Information Literacy Promotion and Implementation: CEI Countries Perspectives Zdravka Pejova, Head Information and Library Service ICPE – International

Information Literacy Promotion and Implementation:

CEI Countries Perspectives

Zdravka Pejova, Head Information and Library Service

ICPE – International Center for Promotion of EnterprisesLjubljana, Slovenia

Z. Pejova: Information Literacy Promotion and Implementation:

CEI Countries Perspectives, IVIG , 2005, Charles University, Prague

INFORMATION LITERACY PROMOTION AND IMPLEMENTATION:

CEI COUNTRIES PERSPECTIVES

Importance of information literacy in Information Society (information literacy milestones, organizations and associations) Slovenia - ICPE – initiatives

The CEI - Central European Initiative Workshop on Information Literacy;

The Survey of Information Literacy situation in CEI countries;

The Clearing House on Information Literacy and Life-Long Learning – COIL-LL;

The information literacy promotion network – INFOLITP-ROMNE

The Survey of user education and information literacy training in Slovenia

Proposals for Information Literacy Promotion



INFORMATION LITERACY – INFORMATION SOCIETY

The information explosion with which people have to cope in their individual lives, at schools and universities, in doing business, and also in their responsibilities as ordinary citizens demands INFORMATION LITERACY skills and competences from everyone !



BUILDING SKILLS FOR THE INFORMATION SOCIETY

“In a world where knowledge and information are paramount, European citizens need new skills to adapt to rapidly changing life and work environments and to be able to fully participate in society. Ensuring that everyone can effectively use and benefit from Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in life and work, for accessing information, communicating and learning is now a priority for Europe.”

Europe´s Information Society, Education and training::Skills



INFORMATION LITERACY

Unfortunately even at such paramount EU education and training policy instance the idea of “new skills for the Information Society” although in connection with knowledge, information and learning, is still mainly focused on Digital Literacy and not on Information Literacy

The building of Information Society, however,

demands development of much more complex capacities and skills of each individual connected with efficient locating, access to, understanding and using information and knowledge in their work and life in general.



INFORMATION LITERACY

It is always important to point out to the distinction between Digital Literacy and Information Literacy !

Information literacy is the one, which includes:• a set of generic skills and competencies;• skills and concepts that are specific to a given discipline, subject matter

area, profession or sector. Information Literacy:• is different from, but encompasses and employs Computer/ Digital Literacy

and Media Literacy• goes far beyond basic instruction in how to use a library.



SOME OF THE MILESTONES OF THE LAST 15 YEARS (I)

Big6 Skills - (M.B. Eisenberg i R.E. Berkowitz, 1990),

Seven Faces of Information Literacy (Ch. Bruce, 1997),

Information Literacy Standards for Student Learning (AASL/AECT, 1998),

Seven Pillars of Information Literacy (SCONUL, 1999),

Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (ACRL, 2000),



SOME OF THE MILESTONES OF THE LAST 15 YEARS (II)

Information Literacy in Europe: a first insight into the state of the art of Information Literacy in the European Union/ Carla Basili (ed.),Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Roma 2003, 318 pp.;

Information literacy in Europe: a literature review / Sirje Virkus. - Information Research, Vol. 8 No. 4, July 2003;

Australian and New Zealand Information Literacy Framework, (ANZIL, 2004)



INFORMATION LITERACY NATIONAL, REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS (I)

ACRL - American College and Research Libraries-

Institute for Information Literacy

ALA - American Library Association - Library Instruction Round Table

ALIA - Australian Library and Information Association -

Information Literacy Forum

ANZIIL - Australian and New Zealand Institute for Information Literacy

CILIP - Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals -

Information Literacy Group

EnIL - European network for Information Literacy

FORMIST - Formation à l'information scientifique et technique , France)



INFORMATION LITERACY NATIONAL, REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS (I)

IAIL - International Alliance for Information Literacy

IASL - International Association of School Librarianship – Information Literacy Special Interest Group

IFLA - International Federation of Library Associtions – Information Literacy Section

NFIL - National Forum on Information Literacy, USA

NORDINFOLIT - Nordic Forum for Information Literacy

SCONUL - Society of College, National and University Libraries - Advisory Committee on Information Literacy

UNESCO IFAP - Information for All Programme



LEADING COUNTRIES IN INFORMATION LITERACY

USA, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, UK, Scandinavian countries, Netherlands, Estonia and recently also China and the countries from South East Asia. (among CEI countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech R., Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland)

The Information Literacy trends and achievements reflect: the level of development of the education systems of the countries; the level of development of their information and library

infrastructure; the qualified information and library professionals, who are

enthusiastic about information literacy development.



