Information Scotland The Journal of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland ISSN 1743-5471 Issue contents | Journal contents | About the online edition of the journal April 2006 Volume 4(2)

Information literacy

New handle on information handling

Kirsty McEachern reports on how a new course is improving research skills and raising the library profile in her school.

Background
The Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) has been working with a number of libraries to improve the skills that underpin information literacy in pupils, students and learners.
An Information Handling Skills course was developed by the Scottish Further Education Unit and eCom Scotland on behalf of partners including SLIC, learndirect Scotland and Scottish Enterprise Glasgow.
The learning material consists of 23 generic learning bites to help post-16 year olds and lifelong learners develop skills in using and retrieving information, including planning, searching the web and evaluation. The course examines three types of information resources: printed, electronic and people.It consists of five themed scenarios – Shopping, Travel, Research, Leisure and Employment – which put information needs into context.
The Intermediate II unit assessment was approved in March 2005 by the Scottish Qualification Authority (Unit number DF9J 11) and the course is available to all partner organisations.
Learners are asked to demonstrate their practical ability along with their knowledge and understanding using a series of skills logs in planning an information task, identifying information resources, evaluating information resources, and reviewing the strategies and techniques.
Learners are also required to answer a series of multiple choice questions.
SLIC received funding from the Scottish Executive Digital Inclusion Unit to promote a project which helps learners gain skills and the SQA qualification. Applications have been received from a variety of organisations including: public libraries, schools, and colleges.
Information: Hazel Lauder, Scottish Library & Information Council.

As School Librarian at Mearns Castle High School, I worked in partnership with teachers from the biology department to introduce the information handling course to pupils undertaking Intermediate I Biology.

I worked with the class to develop their skills in planning and researching an information task using the pupils’ investigation on the topic of the lungs to help them use this information to produce an information poster or leaflet.

Working with the teachers I conducted library sessions for each class covering the following areas:
>>Brainstorming & Mind Mapping.
>>Sources of Information (Printed, Electronic and People).
>>Evaluating Information Resources.

These sessions asked pupils to evaluate a range of non-fiction books and reference resources, to look at a variety of different newspapers, journals and leaflets, examine different search engines and websites and refine searches using Boolean terms. The pupils found the idea of Boolean Searching interesting. For many, this was their first introduction to Boolean logic.

They enjoyed developing the skills to determine whether different terms would narrow or broaden the resulting search and as a result have a much better understanding of how to plan an information task and go about identifying and using appropriate information sources. Using examples of tabloid and broadsheet newspaper articles, I explained concepts such as bias, currency of information, accuracy, reliability and suitability when evaluating resources and information.

After this introduction, pupils had two further information gathering sessions using resources including books and the Internet. The school health co-ordinator visited the class to talk about the topic and this proved a valuable “people” source of information.

The nature of the Health and Technology Unit of Intermediate I Biology lends itself to developing information skills. The course offered the flexibility to allow pupils time to plan their information tasks, undertake research, review information sources and evaluate what they did. Margaret Dempster, Biology teacher, said: “The project has been a worthwhile exercise, in particular developing planning skills will prove a core skill for the pupil’s future learning.”

The project gave an opportunity to reinforce the information skills developed in S1 and S2 and to contextualize them within the curriculum.

There are plans to repeat the science course next year and to build upon the initial experience. This will include longer sessions in the library with more periods devoted to the introduction, discussion and resulting research. There are also plans to extend the course to include other subject departments, including social subjects. Elements of the course will be incorporated into the S1 Information Skills programme next year.

Participation in the project has raised the profile of the school library within the school. The teachers involved report an increased awareness of information sources that they use and development in their information skills.

Coatbridge High School and St Ambrose High School in North Lanarkshire are also participating in the project and are working with S4 pupils.

Kirsty McEachern is School Librarian, Mearns Castle High School, East Renfrewshire Council.

Information Scotland Vol. 4(2) April 2006

Information Scotland is delivered online by the SAPIENS electronic publishing service based at the Centre for Digital Library Research. SLAINTE (Scottish libraries across the Internet) offers further information about librarianship and information management in Scotland.