Information Literacy - a Zebra with Spots?

It would seem relatively straightforward to come up with a definition of information literacy. Or so you would like to think.

If you started with a simple (or simplistic) combination of the two words

Information = informing, telling; thing told, knowledge, (desired) items of knowledge, news; knowledge on various subjects, however acquired
+
Literacy = ability to read and write, the state of being literate; possession of education

then you would derive a definition of

information literacy = the ability of an individual to possess knowledge on various subjects.

Somehow that would be classified in the colloquialisms of the modern age as an EPIC FAIL in terms of achieving the desired outcome.

Hmmmmm. So how does one nail down at least a provisional definition of the term "information literacy"? Given that meaning must be derived from context; the context that we live in is shifting and changing at a rapid rate, then any definition will be provisional - can only be a signifier rather than a comfortable delineated signified.

James Herring (2009) A ground analysis of year 8 students' reflections on information literacy skills and techniques, in School Libraries Worldwide 15(1) 1-13. includes in his study a literature review of information literacy. His opening gambit states


"There is now a vast range of literature on information literacy in the school, higher education and workplace sector but there is no agreement as to one definition of information literacy or whether information literacy should be viewed as a concept, an ideal to be reached, a practice, a set of skills, set of competencies, a set of attributes or a combination of these elements." p 2

So it seems that we have entered the realm where you can argue about the number of angels that could dance on a pin-head with more certainty than elicit agreement on a single definition of information literacy. And to come up with a definition feels like design by committee - after consulting widely to get a four-legged animal with black and white stripes it somehow turns out to be a zebra with spots! Not quite what you thought it would look like.

So what does an information literate student look like? According to ASLA they are effective learners "who are able to find and use information as required". Remembering that definitions are based on context and are always provisional - the succinct definition might seem to be, on the surface, the holy grail that we are looking for, however, it does not seem to be broad enough to be applicable in the digital age.

So it is more than being about to read, write, find, locate, assess, utilise and apply information. So what has to be added to make it useful as a definition? Does it also have to include the effective use of multiple and new technologies - web 2.0 tools etc, the impact of globalisation, the explosion of information availability???

It seems that information literacy (whatever that is) is valued - due to the fact that in order to function in the ever increasingly complex information environment - skills and competencies need to be acquired. So what is information literacy?

• Information literacy means being information smart. It means knowing when a book may be more helpful than a computer. It mans know how to find, evaluate ans use information in all forms.



• Information literacy is more than print literacy, computer literacy or media literacy. It means knowing when you need information, where to find it and how to evaluate and use it in your everyday life.



• Information smart communities use the latest and best information to develop sound policies. They know the importance of having citizens who are information literate. And they invest in their school, public and higher education libraries as centres for information, culture and lifelong learning.



• Information smart people lead satisfying lives. They know how to find quality information that will help through family, medical or job crises. They are information-smart consumers who know how to use information resources wisely for work and pleasure.



• Information smart people run successful businesses. They know when they need data and what data they need to evaluate success and plan for the future.



• Information smart people know that what is true today may not be true tomorrow, that information is not the same as knowledge.

ASLA Advocacy Kit 2006 page 8

Yet the above six bullet points don't come even close to encapsulating a definition. So is information literacy a "dangerously ambiguous concept"? I think not.

It seems that the end product is clear - the desired goal or common purpose of teacher-librarians and educators alike is to equip our charges with the necessary skills to allow them to successfully navigate the increasingly complex information landscapes. The aim is to ensure that their individuality is catered for within a differentiated curriculum, that their creativity is allowed to flourish and their voice to be heard. And the desired outcome is to see respectful, responsible digital citizenship of the students who can exploit the new technologies to their advantage rather than to fall into the traps and potential pitfalls that they contain.

Definitions are inherently problematic - they are by their very nature approximations which often cannot convey the true essence of something as ephemeral and elusory as being literate in the modern age. But it would seem that you need to approximate what it is - in order to ensure you can go about achieving it.

The definition needs to encompass the skills - planning, selection and accessing the content, manipulate and communicate in an appropriate manner to the environment the user finds themselves; as well as the high - ordering thinking which can be transfered to multiple environments such as originality, fluency, flexibility and convergence and ultimately has reflection and evulation of the each part of the process at its core.

It is still a work in progress - which I believe it always will be - and I am getting used to the stripey lion and the spotted tiger - they are kinda cute!

Collaboration as an expectation

Image from flickr.com Dmitry Rostovtsev

The irony of change being one the reliable constants in one's life (along with death, taxes and procrastination when it comes to something you don't want to do) is not lost on this teacher-librarian in training.

