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ACIL Meeting Minutes - 30th April 2003

Notes of the third meeting of the SCONUL Advisory Committee on Information Literacy, 30th April 2003.

Present:

Hilary Johnson (Chair)
Janet Peters
Wendy White
Helen Hathaway
Jo Parker
Stephen Town

Also present:

Sheila Webber (University of Sheffield)
Stuart Boon (University of Sheffield)

Apologies received from Martin Jenkins, Peter Godwin, Deborah Bragan Turner, Liz Hart

Item 1 Notes of meeting held on 7th February 2003 were approved with one correction. Under item 3 matters arising: researchers' skills development - RSLP should be RSLG.

Item 2 Matters arising.

Secretary. Hilary Johnson was pleased to report that Liz Hart would undertake the role of Secretary to this meeting.
Report on TFPL meeting in Update. Hilary Johnson and Jo Needham from the OU have both written letters to Update clarifying the position re the development of MOSAIC. Attention was drawn to the two articles on information literacy in the current issue of Update.
Meeting with CILIP. Hilary Johnson confirmed that a CILIP sponsored seminar on information literacy has been arranged for 27th June.
Subject approaches - Art and design. Janet Peters reported that she is investigating the possibility of further research into visual literacy. Janet agreed to contact ARLIS to see they could recommend any best practice institutions that might be interested in looking at this issue.
Response re TQEC report. It was confirmed that SCONUL have made a formal response to this report.
Learning and Teaching strategies. Janet Peters reported that there had been 32 responses to the request for information about library involvement in the drafting of institutional strategies. A summary of the responses has been produced. It was agreed that we would seek to promote best practice examples. It was also agreed that the LTSN Generic Centre would be contacted to look at possible ways forward to facilitate further communication on the topic.
ACIL flyer. This is now available and will be put up on the redesigned SCONUL website. Future versions of the flyer will take into account the planned updates to the 7 pillars model. It was agreed that the flyer could go on the weblog of the UK Academics' conceptions of, and pedagogy for, Information Literacy project.
UNESCO forum. Hilary Johnson agreed to contact John Lindsay for an update on progress.

Item 3 Reports on meetings and activity.

SCONUL ACHS. Hilary Johnson and Wendy White attended this meeting where the issue of progressing information literacy in the health sector was discussed. It was hoped that further evidence-based research could be commissioned on ILit in the health sector and that the topic could form part of a conference programme.
JISC seminar. Hilary Johnson attended this meeting on information literacy and staff. A wide range of interested parties attended from across the sector which included some representation from HE. There is a follow up meeting planned with a focus on information literacy and students to take place before the IT & ILit conference in Glasgow. It was agreed that the JISC regional centres would be contacted profiling the work of ACIL. Janet Peters will also contact JISC about the possibility of an information literacy position paper.
EDUSERV. Janet Peters has responded to EDUSERV's request for suggestions for research and development areas that relate to information literacy. These have included the evaluation of the MOSAIC customisable shell, copyright clearance and awareness of quality assured internet resources. New areas to suggest include research literacy for part time and contract staff and statistical literacy. It was agreed to clarify timescales and any additional information that would be required.
MOSAIC. The partner institutions who are piloting a customised shell are currently looking at issues like validation, assessment and branding. The aim is for activity to start at home institution level between October and March. It was agreed that a proposal to formally badge this pilot as a joint SCONUL/OU project and potential product should go to the SCONUL strategy meeting on 10th June. It was also agreed that the issue of the certification of attainment in information literacy skills should be put forward for discussion.
SCONUL Conference liaison with LTSN. Hilary Johnson reported on the LTSN workshop at the conference. The current subject centres look set to remain and new centres of excellence may be established along thematic lines. There was useful discussion at the workshop about how to facilitate partnerships with academics to develop curricula and to contribute to institutional strategies. ACIL agreed that SCONUL should consider ways to enhance links with LIS academic departments. Work should also be done on briefings for senior staff including a briefing paper on the development of the information literacy skills of academic staff. To continue cross-sector liaison it was agreed that a representative of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT) would be invited to an ACIL meeting. Hillary Johnson will also contact Jean Henderson for more information about the Scottish post-16 project and their use of learning objects.

Item 4 Info Lit Certificate.
ACIL has responded to Christabel Pasadas Ureña who had asked for comments on a draft discussion paper for an IFLA SC for University and Research Libraries open session in Berlin which will focus on the issue of an information literacy certificate. ACIL agreed that it would be useful to provide some best practice guidelines for information literacy learning outcomes. This will be an agenda item at the next meeting for more detailed discussion.

Item 5 Stephen's paper idea.
It was agreed that Stephen's idea is excellent. All committee members will contact Stephen with details of best practice examples of how the 7 pillars model has been embraced by curriculum design. These examples will include learning outcomes. It was also agreed that a scoping study of the use of the 7 pillars model in curricula would be a useful topic for a research student and we would note this.

Item 6 UCISA TLIG/ACIL joint event.
Hilary Johnson's title suggestion for this event "Supporting learners: the evolving role of academic support staff in HE" was agreed. This would allow several areas to be explored e.g. the provision of quality learning environments, engaging learning styles, continuing professional development, virtual learning environments and social learning, plus the showcasing of best practice examples. Wendy White agreed to draft these proposals to send to TLIG colleagues for comment. TLIG staff had requested that ACIL suggest a Chair to head a small group to organise the event who had previous experience in this area. Hilary Johnson will ask the nominated person if they would be free to take up this role. ACIL members will pass suggestions for speakers to the new event committee.

Item 7 Action Plan.
Hilary Johnson went through the revised Action Plan point by point to check on progress.
There were two specific items to be completed before the next meeting. Hilary Johnson will e-mail an update of ACIL activities to the National Forum on Information Literacy in the US. It was also agreed that to progress the item on take up of information literacy topics for student dissertations the ACIL list of useful research areas would be e-mailed to the BAILER list.

Item 8 AOB
Jo Parker reported that the OU was looking into an online IT diagnostic test that was formally assessed, not self-assessed.

Date of next meeting : Friday 11th July
To be held at 12.00 in the SCONUL meeting room, London.

The meeting closed at 4.00 pm WHW 12/5/03

Action checklist
1. Subject art & design. JaP to contact ARLIS for best practice recommendations.
2. LTSN Generic Centre. HJ to contact re institutional learning and teaching strategies.
3. ACIL Flyer. Electronic copy to Stuart Boon.
4. UNESCO forum. HJ to contact John Lindsay for update.
5. JISC regional centres. Update on work of ACIL.
6. EDUSERV. JaP to contact wil new suggestions and to clarify timescales.
7. SCONUL strategy meeting June 10th. JaP to take forward the badging of the MOSAIC project and the issue of ILit certification.
8. SCONUL briefing paper/staff briefings. All to have ideas for these.
9. ALT contact HJ to invite to a meeting.
10. Scottish post-16 project. HJ to contact Jean Henderson for more information.
11. Information Literacy learning outcomes best practice guidelines. All to have ideas/examples for next meeting.
12. UCISA TLIG/ACIL joint event. WW to draft summary of ideas to go to TLIG colleagues.
HJ to contact potential chair of event committee. All to note suggestions for speakers.
13. US National Forum. HJ to update on ACIL progress.
14. Research topics for students. E-mail to BAILER list.

Updated November 2003 by Selena Lock S.A.Lock@Cranfield.ac.uk.