Information for Learning: Community

Information is at the heart of our individual and collective learning experiences. As educators we look to research studies to enhance our understanding of information environments and help improve how we best support our students’ and citizens’ information skills.

The LARK Information for Learning Symposium (9 April online) is proud to host a number of speakers at the cutting edge of information studies and research to support LIS educators. The morning paper session provides us with an opportunity to hear from two researchers studying how information and digital habits and skills impact lifelong learning and literacies. Learning from these studies will assist libraries and librarians critically engaging with the information and digital literacy needs of our communities.

Please join us at #LARK2021 and welcome our first two paper sessions:

"I’m learning new things, and it brings up new things”: Information seeking for informal lifelong learning as a serious leisure
Dr Yazdan Mansourian (Charles Sturt University)

This paper presents selective findings of a research project about information behaviour in the context of serious leisure. Serious leisure includes a wide range of hobbies, amateurism and volunteer activities that people choose to do in their free time with a high level of passion and commitment during a long period (Stebbins, 1982). For example, gourmet cooking, food blogging, amateur photography, birdwatching, gardening, ultra-running, genealogy, liberal arts and lifelong learning are among serious leisure activities. Serious leisure is different from other kinds of leisure, such as casual and occasional leisure. It requires specific skills and knowledge and usually helps the participants form a new identity around their chosen activity. As a result, it entails a continuous pursuit of knowledge and involves various information actions including information seeking, searching, browsing, retrieving, saving, organising, sharing, evaluating, using and producing. At the same time, all these actions are embedded in an ongoing lifelong learning process.

This project has a qualitative approach using a semi-structured interview as its data collection tool and thematic analysis as its data analysis method. The results show serious leisure participants are involved in a long term learning journey with a high level of dedication and enthusiasm. However, they usually learn through informal settings such as joining clubs, exploring social media and attending informal gatherings. Moreover, most of them are passionate readers and friends of libraries. 

This paper concludes serious leisure participants are typically serious learners and have constant interaction with information resources. Their information behaviour is mainly purposeful. They seek information and look for new meanings for life and are enthusiastic about learning new skills in their chosen field.

References

Stebbins, R. A. (1982). Serious leisure: A conceptual statement. Pacific Sociological Review, 25, 251-272.

Bio note

Yazdan Mansourian is a lecturer in the School of Information Studies at Charles Sturt University in Australia. He received his PhD in Information Science from The University of Sheffield in November 2006. His thesis's title is Information Visibility on the Web and Conceptions of Success and Failure in Web Searching. Yazdan has a MA in LIS from the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad and a BSc in agricultural engineering from Guilan University. From January 2007 to June 2017 he was afaculty member at Kharazmi University. Yazdan joined CSU in August 2017, and his main research interest is human information behaviour in serious leisure. He explores the role of joy in engaging people with hobbies, amateurism and volunteer activities and how joyful experiences inspire the participants to seek, share and use information.

https://arts-ed.csu.edu.au/schools/sis/staff/profiles/lecturers/yazdan-mansourian

Digital literacy in the community and the role of libraries

Ms Kate Rowe (Doctoral student, Charles Sturt University)

After having an interest in lifelong learning and the role of libraries since I began working in libraries almost twenty years ago, in 2019 I undertook a research project with Charles Sturt University on how the community experiences digital literacy and the role of libraries in supporting the community’s digital literacy capabilities. 

Digital literacies are those capabilities that fit an individual for living, learning and working in a digital society. Digital literacy is the ability to access, manage, understand, integrate, communicate, evaluate and create information safely and appropriately through digital devices and networked technologies for participation in economic and social life. It includes competencies that are variously referred to as computer literacy, ICT literacy, information literacy, and media literacy (UNESCO, 2018 p. 6).

