Research carried out by the Scottish Information Literacy Project

1. Improving information skills in
the workplace: an overview of
research findings
Dr John Crawford
Christine Irving
Scottish Government, Victoria Quay
Knowledge Event - CRAIK
Tues 15th November 2011

2. Skills utilisation ?
• 'Skills utilisation is about ensuring the most effective
application of skills in the workplace to maximise
performance through the interplay of a number of key
agents (e.g. employers, employees, learning providers
and the state) and the use of a range of HR, management
and working practices. Effective skills utilisation seeks to
match the use of skills to business demands/needs.' (p.2)
Skills utilisation literature review, a report by CFE for the Education Analytical
Services, Lifelong Learning Research, Scottish Government (Executive
summary and full text ww.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/12/15114643/0)

3. Information Skills
Defined as skills to help you:
• search, find, evaluate and present information
but to address:
• information overload
• the needs of the information society for competent
information consumers
• requirements of the knowledge economy for a responsive
workforce (Andretta, 2005)
• the term information literacy evolved from information skills.

4. Information Literacy definitions
"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 (2004)
www.cilip.org.uk/get-involved/advocacy/information-literacy/pages/default.aspx
“Information Literacy was defined as the ability to identify,
locate, evaluate, organize and effectively create, use and
communicate information to address an issue or problem.”
Prague Declaration

5. Information Literacy Skills (CILIP definition)
• This definition implies several skills. We believe that the skills
(or competencies) that are required to be information literate
require an understanding of:
• A need for information
• The resources available
• How to find information
• The need to evaluate results
• How to work with or exploit results
• Ethics and responsibility of use
• How to communicate or share your findings
• How to manage your findings

6. The Nature of Information Literacy
Product Change in understanding
End
Process
Personal development
Skills
Attitudes Social participation
Values
Means Change in behaviour
A way of being An unappreciated way of being
NHS Scotland 2008

7. The Scottish Information Literacy
Project objectives 2004 - 2010
• Develop an information literacy framework, linking primary,
secondary and tertiary education to lifelong learning including
workplace and adult literacies agendas
• Advocacy on behalf of information literacy for education and
the wider community
• Work with information literacy champions both UK and
worldwide
• Research and promote information literacy in the workplace
• Identify and work with partners, both in education and the
wider community
• Research the role of information literacy in continuing
professional development
• Research the health and media literacies agenda

8. The role of the information literacy
framework in the workplace and skills
development
• Framework skills and competencies (CILIP definition)
– starting place
– used as advocacy tool in discussions re skills strategy / skills
needs
– link to work related learning
– needs to be interpreted to meet the needs of different
• sectors , professions
• organisations, departments, sections
• employers, employees, learners
• environments, resources (in all different formats and
mediums), experiences
– recognition of the nature of information literacy

9. Information literacy
development and research
• Most work is done in higher education and schools, is linked
to an assessment culture and is librarian directed
• Much less interest in the workplace and the wider community
• The public state sector is more interested in information than
the private sector
• Subject/industry sector is a big factor in information usage
• The SME presents particular problems
• Information usage in the workplace is a collaborative and
frequently unstructured activity and not librarian directed

10. Information literacy in the workplace
research
• Not a heavily studied area – limited literature
• Of particular interest is - Seven faces of information literacy
“Information literacy is experienced as:
1. using information technology for information awareness and
communication
2. finding information from appropriate sources
3. Executing a process
4. controlling information
5. building up a personal knowledge base in a new area of interest
6. working with knowledge and personal perspectives adopted in such a
way that novel insights are gained
7. using information wisely for the benefit of others.”
Bruce, Christine (1999)
See also work by Bonnie Cheuk and Anne-Marie Lloyd

11. Information literacy in the workplace
research (2)
“Organisations need people who can both collect and connect
information literate people operating in a knowledge
management environment.”
“Business leaders who have recognised the value of KM
should not have a difficulty in ‘joining the dots’ with IL
[information literacy]. The demands of the modern
organisation call for a workforce where IL is fostered,
encouraged and recognised. In the age of information
overload, IL skills are as essential as basic literacy and
numeracy”
Abell & Skelton (2005)

12. Information literacy in the workplace -
our research
• The role of information literacy in addressing a specific strand
of lifelong learning: the work agenda (Irving, 2006)
• The role of information literacy in the workplace: an
exploratory qualitative study (Crawford & Irving, 2007)
• Founded on a review of the pedagogic literature of learning in
the workplace (Eraut, Felstead, Lave and Wenger)
– Theorists agree that learning in the workplace is a form of
social interaction
– Split as to whether learning in the workplace is exclusively
situated there or not.

