About the authors
Kirsty Baker BA (Hons), PG Dip (Open University)
Kirsty has worked at the Open University Library for over twelve years, initially as a Subject Information Specialist (Education and Social Sciences) before moving to the Information Literacy Unit when it was established in 2002. Kirsty has been involved in the development of a range of online IL skills development materials including SAFARI, the Open University’s generic IL skills tutorial; an IL skills website for OU researchers; and an online guide to using the OU Library. She has been involved in the development of content and an assessment strategy for the OU short course ‘Beyond Google: working with information online’, and has worked as a moderator and script marker for the course. She has written a section for the OU Continuing Professional Development course ‘The evolving information professional: challenges in a digital world’ and developed the assessment model for the course. She has also developed Info-Rate, an online diagnostic test for IL skills which provides students with feedback and pointers for further IL skills development work. Kirsty has a special interest in accessibility, and was the project officer for the Library’s ENABLE project which considered the accessibility of the OU Library service; both the physical building and the online library service.
John Crawford BA, MA, PhD, FCLIP, FRSA, FSA (Scot)
John was Library Research Officer at Glasgow Caledonian University where he was the director of the Scottish Information Literacy Project and University Copyright Adviser. In December 2009 John retired from this role but he has every intention of continuing to be active in information literacy and promote the ‘gospel of information’.
John holds degrees from London, Strathclyde and Glasgow Caledonian universities and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He has authored some 80 journal articles, book chapters, conference papers, etc. and two books on the evaluation of library and information services. His research interests include evaluation of library and information services and library and information history. He became interested in information literacy in 2002 and it has been his main research focus since then. He served on the Council of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) from 2002 to 2007 and during this time served as chair of its Professional Practice Committee and was a member of its Executive Board.
Bob Glass BA, MCLIP, FETC, Dip MST, FHEA (Manchester Metropolitan University)
Bob has worked with the department since 1991. A qualified librarian, Bob is the undergraduate programme leader for Information & Communications and teaches on Common Undergraduate Degree Routes and MA/MSc courses. While at MMU he has been involved in student support and guidance, website development and curriculum development/ planning. Bob has worked in further and higher education including sessional work at Wirral Metropolitan College, Liverpool John Moore’s University and North West Academic Libraries (NOWAL). He has extensive experience in teaching technical subjects and library-based competencies. He was Learning Area Co-ordinator (Information Literacy) for the LearnHigher CETL. He has taught and presented extensively at universities and conferences in the UK, Europe, Africa and the USA.
Nancy Graham BA (Hons), MA (University of Birmingham)
Nancy Graham currently works as the Subject Advisor (Medicine), Library Services at the University of Birmingham. She has worked on several projects focused on re-usable learning objects (RLOs) to support information literacy teaching, including project managing the Eduserv funded Birmingham Re-Usable Materials (BRUM) Project in 2006. The aim of the BRUM Project was to create 15 RLOs and make them available online for academics to use with their students to support information skills teaching.
Nancy has also managed two University of Birmingham alumni funded projects. The ReJiG (Re-purposing from Jorum into GEL) used existing study skills RLOs from the national learning object repository Jorum and adapted them for use on Birmingham’s study skills web pages. The ReLO (Reusing Learning Objects) project outcomes included a logbook to be used for documenting the process of reusing and re-purposing existing RLOs used by librarians.
After a 2009 LILAC conference symposium, Nancy set up the IL RLO Share wiki (http://ilrloshare.wetpaint.com) as a means of collating information on and links to existing information literacy RLOs. In 2010, Nancy organised a one day event at the University of Birmingham, CaRILLO (Creating and Reusing Information Literacy Learning Objects), allowing librarians to share experiences of and ideas for creating and reusing learning and teaching material.
She recently began work on the JISC/HEA funded DELILA (Developing Educators Learning and Information Literacies for Accreditation) Project, along with project partner LSE. DELILA will focus on openly releasing existing information and digital literacy learning objects using Creative Commons licences through local and national repositories.
