Literacy Information

The IFLA Literacy and Reading Section's 2nd session at the World Library and Information (IFLA) Conference had some short presentations about successful literacy programmes. I will blog these briefly together. Firstly, Christina J. Nel talked about Library competitions promoting libraries, reading and literacy in a rural African environment. There were annual competitions for children, which involved having a standard form each year for children to work with or complete. They tried different things each year. For example, one year had a comic strip with speech bubbles (see example above), another year children had to illustrate the idea that "books take you anywhere". The children who won certificates were very proud and encouraged by them (see 2nd photo, below), and children enjoyed the competitions. There is a full paper here http://library.ifla.org/1173/

Libraries, literacy and technology: A new training module for public librarians in developing countries targeted at integrating libraries into literacy projects was presented by Ari Katz. He was describing an initiative, Beyond Access, supported by the Gates Foundation. There is a lot of information on the website and a paper here: http://library.ifla.org/1205/

Reading aloud as intangible cultural heritage: A German initiative to support literacy, reading and libraries worldwide was presented by Klaus U. Werner. He was advocating the value of live reading aloud as something to be preserved consciously as cultural heritage, to be added to the UNESCO official list. The paper is here: http://library.ifla.org/1177/

Library for all: Also for the print disabled was about a Finnish initiative concerning talking books (they reckon that about 5% of Finns are print disabled, and 11% of the population are poor readers). It was presented by Rauha Maarno. The initiative took talking books to the local level, and now covers 144 libraries: loans of talking books increased 50% in 2014. They included other stakeholders, such as users and disability organisations, in planning the service. Specific examples of  services were a talking book club for those with intellectual disabilities, and collaboration with a prison for talking books for prisoners. The conference paper is here http://library.ifla.org/1175/ and there is an article by the presenter here:
Maarno, R. (2014) A library for all – including people with print disabilities. Scandanavian library quarterly, 47 (4). http://slq.nu/?article=volume-47-no-4-2014-7

Finally, Atlanta Meyer talked about Technology classes for senior citizens: Creating an environment where senior citizens can develop technology skills to actively participate in a strong society (this is in Australia). These include classes e.g. in "using your android" and "using an ipad". The paper is here http://library.ifla.org/1176/

The World Library and Information (IFLA) Conference takes places 15-21 August in Cape Town, South Africa. I will be attending and aim to liveblog, but you can get a good taste of the conference in advance, since speakers are required to provide full text papers, preferably in advance. The papers are stored on the IFLA Library database: I regularly recommend the IFLA conference papers as an excellent international resource and the most recent years are on this database. I have picked out some of those being presented next month (focusing on literacies), and split them into two posts, one today and one tomorrow.

- MORTENSEN, Helle (2015) Literacy Matters! The Literacy and Reading Needs of People with Special Needs. Paper to be presented at: IFLA WLIC 2015 - Cape Town, South Africa in Session 99 - Literacy and Reading. http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1231
- VAN DER WALT, Flippie (2015) The reference librarian’s new approach to coach information literacy skills for children: a new approach in reference and information services in the City of Cape Town. Paper to be presented at: IFLA WLIC 2015 - Cape Town, South Africa in Session 190 - Reference and Information Services Section. http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1081
- KATZ, Ari (2015) Libraries, literacy and technology: A new training module for public librarians in developing countries targeted at integrating libraries into literacy programs. Paper to be presented at: IFLA WLIC 2015 - Cape Town, South Africa in Session 118 - Literacy and Reading. http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1205
- BON, Ingrid (2015) Literacy Matters! An integrated approach to literacy, reading and libraries in the Netherlands. Paper to be presented at: IFLA WLIC 2015 - Cape Town, South Africa in Session 99 - Literacy and Reading. http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1178
- STOICA, Marius (2015) The App Library project: technology and media education for teens. Paper to be presented at: IFLA WLIC 2015 - Cape Town, South Africa in Session 102 - Information Technology Library and Research Services for Parliaments Public Libraries and Asia and Oceania. http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1245
Photo by Sheila Webber: daisy, July 2015

Next from the European Conference on Information Literacy, held in Dubrovnik, Shirlene Neerputh talked on Graduate preparedness: the role of an information literacy model in transforming the curricula at the Durban University of Technology. She started by talking about the "new realities" in higher education e.g. changes in teaching approaches, the increased emphasis on lifelong learning and independent learning, and "the role of the library in enhancing teaching, learning and research in higher education in a knowledge society".
Looking at Durban University of Technology's vision and mission, it raised issues such as - how do educate for citizenship. The library's vision includes a focus on supporting independent student learners.
To promote lifelong learning the library aims to enrich the curriculum with information literacy learning and assessment. After working within other subjects, they are also now looking at a e-learning information literacy modules specifically taking a blended and independent learning approach. They have identified 6 themes to "cascade the entire undergraduate programme from first to final year". A student on a 3 year programme has to take 3 modules, and a student on a 4 year course, 4 modules. Modules have to be chosen from outside the home faculty, to help develop and stretch the students.
Firstly there is a General Education module, aiming to develop critical and humanistic skills and attitudes (e.g. to understand and appreciate diversity), and this is compulsory. The focus is very much on self-awareness and developing into a reflective student. Information Literacy is part of this module as a core competency. The concept of life journeys is a key way of developing student learning, and this theme is linked to physical journey in the landscape. The speaker talked about the problem of how you assess critical thinking. She identified questions that you would be asking e.g. is the student critical and self-aware when considering his/her life journey.
This sounds a very interesting programme and I hope to find out more about it.
Photo by Sheila Webber: sparkling sea with Lokrum island, October 2014