The CILIP Information Literacy Group has today released a statement relating to the role of library and knowledge specialists in moving education and training online.
Introduction by Dr Jane Secker, Chair of the CILIP Information Literacy Group
Information literacy is a key part of the work of many library and information professionals and is defined as:
“….the ability to think critically and make balanced judgements about any information we find and use. It empowers us as citizens to reach and express informed views and to engage fully with society.” (CILIP Definition of Information Literacy, 2018) (pdf)
The Information Literacy Group recognises the important role that librarians play in helping others develop their information literacy skills, often through the formal teaching they do and the broader support they are providing to teachers and lecturers in our schools, colleges, universities and beyond. This often involves working closely with their colleagues across an institution.
The value of information literacy is that it equips learners at every level with the intellectual strategies and tools, such as adopting a questioning approach, not only to solve problems, but also to frame problems and situations in new and ground-breaking ways. This capability is crucial, beyond education, to meeting the expectations of the workplace and for society, as we face an unprecedented health crisis.
Please do share this statement widely with your colleagues and we hope you will find it helpful in starting conversations about the vital role that you play.
Jane Secker, Chair of the CILIP Information Literacy Group
The role of library and knowledge specialists in moving education and training online
This is a statement by the Information Literacy Group, a special interest group of CILIP: the library and information association. Our members come from a range of backgrounds, including significant numbers of librarians and knowledge specialists within Higher and Further Education institutions, schools, and the health and voluntary sectors.
With the move to greater use of online training and education, we wish to raise awareness of the roles that library and knowledge specialists can play in improving the quality of online education and training resources. We strongly advise teachers, lecturers and trainers to take advantage of the expertise of librarians and knowledge specialists. Potential areas for collaboration include:
● Finding, appraising and using existing digital resources and tools, including both subscription and openly-licensed content for use in education and training
● Advising on copyright and licensing issues associated with the use of resources in online learning
● Identifying the evidence base for research topics
● Training and teaching in various aspects of information literacy for students and learners, which will equip them with skills to study online and to tackle the growing amounts of misinformation, disinformation and fake news.
The Information Literacy Group is here to support library and knowledge specialists in the shift to online delivery, by sharing case studies and resources, and facilitating knowledge sharing.
The group is currently collating a series of case studies from practitioners on the shift to online information literacy teaching in schools and academic libraries. We would strongly welcome additional contributions; you can submit your own online teaching case study using this form, and we then will contact you to confirm it has been received.
July 2020
Find out more about the work of the CILIP Information Literacy Group
Contact the group:
Email us – info.ilg@cilip.org.uk
Follow us on Twitter – @infolitgroup
Hi, I am in a new role, labelled ‘Head of Information Literacy and Resources’ and looking for any good resources to teach information literacy at the primary level, are you possibly able to point me in the right direction? I am also keen to incorporate visual literacy, critical literacy into my lessons.
Hi, Shona. Apologies for the delay in replying. I’ll ask one of our Schools reps to contact you about this. Best wishes, Dan.