Category: Readings on my topic

I created the Readings on my topic category to document what I have been learning during my ARP Unit regarding my profession (in relation to my research question).

I started this literature review from the materials about general Information Literacy (IL), then tried to put it into critical pedagogy context and finally put on the sustainable IL lenses. The most recent posts are at the top, so if you want to follow my journey you need to start with the oldest post in the category. 

In my research question I focused on evaluating library resources part of IL and have done lots of reading on this specific aspect of my profession too. There is a separate a blog on this part of my reading.

In my research question I focused on evaluating library resources part of IL and have done lots of reading on this specific aspect of my profession too. I treated it differently to the readings that I included in the other blogs in this category. I created a PDF with quotes from most useful readings and findings by the fellow librarians on evaluating resources. I colour coded the themes that are related to my project and used comment to record my thoughts on them and ways I can use the information once working on the actual session on evaluating resources. Some of the readings are accompanied with a short reflection. These readings will be very useful once I start planning my session specifically on evaluating variety of library resources. It will be then when I need to dive deeper into this area of my studies. Many of the findings were also important in designing and carrying out my focus group.

Kurbanoğlu, S., Boustany, J. (2014). From Green Libraries to Green Information Literacy. In: Kurbanoğlu, S., Špiranec, S., Grassian, E., Mizrachi, D., Catts, R. (eds) Information Literacy. Lifelong Learning and Digital Citizenship in the 21st Century. ECIL 2014. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 492. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14136-7_6 pp. 47-58. 

The aim of this paper it “to examine how environmental issues can be incorporated into libraries (…) [and] to highlight how information literacy and information literacy instruction can be transformed into green [one]” (p. 48). I was especially interested in the second part of the purpose of this text. 

The paper provides a very rich source of information on Green Libraries (buildings, green practices, information systems, and collections). This made a very interesting reading, especially that it is done in a concise and accessible manner. 

However, in the context of my research, the most relevant part of it is when it starts talking about green literacy. It postulates that any information literacy (IL) is linked to green literacy, as it can reduce the impact of our actions on the environment. Making our searches more effective makes them more sustainable, for example. Additionally, IL supports critical thinking and helps to make informed decisions in any area of our life. I really like that idea. 

We can “green” IL instructions by: 

1. Embracing green operations and practices (for example: using less printed materials in sessions, reusing it, using double-sided print options, recycling, using natural lighting, turning off screens when not in use).
2. Embedding sustainable thinking into it (how to be sustainable when searching and using information, informing on impact of web searches, using green topics and resources). 
3. Exploring means of sharing ideas on going green (community of practice, working groups) 
4. Compiling factual information on the impact of information behaviours and sharing it with users. 

I have been concentrating on the first 3 points of this list in my professional practice so far. I can see how all my actions in greening my IL sessions can benefit from implementing the 4^th one.  

Hauke, P. (2018), “From information literacy to green literacy: training librarians as trainers for sustainability literacy”, Paper Presented at the IFLA World Library and Information Conference (WLIC), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 24-30 August, available at: http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/ 2147/1/116-hauke-en.pdf

This is a very useful and informative paper discussing the role of libraries in society regarding sustainability literacy (SL).  

It puts teaching sustainability literacy in two categories: 

• Teaching more theoretical issues through sustainability literacy courses, mainly at academic libraries 
• Teaching through a more practical approach, mainly at public libraries, offering Repair Cafés, Food sharing initiatives, Urban Gardening programmes etc. 

This article came 4 years after the first one I read on the subject. It still says that there is more emphasis put on Green Libraries (GL) as the green buildings. However, by widening focus of the definition of GL to include activities, events and projects that are run in support of environmental sustainability, libraries can act “as educators in sustainability literacy.” (p.3)

Then the article explores the role of the libraries in teaching SL in more depth. For me the most important was learning that the SL “means having knowledge and skills to advocate for resilient social, economic and environmental system.” (p.4) It changes my perspective on what I was planning to do in my sessions. I realised that for me in order to implement SL I need to educate myself more. I have started with exploring our UAL Libraries guide on sustainability and (as mentioned in the previous blog post) to take part in Eco-literacy Toolkit training as soon as possible.  

