: A review of theoretical and empirical literature in Open Educational Practices. Open Praxis, 10(2), 127–143. http://dx.doi.org/10.5944/openpraxis.10.2.825

Secker, J. (2020). Understanding the role of technology in academic practice through a lens of openness. In INTED2020 Proceedings. (pp. 5363–5368). Valencia, Spain: IATED.

The Durban University of Technology has been exploring new ways of teaching information literacy. Students’ learning preferences have evolved; thus, it is critical to experiment with new teaching strategies to stay current and hold their interest. Research shows that for many students, a didactic approach to teaching information literacy can be extremely boring and ineffective. By introducing educational games with predetermined learning objectives into the information literacy curriculum, game-based learning might be the answer. Wilson et al. (2017) state that the effectiveness of games in teaching and learning has been thoroughly proven in educational studies. The use of games as a medium for learning is not a new concept. Games can benefit the learning process regardless of their complexity or whether they incorporate technology. Today’s students have grown up playing computer and video games, which has influenced how they receive information and learn (Aziz et al. 2018). Games-based learning can help to speed up knowledge transfer and application for students to actively participate in class activities alongside their peers, which benefits their ability to learn new material. Games can be used to uncover learning gaps in students and to promote engagement without concern about criticism (Chesley, C., & Anantachai, T. 2019). The objective of this paper was to identify the effectiveness of game-based learning whilst adding value to the student learning experience. The ADDIE model guided the design and development of the game. This model consists of five phases: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. To design the game the learning objectives were used as a guideline. The game was designed for students to complete within the time limit and to make them feel proud of finding solutions. During pre- and post-game conversations, the learning outcomes were clarified and reinforced. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were used to collect data and measure the effectiveness of game-based learning. This paper investigates students’ experiences with information literacy through game-based learning.

References

Anantachai, T. & Chesley, C. (2019). Level up the one-shot: Empowering students with backward design and game-based learning. In Rigby, M. & Steiner, S. (Eds.), Motivating students on a time budget: Pedagogical frames and lesson plans for in-person and online information literacy instruction (pp. 167–180). Chicago, IL: ACRL. Retrieved January 11, 2023, from https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/ulib_fac_scholar/109

Aziz, A. N., Subiyanto, S., & Harlanu, M. (2018). Effects of the digital game-based learning (DGBL) on students’ academic performance in Arabic learning at Sambas Purbalingga. KARSA: Journal of Social and Islamic Culture, 26(1), 1–22. Retrieved January 10, 2023, from http://ejournal.iainmadura.ac.id/index.php/karsa/article/view/1518/1146

Wilson, S. N., et al. (2017). Game-based learning and information literacy: A randomized controlled trial to determine the efficacy of two information literacy learning experiences. International Journal of Game-Based Learning (IJGBL), 7(4), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.4018/IJGBL.2017100101

Introduction

The ability to solve information problems is a critical skill that all students in higher education must possess, regardless of their field of study. While educators in higher education recognize the importance of this skill, they often struggle to allocate sufficient time for its development in their lectures. To address this challenge, we have developed a digital learning platform called Edubook, designed to help students develop information literacy skills through independent learning. The Edubook in its final form has been created by an experienced digital publisher and is made available to students at the cost of a traditional textbook.

Design

The structure of the Edubook follows the information problem-solving process, as outlined in for instance the Big Six Skills model (Berkowitz and Eisenberg, 1990). The platform includes chapters on task definition, information-seeking strategies, results selection, information analysis, information use, feedback processing and reflection. A key feature of the Edubook is its high degree of interactivity. Each chapter includes a combination of theory and explanations, as well as questions and assignments for students to complete, with immediate feedback provided by the system. Theory is presented in text as well as image and video formats, with the chapter on information-seeking strategies, for example, featuring screencasts that demonstrate key techniques for forward and backward chaining. Additionally, the Edubook aims to alleviate the workload of subject teachers while still providing students with the opportunity to learn how to effectively explore digital resources relevant to their studies. To achieve this, the platform incorporates a variety of exercises, such as drag-and-drop, labeling tasks, fill-in-the-blank questions and multiple-choice questions, all derived from various professional contexts, including nursing, human resource management, primary education, leisure management, and product design.

Results and Limitations

The Edubook on Information Problem Solving is currently scheduled for completion in May 2023 and will be available for use in the 2023-2024 academic year. A pilot study involving a group of students from the Bachelor of ICT at The Hague University of Applied Sciences will be conducted in April-May, with results presented at the ECIL 2023 conference. The target audience for the Edubook is Dutch and Flemish students in universities of applied sciences. The possibility of creating an English version of the platform has yet to be discussed with the publisher.

References

Berkowitz, R., & Eisenberg, M. (1990). Information problem-solving: The big six skills approach to library & information skills instruction. Norwood, N. J.: Ablex Pub. Corp.

The American Library Association defines Information Literacy (IL) as “…a set of abilities requiring individuals to ‘recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information” (ALA, 1989). The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) (2000) underlined information literacy as 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.

Information literacy is more important than ever. The outbreak of COVID-19 poses new challenges to concepts of information literacy. Research trends studies have emerged in Information Literacy (IL) to determine research manner and changes before and after COVID-19. The aim of this study was to reveal the IL concept and relationship between the concept of IL before and after the pandemic. Also, common keywords were examined. The period between 2016-11-01 and 2019-12-31 was considered as pre-pandemic, and between 2020-01-01 – 2022-11-26 as post-pandemic, in both groups. Trend analysis on the information literacy pre- and post-pandemic period was performed by VOS viewer software and in-app algorithms thereby visualizing ISI database on the related concept (van Eck & Waltman, 2010). The co-occurrence analysis of the keywords of articles conducted to reveal common concepts and the most associated concepts.