The aim of my research project was to meet with volunteer participants from both the community and public library staff, from different locations throughout Queensland, to gain an understanding of how the community experiences digital literacy in their everyday lives, the challenges or opportunities they saw in an ever changing digital world and how libraries were supporting the community to build their digital capabilities. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with six community participants and four public library staff from the capital city area of Brisbane and rural and regional Queensland. Interviews questions were guided by Jisc’s 6 elements of digital capability: ICT proficiency and productivity; Information, data and media literacies; Digital creation, problem solving and innovation; Digital communication, collaboration and participation; Digital learning and development; and Digital identity and wellbeing (Jisc, 2017). The Jisc Framework was selected as it specifically included the digital capability of digital learning and development, which is not included in other frameworks for digital competent citizens, such as the European Union’s Digital Competence Framework 2.0 DigComp 2.0 (EU, 2019).

Using a constructivist grounded theory approach to explore both the community and library staff participant’s thoughts, feelings and lived experience of digital literacy provided rich authentic data with thick descriptions in the voice of the participants on how they experience digital literacy. Findings from this research project were consistent with the findings of research conducted by the Australian Digital Inclusion Index (ADII, 2015), which found there were significant gaps between those who are digitally included and those who face obstacles including digital affordability, accessibility and ability. Digital inclusion is influenced by differences in income, age, education levels, employment and geography and this was consistent with the findings of this research project. The research also found that the role of libraries was vital for assisting the community to access and develop their digital skills, especially for those who were the least digitally included.

This research project was approved by CSU’s Ethics Committee (Ethics Approval No H19194).

References:

ADII. (2015). Australian digital inclusion index: Discussion paper. Retrieved from https://digitalinclusionindex.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/ADII_DiscussionPaper-Sep15_webV2.pdf

European Union. (2019) The Digital Competence Framework 2.0. Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/digcomp/digital-competence-framework

Jisc. (2017). Building digital capabilities: The six elements defined. Retrieved fromhttp://repository.jisc.ac.uk/6611/1/JFL0066F_DIGIGAP_MOD_IND_FRAME.PDF 

UNESCO. (2018). Global framework of reference on digital literacy skills for indicator 4.4.2. Retrieved from http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/ip51-global-framework-reference-digital-literacy-skills-2018-en.pdf

Bio note

Kate Rowe is a researcher practitioner who has worked as a librarian in academic, TAFE, public libraries and in schools for almost twenty years. Throughout her career Kate has had a passion for lifelong learning, information and digital literacy, digital inclusion and the digital divide. Kate is currently a PhD student at Charles Sturt University. She has a Master of Education (QUT) and a Master of Information Management (QUT).

Meet 'Keynote Insights' speakers, Margy MacMillan & Tanya Notley

Click on image for details

Information, disinformation, and misinformation spread on social media within hours, if not minutes. The first year of the pandemic amplified what was already there as the world intensified its digital life. In the process, questions about the way we engage with avalanches of information and online stories became more pressing than ever. The exposure of young people to the astonishing amount and range of information has become a priority issue.

LARK is delighted to provide an opportunity to discuss these pressing issues with two experts in the fields of information and media. Professor Emerita Margy MacMillan and Dr Tanya Notley bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to consider questions about information and media, and provide some answers. Both have conducted a series of research studies involving children, teenagers and university students, and provided resources to inform educational practice. Keynote Insights at LARK’s symposium will be an opportunity to hear about their insights and engage in a discussion about the issues.

LARK would also like to use the opportunity to congratulate Margy MacMillan and the team working on the Project Information Literacy on the most recent award. ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association) announced yesterday that the IS Ilene F. Rockman Instruction Publication of the Year Award was granted to ‘Alison J. Head, Barbara Fister, and Margy MacMillan for their report “Information Literacy in the Age of Algorithms: Student Experiences with News and Information, and the Need for Change,” published in 2020 by the Project Information Literacy Research Institute’. Congratulations on a well-deserved recognition! 

We can’t wait to hear about our presenters’ insights and comparisons of findings from two continents. 

