Exploring the information literacy skills of teachers in Northern Ireland

Giants Causeway Northern IrelandOn a recent visit to the University of Ulster's Coleraine campus in Northern Ireland I met Christine McKeever a former school lbrarian who graduated from the University in July with an MSc in Library and Information Management. She commenced a full-time PhD programme in September and is exploring the information literacy skills of teachers in Northern Ireland.

Although it is very early days it is great that this area is being looked at and I'm interested to see how Christine's research progresses and how it differs or not to the research carried out by Dorothy Willams from RGU (Robert Gordon University) in Aberdeen some years ago now.

The University of Ulster's postgraduate programme in Library and Information Management has been developed by the School of Education in close collaboration with the Chartered Institute for Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), the Library and Information Services Council NI (LISC), with the University of Ulster Library, and with library and information employers and practitioners in Northern Ireland.

This close collaboration with the School of Education is great news and hopefully along with Christine's PhD may provide an inroad for information literacy training for teachers. 

Christine is not the only PhD student at Ulster looking at schools. Francesca Fodale is in her second year and is evaluating school library services in Northern Ireland. I wonder if this includes the impact of the school librarian? In Scotland SLIC recently commissioned Robert Gordon University (RGU) to undertake research into the impact of school libraries. Full details of the project, including the RGU final report should be available soon.

Nearing completition of his PhD is Anthony McKeown, his PhD focuses on public libraries and information poverty in Northern Irealand. Another really interesting research area. I'll do a posting about Anthony's PhD later.