This was given at the CILIP East of England ISG meeting, May 2009, in Foxton, UK. I have added some additional notes for Slideshare (mostly in boxes on the slides). It was part of a programme that was looking at what skills and knowledge library and information professionals needed to meet the needs of young people. "Cutting through the hype" (in my title) indicates that I think that we shouldn't accept steroetypes & generalisations of what generations are like.

1. Cutting through the
hype to make a
confident future
library and
information
profession
Sheila Webber
University of Sheffield Department of
Information Studies
May 2009
Tulip photo, SL pictures and slides copyright Sheila Webber, 2009

2. About the presentation
This was given at the CILIP East of England ISG
meeting, May 2009, in Foxton, UK.
I have added some additional notes for Slideshare
(mostly in boxes on the slides).
The presentation includes quotations from students on our MA
Librarianship course: they responded to questions about
whether they thought you could generalise about generations,
& what skills were needed to meet the needs of upcoming
students
Sheila Webber, 2009

3. “I currently volunteer in a children's library and we have young
people come in to find a new books to read, those who do
their homework with the books, those who do homework
solely on the computer, and those who use the computers
purely for gaming. This is a simple example, but although
research may indicate some useful generalisations, there will
always be those who do not fit the patterns and if, as
librarians, we say that we are there for all users then we
cannot base our services on generalisations”
Student comment
Sheila Webber, 2009

4. “I was amused to find out that I fit into the milennials ... age
range. I am certainly not a ‘digital native’ – it takes me two
days to re-learn the TV remote each time I go back home ...
look past the milennial myths and recognise the true need for
information literacy within this group”
Student comment
Sheila Webber, 2009

5. “The provision of all services needs to have the users in mind ...
1) Children: intellectual and emotional; language, social,
educational and motor skills.
2) Young people: social, motor skills, emotional and educational.
3) Adults: knowledge for work, self development and social
4) Senior citizens: self-development and social
... For young people with needs for development of social and
motor skills, they should be given their own spaces for
expressions of creativity etc. A suggestion is to set up small cafe
style public libraries that are marketed at young people ... Three
zones: eating..., reading ... and playing (games consoles and
board games)”
Student comment
Sheila Webber, 2009

6. The next slide is a link to Michael Wesch’s video in which he
asked students to co-produce a document about what they did
with their time and how they felt about their experience at
university.
The question I pose at the end (“What is an appropriate
response?”) arises from the fact that the response to this
video can be that since e.g. students don’t read books, and
they do Facebook, we must give up on books and do things
through facebook. Whereas I think that in our role as
educators we have a duty to help learners improve their ability
to concentrate, follow an argument through a lengthier text,
and be able to engage with it critically: for their development
as people, not just as students
Sheila Webber, 2009

7. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o
What is an appropriate response?
Sheila Webber, 2009

8. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZokqjjIy77Y
What is an
appropriate
response?
Similarly, this is an interesting video from students at Robin Hood
primary school in Birmingham, UK. The message (to use technology to
expand options and creativity) is obviously good. However I don’t think
you should take it as meaning that you can’t still get children involved in
learning & thinking by just enagaging face to face or using old fashioned
tools like paper and pencil (as in the video!)
Sheila Webber, 2009

9. This is a picture of Zatorah Shepherd’s Multiple Intelligences build in Second
Life. The list at the bottom is Howard Gardner’s original list of MIs
• Understanding people & their differences
• Recognising the needs of the whole person and
their multiple intelligences
• Not just about the gizmos ....
Visual, Linguistic, Logical/mathematical, Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Musical
Sheila Webber, 2009

10. ... and I speak as
someone who
takes pictures of
my Second Life
avatar, blogs
them and
uploads them to
Flickr ...
Sheila Webber, 2009

11. CILIP= Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (UK professional
association). The Body of Knowledge outlines the key knowledge and skill areas
that library & information professionals are expected to have. I suggest that it should
have users more at the centre
CILIP body of knowledge
Conceptual structures Knowledge
Info need
Information User behaviour User/client
Documentation Curation/ resource
Collection/ Info resource
management
Changes? “User/client” is more central, pervasive ....

