Librarians as Teachers – one day conference, 10th June, Aston University

This event was co-hosted by CILIP West Midlands Member Network in partnership with the CILIP ARLG West Midlands Committee, and sponsored by the CILIP Information Literacy Group

This was a well-attended event, with delegates from universities, schools, FE colleges and health libraries.

The programme covered introducing IL to a large nursing cohort; using visual tools in IL sessions to provoke discussion and learning; using a MOOC to deliver IL; using games in class; what the digital age means for librarians, learning and IL; and an IL team project, done on a shoestring in an FE college.

There were a lot of university librarians there, and most of the presentations were from that particular viewpoint. Here are a few of the points that stood out to me:

 1. Presenters Helen Ryba & Trudi Pledger talked about moving from large scale IL delivery to smaller groups for the nursing cohort. The use of smaller groups, working through a tutorial on PCs with a paper workbook, and and having library staff on hand for assistance, got good class results and students rated the sessions highly.

2. Adam Lancaster argued that IL shouldn't be a separate topic: it's too important for that. It won't get “done” unless it is embedded in everything. He is both a school librarian and an assistant head teacher, so has the vantage point of seeing IL in both learning and teaching contexts.

 3. Andrew Walsh gave examples of how play can be good, has multiple uses and can take the scariness out of daunting topics. (Even referencing....)

 4. Jane Secker advised librarians to beware of making false assumptions about what students want. Ask regularly what they want, what works for them, when, where.

I was very taken with another delegate's comment about her own institution’s practice of holding “coffee and cake days”, where academic staff are invited in to the library to see new resources and services show-cased for them.

It was a busy, informative day – you can view the presentations via slideshare at: http://bit.ly/1QE5j4X