Information literacy: marketing and educational views … and some research

Sheila Webber, June 2007

Information literacy: marketing and educational views … and some research

Sheila WebberUniversity of Sheffield Department of Information StudiesJune 2007

Photographs and text copyright Sheila Webber, 2007, [email protected]


Outline• Marketing and Education?

Tensions• Different ideas of information

literacy• Application to law• Research into research priorities in

IL


“Information literacy is the adoption of appropriate information behaviour to identify, through whatever channel or medium, information well fitted to information needs, leading to wise and ethical use of information in society.”

Johnston & Webber


Marketing and Education


Tension

L/IM as: • Consultant• Mentor• Fee-earner• Educator • Change agent

Expert judgementRobust opinions

Body of knowledge, commanding respect

L/IMService role

Customer always rightDemystifying, downplaying expertise

Need to justify & benchmark what you do

L/IM= library, information or knowledge manager


• Identifying customer needs and wants

• Tailoring products and services to needs and wants

• Don’t try to educate the user about "needs" they don't "want" (costly waste of time)

• "Helpful" "Supportive"

Colleagues as clients

Colleagues as fellow professionals • Collaborating on creating

knowledge base• Partners in meeting client

needs• Expert contribution

valued• “Challenging" “Creating"


“A CKO needs to have the charisma to carry any

sceptics and to have the personal authority to leave colleagues in no doubt that

as the CKO s/he means business.”

Webb (2006)

Note: removed in this version: screenshot of article


Relationship Marketing

“Relationship marketing is marketing based on interaction within networks of relationships”

Gummesson (2002) p3


".. Relationship marketing has been practised for centuries by professional bodies such as accountants and lawyers by the very nature of the services they provide."

Harris, M. and Cohen, G. (2003) “Marketing in the Internet age: what can we learn from the past?”Management Decision, 41 (9), 944 – 956

And librarians!!


RM : suitable for KM, Web 2.0 environment?

• Creation & recognition of mutual value (win-win for client and supplier)

• Everyone is active (client is not passive e.g. may be helping to "create" products/services)

• Planned, managed relationships through their life cycles (inc. deciding which relationships you won't spend time on)

• Managing your "relationship portfolio"


• Analysing your colleagues’ approaches to information literacy as part of marketing and education strategy

• Will describe what we discovered …. one thing was: you can learn a lot by letting someone chunter on about information, just saying “great” now & then to keep then going

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/362/1416/1600/stuart with water.jpg


The project


• Three-year Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) - funded project (Nov 2002- Nov 2005)To explore UK academics’ conceptions of, and pedagogy for, information literacy

• Sheila Webber; Bill Johnston; Stuart Boon (Research Assistant: now lecturing at Strathclyde)

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/362/1416/1600/stuart with water.jpg


Key research questions1. What conceptions of information literacy do

UK academics have?2. What do academics say they are doing, and

what are their aims, as regards students and information literacy?

3. Are there differences between disciplines?

Chemistry, Marketing, Civil Engineering, English


"Phenomenography is the empirical study of the differing ways in which people experience, perceive, apprehend, understand, conceptualise various phenomena in and aspects of the world around us.”

Qualitative research aiming for insights

Marton (1994)


Insights

Information Literacy

?

IntervieweeUs What is key focus of IL for the interviewee?

20 x 4 interviewees from26 different universities


Identify “categories” for different ways of thinking about information literacy

Identifying what people keep coming back to as the central focus


Disciplines most like law???I thought …..


Marketing: Information literacy as…1. Accessing information quickly and easily to be aware of what’s

going on2. Using IT to work with information efficiently and effectively3. Possessing a set of information skills and applying them to the

task in hand4. Using information literacy to solve real-world problems5. Becoming critical thinkers6. Becoming a confident, independent practitioner


Chemistry: Information literacy as…

1. Accessing and searching chemical information

2. Mastering a chemist's information skill set3. Communicating scientific information4. An essential part of the constitution/

construction/ creation of knowledge


Relating it to legal context• Perhaps can “diagnose” or “segment” people in

your workplace• This includes library and information

professionals, professional support lawyers etc• Gives a clue about how to work with them and

“push their buttons”• Seemed to me that chemistry categories might

work well…. (but could mix and match even if not v. “scientific” ;-)


Chemistry Law, IL as….

