Presentation by Charlie Inskip (UCL) from a roundtable on workplace information literacy, organised by CILIP and InformAll, on 19 March 2015

1. Information Competencies in the Workplace
Thursday, 19 March 2015,
12.30pm – 4.30pm
The BT Centre, 81 Newgate Street, London, EC1A 7AJ

2. Communications
• Wifi:
– _BTWi-fi
– No user name or login required – apart from your email
address
• Google doc: http://tinyurl.com/mbofs6c
• Twitter #icitw

3. Programme
12.00 Registration
12.15 Lunch
1.00 Welcome and introduction
1.20 Panellists
1.40 Q&A
2.00 Workshop 1
2.45 Refreshment break
3.00 Workshop 2
3.45 Roundup
4.00 Summary, conclusion and next steps
4.30 Close

4. Context
• CILIP: Chartered Institute of Library and Information
Professionals
• InformAll: collaborative, multi-agency focus for
promoting the relevance, importance and benefits of
information literacy
• ILG: A CILIP Special Interest Group which encourages
debate and the exchange of knowledge in all aspects
of Information Literacy.

5. Information literacy…
• Information literacy is knowing when and why you need
information, where to find it, and how to evaluate, use and
communicate it in an ethical manner. (CILIP, 2013)
• “… information literacy and lifelong learning are the
beacons of the Information Society, illuminating the
courses to development, prosperity and freedom.
Information Literacy lies at the core of lifelong learning. It
empowers people in all walks of life to seek, evaluate, use
and create information effectively to achieve their
personal, social, occupational and educational goals. It is a
basic human right in a digital world and promotes social
inclusion of all nations.” (UNESCO, 2006)

6. (SCONUL, 2011)
(VITAE, 2010)
(ANCIL, 2012)
(Manchester Metropolitan University, 2002)
(Eisenberg, 2008)

7. Information literacy in the workplace
• ‘Learning’ is not the primary goal
• “…productivity, quality measurements, and development of expertise” (Lundh et
al, 2013)
• “Effectiveness” (O'Farrill, 2010)
– Information Literacy as Knowledge Management
– NHS
• Firefighters, Lloyd (2005, 2006)
• SME and Charities (Go On UK, 2013)
“Information literacy should be defined as the ability to
know what there is in a landscape and to draw meaning
from this through engagement and experience with
information” (Lloyd, 2006:570)

8. Recent documentation
• Transferring information know-how
• Information Literacy in the Workplace:
An annotated bibliography
• Information literacy is for life, not just
for a good degree: a literature review
• Digital skills for tomorrow’s world

9. INFORMATION
DIGITAL
ICT
COMPUTING
DATA
MEDIA
RESEARCH
PROBLEM
CURRENT
LITERACY
SKILLS
FLUENCY
COMPETENCIES
CAPABILITIES
ABILITIES
SOLVING
AWARENESS
UNDERSTANDING
EVALUATION
KNOW-HOW
KNOWLEDGE
CONFIDENCE
CAPACITY
USE
WORKPLACE
REPORTS
PRESENTATIONS
PLANS
COPYRIGHTS
CONFIDENTIALITY
INSTRUCTIONS
WEIGHTS
MEASURES
UP-TO-DATE

10. Purpose of the day
• The wish to hold an event about information literacy/ competencies/ skills
in the workplace came out of our information literacy project which
formally ended in December 2014. This is a relatively new area for CILIP
and one of the project deliverables was a statement on IL in the workplace
and we hope that this event will inform this.
• InformAll had similar concerns and at the time of our project were
conducting research into how IL is perceived by a range of players at the
interface between HE and employment. Part of InformAll’s remit is to raise
awareness of IL as an important set of transferrable attributes and the
research and subsequent report Transferability of IL beyond academia was
a part of this work.
• Beyond academia the concept of IL is not widely recognised though the
importance of acquiring an ability and capacity to handle information and
to understand its use, application etc is recognised as a necessary skills set
amongst employers and others in the employment sector.

11. Purpose of the day
• Explore what we mean by information
competencies and skills
• Discuss challenges and opportunities

12. Anticipated outcomes
• We see this event as an exploratory one
• In addition to it being a learning experience
for both us and delegates we would like a
practical outcome for employers, careers
advisers etc.

13. Programme
• We’ll kick off with each of the panellists speaking
about their own perceptions and experiences.
• We’ll then split into groups for the workshops.
You will find your group number on your badges.
• There will be a reporting back session at 3.45pm
when we ask the groups to think of at least one
tangible idea that could have a practical outcome.
• We will be having a refreshment break at 2.45pm.

14. Panellists
• Alan Beesley – SELEX
• Lucy Hawkins – AGCAS / University of Oxford

15. Panellists
Question 1:
• How would you define information competencies?
• How relevant are information competencies and skills to an
individual’s effectiveness as an employee in your organisation?
• Is a lack of information competencies and skills identified as a “skills
gap” by employers?
Question 2:
• Can you give any examples of specific information competencies
training you have experienced or instigated in your organisation?
• Do you have examples of policies and strategies?
• Whose job is it to make sure people have these information
competencies - Educators, employers, individuals themselves?

16. Workshop 1
• What do information competencies and skills mean
to those around the table? What’s the problem?
• Key issues:
• Information leads to outcomes
• Security – information as an asset
• Knowledge management / transfer
• Problems with transferability
• Importance of context
• Individuals / organisations

17. Workshop 2
• Explore the challenges and how they can be addressed.
What can CILIP and InformAll do to help? (Use the final
10 minutes of this session to think of at least one
tangible idea that could have a practical outcome)
• Key issues:
• Information leads to outcomes
• Security – information as an asset
• Knowledge management / transfer
• Problems with transferability
• Importance of context
• Individuals / organisations

18. Roundup
• Workshop participants report back to the group

19. Summary, conclusions, next steps

20. Thank you for your participation