You can now follow the developments of the Welsh Information Literacy Project on Twitter.
Please follow us at: http://twitter.com/Welsh_info_lit
For further information you can also check out our website at the following address below:
http://www.library.wales.org/informationliteracy/
http://www.library.wales.org/index.php?id=7498&L=1
An excellent update from Karl Drinkwater on e-books and e-book readers:
http://blogs.rsc-wales.ac.uk/lr/2010/09/15/e-books-on-the-agenda-an-update/
24th November 2010
College / University ‘Merger’ event at the ATRiuM, University of Glamorgan, Cardiff.
This event will focus on the theme of mergers and papers will include merging ILL across Cardiff University libraries and ‘merging’ enquiry / help desks at Glamorgan University.
For further information please contact John Wright, Information & Library Services Team Leader at: University of Glamorgan, Cardiff ATRiuM, Adam Street, Cardiff CF24 2FN. Phone: 01443 668642; Email: jwright2@glam.ac.uk
The last decade has been a period of unprecedented change for university libraries. The rapid growth in numbers of students and staff across the higher education sector has been accompanied by the move to a substantially-digital environment, with some fundamental changes in how libraries and their users operate.
As they have responded to new developments over the past decade, and changed their operations, most university libraries have seen continued growth in their budgets in real terms. The next few years are going to be much more difficult in financial terms. Libraries therefore face a period in which they will have to cope with continued rapid, perhaps transformational, change, accompanied by reductions in their budgets.
In that context, this briefing paper from RIN looks at how the financial position of libraries in the higher education sector has changed over the period between 1999 and 2009 (the latest year for which statistics are available).
Overall, this briefing presents a picture in which library expenditure has been rising in real terms, but not as fast as expenditure – and activity – in the HE sector as a whole. So libraries face some real challenges as they prepare for a more difficult financial climate, with real and substantial cuts in expenditure.
The report and briefing sheet are available to download at: http://www.rin.ac.uk/our-work/communicating-and-disseminating-research/trends-finances-uk-higher-education-libraries-1999
The American Library Association (ALA) has just published a useful report: ‘Value of Academic Libraries: A Comprehensive Research Review and Report’.
You can download the report from http://www.acrl.ala.org/value/
The week of Monday 18th – Sunday 24th October has been allocated as Open Access Week across the globe. Now in its 4th year, this dedicated week aims to promote ‘Open Access as a new norm in scholarship and research’.
To mark the occasion the WRN are running a competition for partners with an Open Access theme.
They are looking for your best repository success story. Whether it’s a story of success convincing an academic researcher to interact with the repository, or a tale of success regarding a deposited item that ended up proving the wide-reaching audience of the repository.
Entries can be as long or as short as you want and they are looking to put the best stories together in a blog post and perhaps even in a new advocacy learning object!
The competition is open from now until the Friday before Open Access Week (15th October).
Email: wrnstaff@aber.ac.uk
There will be a prize available for the winning entry.
Good luck!
Learn about other Open Access Week events, contests and resources through www.openaccessweek.org
An all-Wales information literacy project launched yesterday aims to ensure that Wales receives the social, economic and educational benefits of a fully information literate population.
Launched on the United Nations’ International Literacy Day, the Welsh Information Literacy Project will develop a unified and progressive framework to support information literacy in schools, further and higher education, the workplace and the wider community, raising awareness of the importance of information literacy in 21st century Wales.
The project begins with the launch of the information literacy statement for Wales, inspired by an information literacy conference held at Gregynog Hall in mid Wales in 2009 which identified the need and scope for the project. The statement in full is:
“As humans, we like to find out about things – whether that’s information about our next holiday destination or a health condition. Being able to use different ways of finding information and being able to judge whether the information is trustworthy or accurate is vital: it opens up choices, empowers us and can give us more confidence. This is information literacy.
“Empowering individuals to seek, find and use the information they need to help them achieve their goals fosters an information literate population. This can lead to social and economic benefits to the Welsh nation.
“Librarians in Wales have come together to focus on information literacy and would welcome working with other partners to achieve this goal. This statement is the first step towards an information literacy framework for Wales, and ultimately, an information literate nation.”
Lying at the core of lifelong learning, information literacy empowers a proactive learning culture which is fundamental to educational attainment and progression. Information literacy skills also develop social inclusion, as access to information equates to choice and the power to make informed decisions. Those excluded from today’s ‘information society’ are in turn disempowered in aspects of life from the economic to the social.
The Welsh Information Literacy Project is based in Cardiff University’s Information Services Directorate and is funded by the Welsh Assembly Government’s CyMAL: Museums, Archives and Libraries Wales division. The project brings together librarians from all sectors across Wales and is working with partners from the Welsh Assembly Government and others to develop and promote an information literacy framework, mapped across the curriculum. Librarians are also exploring ways of working with the recently announced National Literacy Plan for Wales to ensure greater success. The Welsh Information Literacy Project will provide evidence of information literacy best practice via case studies, highlighting current work across all sectors.
Hywel James, Chair of the project steering group, said:
“Libraries have a great record of working together and it is good to see all the library services in Wales supporting this development which will provide a firm foundation for action. Libraries also have an impressive record of working in partnership with others and we hope that this framework will encourage others to join with us to promote the aim of helping people find and use the information they need.”
The project’s holistic approach, embedding information literacy training throughout education and employment will enable Wales to fully capitalise on the benefits of information literacy. These include increasing social inclusion, enhancing academic achievement, and supporting citizens’ access to key knowledge.
For more information, please visit the Welsh Information Literacy Project website –http://library.wales.org/informationliteracy/
Or contact Joy Head, Information Literacy Development Officer for Wales, at headja1@cardiff.ac.uk
The Welsh Information Literacy website is now live, and features the Information Literacy Statement for Wales – Inspired by the Gregynog Conference, 2009 which was issued today, 8th September, International Literacy Day. For more information about the project, read the statement and view a video version of the statement go to http://library.wales.org
Mae gwefan Llythrennedd Gwybodaeth Cymru yn awr yn fyw, ac mae’n cynnwys Datganiad Llythrennedd Gwybodaeth i Gymru – Ysbrydolwyd gan Gynhadledd Gregynog, 2009, wedi cael ei lansio heddiw, 8fed mis Medi, Ddiwrnod Llythrennedd Rhyngwladol y Cenhedloedd Unedig. Am fwy gwybodaeth am y prosiect, ddarllenwch y datganiad a gwelwch fersiwn ffilm datganiad ewch i http://library.wales.org/cy/
