• links to information about research
• a bibliography of publications (in reverse chronological order);
• conference presentations and seminars where there was no associated publication (with links to the PowerPoint presentations themselves)(in reverse chronological order)
• a small amount of other material, mainly relating to the class at Strathclyde University

Research

• Description of our research project UK academics' conceptions of, and pedagogy for, information literacy which will started in November 2002 and finished in 2005.

Publications

• Webber, S., Boon, S. and Johnston, B. (2005) “A comparison of UK academics’ conceptions of information literacy in two disciplines: English and Marketing.” Library and information research, 29 (93), 4-15.

• Webber, S., Boon, S. and Johnston, B. (2006) "Comparaison des conceptions pédagogiques de la maîtrise de l’information chez des universitaires britanniques de différentes disciplines." Actes des 5èmes Rencontres Formist: Lyon: 2005. Lyon: ENSSIB. http://babel.enssib.fr/document.php?id=315

• Webber, S., Boon, S. and Johnston, B. (2005) “A comparison of UK academics’ conceptions of information literacy in two disciplines: English and Marketing.” Library and information research, 29 (93), 4-15.

• Webber, S. and Johnston, B. (2006) “Working towards the information literate university.” In Walton, G. and Pope, A. (Eds) Information literacy: recognising the need. Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent: 17 May 2006. Oxford: Chandos. pp 47-58.

• Webber, S. and Johnston, B. (2005) “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. pp212-224. http://dis.shef.ac.uk/sheila/literacy/webber-johnston-isl.pdf

• Virkus, S., Boekhorst, A. K., Gomez-Hernandez J.A., Skov, A. and Webber, S. (2005) “Information literacy and learning.” In: Kajberg, L. and Lørring, L. (Eds) European Curriculum: Reflections on Library and Information Science Education. pp65-83. Copenhagen: The Royal School of Library and Information Science. http://biblis.db.dk/uhtbin/hyperion.exe/db.leikaj05

• Webber, S. & Johnston, B. (2004). Perspectives on the Information Literate University. SCONUL Focus, 33, 33-35. http://www.sconul.ac.uk/pubs_stats/newsletter/33/12.pdf

• Johnston, B. and Webber, S. (2004) “The role of LIS faculty in the information literate university: taking over the academy?” New library world, 105 (1/2), 12-20.

• Johnston, B. and Webber, S. (2003) “Information literacy in higher education: a review and case study.” Studies in higher education, 28 (3), 335-352.

• Webber, S. and Johnston, B. (2003) "Assessment for information literacy: vision and reality." In: Martin, A. and Rader, H. (Eds) Information and IT literacy: enabling learning in the 21st Century. London: Facet. pp101-111.

• Webber, S. (2003) “An International Information Literacy Certificate: opportunity or dead-end?” In: World Library and Information Congress: 69th IFLA General Conference and Council: August 1st - 9th 2003: Berlin, Germany: programme and proceedings. [online] The Hague: IFLA. http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla69/papers/199e-Webber.pdf

• Webber, S. (2003) “Information literacy: what is it?” SPRIG bulletin, (39), 6-13.

• Webber, S. (2003) “Information literacy: today and tomorrow.” In: Nixon, C. (Ed.) Internet Librarian International 2003. Medford: Information Today. 335-340.

• Webber, S. and Johnston, B. (2003) “Information literacy in the United Kingdom: a critical review.” In: Basili, C. (Ed) Information Literacy in Europe. Rome: Italian National Research Council. 258-283. http://dis.shef.ac.uk/sheila/webber-johnston-uk.pdf

• Webber, S. and Johnston, B. (2002) "Information literacy: the social action agenda." In: Booker, D. (Ed) Information Literacy: The Social Action Agenda: Proceedings of the 5th National Information Literacy Conference. Adelaide: University of South Australia Library. 68-80. ISBN 0 86803-929-2.http://dis.shef.ac.uk/literacy/adelaide-webber-johnston.pdf Also On this site is the PowerPoint presentation (http://dis.shef.ac.uk/literacy/sw-adelaide.ppt) presented at the Conference, held at the University of South Australia, Adelaide, 30 Nov.-1 Dec. 2001.

• Webber, S. (2002) "Getting the knowledge." Library and information update, 1 (7), 52-3. There is a slightly longer version of this review of the March 2001 IT and IL conference on this website: it describes key conference themes.

• Webber, S. (2001) Myths and opportunities. Library Association Record, 103 (9), 548-549. (Article discussing information literacy in UK higher education)

• Webber, S. and Johnston, B. (2000) "Conceptions of information literacy: new perspectives and implications." Journal of information science. 26 (6). 381-397. The abstract is given below.

• Johnston, B. (2000) "How can you tell that you are information literate?" In: Graham, C. Online Information 2000: 24th Online Information Meeting: Proceedings: London 5-7 December 2000. Oxford: Learned Information Europe. 45-53. The PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded here.

• Johnston, B. and Webber, S. (2000) Towards the information literate graduate: rethinking the undergraduate curriculum in business studies. [pdf version: 102K] In: Appleton, K., Macpherson, C. and Orr, D. (eds). Lifelong learning conference: selected papers from the inaugural international lifelong learning conference: Yeppoon, Queensland, Australia: 17-19 July 2000. Rockhampton: Lifelong Learning Conference Committee. 194-202.

