International Association of Technological University Librarieshttp://www.iatul.orgThe Association for College and Research Libraries (US) is rethinking their Information Literacy Standardshttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=456 
ACRL’s Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (“the Standards”) were first adopted in 2000. Since then the Standards have become one of the most essential documents, related to the emergence of information literacy as a recognized learning outcome at many institutions of higher education.
Now the Standards should be extensively revised by a new task force including non-librarians from university departments, higher education organizations, and an accreditor.
 
The aim is to
"Update the Information literacy competency standards for higher education so that they reflect the current thinking on such things as the creation and dissemination of knowledge, the changing global higher education and learning environment, the shift from information literacy to information fluency, and the expanding definition of information literacy to include multiple literacies, e.g., transliteracy, media literacy, digital literacy, etc."
 

 

]]>Fri, 14 Jun 2013 04:55 GMThttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=4562013 Horizon Reporthttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=455Produced by ELI and NMC each year, the Horizon Report describes six areas of emerging technology that will have significant impact on higher education and creative expression over the next one to five years. The areas of emerging technology cited for 2013 are:

Time to adoption: One Year or Less
  •  Massively Open Online Courses
  • Tablet Computing
Time to adoption: Two to Three Years
  • Games and Gamification
  •  Learning Analytics
Time to adoption: Four to Five Years
  •  3D Printing
  •  Wearable Technology
Go to source:
http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/2013-horizon-report

 

]]>Wed, 29 May 2013 02:53 GMThttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=455Developing Cyberinfrastructure for Earth Science: an Opportunity for Collaborationhttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=453Providing access to digital resources enables scientists to ask and answer questions in ways they could not in the past. There is increasing interest and research in how to create the infrastructure necessary to support science data and its use, and the field of Earth Science is joining the conversation. As part of a series of domain-specific workshops hosted by EarthCube, a National Science Foundation program, the Cyberinfrastructure for Sedimentary Geology workshop was held on March 25 and 26, 2013 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Representatives from the sedimentary community gathered to discuss cyberinfrastructure issues relating to Earth Science data and the future development of the EarthCube program. During the workshop, participants discussed challenges to conducting scientific research in this domain; identified current resources; and discussed the potential impact of EarthCube on the future of research and pedagogy. Workshops such as this one are important to the field of information and library science, as they offer opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration. Library professionals have expertise and experience to add to the conversation as EarthCube moves forward.
 
Go to source:
http://www.dlib.org/dlib/may13/ramdeen/05ramdeen.html
]]>Wed, 29 May 2013 02:47 GMThttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=453UK wide survey of academics spotlights researchers’ reliance on open accesshttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=454A major survey of UK Academics released today examines the attitudes of researchers and practitioners working within higher education. It sheds light on their behaviours, including their reliance on digital technologies, the Internet and open access.
 
The survey, funded and guided by Jisc and RLUK and conducted on their behalf by the not-for-profit research organisation Ithaka S+R, received 3,498 responses, (a response rate of 7.9%). The survey covers a range of areas from how academics discover and stay abreast of research, to their teaching of undergraduates. How they choose research topics and publication channels, to their views on learned societies and university libraries, and their collections.
 
Overarching themes are an increasing reliance on the Internet for their research and publishing activities and the strong role that openness is playing in their work. Key findings include:
  • Access limitations
  • Use of open resources
  • The Internet as starting point
  • Following one’s peers
  • Emergence of e-publications
 
Go to source:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/news/stories/2013/05/jisc-rluk-ithaka-survey.aspx
]]>Wed, 29 May 2013 02:47 GMThttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=454Unlocking Open Educational Resources (OERs) Interaction Datahttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=452Each time a teacher or a learner interacts with an Open Educational Resource (OER), these interactions produce data. This "interaction data" includes "artifact data" routinely captured during any online interaction by Web server logs (e.g., users' browsers, users' IP addresses) and "social data" created during Web 2.0-style interactions with resources (e.g., tags, comments, ratings, favorites). Interaction data can serve a number of purposes in a period of increased interest worldwide in OERs quality and uptake. First, interaction data is a valuable source of analytics about OERs and typical audience profiles. Second, combined with metadata, interaction data can enhance searching, ranking, and recommendations of learning resources. However, obtaining this data is not always easy since OERs, in particular, are generally dispersed among different systems where the interactions between resources and their users take place. This paper describes approaches to unlocking, collecting and aggregating this interaction data.

