I agree,
Working in the public sector I can tell you there are many of our customers
who see learning as something they escaped from when they left school, and
it is not uncommon to meet people who view formal education in a very
negative way
Even a term like lifelong learning can be off-putting and patronising to
some people. It is not that people don't want to learn or develop
information skills, but many are sensitive to the fact that "teachers" are
people who think they are smarter and are telling them what to do.
Librarians can be seen as not quite as bad as teachers, but still
potentially a bit custodial. In public libraries, we do not have a captive
audience of students on course (e.g where doing the IL module is compulsory
or favoured), so trust is important
The audience for this strapline is mainly other professionals I suspect, but
library staff buying into it will be thinking about how it relates to their
customers, so better not to have one than one that will put off some people.
I wonder if placing the definition of IL as a footer in documents is of more
use.
Andrew Lewis
e-Services Officer
Library and Information Services
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead
01628 796 592
[log in to unmask]
www.rbwm.gov.uk/libraries
-----Original Message-----
From: Sheila Corrall [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 28 April 2005 17:06
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: ILG- Strap lines & Learning
As one of the people who cautioned against placing too much emphasis on
'learning' in the initial CILIP IL discussions, I thought it might be
helpful to explain why.
I completely agree that learning in the various contexts mentioned by
Jonathan - especially lifelong learning - is inextricably linked with IL. I
would also add 'organisational' and 'community' learning to the list.
However, we do still have a problem in getting buy-in to IL in some sectors,
from both 'end-users' and fellow professionals, and I suspect part of the
reason for that is the strong association of IL with educational settings
(school, college, university) and/or remedial activity (dislike of the word
literacy).
I can see a parallel here with the difficult discussions that took place
within the profession when the Information Services National Training
Organisation had to merge with other NTOs to form a larger Sector Skills
Council. The final choice of the Lifelong Learning SSC was criticised by
many information professionals in the corporate sector - and some in the
health sector - on the basis that they didn't want to be viewed as having a
mission in that area.
I still feel that we should avoid explicitly linking IL and learning in any
straplines, etc, until we have secured more broadly based support. I think
this is essentially a matter of emphasis, as I don't think there is any
problem in mentioning lifelong, organisational and other flavours of
learning in longer statements or descriptions - but it may not be helpful to
equate IL solely or even mainly with the learning business.
Sheila
Sheila Corrall
Professor of Librarianship & Information Management
Head Library Management & Public Policy Research Area
The University of Sheffield
Department of Information Studies
Regent Court, 211 Portobello Street
Sheffield S1 4DP United Kingdom
Tel +44 (0)114 222 2632
Fax +44 (0)114 278 0300
Email [log in to unmask]
www.shef.ac.uk/is/research/limrg.html
-----Original Message-----
From: Information literacy and information skills teaching discussion list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of M.Hepworth
Sent: 28 April 2005 11:04
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: ILG- Strap lines
Hi,
Judging from the feedback and the lack of consensus on a strap line - it
probably is better to wait. I also can't help thinking that perhaps a strap
line in itself is not necessarily such a good idea, after all it is likely
to present a limited view of what IL means.
Dr. Mark Hepworth
Department of Information Science
Loughborough University
LE11 3TU
Tel: (44) (0) 1509 635706
http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ls/staff/mhepworth.html
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jonathan Smart" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2005 1:42 PM
Subject: Re: ILG- Strap lines
(Apologies - sent initially to individual members rather than list - having
a bad day...)
Having thought about it, the best I could come up with was
'Turning information into knowledge'
(maybe slightly inspired by something Gwyneth Price said at LILAC), though
I'm finding with these strap lines generally that the dividing line between
conveying something worthwhile and producing out and out clichés is very
narrow indeed.
Having read Sheila's thoughts, I now feel that there is much merit in
waiting as she suggests until we're sure we have a common enough shared
understanding of our core business to feel comfortable about signing up to a
strap line (though I acknowledge that whatever we come up with won't please
everyone). For example, I cannot relate to one of the feelings previously
expressed that we should avoid including the term 'learning' when we promote
positive associations with IL, and, for e.g, the teaching and learning
process, lifelong learning, and learning how to learn - isn't part of our
aim to relate to wider professional groups?
Jonathan
Jonathan Smart,
Academic Support Co-ordinator (Skills),
Room 201, Library,
University of Plymouth,
Drake Circus,
Plymouth PL4 8AA
Tel. 01752 238544
Fax: 01752 232340
> -----Original Message-----
> From: S.Webber [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 26 April 2005 15:41
> To: Boden, Debbi; [log in to unmask];
> [log in to unmask]; Angela; Angela a; Belinda;
> [log in to unmask]; Helen; [log in to unmask];
> [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]; jacqui; Jane;
> [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask];
> Jonathan Smart; [log in to unmask];
> [log in to unmask]; Linda; [log in to unmask];
> [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask];
> maria; Mark Hepworth; [log in to unmask];
> [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]; Rachel
> Browning; Sheila; [log in to unmask]; R.E.Stubbings
> Subject: Re: ILG- Strap lines
>
>
> Hi
>
> Having thought about it post-committee meeting and read Chris' &
> others' comments, I'm veering towards thinking that perhaps it
> might be a good idea to wait for a bit before adopting a
> strapline. To
> begin with we will be establishing the "brand" [of the IL Group] and
> might simply want to get over the fact that our logo is the logo of
> the Information Literacy Group (I can't now remember whether our
> preferred choice had all 3 words in full?). On some
> communications, getting in a strapline as well might be a bit
> "busy" and emphasise just one aspect of our mission, whereas to
> begin with we will be trying to get people to understand the broad
> scope.
>
> We could perhaps use the *IL definition* in certain types of
> communication so that there is both increased understanding of
> what we are about, and we get more people using our definition, as
> at the moment it hasn't sunk in with everyone. For example,
> - on the home page for the group presumably the new logo will go
> at the top of the page (instead of or as well as the CSG logo??? I
> suppose as well as) and we could have the definition in quote
> marks in the left hand column under the menu choices.
> - We could have it in small type at the foot of letterheading.
> - In flyers it could go in some appropriate spot, it would depend on
> the size of the flyer as to whether it would be appropriate and
> where it went.
> - You could specify the typeface etc. for the definition and
> provide it
> as a graphic if need be in a nice layout.
>
> We could then chose a strapline perhaps in a year's time once we
> have achieved more understanding and recognition of the "brand" in
> our target markets. Quite often people change the strapline to fit in
> with a current priority in their marketing strategy, or to position
> themselves specifically. The BL's done this over the years - using
> phrases to do with knowledge and empowering and so forth to try
> to balance the "old fashioned" feel of the word "library".
>
> So actually I'm voting after all for not having a strapline at the
> moment.
>
> Sheila
>
>
> ---------------------
> Sheila Webber, Senior Lecturer, Department of Information
> Studies, University of Sheffield, Regent Court, 211
> Portobello Street , Sheffield S1
> 4DP, UK.
> Email [log in to unmask]
> Tel. (0044) 0114 222 2641
> Fax 0114 278 0300
> The Information Literacy Weblog: http://ciquest.shef.ac.uk/infolit/
>
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