Librarians, learning support and academic staff could benefit from knowing more about the pathways that learners take through academic information: how they perceive, model and negotiate the information environment. With a richer understanding of our learners’ individual journeys, we can make our interventions more relevant and more timely; we can structure our courses to allow pathfinding to develop; and we can help our learners to navigate reflectively through the sea of information. We present a range of information discovery journeys, from reflections upon formal search processes to a library fairy story. This book represents the richness of information discovery.

1. “I would definitely recommend this
chapter to new IL practitioners”
Manchester NLPN on
‘An Educational Researcher’s Journey’
(Cullen and Delasalle)
Manchester New Library Professionals Network
http://manchesternlpn.wordpress.com/2013/10/07/only-connect-a-review/

2. Cover design by Amy Kilner

3. 740 repository
downloads

4. Josh Filhol Illustration
www.jfilhol.com
Amy Kilner Design
http://amykilner.co.uk/

5. “Only Connect challenges
pre-conceptions information
professionals may hold with
regards to what and whom
constitute as being ‘information
literate’ and asks the reader to
broaden their view”
Manchester New Library Professionals Network
http://manchesternlpn.wordpress.com/2013/10/07/only-connect-a-review/

6. Illustration by Josh Filhol from ‘The Fishscale of Academicness’
(Gröppel-Wegener and Walton)

7. Into the woods:
teaching trails and
learning journeys

8. Alongside observing the
complex eddies of
group dynamics ... I was
also watching a class in
action.
‘The Stable Group’
(Mathew)

9. Even the dogs are learning to become
guardians or gatekeepers: “Zack was teaching
Bonnie how to fight and to bark with more
aggression”
‘Memories’
(Dimmock, Hoon and MacLellan)

10. Information literacy is not a
fixed set of skills.
Information literacy cannot be
measured as a percentage or
grade.
Information literacy is not
independent of context.

12. There is no right or wrong
way to be information
literate, there are simply
ways that work, or don’t
work, for an individual in their
current context.

13. Illustration by Josh Filhol from ‘The Fishscale of Academicness’
(Gröppel-Wegener and Walton)

14. Planned routes suggested and
tested by knowledgeable guides
... a cross between
Baedeker and Bradshaw
Image by Bruno Girin, flickr.com

15. ‘An Educational Researcher’s Journey’
(Delasalle and Cullen)

16. a kind of A-Z guide to literature
searching grows from one individual’s
journey …
this chapter works rather like an
illustrative travel guide.
‘An Educational Researcher’s Journey’ (Delasalle and Cullen)
Image by coconinoco, flickr.com (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

17. ‘The Information Quest’
(Tolly)

18. ‘Exploring information landscapes and bubbles’
(Burkhardt and Carbery)

19. In the journey into the
unknown, play and learning both
require an exceeding of preset
boundaries.
To cross this threshold is to shift
into the unimagined ‘now’ of
creativity.

20. Cover design by Amy Kilner

21. Two clear routes into the forest
emerged. We’ve described these
as following the paths and
exploring the landscape.
‘Journeying Without a Map’
(Johnson and Walsh)

22. ‘The Information Quest’
(Tolly)

23. There is, then, a contextual
disjointedness to teaching and
learning:
the two phases are
simultaneously intimate and
entirely distinct.
‘At Work in the Phenomenal Field’
(Norton)

24. ‘The Library’
(Ramsden)

25. ‘The Information Quest’
(Tolly)

26. th
5
most downloaded
item in Huddersfield
University’s repository

27. Illustration by Josh Filhol from ‘The Fishscale of Academicness’
(Gröppel-Wegener and Walton)

28. ‘Memories’
(Dimmock, Hoon and MacLellan)

29. ‘Journeying Without a Map’
(Johnson and Walsh)
Illustration by John Tenniel, 1866
(public domain)
Being on hand, like a guide who
lurks behind trees or appears at
difficult forks in the path like a
Cheshire cat on the branch, could
also be a useful role for librarians
to take …

30. 574 unique visitors
to book webpage

31. We gather and collect garments
as a way of retaining
precious thoughts
‘Memories’
(Dimmock, Hoon and MacLellan)
Image by Sean Venn, flickr.com, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

