#EBLIPRG 28 April

#EBLIPRG (Evidence Based Library and Information Practice Reading Group) is meeting again on Twitter.

WHEN? Thursday 28 April at 4 pm AEST (Sydney-Canberra-Melbourne).

HOW TO JOIN? Use #EBLIPRG on Twitter and start chatting. Also check the LARK Diigo group (link on the left-hand side menu) for some useful tools and suggestions how to discuss on Twitter (tag "Twitter").

 Topic: The ACRL Information Literacy Framework

Today’s higher education environment has seen rapid changes in the information ecosystem, resulting in new roles and responsibilities for students, faculty and librarians. Are traditional information literacy frameworks still relevant or useful in this environment?

The new ACRL Information literacy framework, which was formalised earlier in 2016, is a set of six core concepts or frames that offers a different way of approaching the design and implementation of information literacy programs.

Authority Is Constructed and Contextual

Information Creation as a Process

Information Has Value

Research as Inquiry

Scholarship as Conversation

Searching as Strategic Exploration

See the link above to read the Framework, which consists of a description of each concept and two additional elements provided for each concept - ‘knowledge practices’ and ‘dispositions’.

 If you would like to read some commentary on the Framework, I recommend this article:

Ian Beilin, (2015) Beyond the Threshold: Conformity, Resistance, and the ACRL Information Literacy Framework for Higher Education. In the Library with the Lead Pipe.

 

Abstract

The recently adopted ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education has generated much critique and discussion, including many important reflections on the nature of information literacy and librarianship itself. This article provides a brief consideration of some of these responses and as well a critique of the Framework from the perspective of critical information literacy. It argues that although the Framework demonstrably opens up possibilities for an information literacy instruction that encourages students to question the power structures and relations that shape information production and consumption, it nonetheless rests on a theoretical foundation at odds with that goal. It urges librarians to embrace the Framework yet also resist it, in the tradition of critical librarians who have practiced resistance to the instrumentalization of the library for neoliberal ends.

 

Questions for the Tweet Chat

• Is there a need for a rethink of ‘traditional’ information literacy frameworks?


• What is your response to the ACRL framework?


• How does the ACRL framework extend the boundaries of what and how librarians teach?


• How can the framework guide the redesign of information literacy programs?


• What are the pros and cons of the ACRL framework?


• What particular concerns or issues raised in the article stand out for you?


• What are the research opportunities for practitioner-research around this topic?

See you on Twitter!

Karen Miller

@infoliterati

Show & Tell 14 April, Sydney

This is a networking opportunity for people interested in applied research and evidence based library and information practice. We are organising short lightening talks about practice-based research projects. Please let us know if you would like to present. 

We'll go out for dinner after the meeting. Everyone is welcome.

Someone will be in the foyer to meet and direct guests from 5.45. If you come later, please ask at the front desk for directions. 

Donations at the door: gold coin for ALIA members, $5 for non-members

WHENThursday, 14 April 2016 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM (AEST)
WHEREUTS Library - 10-11 Ultimo Road, Haymarket, NSW 2000, Australia 

Book your spot on Eventbrite

#EBLIPRG 31 March

By Suzana Sukovic

#EBLIPRG (Evidence Based Library and Information Practice Reading Group) is meeting again on Twitter. For this meeting, we have tried to choose time to include colleagues from other parts of the world who have expressed interest in joining us. No time slot is good for all, but this should be doable for quite a few people on the Northern hemisphere as well as for Antipodeans.

WHEN? Thursday 31 March at 8 pm AEDT (Sydney-Canberra-Melbourne).

HOW TO JOIN? Use #EBLIPRG on Twitter and start chatting. Also check the LARK Diigo group (link on the left-hand side menu) for some useful tools and suggestions how to discuss on Twitter (tag "Twitter").

My chosen reading for this meeting should be of interest to library and information professionals who work with young people in high schools, at universities and public libraries. In Australia, academic year started a couple of months ago at schools and just weeks ago at universities. The question of how prepared high school students are for academic work is very relevant for many of us.

ARTICLE. 

Smith, Jorden K., et al. "Information literacy proficiency: Assessing the gap in high school students' readiness for undergraduate academic work." Library & Information Science Research 35.2 (2013): 88-96.

Available here

Abstract

This study examines how high school students' information literacy (IL) skills prepare them for academic work in the digital age. The project included: (a) an audit of university IL practices; and (b) the administration of the James Madison University (JMU) Information Literacy Test (ILT) to 103 twelfth grade students in Alberta, Canada. Due to the low stakes of the test, there was concern about the reliability of the results. Rapid guessing, response time effort, and motivation filters were applied to confirm the reliability of the results. Results indicate a gap between expectations of high school students and their skills. Using a standardized test, potential incoming undergraduate IL proficiency was identified, including student strengths and weaknesses. The audit identified IL policies and practices at the university, indicating discrepancies in the IL instruction students may receive. Findings indicate that students lack the IL proficiency required to succeed in the post-secondary educational environment, and the libraries are not prepared to effectively address this gap.

