Presented at LILAC 2009

1. The Scottish Information Literacy Project:
working with partners to create an information literate Scotland
Taking information
literacy beyond the
‘library’
Dr John Crawford
&
Christine Irving
LILAC 2009 (The Librarians’ Information Literacy Annual Conference)
Cardiff University 30th
March - 1st April 2009

2. Previously on the Scottish Information
Literacy Project…………………………………
• 2003 – The Drumchapel Project – where it all began
• 2004 – The ‘one year’ Information Literacy, the Link between
Secondary and Tertiary Education Project launched
• 2005-8 - the first draft of the National Information Literacy
Framework Scotland completed, piloted and evaluated
• Contact and work with Learning and Teaching Scotland and
learndirectscotland
• Extensive network of partners and contacts from school,
FE/HE, workplace, lifelong learning, Adult literacies + overseas
• Website developed and more recently blog + PR activities
• Initial health and media literacy contacts

3. Drumchapel Project 2003
An exploratory project – initially ICT skills orientated
Community ICT facilities little used - Library and Cybercafés –
implications only now being addressed
School and School Library are main focus for IT use in
deprived areas
Little integration of information literacy into the curriculum
Levels of ICT ‘deprivation’ did not seem to be high
Basic IT skills exist- WP, email, Internet
Pupil evaluation of websites poor
An asylum seeking issue
An information literacy skills/transitional agenda emerged

4. Our friends in the North

5. Current key objectives
(Esmee Fairbairn Foundation funded)
• To develop the Framework to extend the
early years, workplace, wider access and
lifelong learning components to make it
a genuine lifelong learning policy
documents
• To research and progress the
information literacy in the workplace
agenda

6. Putting definitions into practice
"Information literacy is knowing when and why you
need information, where to find it, and how to
evaluate, use and communicate it in an ethical
manner." CILIP (2004)
Information Literacy Definition
“Information Literacy was defined as the ability to
identify, locate, evaluate, organize and effectively
create, use and communicate information to address
an issue or problem.” Prague Declaration

7. Information literacy in the workplace study
Dec.2007- Jan.2008 – key findings
• The traditional ‘library’ view of information as deriving from electronic and printed
sources only is invalid in the workplace and must include people as sources of
information
• The public enterprise with its emphasis on skills and qualifications is a fertile area
for further investigation and developmental work
• Advanced Internet training extends employees’ information horizons
• A skill and qualifications based agenda is an important pre-condition
• Most interviewees viewed public libraries as irrelevant for anything other than
recreational purposes
• Information literacy training programmes must be highly focused on the target
audience
• An understanding of what constitutes information literacy is widespread in the
workplace but is often implicit rather than explicit and is based on qualifications,
experience, and networking activities
• Organizations which access a wide range of information, of high quality, including
sources outwith their organization, will make the best informed decisions

8. • Contacts should be established with chambers of commerce, skills agencies and
other organizations involved in workplace training
• Organizations’ information polices which are largely implicit should be made
explicit and should include accessing a wide range of information, of high quality,
including sources outwith their organization
• Preliminary skills audits should be carried out within organizations to determine
staff information literacy skills and the organization’s information literacy policy
• The viability of developing information literacy training programmes should be
further researched
• Information literacy training programmes should initially target sympathetic
organizations
• Advanced Internet training programmes should be offered to all workplace
employees
• The private sector should be researched further
• The provision of information literacy training programmes by public libraries
should be investigated
• Developmental work should be undertaken with Adult Literacies agencies
• NHS contacts should be expanded to progress the health literacies agenda
Recommendations

9. Scurrying about (meetings with)
• Glasgow Chamber of Commerce
• CBI Scotland
• Scottish Trades Union Congress
• Skills Development Scotland (Careers Division)
• Employability and Skills Division, Lifelong Learning Directorate
• Public library services
• Aberdeen Business School
• Royal Society of Arts
• Scottish Government Information Service

10. Some outcomes (1)
• Glasgow Chamber of Commerce – couple of meetings. Agreed to progress by
sending out a questionnaire devised by us to all Glasgow Chamber of Commerce
members about their information skills training needs. Article written for their
magazine
• CBI Scotland – one meeting to identify companies who might want to incorporate
IL training into their CPD programmes but no takers
• Scottish Trades Union Congress – presentation to Everyday Skills Committee of
STUC (composed of TU learning representatives) – well received – further action
pending
• Skills Development Scotland (Careers Division – old Careers Scotland) – meetings
led to identification of IL as a career choice, progression, CPD and employability
skill. Joint symposium with SDS 27th
March
• Employability and Skills Division, Lifelong Learning Directorate – meeting which
validated our strategy of targeting employers’ and skills organisation