32. ‘Information seeking and challenging the concept of the unreliable narrator’
(Andrews and Soulsby-Kermode)
Image: ‘Watch comic strip’ by Penny Andrews and Steve Horry

33. ‘Exploring information landscapes and bubbles’
(Burkhardt and Carbery)

34. ‘Information seeking and challenging the concept of the unreliable narrator’
(Andrews and Soulsby-Kermode)
Image: ‘Radiator comic strip’ by Penny Andrews and Steve Horry

35. ‘The Library’ (Ramsden)
Image: © Nevit Dilmen, Wikimedia Commons

36. ‘Exploring information landscapes and bubbles’
(Burkhardt and Carbery)

37. Illustration by Josh Filhol from ‘The Fishscale of Academicness’
(Gröppel-Wegener and Walton)

38. ‘Information seeking and challenging the concept of the unreliable narrator’
(Andrews and Soulsby-Kermode)
Image: ‘Overload’ by Marika Soulsby-Kermode

39. “It communicates the rewards of
collaborative partnerships and the
dynamic ways student learning can
be supported.”
Manchester NLPN on
‘Memories’
(Dimmock, Hoon and MacLellan)
Manchester New Library Professionals Network
http://manchesternlpn.wordpress.com/2013/10/07/only-connect-a-review/

40. If this source was a sea creature,
what would it be like – and why?
Would it be grey and with dangerous teeth, because it
has no illustrations and uses unfamiliar words?
Would it be fat, because it gives you a lot of
information on a very specific topic?
Would it be puffed up, because it seems a bit
pompous and without real point?
Would it be curled up,
because the information
is presented in a roundabout way?
‘The Fishscale of Academicness’
(Gröppel-Wegener and Walton)

41. Illustration by Josh Filhol from ‘The Fishscale of Academicness’
(Gröppel-Wegener and Walton)

42. “Has this book made you think?
Edified you a little (or a lot)?
Advanced the idea of
information literacy at all?”
The answer to all three:
a resounding “yes”
Manchester New Library Professionals Network
http://manchesternlpn.wordpress.com/2013/10/07/only-connect-a-review/

43. ‘A Virtual Conversation Between Two Artists’
(Amado and Alarcón)
Image: ‘Two Lighthouses’ by Inês Amado

44. ‘The Library’ (Ramsden)
Image: © Nevit Dilmen, Wikimedia Commons

45. 46 print copies sold
(for actual money!)

47. ‘A Virtual Conversation Between Two Artists’
(Amado and Alarcón)
Image: ‘Interactive Metro’ by Ximena Alarcón

48. This journey narrates the
way that I sought
information to try and
make some sense of my
sexual identity ...
‘I Am What I Am’
(Osborne)

49. ‘The Information Quest’
(Tolly)

50. Even the dogs are learning:
Zack was teaching Bonnie
how to fight and to bark with
more aggression.
‘The Stable Group’
(Mathew)

52. The library was small, and had
an adults’ and a children’s
section. It also had its own
unique smell of old book and
furniture polish.
‘I Am What I Am’
(Osborne)

53. ‘A Virtual Conversation Between Two Artists’
(Amado and Alarcón)
Image: ‘Relocated’ by Inês Amado

54. The library may even
rebrand as The Zone of
Proximal Development.
‘At Work in the Phenomenal Field’
(Norton)

55. In a way you can imagine the
information you get from a particular
source as playing cards of the same suit.
In a basic Annotated Bibliography, you
present your reader with what in Poker
would be a series of Straight Flushes – cards
of the same suit, in sequence.
Just like they came out of the pack.
‘The Winning Hand of Independence’
(Gröppel-Wegener)

56. ‘A Virtual Conversation Between Two Artists’
(Amado and Alarcón)

57. ‘Information seeking and challenging the concept of the unreliable narrator’
(Andrews and Soulsby-Kermode)
Image: ‘Doodle’ by Marika Soulsby-Kermode

58. We are
extending, prolongi
ng, each other’s
thoughts, feelings
and dreams
‘A Virtual Conversation Between Two Artists’
(Amado and Alarcón)

59. ‘The Library’ (Ramsden)