She has published on the BRUM Project and presented at several conferences, including LILAC, on the topic of information literacy RLOs.
Jill Griffiths BA Hons, M Phil (Manchester Metropolitan University)
Jill is a lecturer within the Department of Information and Communications and Research Associate within CERLIM at Manchester Metropolitan University. Jill holds degrees in Information and Library Management from Manchester Polytechnic and Master of Philosophy in Information Science from Manchester Metropolitan University.
Since joining MMU in 2000 Jill has worked on a wide variety of research projects, funded both nationally and by the European Commission focusing on Information Behaviour (academic use of electronic information sources, seeking behaviour and identification of information needs), distributed delivery of library and information services and information retrieval systems performance and usability. Current work includes students’ information literacy with her colleague Bob Glass and user experience with activity data systems. Jill has also collaborated on two reuseable learning objects, Collect This!!! and Analyse This!!!, designed to assist students with data collection and analysis.
Jill teaches and supervises at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and has run workshops for PhD students and international visitors. She has published widely and has presented at many conferences and workshops, including as an invited speaker at the 17th Conference of Greek Academic Libraries: Academic Library Evaluation as a measure of Institutional Quality Assessment.
Christine Irving BA (Hons), MSc, MCLIP
Christine was the Scottish Information Literacy Project Researcher/Project Officer based at Glasgow Caledonian University (2004–2010). She worked on the development of a National Information Literacy Framework (Scotland) with cross-sector partners linking primary, secondary and tertiary education to lifelong learning including the workplace and adult literacies agendas. Christine is a strong advocate of information literacy, researching and promoting the understanding and development of information literacy in all education sectors: in the workplace, the wider community, politicians and government officials.
In 2006 she carried out a small exploratory study – The role of information literacy in addressing a specific strand of lifelong learning: the work agenda. On the basis of this preliminary data, further research was subsequently carried out with John Crawford into The role of information literacy in the workplace: an exploratory qualitative study.
She holds a BA (Hons) in Information Management from Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh and an MSc in Lifelong Learning and Development from Glasgow Caledonian University. She has a longstanding interest in information, people’s interaction with information and lifelong learning. She has authored and co-authored several journal articles and conference papers. Previous projects she has been involved in include a Scottish cross-sector project on Information Handling Skills where she was one of three authors of online interactive material for lifelong learners/post 16 year olds. As a result of this work, in 2004 she co-authored an Information Handling Skills national qualification at Intermediate 2 for SQA (Scottish Qualifications Authority) and the accompanying assessment (NAB). She is a chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) and is a
LIRG (Library and Information Research Group) committee member. Following the end of the project Christine is engaged in writing about her recent research into information literacy in early years.
Gareth Johnson BSc (Hons), MSc, MCLIP, FHEA (University of Leicester)
With an original background in biomedical science, retail and web design, Gareth switched to working in and for Yorkshire and the Midlands Higher Education libraries in the late 1990s. During this time he has served as a subject specialist, research and innovation officer, open access advocate and project manager. Currently he manages the document and distance learning supply, course packs and copyright and institutional repository teams at the University of Leicester.
He first developed an interest in creating videos for entertainment and education in 2007, and has subsequently lectured on the subject across the UK. He is about to create his 200th short movie. These films have been used by librarians and trainers around the world, and hopefully inspired some to make their own too.
Professionally Gareth has served on a number of local and national committees, including the CILIP Editorial Panel, UCRG National & Forum for Interlending Committees; and is currently a CILIP Councillor. He has authored 20 publications, over 30 book reviews and has also contributed to three other academic texts. He is a frequent, popular and engaging workshop facilitator on a broad range of professional issues.
His notable other passions in and outside of the office include film creative writing, effective communication, semantic web, public speaking, intrepreneurship, cult televisual sci-fi and fantasy, LARPing, preserving and smallholding. He is also a member in good standing of the Goose Club of Great Britain.