However, the article also mentions all the little ways we can contribute to sustainability goals. By using specific topics or key words in sessions, promoting the databases and guides on the subject. That is what I have already started doing and will continue to include more materials around environmental issues into my teaching. 

The article referenced the next interesting text for me in the context of this project: From Green Libraries to Green Information Literacy. 

Townsend, A.K. (2014) ‘Environmental sustainability and libraries: facilitating user awareness’, Library Hi Tech News, 31(9), pp. 21-23. doi: 10.1108/LHTN-07-2014-0059. 

This a good introduction to sustainability and libraries subject. I chose to read it as first, as it is short and mentions the users in the title. When I first started looking for resources on green libraries, I come across writings mostly on the library buildings, so having user awareness in the title was a good sign.  

This article talks about Canadian libraries that have sustainability certified buildings and how (if) they promote it in raising awareness of environmental issues. 

It starts with a statement that the majority research on green libraries had been focused on the library buildings and our day-to-day procedures. The article is from 2014 and I am sure there is more writings on the sustainable information literacy now, however, I am still finding many writings on what libraries are doing to be sustainable not on how we can support students learning in this subject area. 

The article gives examples of different internal initiatives that were organised by the libraries they researched. The initiatives revolved around the collections and their promotion and/or creating resource guides. What was interesting for me was using film screenings to promote resources. I think our art college students would be happy to engage with this kind of events.  

When studying for our second unit of the PgCert course, I researched what initiatives our UAL Libraries take to promote sustainability, and it turned out that we have a very good guide to our and external resources that in my opinion needs to be used more in our teaching. Additionally, my colleagues from the CSM Library have created an Eco-literacy Toolkit that aims to help us include climate justice in teaching. I wrote about it more in my blog here. My colleagues are planning to run a session on how to use this toolkit this term – I am looking forward to taking part in it and think about how I can use it in my teaching about evaluation of the library resources. 

Reale, M. (2012) ‘Critical Pedagogy in the Classroom: Library Instruction that Gives Voice to Students and Builds a Community of Scholars’, Journal of Library Innovation, 3(2), pp. 80-88. 

The article starts with the following statement that I felt inspired by and found very relevant to my research and studies. 

“When librarians apply critical pedagogy in a classroom, they can both impart knowledge and ignite breakthrough thinking among students. By (…) decentralizing the “power” in the classroom, librarians can tap into knowledge that students already possess and encourage them to express their own ideas.” p. 80 

The author very honestly describes her experience of teaching as a librarian. I can relate to many of her observations. I also find it difficult to employ critical pedagogy faced with the expectations of our audiences. In the case of library instructions or information literacy sessions our students are often surprised when we want to deliver a workshop instead of a lecture. They seemed to be used to the librarians talking to them, not with them.  

Similarly, to the author I have tried to introduce a more relaxed way of starting the sessions by asking questions about the students’ current projects or their thoughts on their experience with the library and its resources.. And similarly, I had some success in engaging the students in the workshops, when they freely expressed their views and clearly enjoyed discovering new ways of researching.  

I think what really transpires from this article and my own experience is that changes take time and persevering with adapting our sessions to the critical pedagogy premise can be and is rewarding. In the words of the author on encouraging interaction in the class:  

“All the students make sense of the texts at hand and are free to express their thoughts and opinions. I benefit by witnessing the transformation and am able to better understand my own teaching methods. (…). It is through dialogue, relentless questioning, and the de-centralization of authority that a level playing field is created where students are encouraged to express their own thoughts and come to their own conclusions.” (p.86). 

Smith, L. 2013. Towards a model of critical information literacy instruction for the development of political agency. Journal of Information Literacy, 7(2), pp.15-32. http://dx.doi.org/10.11645/7.2.1809 

This article explains very well what critical information is and what its aims are.  

Critical literacy is explained as a key feature of critical pedagogy that “teaches analysis and critiquing skills around the relationships between texts, language and power.” (p.15) This definition has helped me to focus my research topic and question. It placed my research within social justice issues and directed me to from general information literacy towards its critical pedagogy aspect. 

