What is your role on the committee?
I’m the editor of the group’s open access journal, the Journal of Information Literacy.
When did you
join and why?
I’ve been a member of ILG since 2004 when the group was formed. I was originally the LILAC conference officer and ran LlLAC for the first 8 years with a lot of help from a dedicated committee of course! I joined the group because information literacy was an important part of my job and I was increasingly aware that the staff and students I dealt with were often baffled by library systems and jargon and seemed to appreciate the help and support I was offering. I met Debbi Boden at an event we were both speaking at and we hit it off and she roped me in to help set up the group. I can still remember the first meeting at Imperial College where we set up the group and decided to run an event about IL. That event soon mushroomed into a full blown 3 day conference and the rest is history!
What do you do in your committee role?
My job is a little different to other roles as editor of the journal. I am also supported by my hard working editorial board and wonderful managing editor Cathie Jackson who keeps everything ticking over. In a typical week I might read peer reviews of recently submitted articles and draft responses to potential authors. Depending on the time of year I am more or less busy promoting JIL to encourage people to write articles and sign up to be peer reviewers – particularly new researchers and authors. Twice a year I write an editorial and in addition to attending the ILG meetings I hold two editorial board meetings a year where we plan the strategy of the journal.
What is your day job?
I work at LSE as Copyright and Digital Literacy Advisor. Interestingly I don’t work for LSE library though – I’m based in Learning Technology and Innovation which is part of IT. My job is what it says on the tin! I provide copyright advice to staff (and students) and run a programme of workshops that we call digital literacy. I also work on research projects and have recently been exploring how we best support undergraduate students develop their digital literacy skills.
What are your interests outside of work?
I have many interests and stay busy by going on many holidays, going to the gym, gardening, practicing yoga, looking after my cats and crafts such as knitting, painting and sewing. I love learning new stuff but I’m quite impatient with myself! I hope I’m better with my students! As a history graduate I am also really interested in visiting historic houses and gardens and have recently become secretary of our local Civic Society (which preserves the built heritage and green spaces) – producing the newsletter and launching them into the world of social media.
The new issue of the Journal of Information Literacy has just been published and features a special section on schools.