12. On this slide I put a screenshot from the
Tate Gallery’s page
(http://kids.tate.org.uk/games/paint/) on
which people can “Create their own
masterpiece” online. This site was
recommended by one of my students as a
way of engaging young people in learning.
“For children, have relevant resources that can capture their imagination. A
good website for children is called ‘Tate Paint’” Student comment
Sheila Webber, 2009

13. On this slide I put a screenshot from the “3
Things blog, that was reporting on the
“Beyond 23 Things Unconference”
http://wiki.sla.org/display/23Things
“23 Things” initiatives create programmes to
learn about Web 2.0 applications by setting
regular (e.g. weekly) activities, each to do with a
different Web 2.0 application. They created a
mindmap of issues that were raised. I felt that
there were some things missing ….
Sheila Webber, 2009

14. What is missing?
http://wiki.sla.org
/display/23Things
Sheila Webber, 2009

15. Club Penguin
http://www.kzero.co.uk/
blog/?page_id=2537
The Kzero chart is to show
that as interest from
children/teen age groups in
virtual worlds is growing, this
is not necessarily going to
continue as a niche Games, play ...
Sheila Webber, 2009

16. But also ... ?
• Core domains of library/information work?
• Development of skills and attitudes to
make meaningful context and
application?
• Other ways of learning & sense making
I do feel that sometimes our core knowledge and
skill areas get lost when we focus on new
technology and tools and generic skills that
EVERYONE needs. If you do that too much you
lose focus on what makes the profession distinctive
Sheila Webber, 2009

17. 5 characteristics for professional
success ... from 1998 (Griffiths)
• [Be a] guide in the face of an uncertain future ...
pioneering new knowledge frontiers
• Collaborate “we have to have a deep understanding of
needs and capabilities, our own and our collaborators’”
• Juggle priorities to meet changing needs, and maintain
flexibility and agility
• Empower
• Understand the core capabilities of one’s organisation,
work group and colleagues
And “old” insights and advice are still worthwhile!
Sheila Webber, 2009

18. “We should not devalue the knowledge that
people have that may not seem appropriate
in the environment that we are creating –
we just have to extract the appropriate
components and assist them in applying it
to new situations.” Griffiths (1998)
One message being: bring staff with you by
developing them, acknowledging skills that
are still valuable and helping people to
transfer them to new contexts Sheila Webber, 2009

19. Confident future library and
information professionals
• Focusing on the librarian rather the library –
visible, communicating and personal
• “User” more central, and no longer just a “user”
• Library/ information professional has expertise in
core domains which still underpin the profession
• Building on core ... how to develop agility,
adaptability, pioneering spirit, ability to judge
capabilities & empower ...
Sheila Webber, 2009

20. Confident future library and
information professionals
• Not getting worried about gizmos for their own sake
• Investigating their use as information tools – which
aspects of core domain can they be used in?
• Exploring the “why” and “where” of using as much as
“how” they work
• More development of visual (etc.) literacies, part of
multiple intelligences approach?
• How far we stretch social role & use social networking
Visual, Linguistic, Logical/mathematical, Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Musical
Sheila Webber, 2009

21. How to learn & develop?
Information & Library Schools
Professional bodies
Confident future
library and information
professionals
Employers
Collaborators ... (“users”,
All 4 groups have a
fellow professionals,
contribution to make
sponsors etc.)
in helping the
profession meet the
future Sheila Webber, 2009

22. Sheila Webber
s.webber@shef.ac.uk
http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/
Sheila Yoshikawa
http://adventuresofyoshikawa.blogspot.com/ (SL blog)
http://www.netvibes.com/sheilawebber (Web 2.0 links)
Sheila Webber, 2009

23. References
• Griffiths, J-M. (1998) “The new information professional.”
ASIS Bulletin, Feb/March. http://www.asis.org/Bulletin/Feb-
98/griffiths.html
Sheila Webber, 2009