The very important part of the text is the set of criteria and questions that can be applied to resources in order to implement critical literacy (in the case of the article it is in the context of political agency, but I feel it can be applied in different contexts too): 

“Pragmatic practices: developing resources as a text user: How do the uses of this text shape its composition? What do I do with this text, here and now? What will others do with it? What are my options and alternatives? 

Text-meaning practices: developing resources as a text participant. How do the ideas presented in the text string together? What cultural resources can be brought to bear on the text? What are the cultural meanings and possible readings that can be constructed for this text? 

Critical practices: What kind of person, with what interests and values, could both read and write this naively and unproblematically? What is this text trying to do to me? In whose interests? Which positions, voices, and interests are at play? Which are silent or absent?” (p. 20) 

The following quote from this text is a reminder for me of why I want to engage in information literacy teaching and make it a subject of this research project: “Those working in the library and information science profession have a responsibility to substantively engage with issues such as critical information literacy, especially during a period of mass privatisation (…)” (p.25) 

Paterson, S.F. and Gamtso, C.W. (2023) ‘Interrogating representations of transgressive women: Using critical information literacy and comic books in the Shakespeare classroom’, Art Libraries Journal, 48(3), pp. 80-89. doi: 10.1017/alj.2023.14. 

This was the first article I read on critical information literacy (CIL) for this project. I was intrigued by both the feminist perspective and use of unusual resources in the classroom.  

In the context of my research this text was relevant when the authors shared their experience of engaging the students in analysing the prejudices and power structures regarding women in a specific historical time. CIL perspective was applied by asking questions about the social, political and cultural context of the text and images. I think these techniques can be applied in my library sessions too. 

The information on CIL, its aims and purposes that this text provides was a good start for me to deepen my knowledge on the subject. The excerpts that especially ‘talked’ to me:  

• Critical IL is grounded in the theory and praxis of critical pedagogy. 
• Critical IL invites learners to interrogate the ways in which structural social inequities influence the creation, dissemination and consumption of information. 
• It teaches analysis and critiquing skills; to recognise the relationships between texts,  language, and power. 
• Critical IL calls for a de-centralisation of authority (p.80) 

The article presents a detailed planning and running of the session that authors worked on together. Most helpful for me was the part where they talked about using visual materials and discussion to generate questions about resources, and then involving the students in searching their online library for answers – I think it is a brilliant way of familiarising the users with the library search website and making it relevant to them. 

This article has also provided me with great references on Critical IL and two of the articles were available through our UAL Libraries. I reflect on reading them in my blog posts: 1 and 2. 

This article got my attention because it talks about information literacy and self-learning. It was a perfect reading after the article by Kuan-nien Chen and Pei-chun Lin (blog post here) who highlighted that learning about using different resources and thinking about them critically helps our students become independent learners. I think it is very important, especially in the light of critical pedagogy, to teach lifelong skills such as information literacy to empower our students and encourage them to use their voices. 

I want to point out here that both articles that I used to deepen my knowledge of Information Literacy come from the Global South and are important in terms of citational justice. It was great to find the connection between them and use the authors’ findings in my research. 

The most important part of Ramchandra Shigwan article from my point of view is the description of different aspects of Information Literacy. One of which is understanding the need to evaluate resources. The whole section will be invaluable when I am designing the session for the students using my findings from this project. The session is planned for the Spring term of 2024.  

Excerpt from the article on what it means to evaluate resources: 

“Be able to evaluate information for its authenticity, accuracy, currency, value and bias. Also, be able to evaluate the means by which the results were obtained in order to ensure that your approach did not produce misleading or incomplete results. This is not just whether the resources appear to answer the question, but whether it is trustworthy. 

