New to the site is the excerpt from our 2nd Year Report submitted to the AHRC (you can still find the excerpt from our 1st Year Report below as well), which will give you a much clearer idea of what we have managed to cover in our first year out.

The process of analysing the interviews of the 80 individual academics across the UK is complete and we are now working on the publications and generation of a questionnaire which will go out to a wider net of academics to pull in additional results. We would like to thank all the academics who have kindly participated so far! We would also like to thank those librarians at each institution who have helped early on with identifying possible interview participants in each of our disciplines.

The next few months will see us putting out a number of papers and giving a number of presentations on the project's findings. Look for recent presentations and reports on our Publications and Events pages.

As well, the Information Literacy Weblog has been a great success and continues to grow in momentum. We encourage you to check it out!

Finally, don't forget that all of our presentations and publications are provided on our Publications page.



2nd Year Report (excerpt)

Carrying out and transcribing interviews;

The remaining 7 interviews were completed and transcribed, to complete the 80 interviews. Academics from 26 different universities were interviewed in the purposive sample. This work was carried out by Boon (research assistant)

Phenomenographic analysis;

As noted in the last report, it quickly emerged that we would not need to code separately for pedagogic approach of the academics, since this was as integral element of what we elicited through the interviews.

We continued to analyse and discuss transcripts as they were produced, working collaboratively. Meetings have been held about once every six week. In the first phase, each member of the team (Boon, Johnston, Webber) read the transcripts before the meeting, and then presented their individual views for discussion. In this way we aimed to encourage the “bracketing” of preconceptions etc. which is part of phenomenography. In March 2004 we began an intensive phase of analysis discipline by discipline, starting with the 20 Marketing transcripts. Our analysis and discussion had already led us to identify key themes and variations, and this was the basis of the coding of the data in Atlas/TI text analysis software, implemented by Boon. The coding process was iterative, and included drawing up scope notes for the codes. Output included clusters of quotations, and representations of frequency of occurrence of certain themes expressed in pie and bar charts. These helped to illuminate the data and support the phenomenographic analysis.

This process was also supported by presentations which helped us to reflect on the analysis process and the findings. In particular, the presentation of the Marketing findings we gave at the Phenomenography conference at the University of Gothenburg in August 2004 was valuable (delegates included leading phenomenographers such as Ference Marton), and we gained positive feedback at the event.

Marketing and English: phenomenographic analysis completed;

We carried out phenomenographic analysis for conceptions of information literacy, and then for conceptions of pedagogy for information literacy. Webber took the lead in the final analysis of marketing, and Boon in the final analysis of English . A refereed conference paper is in press, and two journals papers in preparation for Marketing; a paper is in preparation for English. These include comparisons with previous research. In terms of conceptions of pedagogy, our finding correlate with other research except that we have identified an interesting new category “Pedagogy for information literacy as someone else’s job” which has not emerged in previous phenomenographic research. Previous research, implicitly or explicitly, focuses on teaching the “subject” rather than teaching other elements such as transferable skills.

Chemistry and Engineering: phenomenographic analysis near completion;

The Atlas/ti coding of both disciplines is complete, and the analysis is well advanced. The phenomenographic Outcome Space and Categories of Description will be complete by February 2004.

Publication in press:

• Webber, S. and Johnston, B. (2004) “Information literacy in the curriculum: selected findings from a phenomenographic study of UK conceptions of, and pedagogy for, information literacy” In: Rust, C. (Ed) Improving Student Learning: Diversity and Inclusivity: Proceedings of the 11th ISL symposium, Birmingham, 6-8 September 2004. Oxford: Oxford Brookes University.

• “UK academics’ conceptions of the Information Literate University: emerging findings.” (Studies in Research in Higher Education conference, London) December 2003.
  
• “UK academics’ conceptions of information literacy”. (UC&R Wales meeting, University of Glamorgan) March 2004
  
• “Empowering through empathy: marketing academics’ conceptions of information literacy” (British Business Schools Librarians Group conference, Newcastle-upon Tyne) May 2004.
  
• “UK academics’ conceptions of information literacy and their approaches to teaching and learning” (workshop at the 3rd International Lifelong Learning Conference in Yeppoon, Australia) June 2004. Also given with modifications at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane; University of Technology Sydney; University of Melbourne, June-July 2004.
  
• “Information Literacy in Higher Education: Selected Findings from a Phenomenographic Study of UK Marketing Academics’ Conceptions of, and Pedagogy for, Information Literacy.” (SIG EARLI Conference Phenomenography and Variation Theory go to School, University of Göteborg, Sweden) August 2004.
  
• “Information literacy in the curriculum: selected findings from a phenomenographic study of UK conceptions of, and pedagogy for, information literacy” (11th Improving Student Learning Symposium, Birmingham) September 2004.
  
