Developing information literate researchers at LSE: the jewels in researchers at LSE: the jewels in our crownD J S k L d S h l f E i d Dr Jane Secker, London School of Economics and Political Science

IVIG Seminar, Prague, 25th September 2014Image: ‘Crown’ by Jason Train, CC BY-NC 2.0

Today’s talkToday s talk…….

What IS information literacy and how does it improve the experience of PhD students?

What is the librarian’s role?

Supporting research students  Supporting research students at LSE

What IS information literacy? yHow does it improve the research students experience?

Information literacy is complexInformation literacy is complex

Why does IL matter for PhD students?y

Photo by Flickingerbrad licensed under Creative Commons Photo by starmanseries licensed under Creative Commons

A New Curriculum for Information Literacy (ANCIL) Jane Secker and Emma Coonan(ANCIL) – Jane Secker and Emma Coonan

Research to develop a new, revolutionary 

curriculum for information literacy in a digital agey g g

Understand the needs of undergraduates entering HE over the coming 5 yearsg 5 y

Map the current landscape of information literacy

D l     ti l  i l   d  ti g  Develop a practical curriculum and supporting resources

Find out more: http://newcurriculum.wordpress.com

Careers 

Teaching & Learning CentreLanguage Centre

LSE100Departments

ANCIL in practiceLanguage Centre

DepartmentsLibrary

Teaching & LearningDepartments

LSE100

Teaching & Learning Centre

DepartmentsLanguage Centre

Library

Language CentreTeaching & Learning Centre CareersDepartments

Teaching & Learning CentreDepartments

Language Centre

DepartmentsLSE100

LibraryLibraryLibrary

Centre for Learning  Technology

LibraryLibrary

Secker & Coonan (2011)

Project outputsProject outputs

Curriculum Resource wiki Curriculum Expert consultation report Theoretical background 

Resource wiki Institutional audit tools Implementation strategies  Theoretical background 

report Concept diagrams

Implementation strategies report

Information literacy first aid  Information literacy definitionAd   id

Information literacy first aid model

Rethinking Information  Advocacy video Lesson planning tool

Rethinking Information Literacy

newcurriculum.wordpress.com/using-ancil/

newcurriculum.wordpress.com/using-ancil/

What is the librarian’s role?What is the librarian s role?

Teacher, guide and collaborator

Image credit: Gungahlin Public Library(reproduced by permission of Libraries ACT)Image © Gungahlin Public Library

(reproduced by permission of Libraries ACT)

Image credit: Gungahlin Public Library(reproduced by permission of Libraries ACT)Image © Gungahlin Public Library

(reproduced by permission of Libraries ACT)

Challenging perceptions Challenging perceptions ….

“… if the teachers, whether they’re school or university teachers, don’t have the same

i f h d i ’ l iview of IL that we do, it’s always going to be [about] the skills. And the skills are fine

b t b d t h th kill it’ but anybody can teach the skills; it’s teaching the changing attitude and the diff t h th t I thi k h t different approach that I think has to

come from the teachers.”

(ANCIL Expert Consultation Report, 2011)

Joining up supportg p pp

Supporting research students at Suppo t g esea c stude ts at LSE

Examples of digital and information literacy in practice

Supporting research students at LSE Supporting research students at LSE Support available from a range 

f i d d iof services and academic departments at LSE

Lib   d L i g  Library and Learning Technology and Innovation (LTI) run termly workshops(LTI) run termly workshops

MY592:  Information Literacy tools for research Image cc from http://www.flickr.com/photos/notkaiho/5716096442/

PGCert (teaching course) for all research students who teach

Compulsory e‐submission of PhD theses in LSE Thesis Online

Digital Literacy workshopsDigital Literacy workshops

Use the term ‘digital literacy’ for ff

g ystaff and research students

Optional workshops run each term taught by librarians and LTItaught by librarians and LTI

Cover using new technologies to support teaching and research Literature searching Literature searching Using social media (social networking, 

social bookmarking, twitter, blogging) Advanced internet searching Advanced internet searching Keeping up to date Managing your web presence

Hands on practical sessions Hands‐on practical sessions Online support in Moodle

Researcher Development programmeResearcher Development programme

Expanding programme of workshops run each term

F d   PhD  t d t   Focused on PhD students, research staff, post‐docs etc.