Alison Pope BA (Joint Hons), LLB (Hons), DipLib, MCLIP, FHEA (Staffordshire University)
Alison is Learning and Information Services Manager at Staffordshire University. She manages a team of librarians, skills tutors, information professionals and information consultants working within Information Services and is based at the Stoke campus of the university. She also acts as subject support librarian working with the Law School. A Learning and Teaching Fellow at the university from 20052009 and a Teaching Excellence Fellow from 2010, Alison has been closely involved in the development of the university’s Learning and Teaching strategy to integrate information literacy elements into the curriculum. She was co-editor (with Geoff Walton) of Information Literacy: Recognising the Need (Oxford: Chandos, 2006). She has spoken at many conferences including Librarians Information Literacy Annual Conference (LILAC), British and Irish Association of Law Librarians (BIALL) and the Association of Law Teachers (ALT), and published articles on the topic of information literacy and its integration into the curriculum with Julie Adams, Martin Hannibal, Geoff Walton and Keith Puttick. She is co-editor of Information Literacy: Infiltrating the Agenda, Challenging Minds. In June 2007 the Assignment Survival Kit project which she and Julie Adams led received the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) University, College & Research (UC & R) Award for Innovation. You can find this learning support tool at www.staffs.ac.uk/ask.
Keith Puttick LLB (Hons), MA, Cert Ed (HE), PG Dip Ed (HE) Barrister-at-Law, (Staffordshire University)
Keith lectures in Employment, Social Welfare Law and Public Law at Staffordshire Law School. He is a co-author of Employment Rights (with Richard Painter); Civil Appeals (ed. Sir Michael Burton: Foreword Lord Woolf); Butterworths Family Law/SFLS (ed. John Fotheringham); and The Challenge of Asylum to Legal Systems (ed. Prakash Shah). He is a regular contributor to the Journal of Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Law and Industrial Law Journal, and has been General Editor of Welfare & Family for 16 years. He has organised the bi-annual Work & Welfare conference series since 1997, and with support from the Department of Business & Enterprise, TUC, Disability Alliance, East London Mosque & London Muslim Centre he commissioned the student project People Diversity & Work, the pilot for Enquiring Minds.
Katharine Reedy BA, MA, DipLib, MCLIP, PG Cert AP, FHEA, (Open University)
Katharine has worked at the Open University Library for ten years, in a variety of roles. These include faculty liaison and course support for the Maths & Computing, Technology and Arts faculties, developing and promoting the OU Library’s service to students and tutors (Associate Lecturers) as part of the Learner Support team, and working with the Arts faculty to integrate information literacy skills and library resources into courses. She contributed to the Arts faculty IL policy, has written activities for the iKnow (information skills at work) website and co-authored the booklet Integrating Information Literacy Skills into the Curriculum, now in its second edition. She joined the Information Literacy Unit in 2009, where her responsibilities include developing and maintaining the OU Library’s resource bank of information literacy activities, supporting OU tutor peer-to-peer library training and delivering library staff development. She has presented at LILAC and other conferences on a number of occasions, has published several articles (details of which are available via http://academia.edu/KatharineReedy) and recently gained fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. As well as the embedding of IL into the curriculum, her current interests include digital literacy, learning design and the use of new technology for learning and teaching.
Ben Scoble BSc, MSc (Staffordshire University) After gaining a BSc in Geography from Lancaster University, Ben Scoble had sights on developing a career in project management with British Telecom. However, the lure of academia was too strong and Ben returned to Keele University to complete both a PGCE and an MSc in IT. Several years then followed with Ben being employed by Keele University in numerous roles that included running Widening Participation projects; researching student recruitment and retention; running student volunteering; and teaching on the PGCE programme. After gaining such a wide variety of skills and experiences, Ben found a perfect application for them in his role as a Learning Development Specialist for Staffordshire University. In this current role, Ben investigates pedagogy and technology with the goal of supporting the application and implementation of technology-supported learning in higher education. Outside of work, Ben considers himself to be an urban farmer, putting in many hours of physical work on his local allotment plot. However, this is not a reaction to his day job as Ben dedicates just as much free time to updating his allotment blog, YouTube channel and contributing to social networks.
