Skills@Library at the University of Leeds: Helen Howard

1. Skills@Library at the
University of Leeds
Helen Howard
h.e.howard@leeds.ac.uk

2. Skills@Library...integrating IL and Academic Skills
Next? Why?
How? What?
Who?

3. Why? - Blending Academic and Information Literacies
• Universities reacting to fees agenda, employer concerns,
changing student attitudes:
– skills acquisition and employability taking a higher priority
– definition of graduate attributes
“Employers need graduates who are equipped with a range
of core work skills as well as academic ability…these
competencies…make graduates employable”
Association of Graduate Recruiters 2010, p.5

4. Why? - Blending Academic and Information Literacies
• Universities reacting to fees agenda, employer concerns,
changing student attitudes:
– curricula reviews to make them fit for purpose and unique:
• innovative, global, broad
“the teaching and assessment of student literacies
requires greater prioritisation within the curriculum”
King’s-Warwick Project 2010, p.9

5. Why? - Blending Academic and Information Literacies
• IL is not a discreet set of skills: transferability is vital
• Skills development is continuous and ongoing
• Close links and overlaps in content
• Student-centred with focus on changing needs, esp. in digital
environment
“the sheer act of just getting started on research
assignments and defining a research inquiry was
overwhelming for students”
Head and Eisenberg 2010, p.2
.

6. Why? - Blending Academic and Information Literacies
• Embedding of both is critical (working with Faculties)
• Division can be confusing to staff and students in practical terms
“This blended model allows intelligent connections across the
planning, resourcing and implementation of student-facing
support, and places the onus for service and support
sensemaking on the institution rather than the student.”
Peacock 2011, p.2

7. Curriculum review at Leeds University
Core of all Core threads in Providing wider Bringing
programmes: the curriculum: opportunities together Leeds
• Research- • Employability within the experience,
curriculum: including extra-
based • Global & curricula:
learning cultural • 10
insight broadening • 19 Leeds for
• Ethics & strands Life skills
responsibility

8. Changes at Leeds University Library
Academic Skills, including Maths,
transferred into the Library in 2006
• IL Team already existed in Library, as well as
Faculty Teams
Bring skills strategy and delivery
together and address overlaps
• Strategy – Structure - Delivery

9. Strategy, Structure & Delivery
Strategy: for Academic Skills, to replace the IL Strategy
Structure: teams and roles
Delivery: changes needed to deliver the strategy

10. Academic Skills Strategy
“The aim is that by 2015 all Faculty Team Librarians
will be able to deliver the full range of academic skills,
with the exception of Maths support. The
Skills@Library Team will provide strategic direction
and a high level of support to both Faculty Team
Librarians and academic staff for this, particularly in
the area of learning technologies”
Leeds University Library 2010 Academic Skills Strategy
http://library.leeds.ac.uk/library-academic-skills-strategy

11. What? Academic Skills Strategy
• Central team leads AS activities
• FTLs deliver AS in curriculum
• Work with academic staff and provide support for them
• IL is part of a broader set of academic skills:
“Academic skills are those generic and transferable skills which
underpin the learning development of undergraduate and taught
postgraduate students in higher education, enabling them to be
confident, independent critical thinkers and reflective learners.”

12. Why this approach?
• Integrated IL / AS support
• Student-centred service
• Developmental, positive approach
• Embedded, subject-specific
• Collaborative: our teams with academic
schools
• Retains a single point of contact for
schools
• Fits into University curriculum initiatives

13. Who? - Structure
Learning &
Research
Support
Faculty Team Faculty Team
Faculty Team - Customer
Skills Team – Arts & Social – Science &
Health Services
Sciences Engineering
Skills@Library
Leeds University Library Organisational Chart

14. Skills@Library
Who? - Structure
Skills Team : Faculty Teams:
generic subject
support support
In-curriculum
Workshops
teaching
Website & Subject-
specific e-
e-learning learning
1 to 1 support 1 to 1 support

15. How? – Service delivery: initial steps
Involving staff: Involving students:
- Consultation re in- - Expand e-learning
curriculum teaching tutorials
- Improved support through - Retain generic workshop
Lecturer webpages, ULTA programme
& staff workshops - Survey of needs

16. How? – Service delivery case studies
1. Using or adapting generic online resources to support /
replace face-to-face teaching
2. Working closely with academic staff to develop a package
of support which they help deliver
3. Providing support for staff to deliver academic skills
themselves

17. Using generic online resources
• Library Guide has replaced long face-to-face induction sessions: used nearly
3,000 times in 2 weeks
• Harvard tutorial used over 10,000 in 5 months!

18. Adapting generic online resources
Rethinking support for distance-learners
and final year projects / dissertations

19. In-curriculum
teaching Academic
Skills
Academic Officer
Staff in a
School
Faculty
Team
Librarian
Face-to-face teaching & online support via VLE provided jointly.
AS Officer inputs initially then hands-over to FTL and academic staff.

20. Support for academic staff
• Lecturer webpages: generic
teaching materials (lesson plans,
powerpoints, activities)
– Used by librarians and academics
• Workshops
– ULTA (University Teaching Award)
– Generic: open to any staff member

21. What next?
Define clearly skills / competencies supported at different levels
Continue to identify gaps in our provision
Devise measures to monitor progress
Review subject librarian role

22. Questions / comments
Helen Howard
Skills@Library
University of Leeds
0113 3434983
h.e.howard@leeds.ac.uk
http://library.leeds.ac.uk/skills
@helhoward

23. References
• Association of Graduate Recruiters. 2010. Talent, opportunity, prosperity. A manifesto for graduate
recruitment : http://www.agr.org.uk/Content/AGR-A-manifesto-for-graduaterecruitment
• Head, A. J. and Eisenberg, M.B. 2010. Truth be told: how college students evaluate and use
information in the digital age. Project information literacy progress report:
http://projectinfolit.org/pdfs/PIL_Fall2010_Survey_FullReport1.pdf
• Howard, H. 2012. Looking to the future: Developing an academic skills strategy to ensure information
literacy thrives in a changing higher education world. Journal of information literacy, 6(1), pp. 72-81.
http://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/ojs/index.php/JIL/article/view/LLC-V6-I1-2012-2
• King’s-Warwick Project. 2010. Creating a 21st century curriculum:
http://kingslearning.info/kwp/attachments/134_KWP%20-
%20Creating%20a%2021st%20Century%20Curriculum%20-%20summary%20report.pdf
• Peacock, Judith A. (2011) Integrated literacies : every online player wins a prize. In Proceedings of
15th Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) Information Online Conference, ALIA,
Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Sydney, NSW. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/41370/
• Thornes, S. L. 2012. Creating an online tutorial to support information literacy and academic skills
development. Journal of information literacy, 6(1), pp. 82-95.
http://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/ojs/index.php/JIL/article/view/LLC-V6-I1-2012-3