News and the American college student: Translating research in news literacy into developing student agency

Professor Emerita Margy Macmillan 

Project Information Literacy (PIL) has studied the academic, professional, and personal information practices of American postsecondary students for over a decade. In 2017, we turned our attention to news literacy, surveying nearly 6,000 students from 11 U.S. colleges and universities. Challenging the myth of “apathetic youth”, the overwhelming majority engaged with multiple news sources daily to keep up with the world around them. For them, news was a form of social capital and being able to participate in peer discussions was worth the extra time and effort required to monitor, find, verify (sometimes), and share news with others. There was a marked contrast, however, between the high value students placed on news and the low status many professors accorded it. Students clearly used different sources of news for their academic and personal needs, and their comments revealed a range of news literacy strategies but very little formal instruction. While many faculty may be comfortable discussing the merits of peer-reviewed articles, we suspect fewer are familiar with the construction of news and its audiences.  Building on empirical results from our news study, we wrote up our recent study of COVID news coverage in the U.S. In turning news about the pandemic into a subject of study, we hoped to scaffold teaching a deeper engagement with news across disciplines. Building students’ agency in asking deeper questions about the news is critical to developing more discerning information habits they can apply across their academic and personal lives.

Margy Macmillan is a Professor Emerita at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Canada, and Senior Researcher for Project Information Literacy (PIL). She worked in academic libraries for thirty years, and conducted research in information literacy and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (IL) before joining PIL in 2017, where she has collaborated on three recent studies: ‘How Students Engage with News’ (2018), ‘Information Literacy in the Age of Algorithms’ (2020), and ‘Covid-19: The first 100 days of U.S. news coverage’(2020). Working at PIL with a phenomenal multidisciplinary team, has provided the opportunity to participate in projects that span institutions and explore beyond higher education into societal aspects of information literacy. Since 2009, PIL has conducted 12 major studies based on interview and survey data from more than 21,000 students at 93 U.S. colleges and universities. 

Young Australians’ socially-mediated news engagement: exploring the implications for civic engagement

Dr Tanya Notley 

In a series of research projects I have examined the news practices and experiences a young Australian’s aged 8-16 years as well as their aspirations for change. One of the key findings from this research is that young people’s news consumption has become far more socially-mediated – that is, it is obtained more often through someone they know, or through social media. In this talk I argue that young people’s socially-mediated news engagement has contributed to a more expansive understanding of what constitutes news when compared with previous generations, and this is likely to be altering young people’s expectations of news and their trust in news media, while also challenging the historic relationship that has existed between news consumption and civic engagement. I argue that we need to stop assuming that young people’s news practices will change when they become adults and rather than telling young people what news sources they should rely on, educators can focus on supporting young people to critically analyse and engage with whatever news they encounter, regardless of the context. By meeting young people where they are at, media and information literacy education can be used to expand the civic engagement benefits and opportunities that are provided by their socially-mediated news engagement.

Tanya Notley is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Humanities and Communication Arts and a member of the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University. Tanya is currently a researcher on a number of media literacy and digital inclusion projects and she has published widely on these topics. In 2017-2020 she led the Advancing the News Media Literacy of Young Australians project. She also has extensive industry experience working in the areas of media literacy, human rights and social justice and she continues to collaborate with organisations working to address these needs. Tanya is the Deputy Chair of the Australian Media Literacy Alliance (AMLA).

Dr Suzana Sukovic for the Organising Committee

LARK Symposium 2021

LARK is delighted to announce the online symposium Information for Learning. Most of the program was prepared last year, just before lockdown. But, as it turned out, it is even more relevant now when information, misinformation and learning in all its forms are ongoing foci of attention. With the program encompassing different approaches to the topic, we believe there is something for everyone interested in developments on the intersection between information and learning.

See details on our Symposium page.

 

LARK 2020 Symposium CfP

22 April 2020 - Presbyterian Ladies College, Sydney (Australia)

CfP EXTENDED TILL FRIDAY 28 FEBRUARY

We live in times of transformation in knowledge-related fields, as well as increasing interest in lifelong learning in its many forms. Many changes are ignited by the proliferation of information and new ways in which we interact with information. The existence of scholarly and professional groups such as ASIS&T’s InfoLearn, situated at the intersection between information and learning sciences, points to a growing need to revise disciplinary boundaries and consider new areas of investigation. In practice, librarians enable and support new forms of learning every day, and often gather evidence of emerging trends. 

LARK wishes to explore research and practice in learning and information. We invite submissions of paper proposals to be presented at the symposium 'Information for learning'. We welcome submissions from researchers in the field of library and information studies, education, IT and other allied disciplines. 

