Project objectives

The Scottish Information Literacy Project:working with partners to create an information literate Scotland

Project objectives • to develop an information literacy framework, linking primary, secondary and tertiary education to lifelong learning including workplace and adult literacies agendas • Advocacy on behalf of information literacy for education and the wider community • Working with information literacy champions both UK and worldwide • Researching and promoting information literacy in the workplace • Identifying and working with partners, both in education and the wider community • Researching the role of information literacy in continuing professional development • Researching the health literacies agenda

Information literacy in the workplace: a qualitative study Dr John Crawford Director Scottish Information Literacy Project

Background Workplace studies are a Project objective Based on 20 interviews with employees mainly in the public sector in central Scotland Not a heavily studied area – limited literature Founded on a review of the pedagogic literature of learning in the workplace Interviews arranged with the help of Project partners and contacts in Adult Literacies, Tribunals Service, Scottish Government Library Services and health libraries Lack of private sector contacts Funded by the British Academy

Research/methodology issues • Lack of previous research on which to base research questions • LIS literature presents the workplace as unstructured compared with education • Previous small scale study for Learning and Teaching Scotland – 6 interviews • ‘Unignorable’ pedagogic literature • Lack of research questions led to grounded theory approach

Pedagogic issues • Librarians’ view – information problems in the workplace ‘messy and open ended’ • No ‘laddered, structured learning environment • Workplace studies – late 80s onwards- challenge the idea that the ‘academy’ is the only basis of learning • Curriculum is the daily round of tasks which have to be undertaken to sustain the community (Lave and Wenger)

Lave and Wenger (2002) • Emphasise the social dimension of learning – a form of social interaction • Learning is embedded in the community and the possibility of knowledge transfer either inwards or outwards is marginalised • A highly situated view of learning – Is the learning community a cradle or a cage?

Eraut et al (2002) • As well as learning from formal sources people learn from other people, their peers and holders of specialist knowledge • Communities of practice may have short life spans and people may be members of more than one • Knowledge acquired in one context can be resituated in another • Questions ‘situated’ view of learning

Felstead (2005) • Workplace learning is a form of social interaction • ‘Teaching yourself’ (books, manuals etc) tends to be underestimated • Only 10.6% of respondents saw the Internet as a ‘great deal of help’ in improving job performance • 21.4% thought that reading ‘books, manuals and work related magazines’, ‘a great deal of help’ • Those at managerial, professional and ‘associated technical’ levels attached the highest importance formal learning including Internet, books etc

Some general points • All theorists agree that learning in the workplace is a form of social interaction • Split as to whether learning in the workplace is exclusively situated there or not • Complete disjunction between LIS and pedagogic theory literature • Pedagogic literature ignores use and ownership of knowledge generated in the workplace

Some implications of the review • The concept of social learning is clearly a major challenge since it offers a limited role for information literacy • Although the pedagogic authorities recognise a role for information literacy it is a minor one • Non situated learning appears to offer more possibilities • The concept of the daily round of tasks as a substitute for the curriculum offers a possibility to be investigated • The pedagogic literature focuses very much on the large organisation • Professional qualifications and ideologies of professionalism are a factor • A list of interview questions generated

Interviewee categories • Care home staff (Private sector) – 6 • Public sector • Tribunal Service staff - 2 • Scottish Government staff – 9 – almost a study on its own • Social work and NHS staff - 3

Care home staff • Varied employment history and limited scholastic achievement • Rely principally on people for information • Perfectly capable of evaluating people as sources of information using recognisable IL techniques • Tap expertise of non workplace staff • Use leaflets, notice boards, occasional book + Internet • Take advice from more expert people on Internet site selection • Currently little workplace access to computers • Public libraries useful only for recreational purposes • Considered care homes a good learning environment

Tribunal Services staff • Re-emphasised the importance of individuals and personal contacts in finding information • Information literacy training can be built on Adult Literacies training Cf. Care home staff • Plenty of opportunity to use computers but limited Internet use • The Intranet – introverted information culture • Information needs satisfied mainly from internal sources • No role for the public library