We would like to compare evidence from the article with your experience and discuss possible interventions. There is always a good question of how we can bring EBLIP into our information literacy work.

Hope to talk to you on Twitter.

Evidently unequal

By Suzana Sukovic

Articles about inequality have been frequent this week marking International Women’s Day. LARK has circulated its fair share on Facebook. In this blog post, I’d like to combine some of these posts with the recent evidence about inequality at the workplace. Of particular interest to LARK is how inequality affects knowledge fields. Admittedly, I don’t have a ready answer. The topic is so complex that it deserves several doctoral studies. My intention, however, is to start a conversation.

Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet?

Evidently not if you are applying for a job. Studies have shown that your chance of getting a job interview depends to a large extent on your name. Researchers from the Australian National University conducted an experiment in which they sent exactly the same resume under different names and monitored interview invitations. In short, you have a much better chance of getting an interview if you have an English name (see short and long version of the results). Advantages of having the right name have been recognised in Canada as well so the Canadian government is considering the introduction of name-blind resumes. 

Do you know that male instrument players are more artistic and expressive? And who could beat black people’s sense of rhythm? True or not, that’s what many people in the music industry believe. Orchestras across the world decided to go against gender bias and ensure the best players by conducting blind auditions. 

Blind peer-review is a well-established process to ensure publication of the best research. Or, so the rationale goes. Academia, however, doesn’t fair any better than other fields in ensuring equality based on quality. Numerous studies have shown problems in advancing an academic career if you are a woman. Results differ from field to field and a positive organisational action can give an (unfair?) advantage to some women, but the overall statistics show a deeply rooted disadvantage for women and minorities. For example, academic panels value student feedback, but the chances of being described as a genius by students are much smaller if you are a black female (see summary of results). Throughout history, contributions of female researchers have been neglected or simply appropriated by their male colleagues. A recent article featured a case of forgotten work of women in computing (How female computers mapped the universe and brought America to the Moon). The situation in current computing-related fields still doesn’t look much better – just look at recent discussions in the field of digital humanities (see LARK post and Deb Verhoeven’s talk Has anyone seen a woman?)

Token ethnic

As a doctoral student, I participated in some supportive gatherings for women in academia. On one occasion, I chatted with a prominent social scientist of Asian descent. Things looked bright and hopeful. ‘Are we reaching the stage when ethnicity is not an issue in academia?’ I ventured. She paused for a moment: ‘Absolutely not’, she said. ‘Your chance of an academic career depends on whether you will be chosen as a token ethnic. I was.’ 

Well said. A whole decade later, I am still thinking and monitoring how this statement is playing out. I have a few hunches. An important job requirement for a token ethnic is to be visibly different. It looks good on pictures and organisational statistics.  A few statistical categories can be ticked for the price of one and a warm feeling comes as a bonus. If you don’t stand out, then it’s better not to be very different at all. A Western European with excellent English is good. 

Is it any different in the libraries? I doubt it, just have a quick glance at staff and managers. I’d love a grant to test and explain these impressions though. 

What’s wrong with the roses?

Nothing. They are great and there is a fair bit of variety. The only problem is that the diversity of species is better for the ecosystem. It makes the environment richer and stronger, not to mention that the energy exercised in weeding good species is counter-productive and wasteful.

‘A big data specialist Vivienne Ming has calculated the cost of being a woman or gay man in the same jobs as straight, white men. The numbers are staggering’ says this article on wastefulness of bias. Ming has also calculated the benefits of diversity. ‘Ming points out that Republican politicians in the US love to extol the virtues of less regulation and lower taxes; yet these entrepreneurs chose to move to more heavily-taxed places with stricter regulations but better attitudes towards diversity and inclusion.’ Simply, it makes financial sense.

But what about English? People from non-English speaking background are known for making grammatical mistakes and we don’t want those in our official speeches and writing. Firstly, it is a matter of attitude. If people are understood, it shouldn’t be a problem. Secondly, we can’t assume that English speakers are good presenters and writers anyway. Thirdly, the time spent on editing a written piece is well compensated by advantages in decision-making. Studies show that thinking in another language is likely to make decision-making more rational and accurate, mainly because we are less emotional in our non-native languages (see here and here). I heard it for the first time from a psychologist with a PhD who worked as a company advisor. ‘I always say to my clients to get non-native speakers as stock brokers.’ This psychologist, a native English speaker, alerted me to a significant line of research showing advantages of non-native speakers in accuracy of information processing and decision-making.

In a similar vein, diversity has been proposed as the recipe for balancing out inherent political bias in social sciences. The most important point, however, is that inequality wastes human potential in ways that no one could measure. 