The proposed papers need to be based on research in practice, or academic research with clear implications for practice. Potential topics include:

• Information behaviour during formal and informal learning
• Learning and information design for particular outcomes
• Development and assessment of information skills
• Design of information systems to support learning
• Organisational challenges involving learning and information in the workplace.

We invite written proposals for: 

• Short papers (10 minutes) - typically, presentations on work in progress and small practice-based research projects
• Long papers (20 minutes) - papers presenting results of finished projects.

INSTRUCTIONS
Proposal length - around 300 words excluding references
Indication whether it is for a short or long paper
Please send your proposals to lark.kollektive@gmail.com by 21 February 2020. 

Proposals will be reviewed by the Organising Committee and successful applicants will be notified by 2 March. Presenters are required to register for the event.

REGISTRATION
The symposium will be a whole day event held at the Presbyterian Ladies College, Croydon Sydney. Registrations will be open early in March. Presenters are required to register for the event.

Expected registration cost
ALIA members $100
Non-members $130

REGISTRATION GRANTS
We wish to encourage attendance by library and information students, and colleagues outside Sydney. We will offer several grants to cover the registration cost. Once the registration is open, we will invite grant submissions. The priority will be given to: 

Professionals from rural and remote areas
Full-time library and information students
Indigenous library and information workers and students

We will ask for 

• Proof of regional or remote address and/or current full-time student status
• Letter of recommendation: 

• STUDENTS - from an academic staff who taught the applicant during their current course of library and information studies

• EMPLOYED APPLICANTS - from the current supervisor

• INDEPENDENT PROFESSIONALS - from an academic staff or former work supervisor.

KEY DATES
21 February - paper submission closed
2 March - authors of successful paper submissions notified
Early March - registrations and grant submissions open

ORGANISING COMMITTEE
Dr Suzana Sukovic - Director of Research and Library Services, PLC Sydney
Ms Janet Chelliah - Scholarly Information Manager, UTS Library
Dr Mary Anne Kennan - Associate Professor, Charles Sturt University
Mr Edward Luca - Manager Academic Services (Medicine and Health), The University of Sydney Library

Information Awareness Month

May is Information Awareness Month, an annual event highlighting the importance of information and its place in all aspects of daily life. The Data and Information Management Services Unit, the City of Sydney, is hosting a networking and morning tea event to mark Information Awareness Month on the 13^th May. The event will feature displays and presentations on innovation with information through technology, design, open access and governance.

The City of Sydney invites you to come along and hear from the guest speaker, Mel Flanagan from Nook. Mel has a background as a creative storyteller and has worked across government agencies to innovate information access, developing participatory design, her work includes global open government and data sharing.  You can register for this event at Eventbrite.

LARK at ALIA Information Online Conference

Calling all LARKs attending the ALIA Information Online Conference, come along to the meet-up (Thu 14 Feb, 12:15 – 1:30). Bring your lunch and meet members new and old and get involved while we discuss what 2019 has in store for the Library Applied Research Kollektive (LARK).

Details

When: Thursday 14 February 2019, 12:15 -1:30

Where: Meet at the conference information desk, level 2

Who: All who are interested in research in practice and attending ALIA information Online

Do I bring anything? Interest, ideas and your lunch!

Come along to this informal catch up to share your ideas of what you’d like to see and contribute, and become part of the group.

See you there LARKs!

LARK meetup

By Suzana Sukovic

LARK is getting ready for its last event this year. We invite librarians, colleagues who work in information roles, educators, students, and anyone else interested in practice-based research to join the meetup.

It will be an informal meeting to network and talk about our research in practice. We have three speakers to kick-start our conversation. We’ll start with discussions about two projects. Edward Luca, librarian at the University of Sydney, will talk about his experience with developing a service charter for systematic review support, and Paul Jewel, librarian at the University of Western Sydney will discuss an information literacy research project. Jamaica Eisner, Research Officer at HETI (Health Education and Training Insitute) will share her experience as a practice-based researcher.
After the meeting, we’ll continue conversations over dinner. 

We hope you can join us.

When: Monday 29 October, 6-7.30 pm
Where: Sydney University, Fisher Library, Seminar Room 218

Register your interest on Eventbrite