Go to source:
http://www.dlib.org/dlib/may13/massart/05massart.html
]]>Wed, 29 May 2013 02:45 GMThttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=452Open Educational Resources as Learning Materialshttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=451 
ARL has published Research Library Issues (RLI) no. 280, which features articles on open educational resources (OERs) as an alternative to traditional textbooks, ARL's e-book licensing effort, and research library trends as shown by the ARL Statistics. A pre-publication version of the article about OERs was released earlier this year.
 
Go to source: http://publications.arl.org/rli280/2
]]>Wed, 29 May 2013 02:33 GMThttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=451A guide to open educational resourceshttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=450Open educational resources (OER) are learning and teaching materials, freely available online for anyone to use. Examples include full courses, course modules, lectures, games, teaching materials and assignments. They can take the form of text, images, audio, video and may even be interactive.
 
Teachers, learners and the general public can access and make use of open educational resources, irrespective of their location or affiliation with any particular institution. Open educational resources are shared via the websites of education providers and through public services like i-Tunes U, SlideShare, YouTube and Jorum.
 
Individuals and organisations can create and share their own open educational resources. Once released, the resources can be used by a learner, reused by a teacher, remixed with other resources or repurposed to create new educational materials. While it is not essential to embrace all aspects – release, use, reuse and repurposing – involvement with one aspect tends to lead naturally to another.
Releasing open educational resources is not simply about putting learning and teaching material online; it involves making the material available in a genuinely open way. Creative Commons or similar licenses are used so that the creator of the resources can retain copyright, while others can copy, distribute, and make some uses of their work.
 
Go to source:

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/programmerelated/2013/Openeducationalresources.aspx

]]>Wed, 29 May 2013 02:27 GMThttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=450US Faculty Survey 2012http://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=449Ithaka S+R US Faculty Survey has focused since its inception on capturing an accurate picture of faculty members' practices, attitudes, and needs. In the fifth triennial cycle, fielded in fall 2012, the survey focused on research and teaching practices broadly, as well as the dissemination, collecting, discovery, and access of research and teaching materials. Findings from this cycle of the Ithaka S+R US Faculty Survey will provide colleges and universities, libraries, learned societies, and academic publishers with insight into the evolving attitudes and practices of faculty members in the context of substantial environmental change for higher education.
 
The development of the 2012 questionnaire was guided by an advisory committee of librarians, publishers, policy makers, and a scholarly society executive. The overall project was supported by some 20 colleges and universities, learned societies, and publishers / vendors.
 
Major topics covered by the survey include:
  • Research processes
  • Teaching practices
  • Scholarly communications
  • The library
  • Scholarly societies
In addition to the report of findings which is available for download, the underlying dataset is being deposited with ICPSR for preservation and access.

Go to source:
http://www.sr.ithaka.org/research-publications/us-faculty-survey-2012

 

]]>Wed, 29 May 2013 02:22 GMThttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=449Online Discussion about TeachMeetshttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=448 
If you ever wanted to find out what a TeachMeet is, then read this http://www.dspace.cam.ac.uk/bitstream/1810/244069/1/TeachMeet-case-study.pdf and join the discussion next week Tuesday 21 May, 8pm GWT.
 
Helen Blanchett has kindly started us off by sharing her experiences of TeachMeets aimed at teachers as well as ones for librarians. Her blog post is already online at http://infolitjournalclub.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/teachmeets-discussion-on-21st-may.html and the discussion will take place in the comments of the blog.
]]>Fri, 17 May 2013 04:18 GMThttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=448IATUL Board of Directors - Call for Nominationshttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=447
 

The International Association of Scientific and Technological University Libraries is calling for interested and qualified candidates to serve on its board of directors.

IATUL is looking for candidates to represent the Americas on its board of directors, the executive body of IATUL responsible for the further development of the association.
 