1. Accessing and searching legal information• Handling information is part of legal practice• IL relates to searching formal legal sources• So this might be the only aspect where librarians

would be seen to have a role


2. Mastering a legal practitioner’s information skill set

• Handling information is part of legal practice• IL is acknowledged as a separate skill area (not

just “part of law”), so librarians have a more expert role in developing the skills

• Information includes a wider range of material including case notes, internal reports etc.



3. Communicating legal information• Handling information is part of legal practice• IL is acknowledged as a separate skill area (not

just “part of law”), so librarians have a more expert role in developing the skills

• Information includes a wider range of material including case notes, internal reports etc.

• IL includes communicating and sharing information, so IL experts (librarians) could have a bigger role there too



4. An essential part of the constitution/ construction/ creation of knowledge

• Handling information is part of legal practice• IL is acknowledged as a separate skill/knowledge area

(not just “part of law”) (etc)• Information includes a wider range of material including

case notes, internal reports etc. and tacit knowledge• Knowledge is at the heart of what the legal profession

is about, and there is an identifiable set of information skills (IL) to do with creating, innovating & communicating: IL experts (librarians) could have a big role in this process



Find out through…• What you know already• Asking what they think are priorities, what should

new entrants learn about, what causes most problems, what should we spend more money on, what should the librarians be doing (etc etc) i.e. “let them chunter on” strategy

• What is in HRM strategies, strategic documents etc.: Could identify what category the organisationfalls into and where you would like to be


Creating relationships

• Different strategies appeal to different categories • People can be put off by strategies that push an

approach to IL that isn’t theirs • Could build a training programme round the

different categories• Ideally – people extend their ideas about IL

through learning about other ways of seeing it


Part 2!Research priorities for IL: What are the

really important questions and topics that should be researched?


Research project• Researchers:

James O’Brien and Christopher Rhodes• Delphi technique

– Experts rate (in this case) IL research topics/ questions: are they important?

– Use statements from literature and participants– Aims to get agreement on what is important

• 1st round: 20 people; 2nd round 18• Info pros from legal firms & law Departments

Thank you!

Note: photo not copyright of SW


• 35 items, including 9 added by participants• Looking for:

– High rating (4 or 5 out of 5)– High level of agreement about whether it was important

• The winners were……


Highest priority (5)• How much time do legal workers spend searching

for legal information?• How much money could professional information

literacy training save legal firms by improving workers legal information searching skills and therefore saving them?

• Why do trainee solicitors find it hard to transfer legal research and information literacy skills from the LPC course into practice within their firm?


Highest level of agreement• How much time do legal workers spend searching

for legal information? (priority 5 – the winner!)• What are effective information literacy training

methods in the legal workplace? (4)• Are the skills of legal practitioners transferable to

new IL problems involved with database/web searching? (4)

• To what extent does IL enhance productivity in the legal workplace? (4)


Most focus on

• Workplace efficiency• Training issues

Are they by any chance related?I noticed this quote (Gray et al, 2007) “Obviously, training is a way of encouraging the efficient use of resources, and to justify expenditure on these expensive materials.”

Note: removed in this version: screenshot of article


Sheila Webber [email protected] http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/

http://adventuresofyoshikawa.blogspot.com/

Sheila Yoshikawa


References• Gray, K. et al. (2007) “Training the Trainer.” Legal

information management, 7 (1), 20-22.• O’Sullivan, C. (2006) “Is information literacy a basis for life-

long learning? Observations from the workplace.” Paper presented at the 6th ANZIIL Symposium. http://www.anziil.org/events_meetings/2006/events/symposium-series-six/overview.htm

• Webb, J. (2006) “Leadership in KM and the role of the CKO.” Legal information management, 6 (4), 267-270.

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