Help an information need

Help an information need to show the scale & scope of the Library, Archives, Records, Information & Knowledge Management Services in 2015

We all have a need for information in order to make decisions. This need could be for ourselves or for the organisation or institution we work for or are a member of such as a professional body.

The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) and the Archives Reccord Association (ARA) have commissioned major research to map the workforce across the Library, Archives, Records, Information and Knowledge Management Services and related professions in the United Kingdom. 

cilip.org.uk/putyourselfonthemap

They need information to show the scale and scope of the profession in 2015.

I am part of the research team working on this commissioned project.

If you are a member of this workforce, please complete the survey at http://bit.ly/workforcemap. As well as helping the research, respondents could also win £200 worth of vouchers of their choice.

The survey takes no more than 15 minutes to complete, and has been designed so that it can be completed on a range of devices, but it is most accessible on a desktop, laptop or tablet computer.

The project team would be grateful if you could also spread word of the survey amongst colleagues who work in libraries, archives, records management, information management and knowledge management. We are interested in the views of all workers at all levels, whether in paid or unpaid employment.

Thank you in anticipation of your support to help meet this information need. 

Christine 

IL Symposium 2015 outcomes & ways forward plans

Following the successful conference of 13^th February, Bill Johnston, Ian McCracken, Sean McNamara and I had a meeting with Amina Shah, the CEO of SLIC, on March 9^th to discuss the conference outcomes and plan ways forward.  Bill, Ian and I were delighted with the strong support of SLIC for IL and the organising work done by SLIC staff. We were also pleased by the excellent conference facilities provided by the Scottish Government. We hope it will be possible for SLIC to support a similar event in the future.

We hope to pursue further initiatives with SCVO, relevant Scottish Government civil servants and the Cross Party Group on Digital Participation and we are currently making appropriate contacts.  

The questionnaire sent out after the conference produced useful feedback which will inform our plans.

The conference outcomes are likely to generate a good deal of work for the CoP as we have to map out potential strategic links and a plan for IL partnerships.  The contacts made at the conference should help here. We also need to draft an IL statement to influence decision makers at SG level. Other areas to look at are needed research activities and funding opportunities.

John Crawford

IFLA takes Lyon Declaration to the UN

Thanks to Cat Cooper, CILIP Communications and Campaigns manager for news of IFLA taking the Lyon Declaration to the UN.

IFLA is calling for a focus on increased access to information in the new framework, and is working to highlight the role that information intermediaries, such as libraries, can play in helping achieve the new set of Sustainable Development Goals that all UN Member States will commit to reaching from September 2015.

It's great that they are highlighting the role of libraries. The role of libraries was also highlighted at the recent IL symposium in Scotland. The introduction of Universial Credits and the support many citizens need and are requesting from their public libraries highlights the key role libraries are playing in life. it does however highlight as one delegate pointed out the pressure this places on library resources at a time of reduced local government budgets, closure of public libraries and reduction in staff. Hopefully the need for these resources and support can be used to advocate support and funding for public libraries.

Returning to the IFLA and Lyon Declaration news. Donna Scheeder introduced the Lyon Declaration on Access to Information and Development which has now been signed by over 500 organisations from across the library, development and ICT sectors. Her intervention focused on the danger of information poverty. I was going to quote certain statements that resonated with me and that I hoped to quote them in the future for both my thesis and in my IL activities. However I decided to copy the full text of the intervention as I think it is all great. I hope it resonates and inspires you. 

"Thank you Mr. Chair for giving the floor to the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, or IFLA, the global Voice of Libraries.

I’m Donna Scheeder, the President-Elect of IFLA, and I’m speaking on behalf of more than 500 organisations and institutions who have signed The Lyon Declaration on Access to Information and Development. The Lyon Declaration calls upon UN Member States to recognize the importance of increased access to information in supporting the post-2015 development agenda.

I wanted to remind delegates that in moving forward we must pay attention to a different kind of poverty that has not been mentioned much here - information poverty.

Information and knowledge really are the foundation for making progress towards sustainable development. Without access to information, people will lack the means to take the crucial decisions needed to improve their lives.

Increased access to information is a cross-cutting issue that will contribute to the achievement of all goals - whether in health, education, transparency and accountability: all goals will benefit from people being able to know more about how to achieve them.

And we - libraries - can help you get there. There are over 320,000 public libraries worldwide, and hundreds of thousands of school and research libraries - in all of your countries. Librarians are skilled information professionals who can be strong partners in increasing access to information. And we can help people gain the information literacy skills needed to improve their lives.

So when considering how we do this, let’s make sure we use the institutions who can help open up the datasets, knowledge resources and provide access to the ICTs people need to achieve sustainable development. 

We look forward to being partners in the data revolution and helping us get to 2030 in great shape.”

At the end of the news item is a plea which I support

IFLA urges upon you to sign the Lyon Declaration, access our advocacy toolkit and contact your government representatives about the importance of access to information to development. We need your help to achieve our objectives!

I've signed have you?

The full news item is at IFLA taking the Lyon Declaration to the UN.

Recording of webinar on Radical Information Literacy now available

I particpated in the Radical Information Literacy webinar yesterday. I wasn't sure about the subject matter to begin with but I'm glad that I stuck with it as it proved to be interesting and thought provoking. I contibuted to the accompanying chat and will probably follow up a few things. 

The recording of the Radical Information Literacy webinar is now available at http://www.researchinfonet.org/infolit/ridls/informall-webinars/ along with a copy of the accompanying chat content.

The event was presented by Andrew Whitworth, from the University of Manchester, and organised under the auspices of the InformAll initiative. If you would like further information, contact Stéphane Goldstein or look up the InformAll website at www.informall.org.

The plan is for more webinars so I'll let you know when the next one is. 

'Radical Information Literacy' themed webinar Tuesday 17 February

I've been meaning to sign up to InformAll information know-how for all and finally got round to it as a result of receiving an email about a free webinar 'Radical Information Literacy'. The webinar sounds interesting so will sign up for that once I have read some of the back ground reading specifically Andrew Whitworth's book of the same name. Andrew is leading the discussion and the theme is based upon his book. The discussion sounds interesting and just the sort of things I and the CoP have been discussing / involved in. it will also fit in nicely with my PhD, I'm currently working on my literature review and it's just the sort of reading and discussion I'm looking for. Details of the webinar are as folows:

InformAll is organising a webinar on the theme of Radical Information Literacy, on Tuesday 17 February 2015, from 16:30 to 18:00 GMT. It is free for all to join. This will be the first in a series on topical subjects of relevance to anyone, in the UK and internationally, interested in information literacy.

.. the discussion, which will be an opportunity to consider the issues covered in his book: the way in which the development of both the theory and practice of information literacy has been affected by its institutionalisation in academic libraries, resulting in a neglect of more critical and relational approaches that seek to promote a redistribution of authority over information practice, rather than confirm existing authorities. The webinar will explore how the theory of Radical Information Literacy could be turned into practice in many different contexts beyond  the 'traditional' confines of the library world: within workplaces, among community groups, campaigning organisations, social networks...

This online event will therefore explore how the ownership of information literacy can be extended so that learners, formally and informally, may develop their own critical approaches to the handling of information and to the evaluation of information sources.

Further details, including background reading and how to register interest in the webinar, are available at http://www.researchinfonet.org/infolit/ridls/informall-webinars/ . We hope that as many readers of this newsletters as possible will be able to join us from across the globe on the day!