Chris Wakeman BSc, BEd (Hons), MA, EdD (Staffordshire University)
Having spent eleven years as an aeronautical engineer with Rolls Royce Motors Ltd., Chris retrained as a secondary school teacher during the 1980s, attaining a Bachelor of Education degree with 1st Class Honours from the University of Wolverhampton, prior to taking up his first teaching post in Llandudno, North Wales during 1989. Chris went on to spend seven years in schools, completing a Master of Arts Degree in Education with the Open University before being appointed as a Ministry of Defence (MoD) lecturer and the Subject Leader for Mathematics at Royal Air Force (RAF) Cosford during 1996. During his time with the MoD, Chris was part of the initial project team that was set up to establish Distance Learning provision for the training of RAF engineering technicians and was sponsored to complete his Doctorate in Education with the Open University between 1998 and 2002. After working as a visiting lecturer on the University of Wolverhampton (UoW) PGCE programme during 2000/2001, Chris was later appointed as the Subject leader for Education Studies at the UoW where he remained for four years before taking up his current post as a Curriculum Development Adviser at Staffordshire University. Chris was a member of the review team that was set up by the Quality and Assurance Agency (QAA) to revise and update the Education Studies benchmark statements during 2007/8 and was the chair of the British Education Studies Association (BESA) during 2008/9. With research interests in ‘emotional intelligence’ and ‘blended approaches to learning’, Chris is currently joint Managing Editor of the Innovative Practice in Higher Education online journal and a member of the editorial board and a peer reviewer for Educationalfutures, the journal of the British Education Studies Association.
Geoff Walton BA (Joint Hons), MA, PhD, MCLIP, FHEA (Staffordshire University)
Geoff is Academic Skills Tutor Librarian and has recently become Senior Researcher in the Institute for Applied Creative Thinking (I-ACT) in the Faculty of Arts, Media and
Design at Staffordshire University. As subject librarian he now supports the Business School. He is SLA Europe Information Professional 2010. As Senior Researcher in I-ACT, Geoff, as well as carrying out his own research, is responsible for fostering a research community within the faculty and for identifying funding opportunities across a range of subject areas. He recently completed a PhD which analysed the development of a blended approach (a mix of face-to-face and online pedagogical methods) to delivering information literacy to first-year undergraduates. He is particularly interested in the cognitive processes involved in becoming information literate. His research interests also include developing the Assignment Survival Kit (ASK), developing a process for online peer assessment, investigating the role of information literacy in lifelong learning and the experience of non-traditional undergraduate students. In his previous role as RiT Project Co-ordinator, Geoff was involved in identifying synergies between research, teaching, learning, information literacy, elearning and inquiry-based learning. Geoff is information literacy training officer for the CILIP Community Services Group Information Literacy sub-group. He is also joint Managing Editor of the new online journal Innovative Practice in Higher Education which will be launched in the spring of 2011. In 2010 Geoff became a Teaching Excellence Fellow at Staffordshire University.
Andrew Whitworth PhD, BA, PGCLTHE, CMALT (Manchester University)
Andrew lectures in the School of Education at the University of Manchester, and is Programme Director for the MA: Digital Technologies, Communication and Education. His research is concerned with the intersection of technology, democracy and individual and organisational learning. In 2009 he published Information Obesity (Chandos, Oxford), which analysed the history and present state of ICT skills and information literacy education from the perspective of critical theory. His course unit, Media and Information Literacy, was named as an exemplar in the field in the ‘Learning Literacies in a Digital Age’ (LLiDA) Project, and with the backing of the Higher Education Academy, was converted into an open educational resource for use by postgraduate research students across the UK (see http://madigitaltechnologies.wordpress.com/infoliteracy). He has worked as a trainer for the UKeiG and conducted professional development workshops on elearning and information literacy across the UK and elsewhere. He is originally from Sussex and now lives in Yorkshire.