According to the IATUL constitution ordinary and affiliated members may propose representatives for election. Nominations shall name the candidate and shall show evidence of the candidate's consent. The nomination must have a proposer and seconder, who must both be official representatives of a member institution. The decision as to who shall be invited to join the board will be made by the board and presented to the general assembly for approval at the annual conference. New board members will be expected to take up their office on the 1 January of the following year. Members of the board are elected for a term of three years, and shall be eligible for immediate re-election to one additional term.
 
Candidates are expected to take an active part in the endeavours of the IATUL Board of Directors, especially by attending board meetings and taking on responsibilities related to assigned tasks and roles on the board. 
 
Nominations may be sent to the IATUL office (iatul@ub.tum.de) by the end of June 2013 and name the candidate, who must be the official representative of his or her institution. Please use the nomination form attached.
On behalf of the IATUL Board of Directors
 
Reiner Kallenborn
IATUL President
 
Nomination formNomination form
]]>Fri, 17 May 2013 03:35 GMThttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=447"Information Literacy Star" Jane Secker awarded as 2013 Mover & Shaker by Library Journal for advocating ILhttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=446“Information and digital literacy is far more than just an academic competency; it’s essential for people in all walks of life to achieve their personal and professional goals and participate fully as citizens in the world”, Secker says.

Go to source:http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2013/03/people/movers-shakers-2013/jane-secker-movers-shakers-2013-advocates/
 

]]>Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:48 GMThttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=446Survey on attitudes and practices regarding research, teaching and communicationhttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=445The Ithaka S+R US Faculty Survey 2012 focused on research and teaching practices broadly, as well as the dissemination, collecting, discovery, and access of research and teaching materials. Findings from this cycle of the Ithaka S+R US Faculty Survey will provide colleges and universities, libraries, learned societies, and academic publishers with insight into the evolving attitudes and practices of faculty members in the context of substantial environmental change for higher education.

Go to source: http://www.sr.ithaka.org/research-publications/us-faculty-survey-2012

]]>Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:40 GMThttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=445Overview of Information Literacy Resource Worldwidehttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=444A collection of Information Literacy Resources from around the world is now available on UNESCO’s website: “Overview of Information Literacy Resource Worldwide”. The e-book (available both in epub and pdf) is divided into 42 languages and lists selected resources for national information literacy programmes and developments. It also gives an overview of  Information Literacy terms in different languages. 
 
Go to source:
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/e_pub_brings_together_worldwide_information_literacy_resources_available_in_42_languages/
]]>Mon, 08 Apr 2013 22:57 GMThttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=444SPARC Open Data Resource for Research Fundershttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=443 SPARC has released a new community resource for research funders entitled, “Implementing an Open Data Policy”. This primer addresses key issues that these organizations encounter when considering the adoption and implementation of an open data policy. The guide covers big-picture topics such as how to decide on the range of activities an open data policy should cover. It also delves into areas of very specific concern, such as options for where data can be deposited, and how privacy and other concerns can be managed.

SPARC has worked with funding organizations with increasing frequency on a number of fronts recently, as interest in open access and open data has continued to grow. The genesis of this interest is twofold. First, many funders invest in research in order to speed the pace of scientific discovery, encourage innovation, enrich education, and to enhance the public good. These funders recognize that one way to attain these goals is to make their research outputs - and their supporting data - available as quickly and as openly as possible. Second, both open access and open data offer very real practical benefits for these organizations. Many of these research funders rely on private contributions to support our activities. Disseminating research outputs and data in a highly visible manner promotes sharing, discussion, and encourages follow-up science. It’s a clear way to demonstrate the effective use and stewardship of the funds entrusted to the organization.

 
Go to source:
http://www.arl.org/sparc/media/blog/new-sparc-open-data-resource-for-research-funders.shtml
]]>Tue, 26 Mar 2013 22:05 GMThttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=443The student experience and the future of librarieshttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=442JISC’s Ben Showers sends a message from the future explaining library systems in 2020 and offers advice on improving the student experience. 