The data set was extracted from ISI Web of Science databases and included 3141 articles published between 2016 and 2022. While 1701 of the articles were from pre COVID-19, 1440 articles were from post COVID-19.

Using a bibliographic mapping method, we pursued two research questions listed below

• What are the common concepts on maps before and after COVID-19?

• What are the most associated concepts with information literacy in both maps?

Results

After the bibliographic analysis of common keywords of the sample articles, 25 most common concepts before and after the pandemic were obtained and visualized. Some prominent concepts before the pandemic were digital literacy, assessment and collaboration, while misinformation, digital divide and disinformation were observed in the post-pandemic period. Also link strengths showed, health literacy, critical thinking and misinformation were the most associated concepts revealed from the maps. Detailed findings about the concepts and the implications of the results will be discussed in light of the IL - COVID-19 relationship.

References

American Library Association (ALA), Association for College and Research Libraries (ACRL). (2000). Information literacy competency standards for higher education. Retrieved December 4, 2022 from http://hdl.handle.net/10150/105645.

American Library Association. (1989). Presidential committee on information literacy: Final report (2006). Retrieved December 4, 2022 from http://www.ala.org/acrl/publications/whitepapers/presidential.

Van Eck, N., & Waltman, L. (2010). Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping. Scientometrics, 84(2), 523–538.

This presentation reviews current perspectives on the Media and Information Literacy (MIL) of ageing populations including socio-economic contexts, countering ageism, empowering older people, and the prospects for citywide strategies to support older people’s MIL. The focus of the presentation is on mechanisms to estimate what life is like for older people in a city, including the concept of a lifestyle check, and how that can be applied to Webber & Johnston’s (2019) #AFMIL (Age-Friendly MIL) City model. This model draws on international guidelines and reports including UNESCO (2019).

Ageing remains an international concern (World Health Organization (WHO), 2021; European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 2022). A common theme is that older people’s access to rights and services have been compromised by the pandemic, requiring renewed action to protect those rights. For example England’s Centre for Ageing Better (2022b) provides evidence that COVID19 has exacerbated longer-term negative trends for older people in employment and housing, with implications for health and social care. In response, the Centre for Ageing Better (2022b) produced a guide for developing local ‘State of Ageing’ reports for use by local authorities, voluntary groups, and community leaders. The guide utilises the WHO’s (2017) eight domains of community life, one of which is Information and Communication, and draws on work in Leeds (Centre for Ageing Better, 2021).

Scotland’s Common Weal has produced an overview of population ageing in the Scottish context (Johnston & Dalzell, 2021) considering factors such as neoliberalism, demographics, ageism, pensions, housing, employment, and health. They propose a lifestyle check, which can be implemented across society to give people greater control of their ageing process. This strategy includes reliance on good MIL. However, for example, in Glasgow’s (2022) Strategic Plan 2022-27 issues relating to population ageing, including MIL opportunities, must be teased out from broader socio-economic policy and value statements. This is a challenge to prioritisation of MIL at city level.

We will draw on the #AFMIL City model, Johnston &Dalzell’s (2021) lifestyle check, the work by the Centre for Ageing Better and the Leeds and Glasgow eqalities outcomes examples to (1) critique indicators of a MIL City (Yanaze & Chibas, 2020) which neglect older people, and (2) propose more positive ways of enabling older people, and city authorities, to audit a city’s response to MIL, and to develop more creative age-friendly media and information literate environments.

References

Centre for Ageing Better. (2021). The state of ageing in Leeds: What life is like for people aged 50 and over in Leeds. Retrieved 19 January, 2023 from https://ageing-better.org.uk/resources/the-state-of-ageing-in-leeds

Centre for Ageing Better. (2022a). Guide: Developing a local ‘State of Ageing’ report. London: The Centre for Ageing Better.

Centre for Ageing Better. (2022b). State of ageing report 2022. London: The Centre for Ageing Better.

European Union Agency for Fundamental rights. (2022) Social rights and equality in the light of the recovery from the COVID19 pandemic. Retrieved 19 January, 2023 from https://fra. europa.eu/en/publication/2022/fundamental-rights-report-2022

Glasgow City Council. (2022). Strategic plan 2022 to 2027. Retrieved 19 January, 2023 from https://www.gsastrategicplan.co.uk/

Johnston, B., & Dalzell, C. (2021). All of our futures: Scotland’s ageing population and what to do about it 2021-2045. Glasgow: Common Weal.

UNESCO. (2019). Global framework for media and information literacy cities (MIL Cities). Paris: UNESCO.

Webber, S., & Johnston, B. (2019). The age-friendly media and information literate #AFMIL city: Combining policies and strategies for ageing populations in media and information rich societies. Journal of Information Literacy, 13(2), 276–291.

World Health Organization. (2021). Global report on ageism. Geneva: WHO.

World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe. (2017). Age-friendly environments in Europe. Copenhagen: WHO.

Yanaze, M., & Chibás, F. (2020). From smart cities to MIL cities. Retrieved 19 January, 2023 from https://www.academia.edu/43369259/FROM_SMART_CITIES_TO_MIL_CITIES_Metrics_inspired_by_the_vision_of_UNESCO