Andrew hi,
Not sure if you are receiving lots of replies off-list but I thought I’d
step forward here, and try to tease out some of the issues you outline. The
first point I’d like to make is that within public libraries Information
Literacy, in a practical sense, is ubiquitous. But, as you rightly suspect,
IL is not well known formally in a theoretical sense. An interesting way to
look at this is to understand IL within a learning environment where the
literacy is driven specifically to support more effective learning e.g. in
a higher education setting. Within a public library environment IL can
also be used to support learning but it is more crucially driven by other
agenda such as social inclusion, democratic empowerment and digital
citizenship. There is then a ‘common ground’ or an overlap that exists
where the use of IL supports learning (it’s a kind of Boolean thing!).
Of course confusion then arises because the notion of a literacy implies
that a set of ‘competencies’ (I’m avoiding the word skills) needs to be
acquired or learned; so we are learning to learn.
In public libraries there has been a significant effort placed on
developing a technological infrastructure - the rolling out of the Peoples
Network, this has tended to focus attention on keyboards and monitors – the
tools rather than the job – but I think this is okay as it is now evolving
to a mature model that will call into play information literacies.
On a policy level within public libraries the key document that determines
direction is the MLA’s Framework for the Future this clearly alludes to an
Information Literacy and perhaps tucks it neatly under the Digital
Citizenship heading. There is however a tension here with the actual
methodology used to assess performance within public libraries which is
essentially quantitative and output based whereas the types of activities
undertaken within pls that chime in well with IL are qualitative and
outcome based. Strategically the pls are ‘facing the wrong way’. There is a
lot of debate now on the extension of ‘Impact Measures’ the introduction of
these would more accurately portray current public library provision. (see
recent postings on the public library list)
Anyway, Andrew, apologies for going on – I’m happy to support your efforts
in whatever way I can. I would suggest that some type of applied research
into the whole area might be a good starting point.
It’s a worthy cause which I believe is at the core of our profession.
Regards
Ronan O'Beirne
Principal Libraries Officer; Information.
Libraries, Archives and Information Service
Arts, Heritage and Leisure Department
City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council
Central Library, Prince's Way
BRADFORD, BD1 1NN
|