This was part of an event held on Second Life while Vickie Cormie, St Andrews University (Ishbel Hartmann in SL) and I, Eleni Zazani, Birkbeck College (Loreena Sandalwood in SL), reported back on highlights from the LILAC 2012 - (Librarian's Information Literacy Conference) that took place in Glasgow in April. The document summarises my talk on some of the most critical questions posed either directly by speakers during LILAC 2012 or formed at a meta-cognitive reflective stage after the conference. More about the event at Sheila Webber's blog at http://information-literacy.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/report-from-lilac-conference-in-second.html

1. The document summarises some of the Eleni Zazani
most critical questions posed either
a.k.a.
directly by speakers during LILAC 2012 or
Loreena Sandalwood,
formed at a meta-cognitive reflective stage
Learning Support Adviser,
after the conference.
Birkbeck College Library
Report back from LILAC 2012 Event
Infolit ischool, Virtual space of the University of Sheffield
1st May 2012

2. LILAC 2012 Critical Questions
Q uestion 1:
Do you feel like a power player in your
institution?
Picture 1: Loreena Sandalwood during last year's
Report back event from LILAC 2011
Megan Oakleaf posed this question directly to the audience and very few hands were raised
in confirmation.
Megan continued by saying that we should be power players and feel like power players
because we go across disciplines and learning outcomes. We are part of all these critical
skills that students need to develop such as critical thinking, problem solving, cultural
diversity, etc. We support teaching and learning, we participate in committees, we win
awards and other distinctions, we participate in the decision making process, in recruitment
events, etc.
The focal point of this talk was the urgent need to start collecting evidence to show our
impact and value to our stakeholders.
Eleni Zazani, 20012 Reporting back from LILAC 2012 2

3. LILAC 2012 Critical Questions
Q uestion 2:
What’s more important to your institution?
Your faculty?
Your students?
What do you contribute to it?
Picture 2: Loreena Sandalwood during last year's
Report back event from LILAC 2011
Although Megan Oakleaf delivered a keynote session, she allowed time for us to think how
IL instruction and Library services provided, respond to and meet various Institutional
needs, goals and outcomes. She provided us with an Instruction Impact map where we
should assess what kind of impact, if any, our services have on each Institutional outcome.
While each of us will make our own interpretations based on our own settings, this exercise
is very useful to help us respond to the above questions; Institutional aspirations vary from
student enrolment to retention and graduation rates, from Students’ career success to
Academic achievements, etc. We need to think how our IL sessions serve these goals, what
the value is for different stakeholders and how each one of us contribute to these
outcomes.
Eleni Zazani, 20012 Reporting back from LILAC 2012 3

4. LILAC 2012 Critical Questions
Q uestion 3:
a. Do we want our students to know
about the library or Information?
b. Do we want them to know about
the Information environment or
Picture 3: Loreena Sandalwood during last year's
Report back event from LILAC 2011
our environment?
The above questions were posed by Janet Cottrell and Sarah Cohen during their ““Real
Deal” Information Literacy” presentation. Both presenters brought us the American IL
perspective and explained how instruction significantly shifts from explaining library
functions to introducing students to the information landscape. Their sessions are info-
centric rather than library-centric.
From a reflective point of view, info-centric sessions are more meaningful to students,
promptly capturing their interest and engaging them in conversations. What’s more,
knowledge gained during these sessions follows students after the completion of their
studies when academic content is not at their disposal. Although in the UK this type of focus
is not known as a “Real deal” IL, I want to believe Librarians are already shifting their focus
from the functions and tools to the business of information.
Eleni Zazani, 20012 Reporting back from LILAC 2012 4