Scottish Government staff (1) • Stable but relatively introverted information environment – ‘knowing the system’ • Need to bear in mind the views of ministers • Existing policy is often used as a starting point in information searching • People are the principal source of information • IL process implicitly understood whether evaluating people or conventional sources • ERDM, the Intranet, the Scottish Government website, online newsletters, press cuttings and Google

Scottish Government staff (2) • Advanced Internet searching techniques generally not understood • Link between level of work, qualifications, and membership of professional bodies and levels of information searching • Interviews with staff prepared to step outside the conventional information culture most noteworthy • Disappearance of physical libraries resulting in the creation of small paper based libraries by non library staff • Public libraries for recreational purposes only

Social work and NHS staff (1) • Interviewees showed a sophisticated understanding of the value of information and how it can be used to support decision making in the workplace • Partly due to pre-existing high levels of education and training • Issues of accountability and the need to meet external targets • All interviewees had completed an eLibrary course • Familiar repertoire of personal contacts and internal sources (IDOX and the Intranet)

Social work and NHS staff (2) • Confidently use external sources, both people and information sources and including journals • Notably willing to move beyond an internal organisational information ideology • Only interviewees who saw a positive role for the public library • Raised a health literacy agenda • This tranche of interviewees took the debate to a higher plane

Discussion points • Static view of learning found confirmation in Civil Service interviews • Eraut’s non situated view more helpful • Study supports view of learning in the workplace as a form of social interaction • KM systems – promoters of introversion • Little role for the public library • Curriculum as daily round of tasks has some relevance

Conclusions (1) • The traditional ‘library’ view of information as deriving from electronic and printed sources only is invalid in the workplace and must include people as sources of information • It is essential to recognize the key role of human relationships in the development of information literacy in the workplace • The public enterprise with its emphasis on skills and qualifications is a fertile area for further investigation and developmental work • Adult Literacies training is a powerful driver to encourage workplace information literacy

Conclusions (2) • Advanced Internet training extends employees’ information horizons • A skill and qualifications based agenda is an important pre-condition • Most interviewees viewed public libraries as irrelevant for anything other than recreational purposes • Information literacy training programmes must be highly focused on the target audience • All organizations have information policies but may be unaware of the fact • An understanding of what constitutes information literacy is widespread in the workplace but is often implicit rather than explicit and is based on qualifications, experience, and networking activities • Organizations which access a wide range of information, of high quality, including sources outwith their organization, will make the best informed decisions

Recommendations • Contacts should be established with chambers of commerce, skills agencies and other organizations involved in workplace training • Organizations’ information polices which are largely implicit should be made explicit and should include accessing a wide range of information, of high quality, including sources outwith their organization • Preliminary skills audits should be carried out within organizations to determine staff information literacy skills and the organization’s information literacy policy • The viability of developing information literacy training programmes should be further researched • Information literacy training programmes should initially target sympathetic organizations • Advanced Internet training programmes should be offered to all workplace employees • The private sector should be researched further • The provision of information literacy training programmes by public libraries should be investigated • Developmental work should be undertaken with Adult Literacies agencies • NHS contacts should be expanded to progress the health literacies agenda

A supporting quote • Information Age, January 2008 reports on a Microsoft commissioned survey which showed that information literacy and ICT skills which are currently ranked 7th out of 12 in a list of skills needed for business success are set to jump to 2nd place by 2017.

Contact details Dr. John Crawford, Christine Irving Library Research Officer, Research Assistant / Project Officer Room 302, (3rd floor) Room 302, (3rd floor) 6 Rose Street, 6 Rose Street, Glasgow, G3 6RB Glasgow, G3 6RB Tel: 0141-273 -1248 Tel: 0141-273 -1249 Email jcr@gcal.ac.uk Email christine.irving@gcal.ac.uk Project website www.caledonian.ac.uk/ils/

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Project objectives