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 2009 Volume 7(2)

Aiming higher

Exploring libraries, literacies and learning

Catherine Kearney reports on CILIPS’ conference ‘Information Literacy, Libraries and Learning’, which saw different sectors sharing experiences of how partnership work is supporting the national skills strategy.

Information literacy is the foundation for effective learning and the Scottish Government is encouraging its spread while promoting participation in lifelong learning through its ‘Skills for Scotland’ strategy. Intended to support a smarter Scotland, the strategy articulates a national skills system able to respond to both economic demand and individual need. To help achieve its aim a new umbrella organisation has been set up. ‘Skills Development Scotland’ merges Careers Scotland, Scottish University for Industry (learndirect Scotland, learndirect Scotland for business, ILA Scotland and the Big Plus) and the skills elements of both Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

This recognition that a skilled workforce should be information- literate prompted CILIPS to host a one-day conference in Glasgow recently to debate and explore the role of libraries and information professionals in advancing and supporting the skills agenda across the sectors.

‘Information Literacy, Libraries and Learning’ opened with Rhona Arthur, Assistant Director, CILIPS/SLIC, reminding everyone that libraries are key players in supporting both formal and informal learning. Our sector is varied and features academic, public, health, prisons and workplace libraries. As information professionals we incorporate a wide range of skills and approaches into our professional practice to encourage learning. Partnerships between sectors are creating accessible learning spaces encouraging people to re-engage with education. Provision of more formal opportunities, particularly since the Peoples Network initiative, has resulted in the role of the information professional changing to reflect new responsibilities and skills. In support of these new roles, Lifelong Learning UK has recently updated the national occupational standards and is encouraging a mixing and matching of skills to better suit new delivery environments.

In a knowledge economy there is a shared perception and acceptance of information resources as an organisational asset and of information literacy as a desirable skill which can improve organisational efficiency. Glasgow Caledonian University’s Scottish Information Literacy Framework Project has developed to include research into workplace information literacy. Two of our speakers, Jenny Foreman and Lesley Thomson detailed their work within the Scottish Government where the development of skills to analyse and apply information to the business of government has become a priority and led to the formulation of a workplace information literacy strategy.

Two of the most inspiring presentations came from the Scottish Prison Service Partnership projects. The Reader in Residence project is a three-year partnership project run by Stirling Council, Scottish Prison Service, Carnegie College and the Scottish Book Trust at Cornton Vale Female Prison. Richard Smith, Reader in Residence and Liz McPartlin, Community Access Librarian, discussed how the project promotes readership development and offers activities such as ‘story sacks’ where prisoners create a sack for a child they know and fill it with different stories and activities.

Kate King introduced a project between Edinburgh Libraries and the Scottish Prison Service to create a new library at Saughton which has been well received by prisoners, staff, and external partners. The new accommodation is helping to attract those who have never before visited a library service and offer them opportunities to improve literacy and use computers effectively. 

Information literacy can be an empowering skill for individuals and this was a point well made by Joanna Prolomey, chair of SHINE, in her discussion about access to non-English language health information provision in the context of broader health inequalities. A language barrier can be a huge obstacle to all aspects of health care and her case study from the health sector described how this was being addressed.

Continuing the enabling access theme, Margaret McKay from JISC introduced the award winning AccessApps(Accessible portable applications in your pocket), an initiative developed by the Scottish JISC Regional Support Centres in cooperation with JISC TechDis. It consists of over 50 open source and freeware assistive technology applications which can be run from a USB stick on a Windows computer without the need to install anything. The applications provide a range of e-learning solutions to support writing, reading and planning as well as visual and mobility difficulties. AccessApps won the 2008 Scottish Open Source Education Excellence Award.

Peter Godwin, co-author of the recently published Information Literacy Meets Web 2.0, gave an overview of the impact of Web 2.0 technologies on formal information literacy teaching in the higher education sector. He concluded with the key message that while change in teaching styles is continuous the principle of embedding information literacy within the curriculum remains a constant.

 Those with an interest in more formal teaching techniques enjoyed Andy Jackson’s presentation on using the Cephalonian method in information skills sessions. The Cephalonian method uses a fusion of color, image, humor and music in teaching. Many of the audience had an ‘aha’ moment when Andy explained why the Cephalonian method was so called (it was devised on a Greek holiday!). He offered the opportunity to participate in the Cephalonian method by using the teaching style for his presentation.

In conclusion, the CILIPS one-day conference presented a broad range of papers from across the sectors which were enjoyed by all in attendance. Delegate feedback suggests that as a profession we welcome an opportunity to share experiences of how partnership work is supporting the national skills strategy and the development of information literacy skills. All of our speakers demonstrated clearly how libraries can open the door to the pleasures and benefits of learning and support education in a range of contexts to suit individual learner need. The presentations from the day are available on SLAINTE SlideShare.

Catherine Kearney is Assistant Director, SLIC/CILIPS. e: c.kearney@slainte.org.uk

Information Scotland Vol. 7(2) April 2009

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.