13. The role of information literacy in addressing a
specific strand of lifelong learning: the work agenda
Small exploratory study based on six interviews - part of
• MSc in Lifelong Learning and Development
• Learning and Teaching Scotland CPD Resource for Teachers
Suggests that:
• the term information literacy is not recognised within the
workplace
• however the associated skills and competencies are
recognised by individuals as important in the workplace but …
• generally no formal training on offer at work
• people believe they have these skills but employ coping
strategies and stick with the resources and skills they know

14. The role of information literacy in addressing a
specific strand of lifelong learning: the work agenda
also …
• employers implicitly expect people to have these skills and
competencies particularly for professional roles
• however if employers need education to equip individuals
with these skills, then information literacy needs to be
explicitly recognised as a core / key life skills in the learning
and teaching that takes place in school then further
developed from there onward into further and higher
education and in the workplace
• suggests that a person’s profession plays a key role of their
view of and relationship with information and subsequently
the level of information literacy skills and competencies
required.

15. The role of information literacy in the
workplace: an exploratory qualitative study
• Based on 20 interviews with employees mainly in the public
sector in central Scotland
• Interviews arranged with the help of Project partners and
contacts in Adult Literacies, Tribunals Service, Scottish
Government Library Services and health libraries
• Lack of private sector contacts
• Funded by the British Academy

16. Scottish Government
Some findings …
• Relatively introverted information environment – ‘knowing
the system’
• Need to bear in mind the views of ministers
• Existing policy is often used as a starting point in information
searching
• People are the principal source of information
• IL process implicitly understood whether evaluating people or
conventional sources

17. Scottish Government
Some more findings …
• ERDM, the Intranet, the Scottish Government website, online
newsletters, press cuttings and Google
• Advanced Internet searching techniques generally not
understood
• Link between level of work, qualifications, and membership of
professional bodies and levels of information searching
• Interviews with staff prepared to step outside the
conventional information culture most noteworthy

18. Conclusions (1)
• The traditional ‘library’ view of information as deriving from
electronic and printed sources only is invalid in the workplace
- must include people as sources of information
• It is essential to recognize the key role of human relationships
in the development of information literacy in the workplace
• The public enterprise with its emphasis on skills and
qualifications is a fertile area for further investigation and
developmental work
• Adult Literacies training is a powerful driver to encourage
workplace information literacy
• Advanced Internet training extends employees’ information
horizons

19. Conclusions (2)
• A skill and qualifications based agenda is an important pre-
condition
• Information literacy training programmes must be highly
focused on the target audience
• All organizations have information policies but may be
unaware of the fact
• An understanding of what constitutes information literacy is
widespread in the workplace but is often implicit rather than
explicit and is based on qualifications, experience, and
networking activities
• Organizations which access a wide range of information, of
high quality, including sources outwith their organization, will
make the best informed decisions

20. What we have found
• Different groups of people constantly reinterpret IL in the light of
their own qualifications, training, experience and needs.
• Information Literacy is a key career choice, progression, CPD,
employability and workplace skill.
• IL is still not recognised in government policy skills documents
produced since 2005. It is rolled up with IT although digital
literacy appearing however there have been some progress ….
• Scottish Government website – Education and Training
(Information Literacies) www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/skills-
strategy/progress/sg/supportingindividuals/InformationLiteracies/Q/forceup
date/on

21. Progress / recognition for information literacy
• Scottish Government Library Services took on board the research findings –
identified improvements to staff training, services and resources to help
improve the information literacy skills of Scottish Government staff.
• Scottish Government Community of Practice for an Information Literate
Scotland created
– moving to new home with an updated National Information Literacy
Framework Scotland ‘Information Skills for a 21st Century Scotland’
• The Curriculum for Excellence Literacy Experiences and Outcomes recognises
information skills and competencies specifically:
– finding and using information
– understanding, analysing and evaluation
– organising and using information
www.ltscotland.org.uk/Images/literacy_experiences_outcomes_tcm4-
539998.pdf
and its relationship to lifelong learning and the workplace.

22. Questions? Contact details
John Crawford
polbae2003@yahoo.co.uk
Christine Irving
Christine.irving8@googlemail.com