• Johnston, B. and Webber, S. (1999) "Information literacy as an academic discipline: an action research approach to developing a credit bearing class for business undergraduates." In: Klasson, M., Loughridge, B. and Loof, S. (eds) New fields for research in the 21st century: Proceedings of the 3rd British Nordic Conference on Library and Information Studies: 12-14 April 1999: Boras, Sweden Boras: University College of Boras. (Rapporter och publikationer fran Hogskolan i Boras; 1999: 1) pp183-197. (an abstract is given below)

Presentations and seminars

• PowerPoint presentation: Sheila Webber. Information literacy around the world; presented at the Online 2002 conference, London, December 2002

• PowerPoint presentation: Sheila Webber. Progress and prospects [in Information literacy] in the education sector: an academic perspective; given at a TFPL one day seminar in London, December 2002.

• Assessment for information literacy: the challenge for lifelong learning from the 2nd International Lifelong Learning conference in Yeppoon, Australia, June 2002 (this has some overlap with the ITIL paper, below, but adds some more ideas, in line with the title). There is also a handout with the bibliography

• A PowerPoint presentation of our paper on Assessment for information literacy from the March 2002 IT and Information Literacy Conference. A paper on this topic has been produced which will form a chapter in the forthcoming book: Allan Martin and Hannelore Rader (Eds). Information and literacy: enabling learning in the 21st century Facet Publishing. ISBN 1-85604-463-7. £39.95

• A presentation by Sheila Information literacy: sharing the vision (http://dis.shef.ac.uk/literacy/web-iolim2001.ppt) presented at the Online 2001 conference & exhibition, Olympia, London, 6th December 2001.

• Material from a workshop on Information literacy and pedagogy which Bill and Sheila ran for the JISC DNER (Joint Information Systems Committee Distributed National Electronic Resource) in August 2001. There is a detailed report on the seminar (MS Word document) by Moira Massey of EDINA. There are also the PowerPoint slides used by Bill and Sheila during the day.

Other material

• a 2-page pdf (92k) article summarising the aims, philosophy and perceptions of the Strathclyde class (written for circulation at a SCONUL conference in July 2000)

The idea for the class arose from informal discussion about student needs, as a by-product from the work that Bill Johnston was doing with the Information and Library Studies class to support student study skills.

It could be said that the discussions started by personifying a 'diversity of approach' problem: we had much common ground, but were looking at the challenges and solutions from different perspectives, that of an educationalist (bill) and that of a library and information professional (Sheila).

As the discussions became more focused we found that:

• The views were complementary and enriched each other.
• It seemed worthwhile to carry through the discussions we had been having about student needs in the area of information literacy, and turn them into action.

By piloting a class, we could test our hypothesis that information literacy could be a discipline, and we could explore how such a subject could be taught. We could also develop further our own concept of information literacy and test it against the students' developing ideas about information literacy.

Some writers (such as, by implication, de Corte) seem to advocate the integration of information literacy into the curriculum, rather than separating it out. However, we felt that by creating a separate class, we would be ensuring that there was time for the students to reflect on their experience, consolidate skills, and develop a model of information literacy that related to them personally. It also allowed for the integration of various information and communication issues, so that comparisons could be made and the 'tick the box' syndrome avoided (e.g. of assuming that a few hours are spent on skill X in the first year will set the student up for the rest of the degree course). However, the fact that all the students are within the Business School gives the class a disciplinary context.

We felt it was important that the class should be credit bearing, in that this was an obvious way to set up the requisite amount of time, without having to look for special resourcing. It provides a motivation for the students, since they know they will have to achieve a certain standard in order to gain credits.

We drew up a model to use in development of the course. It reflected the fact that we tried to identify teaching/ learning and assessment modes in conjunction with topic/skill areas. As indicated by the diagram, this did involve a certain amount of going round in circles, but each revolution did progress our ideas of how the class should be delivered, as we revised our thinking.

For some key topics we developed a matrix, identifying the 'macro' level (e.g. knowledge concepts), intermediate level (e.g. personal effectiveness) and micro level (e.g. specific knowledge skills), and trying to match these with specific teaching and learning modes.

This then developed into a formal class proposal, which was accepted by the faculty. As preparation for the approval process, a presentation was made to other staff in the Strathclyde Business School. This was part of a regular programme of talks by staff on aspects of innovative practice in teaching and learning, which is organised by the Business School's Teaching and Management Group.

The Information Literacy class has now run three times, in the first semesters of the 1998/9, 1999/2000 and 2000/2001 academic years.[it has continued to run since Sheila left Strathclyde, taught by Bill and by Paul Burtin]

De Corte, Erik. (1996) New Perspectives of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education; in Burgen, Arnold and Kingsley, Jessica. (eds) Higher Education Policy Series 32 - Goals and Purposes of Higher Education in the 21st Century

The authors identify some key definitions of information literacy, and initiatives concerned with imparting information literacy skills. They identify limitations in taking an approach to information literacy which assumes that it can be boiled down to a list of skills. Alternative conceptions of information literacy are described. Previous research has identified a lack of information on how students experience and define information literacy. The authors describe the student response to a one semester credit bearing class in information literacy, taken by business students at the University of Strathclyde, and relate it to two models of information literacy. They go on to discuss two issues in the light of previous developments and their own research: appropriate pedagogic methods for educating for information literacy, and information literacy as a discipline in its own right. They conclude by identifying further areas for research, and by recommending that information scientists should lead the way in defining this growing area.