Increasingly, the distinction between services provided by libraries and the technologies of companies like Microsoft, Amazon and Google, are blurring or disappearing entirely. For users there is no distinction. The expectations of students using library services are measured against the services they receive from these corporate providers. For libraries (and the wider university or college) to meet and exceed expectations, the library needs to learn from and use the tools and techniques so effectively employed by these companies.

Go to source: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/inform/inform36/LibrariesOfTheFuture.html

 

]]>Tue, 26 Mar 2013 22:04 GMThttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=442Spotting emerging technologies for 2013http://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=441Exciting new trends for education sees the tech of tomorrow being used today.

Bett 2013 in London and the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, offered lots of opportunities for JISC’s future-watchers to spot the ‘next big things’ for education. JISC’s programme director Matthew Dovey and JISC RSC’s e-learning advisor Judy Bloxham found that this was also the year when some recent technologies found themselves with practical applications.

Go to source: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/inform/inform36/SpottingEmergingTechnologies.html

]]>Tue, 26 Mar 2013 22:02 GMThttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=441What do librarians need to know about MOOCs?http://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=440Over the past several months, the proliferation of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) has been hailed as a potent defence against the rising cost and insular culture of attending a traditional college. The courses, which are generally taught by experts with affiliations to elite universities, are characterized by their unique pedagogy and unlimited enrolment. To date, no course has been accepted for transfer credit at a major on-campus institution; however some administrators and higher-education experts predict their gradual integration into university curriculum. This article examines the MOOC phenomenon, identifying aspects that academic librarians should consider in the coming years, including how these courses interact with scholarly resources and library services. Methods for integrating library services in these courses are evaluated, with recommendations for the best course of action.

Go to source:http://www.dlib.org/dlib/march13/wright/03wright.html

]]>Tue, 26 Mar 2013 22:00 GMThttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=440From Stacks to the Web: The Transformation of Academic Library Collectinghttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=439The existence of a ubiquitous and cheap worldwide communications network that increasingly makes documents easily and freely available will require a transformation of academic library collecting practice. It will be driven by a number of specific developments including: the digitization of content; the development of print repositories; the development of e-readers and print-on-demand publishing; the growth of open access; challenges to establish academic publishing organizations; and the growth of new forms of scholarship based on openness and social productivity. If academic libraries are to be successful, they will need to: deconstruct legacy print collections; move from item-by-item book selection to purchase-on-demand and subscriptions; manage the transition to open access journals; focus on curating unique items; and develop new mechanisms for funding national infrastructure. 

Go to source: http://crl.acrl.org/content/74/2/159.abstract

]]>Tue, 26 Mar 2013 21:58 GMThttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=439RCUK Policy on Open Accesshttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=438Research Councils UK (RCUK) has published the latest version of its revised Policy on Open Access, which comes in to effect on 1 April 2013. 

This latest version draws the policy and the guidance together into one document and aims to give researchers, research organisations as well as publishers further clarity on the implementation of the policy.

RCUK is keen to continue to engage with its stakeholders on the development of the guidance, so is inviting organisations to provide further input to this version where aspects may still not be clear. RCUK will then revise the guidance further to take into account these clarifications.

Go to source: http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/media/news/2013news/Pages/130305.aspx

]]>Tue, 26 Mar 2013 21:56 GMThttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=438Engaging Research Groups: Rethinking Information Literacy for Graduate Studentshttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=437Librarians have traditionally taught information literacy skills to science graduate students in separate courses dedicated to information-seeking, during assignment(s)-based library sessions for other courses, or through workshops. There is little mention in the professional literature of teaching graduate students within their research groups. This is certainly an alternative to consider - especially for smaller science graduate programs where the more traditional means of reaching graduate students are less likely.
 
This article discusses a collaborative effort between a Chemistry professor and Physical Sciences Librarian at Rutgers University-Newark to design a mini-course for a research group. With the amount of customization possible when working with research groups, this option may even become increasingly significant due to the growing importance of interdisciplinary research.
 
Go to source: http://www.istl.org/12-fall/refereed2.html
]]>Mon, 25 Mar 2013 22:04 GMThttp://www.iatul.org/news/default.asp?post=437