So change is constant and it is a vital part of the educational context in the 21st century and thus impacts on the TL's role within schools. And so too is COLLABORATION. I have been mulling over the research of Patricia Montiel-Overall (2008) A qualitative study of teacher and librarian collaboration: a preliminary report SCAN 27(3), 25-31. What stood out to me is that Monteil-Overall states that collaboration is an EXPECTATION which has been outlined in various published guidelines such as the American Association of School Librarians (AASL)'s Information Power and in Australia in ALIA/ASLA's Statement on TL in Australia and of course, there in black and white in standard 2.2 of the Standards of Professional Excellence for Teacher Librarians.

So collaboration is foundational, a given, a core function - it is expected. And there is very little reason to disagree with this expectation as the body of research for the past 25 years has supported the finding that if the TL takes on the role of being a collaborator within their school setting then improvement in student achievement and information literacy follows.

WHAT ARE THE PREREQUISITES FOR COLLABORATION???
Montiel-Overall seems to suggest that there needs to be an individual or individuals who have the force of personality, vibrancy and/or energy to drive the collaboration train. She describes them as the ones "who becomes a catalyst of the collaborative process". This seems to be a little hit or miss to me. The characteristics listed which are exhibited by these specific individuals sounds like the cliched list of attributes one put on the resume in order to get short listed for an interview

• flexibility


• openness


• accommodation


• able to develop interpersonal relationships


• able to built trust and confidence in colleagues.

And the process or structure conditions are

• time (of which those in education are extremely time poor)


• planning


• knowledge sharing (these next two are cultural aspects and may or may not exist in the particular school)


• principal support (a raft of literature on this topic alone in aiding the TL)

AND if any of the above elements are missing collaboration will be inhibited.

Tickety-boo. Sounds like a walk in the park. Please excuse my cynicism but it seems to me that there are so many reasons why collaboration SHOULD take place and then there are so many BARRIERS to it taking place. And it isn't just confined to the conditions within the individual TL or the structure. It also has problems when you start to talk about those with whom you are supposed to collaborating.!!! (It bit like the above image of the brick wall and the blank poster - the wall may not move but you can write your message on the poster.)

The lack of understanding within the classroom practitioners as to the importance of collaborating with the TL in their school means that the CT (classroom teacher) is often blissfully unaware of the information literacy responsibilities of the TL or the infinite potential which could be unleashed in their students if they took the time to collaborate. Montiel-Overall points out that CTs and TLs often have different ways in which they "conceptualise and define collaboration".

CT see the core business or role of the TL in a traditional manner as TLs being "resource agents and instructional adjuncts". Hence they will send students to the library to "research" a topic - quite often without discussing with the TL that one, they are coming, or two, what it is exactly they need to do with the information they are seeking.

"Such differences and limitations in conceptions, if not discussed and brought to a common understanding, may be an ongoing stumbling block in implementation of effective collaborations which result in students meeting defined curriculum outcomes." (page 30)

So picture in the heads of CTs need to change from the traditional image of TLs just being there to gather resources to aid the CT to one of "high-end collaborative endeavours" between the two professional where (time-consuming and organisational intensive) joint-planning and integration of information literacy into the subject content of the classroom.

Montiel-Overall also challenge TLs to change their traditional practices to incorporate the standards for 21st century learner into their library program and collaborative practice.
Ultimately, a TL in the 21st century can find all the reasons as to why collaboration is not possible. But it must be something that is valued by the individual TL because of its inherent worth to the students and their educational outcomes. And because it is so vital - then instead of finding reasons why you can't, find the time to make it happen. And even though it may sound like you are interviewing for your job, everyday - a TL needs to harness that cliched list of attributes to advocate to the CTs and the school community why collaboration is essential and convince them to get on board that collaboration train - no tickets required - just faith to get on board! Apologies to Curtis Mayfield and his great gospel song - but you do feel like you have to proselytise and convert the disbelievers to see that collaboration is the way!!

The scary times we live in

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0513-tobar-20110513,0,3002882.column

It was with horror that I clicked onto the above LA Times news article after being directed to it by Barbara Baxton. THe LA school distrcit is forcing 85 TLs through legal inquiry into their teaching positions and " are not allowing them to return to their teaching positions if they haven't taught in a traditional classroom within the last five years" (Barbara Braxton). Hector Tobar's article - The disgraceful interrogation of L.A. school librarians May 13 2011 - is horrifying to this TL in training. To see the narrow and ignorant perception of the value and role of TLs is something that we shouldn't just chalk up to American exceptionalism - even if they did ban Jamie Oliver and his healthy food message in the same school district schools.

One hopes and prays that sense, logic and the RIGHT thing will prevail but that is never a certain thing when the economic imperative takes precdence over the professionalism of educators.

Walter Cronkite said it best

I have severe reservations about performance-based pay for teachers. I experienced it first hand whilst teaching in England and I was not a fan.