For example: 

• Use prior knowledge of author, editor, series, publisher 
• Examine relevance to problem in hand 
• Appropriateness of style for users 
• Availability of index, notes, bibliography, illustrations, multimedia, etc. 
• Authenticity and origin 
• Authority (ownership, reputation, coverage, scope) 
• Bias or point of view 
• Error rate/accuracy 
• Purpose/audience 
• Currency/timeliness 
• Consistency 
• Design (output, presentation and arrangement) 
• Organisation/navigation (ease of use) 
• Access and use (documentation, accessibility, comparison with other sources)” p.335

I think it is very useful that author includes bias in their list. Personally, I would also add knowing what information/source to use in different contexts to the list. Especially important in the light of self-learning and using your skills in everyday life being one of the topics of this article.  

My favourite quote from the article:

“Information literacy and self learning have a strategic and mutual relationship with each other [.] (…) Both are self empowering: Both the concepts are aimed to help all categories of individuals, regardless of their social, economical, cultural and educational status, as well as their place, gender, race, religion or ethnic background in the society.” (p.341-342)

Other useful take out from this article:

1. It provided a reminder of different concepts within Information Literacy (p.341) that was useful to think about my research topic and placing it within a broader subject area. My research question fits into User Education section and my findings should lead into further research and action within Information Skills and Fluency.

2. It looks at Information Literacy as helping social prosperity.

“Harnessed together, information literacy and self learning substantially improve the set of choices and options opened up for family and societal matters. It also improves the quality and quantity of education and training in both formal and informal educational activities. (…) Information literacy and self learning is a crucial issue for societal development.” (p. 342)

Chen, K. and Lin, P. (2011) ‘Information literacy in university library user education’, Aslib Proceedings, 63(4), pp. 399-418. doi: https://doi-org.arts.idm.oclc.org/10.1108/00012531111148967.

This is a very well researched and in-depth article. It gives a good overview of literature on the subject every step of the way. It convinced me that choosing Information Literacy as a starting point of my research was a good choice. The topic is important and requires improvements on librarians’ part. There is lots of aspects of the topic and lots of things to find out about.  

“It was found that a well-designed information literacy program benefits the library and its staff, faculty, and students; librarians should play a leading role in the design and operation of programs, but collaboration with faculty, IT professionals and students is essential; programs should be embedded in the curriculum (…)” p.399 

The article provides a review of literature on changes in what information literacy means now, in the era when “we have all become distance learners” (p.399). There is a consensus among authors that as librarians we need to learn about new technologies and include e-resources in our teaching.  

“There is a growing consensus that the chief function of academic libraries is not as a storage facility but as an important centre for learning” (Breivik and Gee, 2006, p. 176), with academic librarians now becoming “educators, inculcators of information literacy (…) helping readers stay afloat on and navigate the ocean of information now available to them” (Ball, 2005, p. 16).  

With information increasing, worldwide, at an ever-accelerating rate, the importance of this cannot be over-stressed. The ready accessibility of an enormous volume of information is in itself a problem, not only because students may be overwhelmed by a flood of data but also because, especially in the case of the internet, most of it is unfiltered and requires considerable skill to evaluate. Students must acquire the skill not only to find information but also to select, evaluate and use it appropriately and effectively” p.400 

The article deals with defining Information Literacy too. The definition that speaks to me and is very relevant to what I do in my librarian role is the following one: 

“In the education sector, information literacy has been generally defined as an understanding and set of abilities enabling individuals to recognize when information is needed, and to have the capacity to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.” p.401 

The author cites the key characteristics of information-literate people that I found extremely helpful in focusing my research topic. 

The information literate person: 

• engages in independent, self-directed learning; 
• uses information processes; 
• uses a variety of information technologies and systems; 
• has internalized values that promote information use; 
• has a sound knowledge of the world of information; 
• approaches information critically; and 
• has a personal information style that facilitates his or her interaction with the world of information. 

I highlighted the three most interesting areas that later informed my research question. I think that learning to use different formats of the library materials, evaluating them would enable students to self-direct their studies better. I think this would also provide them with critical thinking skills that they can use in all the areas of their lives.  

This article has also given me more insight into my professional role and how it has changed from being a curator of the collections to being an educator too. And in our role as educators, we need to consider the fact that students turn to the internet as their first source of information.