5. LILAC 2012 Critical Questions
Q uestion 4:
a. What does it mean to be a
teaching Librarian?
b. Do you perceive yourself as a
teacher?
Picture 4: Reporting back from LILAC 2011. Last year’s
meeting on Second Life
Sarah Cohen presented the audience with these questions and very few of us responded
that they consider themselves teachers. She went on to say that in order to get to the heart
of the teaching experience we need to go beyond sharing tips, tricks and techniques and ask
some difficult questions as the ones above.
Librarians involved in Information Literacy and teach, experience an identity crisis. This
happens due to fear and lack of faith in ourselves as teachers and lack of confidence.
Fear of being obsolete - we are not in competition with Google and if we feel so, we are not
going to win; fear of not knowing enough; fear of being vulnerable in the current HE and
publishing landscape; fear of being judged by our students.
The above issues are in the heart of our struggles as teaching librarians but when we do
address them some wonderful things happen.
The speaker drew from her team’s practice to propose a way to empower ourselves as
teachers. Building a teaching community in her university was a very successful way of
developing a teaching identity among her team members. Only teaching-librarians were
involved in the teaching group. Their regular meetings helped them to openly discuss and
address difficulties, devote time in reading and discussing professional literature, to
collaboratively design sessions while trying new ways of reaching students, and engage in
brainstorm exercises, like developing a teaching philosophy.
Linking Sarah’s recommendation to the regular meetings of the Journal club in the virtual
space of infolit ischool on Second Life, I can totally relate to all the benefits of cultivating a
teacher’s identity and I think this is what makes our meetings so successful.
Eleni Zazani, 20012 Reporting back from LILAC 2012 5

6. LILAC 2012 Critical Questions
The virtual meetings bring together practitioners from all over the world to discuss our
struggles and share experiences, using professional literature as a starting point.
Eleni Zazani, 20012 Reporting back from LILAC 2012 6

7. LILAC 2012 Critical Questions
Q uestion 5:
a. What is our operational framework
for teaching, learning, supporting?
b. What do we do within our
environment?
c. Do we teach IL or do we teach
people?
d. Is IL the destination or an ongoing
event?
e. Will students be only encountering
information during their Academic
Picture 5: Loreena Sandalwood in the Journal Club studies or during their entire life?
meeting Room
The above questions reflect the work that has been done by Jane Secker and Emma Coonan
while developing the ANCIL (A New Curriculum for Information Literacy), and by Katy
Wrathall during its implementation.
ANCIL proposes a new way of designing IL instruction, retaining the learner at the centre of
the learning process.
The following reasons explain how ANCIL introduces a new way of thinking and delivering IL
sessions:
 The focus is on the process of learning overall; rather than outlining the attributes of
the ideal student, it proposes a new approach to create an information-literate
citizen.
 It moves towards a framework of learning. (Learn how to learn).
 It takes IL and librarians involved out of the silos. As the information landscape
becomes more and more complex, and while in the academic environment a variety
of other professionals work towards the same goals as Librarians, we can no longer
say that this is the slice of our pie and we will take care of our piece.
 It’s influenced by the learning developers’ practices that are very much focused on
the individual and their attitudes towards ownership. They are inter-professional
professionals, and therefore ownership (my students) doesn’t exist.
 The ANCIL opens new ways to librarians involved with IL to address their fear of
obsolescence and re-examine their role in the IL process. Recent research (e.g. from
Geoff Walton, Mark Hepworth, Andretta etc.), shows that Librarianship is roping
towards learning development. We no longer say that we teach people how to use
the Library but how to find, assess etc, information on a lifelong basis.
Eleni Zazani, 20012 Reporting back from LILAC 2012 7

8. LILAC 2012 Critical Questions
 ANCIL perfectly relates to the “Real Deal” IL that Janet and Sarah addressed above.
 Active learning is essential.
 It enhances collaboration between other practitioners within the institutions as IL
concerns everybody.
 It prompts strategic and reflective designing of IL provision.
 It takes into consideration the social aspects of learning, the employability skills
needed, and the increasing digital provision of information.
Eleni Zazani, 20012 Reporting back from LILAC 2012 8