The Role of the Information Profession

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The Role of the Information Profession
Joining in the benefits of information
literacy TFPL seminar, 12 December 2002

• Sheila Corrall
• Director of Academic Services
• University of Southampton
• President
• CILIP

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Joining in the benefits of information
literacyTFPL seminar, 12 December 2002

• The Role of the
• Information Profession
• Environmental influences
• Our current situation
• Messages from CILIP reports
• Strategic, tactical and operational roles
• Proposed actions for CILIP

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A universal imperative

• The fundamental information concepts that we
  take for granted are more relevant to more people
  than they have ever been in our professional
  lifetime.
• Adrian Dale and Sheila OFlynn. Desperation
  information literacy
• levels falling in Corporania, Journal of
  Information Science, 27 (1) 2001, 51-3.

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Information and learning

• . . . what is really required is the skill to
  decide what to look for, how to retrieve it, how
  to process it, and how to use it for the specific
  task that prompted the search for information. In
  other words, the new learning is oriented towards
  the development of the educational capacity to
  transform information into knowledge and
  knowledge into action.
• Manuel Castells. The Internet Galaxy, 2001

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Environmental influences

• Factors affecting information skills needs -
• Shift from industrial to information society
• Growth in publications and communication
• Advances in information-related technologies
• Development of online and CD-ROM products
• Replacement of mediation with self-service
• Emergence of WWW as universal channel
• Step-change in quantity and variety of sources
• Problems with reliability and accessibility
• Government concern about national skill levels

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Social and economic incentives

• Reasons for developing information skills -
• to bridge the digital divide
• to facilitate independent learning
• to strengthen employability
• to counter information overload
• to retrieve stuff from the invisible web
• to support evidence-based policy and decisions
• to manage knowledge and intellectual capital
• to enable community participation
• to improve the quality of later life

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A spectrum of interventions

• Information skills can be developed through
• both ad hoc and pre-planned encounters, eg
• integrated with formal education programmes
• organised as group training sessions or seminars
• provided through one-to-one instruction
• designed as self-paced learning resources
• embedded in information resource guides
• delivered as point-of-need assistance
• subsumed in meeting information requests

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Establishing our position

• Information professionals have always been
  involved in both providing information and
  facilitating access for end-users
• Universal availability of information via web
  technologies has required a shift from
  information provision to skills development
• People often recognise a need for IT skills but
  ignore information skills or confuse them with IT
  and / or communication skills and do not see a
  role for specialist provision

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International comparisons

• US and Australia have identified information as
  an essential competency required for employment
• US and Australian / NZ professional associations
  have established
• policy statements
• competency standards
• national institutes
• US ACRL standards have been endorsed by AAHE and
  accrediting bodies

• UK key skills reports specify communication and
  IT skills, but not information skills
• Neither LA nor IIS showed real interest, SCONUL
  has led with
• Seven Pillars Model
• subject research
• CSFs and PIs
• OU has developed generic skills modules (SAFARI,
  MOSAIC)

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Recognising a need for action

• CILIP reports
• National Information Policy Advisory Group
• Competitiveness and Knowledge Economy Exec
  Advisory Group
• Working Group on Provision for Children and Young
  People
• Social Inclusion Exec Advisory Group

• National initiatives
• Research Councils Training Requirements for
  Research Students
• AHRB study of UK academics conceptions
• JISC project on information skills for students
  (The Big Blue)
• JISC scoping study on transfer of knowledge from
  secondary to FHE

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Messages from CILIP reports

• Information skills need to be recognised as a
  core competence and included in the national
  curriculum and skills frameworks
• Information studies programmes need to cover the
  competencies required to support information
  skills development
• Academic programmes in other subjects need to
  include basic information skills for all and
  advanced skills for people moving into
  information-intensive roles

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Messages from CILIP reports

• The teaching of information literacy / skills in
  schools needs to be improved
• We need to define and scope information literacy
  as a life skill supporting social, economic and
  cultural participation
• We need measures of success and achievement and
  the means to accredit workforce training and
  community learning
• an information equivalent of ECDL
• a module based on the Seven Pillars

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Messages from CILIP reports

• We need co-operation and partnerships to
  facilitate skills development, eg
• cross-sectoral working between public, school, FE
  and HE libraries to share models and synthesise
  development
• mutual understanding and support between
  librarians, teachers and others
• collaboration between all learning and other
  agencies with an interest in information literacy

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Professional roles - strategic

• At national and institutional/organisational
• levels,
• identifying key players and potential allies in
  order to build productive relationships
• scoping and defining fields of interest and
  expertise for us and our partners
• raising awareness of the importance of
  information skills and of our contribution among
  policy makers and strategic leaders
• influencing the content of education, training
  and development programmes

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Professional roles - tactical

• To support strategic action at both national
• and local levels, development of a formal
• statement
• explaining the place, scope and value of
  information skills in different settings and who
  can contribute to their development
• differentiating information literacy/skills from
  computer literacy and ICT skills
• employing the right terminology to engage people
  in meaningful discussion and action

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Professional roles - operational

• Assuming an outward-looking and proactive role in
  
• developing information literacy skills,
• continually developing professional knowledge and
  skills (eg learning styles, teaching methods and
  course design, as well as information resources)
• collaborating with functional / subject experts
  to put information skills in a relevant context
• delivering information skills within educational
  curricula and /or competency frameworks
• tailoring interventions to the needs of users
• assessing skills levels against defined standards

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Actions for CILIP

• Form working group to
• - implement advisory
• group recommendations
• - feed into planned new
• qualifications framework
• - determine ongoing role
• Start advocacy campaign
• Create national forum and (or) special interest
  group
• Establish new award to recognise excellence and
  promote good practice

• Develop a definition of information literacy
• Formulate a policy on information literacy
• Review and strengthen existing CPD provision
• Consider need for an immersion programme
• Provide web resources
• Inc information skills in accreditation criteria
  and Chartership regs

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Questions and discussion

• Our role in information literacy
• Interesting possibility?
• Promising opportunity?
• Essential requirement!

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Sheila Corrall CILIP PresidentEmail
S.M.Corrall_at_soton.ac.uk
Chartered Institute of Library and Information
Professionals 7 Ridgmount Street, London WC1E
7AE Telephone [phone] Fax [phone]
0501 Textphone 020 7255 0505 Email info_at_cilip
.org.uk Website www.cilip.org.uk