Keynote speaker presentation delivered at the 2007 BBSLG Conference hosted by the University of Northampton, 27-29 June

1. User education: what is it and why
is it important?
Ruth Stubbings
Academic Services Manager
Loughborough University

2. Overview of talk
 what is user education?
 is terminology important?
 embedding ‘it’ into the curriculum
 why ‘it’ is important
 future trends

3. What is user education?

9. What do we mean by user education?
 in groups of four:
 discuss what user education means to you
 be prepared to feedback to the rest of
conference

10. User education
 how to use the library
 how to use the library catalogue
 how to search databases
 what we can & should do is much more!

11. Much more…
 critical thinking
 problem solving
 literature search strategies
 evaluation
 current awareness
 reading
 note taking
 communication skills

12. Is terminology important?
 let’s vote:

13. Is terminology important?
 YES!!!
 library orientation
 bibliographic instruction
 user education
 information skills training
 information literacy
 i-skills
 e-skills
 e-literacy
 information fluency
 use right terminology for your audience

14. What is information literacy?
CILIP definition
“Information literacy is knowing when and why
you need information, where to find it, and
how to evaluate, use and communicate it in
an ethical manner.”
http://www.cilip.org.uk/professionalguidance/informationliteracy/definition/

15. SCONUL 7 Pillars
http://www.sconul.ac.uk/activities/inf_lit/seven_pillars.html

16. ‘it’ and the curriculum

17. The curriculum
 what should be taught?
 stand alone  when?
 voluntary  by whom?
 integration  assessed?
 embedding  links with other skills?

18. Content of courses for staff and
students
 basics about the library
 search techniques
 understanding the question
 literature search techniques e.g, combining keywords
 subject databases (mechanics of databases)
 ethics
 reading & note taking
 plagiarism & citation techniques
 publication process
 staff: impact factors, open source, copyright, etc.
 students: essay and report writing, presentation skills

19. Embedding ‘it’ into the curriculum
 can be difficult
 do not give up hope
 lots of different techniques
 look to peers for ideas
 see OU, Leeds Met, South Bank, Lboro
 drip, drip, drip can work

20. Why is ‘it’ so important?

21. The Alexandra Proclamation: Nov 2005
‘Information Literacy lies at the core of lifelong learning
…
Life long learning enables individuals, communities and
nations to attain their goals and to take advantage of
emerging opportunities in the evolving global
environment for shared benefit. It assists them and
their institutions to meet technological, economic and
social challenges, to redress disadvantage and to
advance the well being of all.’

22. UNESCO
“Empowerment of people through information
literacy is an important prerequisite for
harnessing ICT for education and fostering
equitable access to information and
knowledge.”
UNESCO Information Literacy
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=15886&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

23. Jonathan Douglas
“Information Literacy is more than a library or
education issue. It is crucial to issues of
economic development, health, citizenship and
quality of life.”
“Information literacy abilities are essential for social
inclusion in today’s information-driven world.”
Keynote at LILAC 2006
http://www.cilip.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/84438AF5-E5A0-446F-BA69-
CF6CC9188439/0/Douglas.ppt

24. Future trends - 1
 continual enhancement of teaching skills
 more collaborative teaching
 blended learning

25. Future trends – 2 online learning
 choosing the right tools for the job
 online tutorials
 either in VLEs or on the web
 Informs or Captivate
 re-usable learning objects
 web 2.0 – emperors new clothes?
 wikis, blogs, discussion forums
 Second life, Facebook

26. Future trends - 3
 lobbying government
 Scottish information literacy framework
 DfeS

27. Conclusion
 ‘it’ is important, no matter what we call it
 buy in from academics essential
 embedded into curriculum
 knowledge of teaching & learning vital
 interactive / innovative teaching
 enhance student learning experience
 YOU have an important role to play