SLOVENIA - ICPE - INITIATIVES

a) CEI - Central European Initiative Workshop on Information Literacy;

b) Survey of Information Literacy Situation in CEI countries;

c) Clearing House on Information Literacy and Life Long Learning –

CoIL-LL;

d) Information Literacy Promotion Network – INFOLITP-ROMNET

e) Survey of user education and information literacy training at the

universities in Slovenia



CEI WORKSHOP ON INFORMATION LITERACY

CEI countries: Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine

Participants about 35 professionals (librarians, information professionals, officials from ministries, education agencies, employment services, NGOs ) from CEI countries including experts from EU and USA.

Ljubljana, Spring 2006



CEI WORKSHOP ON INFORMATION LITERACY

• The aim of the workshop sharing experiences and ideas on strategies for increasing awareness of the importance of building national capacities for information literacy among governments, educators, media, and private enterprises.

• The outcome of the workshop Action plan for Information Literacy Promotion in CEI countries



SURVEY ON THE INFORMATION LITERACY SITUATION IN CEI COUNTRIES

Survey aim to study and analyse the information literacy situation in CEI countries, to compare it to the information literacy situations elsewhere in the world and to prepare the Action Plan for Information Literacy Development.

A Questionnaire consisting of three sections is addressed to:

I: governments (ministries)II: universities and other educational Institutions III: national libraries and/or major university libraries



SURVEY ON THE INFORMATION LITERACY SITUATION IN CEI COUNTRIES

The Questions cover the following:? Whether the term “Information Literacy is they widely

understood and used; ? Whether the country has a formal policy on Information

Literacy or is considering launching one; ? What are the major obstacles in improving Information

Literacy in the country; ? Whether and at which level information literacy courses are or

are planned to be offered anywhere within the various curricula, etc;

? Whether libraries offer training courses/workshops in Information Literacy, etc.



CLEARING HOUSE ON INFORMATION LITERACY AND LIFE-LONG LEARNING C O I L – LL

A central information literacy resource, globally comprehensive but at the same time with regional and country links, with a mission to assist countries, which lag behind in the Information Literacy initiatives and activities.



INFORMATION LITERACY AND LIFE-LONG LEARNING

Information Literacy and Life-long Learning

have a strategic, mutually reinforcing relationship with each other that is critical to the

success of every individual, organization, institution,

and nation-state in the Information Society



C o I L – LL

A Forum for: interchanging ideas and experiences of information literacy

researchers and practitioners;

A Repository of records on: information literacy organizations, policies, programmes, documents,

projects, training programmes, training materials, etc. from around the world;

cross-indexed lists/data bases of information literacy experts, consultants, scholars, researchers, speakers and practitioners available for various kinds of assignments, such as training of trainers;



C o I L – LL

Mount a series of exemplary workshops, seminars and colloquia* on information literacy skills to specially targeted audiences, such as:

• researchers in natural sciences ; • civil servants in public administration; • journalists and media professionals;• managers and employees of small and medium-size

enterprises, etc., etc…

* which will be designed for local replication



INFORMATION LITERACY PROMOTION NETWORK - INFOPROMNET

The aim to promote and enhance practical applications of Information Literacy Programmes and extend the benefits of information literacy across countries.

The goals to extend the information literacy benefits across borders among EU and other European countries through networking of a wide variety of organizations (libraries, private enterprises, library and information schools, education organizations, information centers, chambers of commerce, employments services, etc.) suitable for :




The Network will enhance collaboration in three major areas:

Policy making and advocacy of information literacy

Education and training activities

Promotion of cross-sector and multi-agency partnerships




The envisaged organization and functioning of the network:

a Focal point (the international coordinator)

Nodal points ( national coordinators - organizations capable and well-equipped for promotion of Information Literacy connecting a wide variety of organizations as local partners).

The network will closely collaborate with the European Network for Information Literacy and many other European and global Information Literacy organizations, associations and networks.



SURVEY OF USER EDUCATION AND INFORMATION LITERACY TRAINING AT THE UNIVERSITIES IN SLOVENIA

The Survey Questionnaire:What types of education and training activities do the

academic libraries at the Slovenian universities perform?Who performs them?For whom they are indented?Are those education and training activities an integral part of the curricula and syllabi?What is the scope of these activities?What are the reasons and motivation for performing these activities?What is the opinion of librarians on information literacy?