And when Julia Gillard says that they will build the system to measure I just despair. I am all for professionals being accountable for what they do. But when data from a skills test which is supposed to be a tool for teachers to help their students address the areas for improvement will then somehow be aligned to bonus pay then I can't see teachers really being creative and interested in inqury based learning or anything other than teaching to the test! It just sends a shudder up my spine.

And when educational experts like Michael Fullan warn against its then I think it is clear that it is policy gone wrong. And to narrow it down to my area of practice - being a teacher librarian now instead in the classroom - how am I going to be measured if this policy agenda is pushed through??? How am I going to be measured? Against what criteria? I am all about improving student achievement and hope that the library can be a wonderful place in which they can become information literate people able to navigate the perils and pitfalls of a rapidly changing world which throws at them terabytes of information at a growing rate. But some things cannot be measured and somethings should be valued for what they are. As the wise sage Walter Cronkite said - Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/reward-teachers-by-all-means-but-not-in-this-hamfisted-way-20110503-1e6mg.html

Overcoming the reluctance to read

I have been pondering the importance of instilling in those library users in my high school library the love of reading. Obama describes the threshold of the library as a magical one, and that we change these children's lives forever once they cross it. The man is nothing if an optimist!

The reality I find is that the majority of students who enter into this "magical" world are there to socialise, playing chess, escape the rough and tumble of the playground, access the internet or computer games. In a school of over 900 students for Term 1 there were 412 loans - that is less than 50% and most of those who did borrow - borrowed multiple times. So real number is miniscule. So the majority of the students whom I see on a daily basis do not borrow. Yes, the school does have those voracious readers who will always exist. But I feel that my collection is not igniting the reluctant readers. And struggles to keep up with the voracious ones.

So it was with interest that I read the thoughts of Nicholas Morton in the Times Higher Education 6 May 2011. "Pick a book, any book" Morton was shocked by his university students general reluctance to read. The middle-class valuing of the "reading habit" was the underlyin assumption in this article. In a post-literate world, should I be pushing this agenda onto my students when they would much prefer other forms of recreation???

Morton asserts that "students come to university expecting to read". He means in this context reading for pleasure, yet I think he missed the point . The on-line readers comment did raise the point that often reading for pleasure doesn't happen due to the required course reading that must taken priority. I know that when I was writing my honours thesis, reading for pleasure was luxury I couldn't afford. Once it was handed in I overdosed on Patricia Cornwell crime ficition because it was so far removed from what I had been reading for my thesis. Horrible nightmares ensued, but I did enjoy the indulgence.

Is it the same in High Schools??? Is the curriculum so crowded with assessment tasks and "required" reading that students have little if anytime for the reading habit? Of the little recreational time students may have, are they really going to spend it reading a book when they might prefer to connect with friends on facebook, share clips from youtube or playing interactive on-line games. Even thirty years ago when I was a fledgling the only thing competing for my attention was the radio and the television (which only had two stations). Hence books didn't have to compete with a cavalcade of interactive and interesting possibilities.

Morton proudly announces in his article that he lauched a "Reading Challenge" - it the vein of the BBC's University Challenge. "A voluntary even encourages them to read 20 books for pleasure during their degree. It is not a attempt to force on them a "canon" of worthy literature; it presents them with a wide range of books from which they select titles that interest them." Well he didn't invent the idea and in New South Wales primary and secondary schools have signed up for the "Premier's Reading Challenge" with varying success for many years thanks to Bob Carr and subsequent premiers. I maintain that it is harder in High School with the multitude of things vying for students' time - part time work, looking after younger siblings, facebook and other social media, sport and television to name a few.

Morton says that we must try something - and I thoroughly agree but perhaps there might be a dialogue between the generation viewing the reading habit as an essential part of anyone's armoury to take into the world and the intended target - who may not view the acquisition of this source of "interesting dinner-table conversation" as worthy or even desirable!!

Certainly something to think about - and address. It would be lovely to see others derive as much pleasure from recreational reading as I do. I suppose that I would like to think thatbeing an advocate for books (in whatever form - but then ebooks and digital books is a whole other conversation) it is still a relevant and important part of my role as a teacher/librarian - but seen within the 21st century context. I don't wish to unthinkingly foist my vaules and views onto others which I believe runs counter to what being teacher/librarian is all about.

A Great Quote to think about

At the moment we persuade a child, any child, to cross that threshold, that magic threshold into a libary, we change their lives forever, for the better. Barack Obama

The High Cost of Low Teacher Salaries

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/opinion/01eggers.html?_r=1&src=ISMR_HP_LO_

The above article is an interesting snapshot of the educational context in America. Very scary that professionals have to work two jobs to make ends meet.