11. Some outcomes (2)
• Public library services – contacts with three services including Inverclyde Libraries
who are currently running employability training courses (10 weeks). IL has been
incorporated in the courses at our suggestion. (Basic skills courses run by public
libraries have IT/Internet training from which IL training can be developed)
• Aberdeen Business School – secured £400,000 + EU funding to run ‘bite sized
courses’ for local SMEs (up to 12 modules). 20 businesses and 70 learners so far –
hope for 175. Exchanged information and role of IL – employers’ don’t know what
training they need (RGU finding)
• Royal Society of Arts - Opening Minds Curriculum running in 200 schools in
England – includes an IL component – Managing information – also strong focus
on skills acquisition in education and the workplace
• Scottish Government Information Service
•Not for us to say!

12. Skills utilisation ?
• 'Skills utilisation is about ensuring the most effective
application of skills in the workplace to maximise
performance through the interplay of a number of
key agents (e.g. employers, employees, learning
providers and the state) and the use of a range of HR,
management and working practices. Effective skills
utilisation seeks to match the use of skills to business
demands/needs.' (p.2)
• Skills utilisation literature review, a report by CFE for the Education Analytical
Services, Lifelong Learning Research, Scottish Government (Executive summary
and full text available at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/12/15114643/0)

13. The role of the framework in the
workplace and skills development
• Framework skills and competencies (CILIP definition)
– starting place
– used as advocacy tool in discussions re skills strategy /
skills needs
– link to work related learning
– needs to be interpreted to meet the needs of different
• sectors , professions
• organisations, departments, sections
• employers, employees, learners
• environments, resources (in all different formats and mediums),
experiences
– recognition of the nature of information literacy

14. The Nature of Information
Literacy
Product
Change in behaviour
Change in understanding
Process
Personal development
Social participation
Skills
Attitudes
Values
Means
End
A way of being An unappreciated way of being
NHS Scotland 2008

15. The Framework
• Draft pdf further developed as a Weblog
– static pages (background information, different
sectors, levels etc.)
– interactive through postings (current activities,
developments etc.)
National Information Literacy Framework (Scotland)
• Still to be further developed
– workplace case studies needed, SME’s, large
organisations (public and private), different
professions

16. What we have learned
• Different groups of people constantly reinterpret IL in the light of their own qualifications,
training, experience and needs
• IL is a key career choice, progression, CPD, employability and workplace skill
• IL is not recognised in any government document produced since 2005 which recognises IL as
an independent skill. It is rolled up with IT – this much change! But see Scottish Government
website – Education and Training (Information Literacies)
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/skills-strategy/progress/sg/supportingindividuals/Info
• Target skills and employers’/employee organisations
• IL skills training in the workplace is feasible but must be carefully planned and targeted
• The public library can offer IL training, developed from IT training but again it but must be
carefully planned and targeted. Public librarians must be involved in IL skills development
• Need to think cross sectorally - Govan High School’s ‘Future Skills’ framework of about 70
skills in association with local employers and involving the pupils. Includes IL. Blane (2008)
• Findings of workplace study have been validated

17. Some further information
• Crawford, John and Irving (2008) Going beyond the ‘library’: the current work of the Scottish
Information Literacy Project. Library and information research, (32) 102, pp. 29-37
http://www.lirg.org.uk/lir/ojs/index.php/lir/article/view/89
• Crawford, John and Irving (2009) Information literacy in the workplace: a qualitative
exploratory study, JOLIS, (41 )pp. 29-38
http://lis.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/41/1/29?etoc
• McDonald, Natalie and Keenan, Peter (2009) The ‘stuff beyond Google: information literacy
in a corporate setting . http://www.information-
online.com.au/sb_clients/iog/bin/iog_programme_you_may_be_right_C1.cfm?
vm_key=8EDF7462-D5A6-FFAA-AB89D511D74817DA
• Crawford, John et al, (2008) Use of information in the Scottish Government, Library &
information update, Dec., pp. 48-49
• Interview with Philip Pothen, formerly of JISC, 28.11.08 about the work of the Project
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/news/stories/2009/02/podcast71johncrawfordchristineirvin
g.aspx

18. Contact details
Dr. John Crawford, Christine Irving
Library Research Officer, Researcher / Project Officer
Milton Street Building Milton Street Building
MS004, (ground floor) MS005, (ground floor)
Glasgow Caledonian University Glasgow Caledonian University
Cowcaddens Road Cowcaddens Road
Glasgow, G4 0BA Glasgow, G4 0BA
Tel: 0141-273 -1248 Tel: 0141-273 -1249
Email jcr@gcal.ac.uk Email christine.irving@gcal.ac.uk
Project website www.caledonian.ac.uk/ils/
Project blog http://caledonianblogs.net/information-literacy/

19. Questions?