  

Presentations describing key elements of the research project as part of a broader presentation:

• “Information literacy around the world.” (Online 2004 conference and exhibition, London) December 2003.
  
• “Assessment for Information Literacy: Theoretical and Practical Issues” (at one day seminar, Informationskompetence – mål og måling, in Odense, Denmark, organised by Faggruppen for biblioteksundervisning and a group of the Danmarks Forskningsbiblioteksforening.) Jan 2004
  
• “Information literacy: partnerships between faculty and librarians.” (Librarians of Institutes and Schools of Education conference) March 2004.
  
• “Information literacy: the digital library and beyond” (LIDA 2004 Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia) May 2004
  
• “Developing the Information Literate University as a key institution of lifelong learning in the 21st Century” (workshop at the 3rd International Lifelong Learning Conference in Yeppoon, Australia) June 2004.
  
• “Information literacy: partnerships and relationships.” (Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen) November 2004.

1st Year Report (excerpt)

Formulating and testing interview questions;

Completed. The formulation of interview questions was conducted in December 2002, during a project meeting attended by all members of the project team. A series of pilot interviews was then set up for January and February 2003 at both the University of Strathclyde and the University of Sheffield to evaluate the interview questions. The pilot interviews were conducted by the research associate and the pilots were transcribed for discussion in the next project meeting. The next project meeting focused on the outcomes of the pilot interviews and evaluated the success of the interview questions used. After proper analysis and discussion, a finalised set of interview questions was agreed upon and work began on identifying participants.

Identifying participants;

Completed. As the methodology of the research is phenomenographic and the aim of phenomenography is to identify variation in experience, the process of identifying participants sought to achieve as much variation as possible with regard to the makeup of the participants. The participants would come from four disparate subjects—Chemistry (Hard Pure), Civil Engineering (Hard Applied), English (Soft Pure) and Marketing (Soft Applied)—and from 25 different universities throughout England, Scotland and Wales. Participants have been chosen from pre-1992 and post-1992 higher education institutions and, where possible, with as much variation as possible with respect to the gender, age, nationality, etc., of the participants, and also variation in RAE and teaching quality scores. Selection of final interview participants was made by the research associate in conjunction with subject librarians and educational research and development contacts in the chosen universities.

Carrying out and transcribing interviews;

73 of the 80 interviews have been completed. The rest will be completed by January 2004.

Coding and preliminary analysis of data;

Preliminary analysis and coding of the transcripts began in April 2003 and is on-going. Analysis of the completed transcripts is accomplished in two stages: first, each transcript is read and analysed individually by each researcher, and, second, the transcripts are discussed and analysed jointly during the scheduled project meetings. This two-stage process of analysis has proved a rich, collaborative environment for discovering themes and variation in the transcripts, and for discussing new points of analysis within the project itself. The results from the preliminary analysis are recorded by the research associate for use in coding of the transcripts and for use in further stages of analysis. A cycle of analysis is achieved as newly completed transcripts are sent out to individual researchers and then brought forward to the next project meeting.

Produce first annual report for AHRB;

Completed and submitted.

Dissemination:

Press release were distributed to library and information journals at start of project and a project website was created and is maintained at http://dis.shef.ac.uk/literacy/project/index.html

Formal papers/presentations on the research project given at:

• SCONUL Advisory Committee on Information Literacy, University of Reading April 30th 2003
• Workshop on Instruction in Library Use Conference (WILU) Conference, University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada. May 13th 2003
• CILIP University College & Research Group, East Midlands Section Meeting, De Montfort University, Leicester. May 23rd 2003
• World Library and Information Congress: 69th IFLA General Conference and Council 2003 Conference, Berlin, Germany. August 1st-9th (Poster session)
• Creating Knowledge III Conference, Akureyri, Iceland. September 24-27th.
• Enhancing Teaching-Learning Environments in Undergraduate Courses (ETL) project team meeting. (This is a four-year project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as part of their Teaching and Learning Research Programme), Edinburgh. 28th October 2003. (bundled with our own project meeting in Glasgow)
  

The research has also been mentioned (e.g. with one or two slides in a longer presentation) in papers on information literacy given at:

• Online Information 2002 (Dec 2002, London)
• Internet Librarian International (March 2003, Birmingham)
• SPRIG conference (June 2003, Worcester)
• Pacific Rim First Year in Higher Education conference (FYHE) (July 2003, Brisbane, Australia)
• EUCLID/ALISE Library and information educators meeting (July 2003, Potsdam, Germany)
  

As well, we have already had abstracts accepted for a formal paper on the project for the Society for Research in Higher Education Conference (Dec 2003, Egham) and the 3rd International Lifelong Learning Conference (June 2004, Yeppoon, Australia), as well as a presentation to the CILIP University College & Research Group, Wales Section Meeting, University of Glamorgan. March 3rd 2004.

For more information and links to conference websites, please visit the Publications and Events pages.