Topics cover: Topics cover: Copyright for researchers Data Protection and Freedom of Information issues 

Creating Poster Presentations Bibliometrics and citation analysis Bibliometrics and citation analysis

Taught by Library and LTI staff

MY592: workshop on information literacyMY592: workshop on information literacy

Information and digital literacy non‐credit bearing  Information and digital literacy non‐credit bearing course comprising of six 2 hour workshops

Aimed primarily at new PhD students Aimed primarily at new PhD students Builds up skills over course Specialist advice and support from academic support  Specialist advice and support from academic support librarians

Taught by LTI / Library staffg y / y Supported online in Moodle

The curriculumThe curriculum Week 1: Introduction and undertaking a li hliterature search

Week 2: Using the internet for your hresearch

Week 3: Managing information: Endnote  Zotero  MendeleyEndnote, Zotero, Mendeley

Week 4: Finding theses, conference papers & specialist research materials papers & specialist research materials 

Week 5: Dealing with Data, news, archives and official publications archives and official publications 

Week 6: Next steps, sharing your research and building a network g

The approachThe approach Team teaching, with consistency from week to week to build up a rapport with students

Active learning and opportunities for reflection throughout the course

Tailored to allow students to find literature relevant to their research topic

Pre and post course survey to evaluate effectiveness Personalised support from academic support librarians Cross‐disciplinary ‐ but have also organised shorter p y gprogrammes for specific departments 

Feedback and evaluation Feedback and evaluation Regularly collect feedback via course evaluation forms for workshops

Feedback highly positive but only tells us about the people who attend Feedback highly positive but only tells us about the people who attend Non‐attendance levels relatively high (up to 50% in some cases) Introduce new courses and review programmes each term

LTI now collect data on the impact of training 3 months after workshops

MY592 collect pre and post evaluation data on students’ confidence  MY592 collect pre and post evaluation data on students’ confidence finding and evaluating sources Feedback is highly popular Compulsory now in some departments and highly recommended by some  Compulsory now in some departments and highly recommended by some 

supervisors More qualitative students attend Student confidence increases after course but can makes students more Stude t co de ce c eases a te cou se but ca a es stude ts o e

aware of what they didn’t know! 

Information literacy and research studentsInformation literacy and research students Don’t make assumptions about IL levels Gather evidence / survey incoming students One size doesn’t fit all – customise support (1‐2‐1 pp (Research Consultations) 

New researchers will always need orientation to your y yinstitution, your systems and procedures  

Generic sessions provide an opportunity for PhD p pp ystudents to network, discuss their research, compare their approaches with people outside their department

Researchers may be moving into a different discipline –so rules of the game have changedg g

The benefits of the informed researcherThe benefits of the informed researcher No one wants un‐informed research 

‘b d i ’or ‘bad science’ Many PhD students go on to become 

d i     i g th    academics so ensuring they are information literate is vital !

Supporting PhD students leads to teaching opportunities at other  teaching opportunities at other  levels – “this course was great ‐ can you teach my undergraduates?”g

Promotes the positive association with librarians ‐ PhD students can become our greatest advocates

The Jewels in our Crown The Jewels in our Crown Universities and society need high quality research, informed by evidence, therefore we need researchers who can cope with huge amounts of data and i f ti  t  fi d th  hidd  ‘ ’   k    li k  information, to find the hidden ‘gems’, make new links, develop new theories and create new knowledge.

Thank you for listening / děkuji ! Thank you for listening / děkuji !

j.secker@lse.ac.uk / @jsecker

http://newcurriculum wordpress com http://newcurriculum.wordpress.com 

Further ReadingFurther ReadingBell, Maria, Moon, Darren and Secker, Jane (2012) Undergraduate support at LSE: the ANCIL report. The London School of Economics and Political Science, p ,London, UK. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/48058/Secker, Jane (2012) Digital literacy support for researchers: the personalisedapproach. In: Priestner, Andy and Tilley, Elizabeth, (eds.) Personalising Library S H h Ed h B A h A h F h UK Services in Higher Education: the Boutique Approach. Ashgate, Farnham, UK, pp. 107-125. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/45810/Secker, Jane and Coonan, Emma (2012) Rethinking Information Literacy: a

ti l f k f l i F t P bli hi L d practical framework for learning. Facet Publishing: London. Secker, Jane and Coonan, Emma (2011) A new curriculum for information literacy: curriculum and supporting documents. Arcadia Programme, Cambridge University Library Cambridge UK Available at: Cambridge University Library, Cambridge, UK. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/37679/Secker, Jane and Macrae-Gibson, Rowena (2011) Evaluating MI512: an information literacy course for PhD students. Library Review, 60 (2). pp. 96-information literacy course for PhD students. Library Review, 60 (2). pp. 96107. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/32975/