RESULTS

Sent to 82 librariesResponded 52

Response rate 63 %




RESULTS

77 % of the libraries, which responded perform education and training of users

(only 20% of the respondents perform information literacy training, while 80% carries out only the basic forms of introduction to the library and information resources);

initiatives in information literacy are almost exclusively left to the librarians alone;

only 5 libraries confirmed that the training courses they perform are part of the compulsory university curriculum;




RESULTS

only one library reported that its information literacy training course brings credit points;

the frequency of conducting and up-dating the contents of the existing training courses are not satisfactory;

the evaluation of the courses as well as the assessment of the acquired information literacy knowledge of the students are very weak;




RESULTS

librarians are overburdened and do not have time to cope with the demanding tasks of planning and conducting training courses in information literacy;

the support of the teaching staff in these endeavours is very low; (the experience of many librarians indicates to poor information literacy skills of

the teaching staff themselves)

there is no interest among students for information literacy courses;




RESULTS

Rather big percentage, 45% of the libraries that responded, are not even planning any information literacy courses in near future !




GENRAL CONCLUSIONS:

In Slovenia, and we have indications for other CEI countries too, the the information literacy situation is alarming.

Even more alarming is the fact that the university and financial authorities are not responsive to the information literacy development proposals.

This means that the information literacy challenges and problems will continue to be left solely to the librarians´ own initiatives, enthusiasm and persistence, although in many cases despite very limited financial resources and inadequate teaching skills.




RESULTS

The Survey results confirmed that in the time of Information Society in which the efficient use of information and knowledge is so much emphasized and consequently the information literacy is so critical, the information literacy activities of the academic libraries are still very weak, undefined, unrecognised, underestimated and un-rewarded.



INFORMATION LITERACY DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES AND PROPOSALS

Information Studies and Library Schools and Libraries (librarians and information professionals) are professionally the strongest points for promotion of information literacy.

Therefore, we should consider Information Literacy as:

an excellent opportunity to highlight the value and importance of libraries and librarians/information professionals in the Information Society

a challenge to take the initiative and the leading role in the promotion and implementation of information literacy for all the segments and sectors of society;



INFORMATION LITERACY PROMOTION AND IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES AND PROPOSALS

A very good example for initiating activities for introducing information literacy programmes both within the education sector and wider in other sectors of society, is the:

Australian and New Zealand Information Literacy

Framework – ANZIL, 2004

Z. Pejova: Information Literacy Promotion and Implementation:CEI Countries Perspectives, IVIG , 2005, Charles University, Prague


Set up a (as a coalition of government representatives, educational organizations,

professional associations etc.), which will:

define national policy and strategy for information literacy promotion and implementation;

advocate and support the introduction of information literacy programmes in the educational sector, government and commercial sector and civil life.

National Forum / Advisory Committee for Information Literacy



Prepare a (a Concept and Action Plan), which will outline recommendations¸

regarding:

principles, standards and practical advises for Information literacy education and training in all segments of the education system and all sectors of society;

necessary infrastructure (educational, financial, infrastructure facilities, time-frames, etc.);

legal basis and with that securing the necessary financial support.

National Information Literacy Framework



Create , which will:

provide common use of the available professional knowledge and education resources;

carry out training of trainers programmes for both librarians and teachers;

motivate students for upgrading their information literacy knowledge and skills;

develop information literacy assessments tests;

Nodal Points at universities




Include

at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. *

This is particularly important because still a very large section of the profession is not involved in the initiatives for information literacy development at all !

Information Literacy teaching in the curriculum of the Library and Information Studies Schools



INFORMATION LITERACY PROMOTION AND IMPLEMENTATIONQUESTIONS FOR THE CEI COUNTRIES

How can we use Information Literacy to strengthen the role of librarians and information professionals in the education reform processes and in the aspirations towards excellence in education?

How should we advocate that Information Literacy is a necessary means for improving the efficiency of the learning process and as such should be made a mandatory university curriculum requirement ?



INFORMATION LITERACY PROMOTION AND IMPLEMENTATIONQUESTIONS FOR THE CEI COUNTRIES

What forms of actions are needed in order to engage librarians, ICT technical staff, teaching staff and administrators to work together in creating and implementing information literacy training and assessments programmes literacy ?

How can we achieve more collaboration across sectors and enter partnerships with other professions in promotion and implementation of information literacy?

Documents

Information Literacy Promotion and Implementation: CEI Countries Perspectives Zdravka Pejova, Head Information and Library Service ICPE – International