Out of the mouths of babes

We know that the diversity and differences are a matter of interpretation, but no one can make common truths as obvious as children. I’ve worked in a school in Sydney where I was the only professional staff who spoke with a foreign accent at the time. In my early days at the school, I went to an excursion with a small group of Australian teenagers. They asked me about my professional and national background. I told them a bit and added, ‘I’ve just realised, I am your only teacher who speaks with an accent’. ‘Oh, NOOO!’ they answered in a unison, and then continued in hushed voices: ‘You know, Miss G. has a very strong accent’. Miss G. is an Anglo-Australian from Melbourne.

Source of the image above
http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/venice-carnevale-masks-joeray-kelley.jpg

LARK 2016 - Dates for your calendar

The tribe has spoken, so here is your LARK 2016 calendar of events.We shared a survey asking LARKs what sort of events they would like to attend. Many said they would like LARK meetings across Australia, but the reality is that we are still predominantly Sydney-based. In order to keep as many people involved as possible, we tried to mix opportunities for face-to-face and online meetings. They are all f2f, really, but food sharing is a qualifying factor to make some meetings more f2f than others.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Thursday, 14 April - Show & tell followed by dinner

Time: From 6 pm 
Where: Sydney, place TBA
 

Thursday, 23 June - Show & tell (online)

Time: 4-5 pm AEST (Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne)
Details TBA

Week 26 September - Workshop (combined f2f and online)

Recorded workshop followed by f2f and online discussions
Details TBA

Week 28 November - Eat, Drink & Plan

Details TBA 

Hope to see you there!

Image above 
 https://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2015/09/19/21/12/owl-947741_960_720.jpg

Delivering successful innovation depends on customer insights

By Janine Schmidt
FALIA, AM
 
The Australian government is focusing on the development of an innovation culture to achieve economic transformation and future growth. ALIA is likewise emphasising the importance of innovation and associating it with leadership. Everyone can innovate, but not everyone does. How and where are good ideas for creating improved processes and fashioning new products discovered? 

Some say the best ideas come from customers. OCLC’s Research arm has over many years examined customer behaviour and identified trends on which to base new products and services. A recent compilation by Lynn Silipigni Connaway The library in the life of the user: engaging with people where they live and learn summarises a decade of research exploring library user behaviour undertaken by OCLC in partnership with others.  Beginning with Ranganathan’s directive of following the reader, the work provides an extremely useful overview of methods and data collection approaches to understanding user behaviour as well as a summary of findings. The behaviour of “screenagers”, millennials, school and university students, and baby boomers is explored. The studies make similar findings. Although libraries are seen as places to use Wi-Fi and access the internet, they are deemed to be print and book-based rather than digitally-oriented. Customers are not aware of the full range of services provided by libraries. Convenience is the major driver of information use. It is vital that libraries develop relationships and engage with their customers both to understand needs and provide appropriate services.  

Libraries are no longer focused on information access and content. Innovative libraries must place users at the centre of service delivery and embrace new technologies. Some libraries are personalising their services and using social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Library Thing but there is a long way to go in connecting and engaging with customers. Some examples of innovation include doorstop libraries, delivery of items on demand directly digitally or in person to users, links to career preparation, makerspaces, printing of books in libraries, pop-up libraries in airports, convention centres and shopping centres, libraries staffed with volunteers, support programmes for entrepreneurs, links to legal advice, use of QR codes, embedded librarians, office spaces for independent workers, wikimedians, streaming video, e-book recommendations, birthday messages and digital exhibitions. 

Innovation begins with asking questions. Long-time blogger Stephen Abrams poses some of the questions. What pain or gain is your service answering? What resources are needed? Innovation continues when some answers are found and the activities of others explored. Follow users using techniques like the Sales Funnel. Innovation is realised when each library experiments and takes action. Creative, fearless, imaginative, passionate, visionary and reflective leaders are required to deliver the future destiny of libraries. 

This is preprint version of the article published in Incite, Jan/Feb 2016 for the Research Column. 

#EBLIPRG Meeting on Thursday, 4th February

From Fiona MacDonald, meeting facilitator

#EBLIPRG (Evidence-Based Library Practice Reading Group) Meeting on Thursday, 4th February, 4pm AEDT on Twitter. #LARK

The next #EBLIPRG  article is :
Collins, E. and Stone, G. (2014). Understanding patterns of library use among undergraduate students from different disciplines. Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, 9(3) 51-67.

In this article, Collins and Stone investigate the opportunities presented by the combined data analysis of library usage data, and course/discipline generated data at the University of Huddersfield. The results contribute to the growing body of evidence required to understand patterns of Library use, and highlight the need for ongoing research.

Please join the discussion on Twitter. How do the findings relate to your library?

Some questions to get us started:

• How do we measure value?
• How important is the story behind the stats?
• How can statistical analysis be used to improve the Student experience?

I look forward to the discussion. 4pm AEDT Thursday 4th February. ere.