Webinar: Think like a teacher: pedagogical skills for librarians

This webinar, free to CILIP members and £22.38 to non-members, is on 24 April 2025 at 12noon-13.00 BST: Think like a teacher: pedagogical skills for librarians.
"Does your job involve teaching? Is that not part of what you imagined librarianship to be? Do you ever feel under skilled and overwhelmed by this aspect of your role? Then this session is for you. In this webinar, Neena Shukla Morris, Information Resources Librarian for University Hospitals Sussex NHS Trust, uses her knowledge and experience of working in a variety of roles within education to provide you with pragmatic, easily-implementable, no-cost tips and tricks to elevate your taught sessions."
Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/think-like-a-teacher-pedagogical-skills-for-librarians-tickets-1295578432969
Photo by Sheila Webber: lost item series: lost dog plushie, March 2025

Call for proposals: Inclusive Digital Literacy for All

The IFLA Information Literacy Section has a call for proposals for a satellite (to the WLIC) meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan, to be held in person on 15 August 2025. The theme is: Inclusive Digital Literacy for All: Bridging Communities for a United Future. Deadline for proposals is 24 April 2025.
"This topic highlights inclusive digital literacy strategies that bridge the digital divide and promote equitable access. Aligned with WLIC 2025’s theme, it shows how digital empowerment fosters a more connected, fair, and knowledge-driven world. We welcome submissions from educators, librarians, and researchers advancing inclusive digital literacy and innovative technologies, such as AI, within the library and information field. Your insights can help shape a more equitable, connected, and knowledge-driven global society."
More information at: https://www.ifla.org/news/information-literacy-section-call-for-papers-wlic-2025-satellite-meeting-inclusive-digital-literacy-for-all-bridging-communities-for-a-united-future/.
Photo by Sheila Webber: a host of dancing daffodils, March 2025

April Fool's adjacent

Here are some links to posts with April Fool's day as an inspiration:
- Cox, S. (2016, April 2). April Fool's! https://librarydisplays.org/2016/04/01/april-fools/ (April Fool pranks done by, and to, a school library)
- Flanagan, E. (2023, February 13). Teaching Information Literacy in the Classroom. https://www.erintegration.com/2023/02/13/teaching-information-literacy-in-the-classroom/ (nb it is selling priced items "The posters are included in both color and blackline and can be used in an April Fool’s Day theme or as a digital citizenship bulletin board all year round.")
- geoztinker. (2024, December 14). infuriating ai generated “bird” calendar i found… they’re all horribly wrong…which one is your favorite. https://www.reddit.com/r/birding/comments/1hdsorz/infuriating_ai_generated_bird_calendar_i_found/ You can do a "how many mistakes can I spot" exercise.
- Winick, S. (2026, March 28). April Fools: The Roots of an International Tradition. https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2016/03/april-fools/ (Detailed history about April Fool's Day, from the Library of Congress)
Photo by Sheila Webber: All the blossoms fell off this tree into a circle below! (No, April Fool, it's yet another photo of crocuses)

Recent articles

From the priced journal Journal of Documentation, some information behaviour articles in the last 2 complete issues include:
- Chen, X., Lin, A. and Webber, S. (2025). "We do not always enjoy surprises”: investigating artificial serendipity in an online marketplace context. Journal of Documentation, 81(2), 403-422. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-01-2024-0011 Open access at https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/220256/
- Yerbury, H. and Henninger, M. (2025). Knowing and not knowing about algorithms. Journal of Documentation, 81(2), 301-312. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-04-2024-0076 "A practice-based study of university librarians and their role in the development of algorithmic literacy, using semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis, showed that they had limited socio-technical knowledge of algorithms."
- Bogers, T., Gäde, M., Koolen, M., Petras, V. and Skov, M. (2025). Understanding complex casual leisure information needs: an analysis of search requests for books, games, movies and music. Journal of Documentation, 81(1), 168-194. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-03-2024-0070 "In this paper, we introduce the CRISPS (CRoss-domaIn relevance aSPects Scheme) coding scheme for complex information needs in the four leisure domains of books, games, movies and music. It categorizes the relevance aspects people consider when searching for these resources." Their codebook is here https://zenodo.org/records/11638932
- Benton, L. and Sexton, A. (2025). Long-term needs, long-term access? Major crime recordkeeping and the information needs of individuals bereaved by homicide. Journal of Documentation, 81(1), 86-106. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-04-2024-0075 "The findings indicate that the long-term information needs of homicide bereaved individuals are ill-served by the current police recordkeeping framework ... the research demonstrates a long term need for: (1) information access; (2) support for access; (3) a direct and personalised information access service and (4) trauma-informed and victim/survivor centred practice in police recordkeeping contexts."
- Du, X. and Costello, K.L. (2025). Information snowballing: information practices in the context of sustainable food practices. Journal of Documentation, 81(2), 469-490. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-08-2024-0200 "The findings identify three stages of information snowballing: (a) learning by lifelong exposure and serendipitous information encountering; (b) constructing information landscapes; and (c) snowballing or gradually accumulating information."
Photo by Sheila Webber; Magnolia blossoms, March 2025

AI and Health Information Literacy among Women in South Asia

AI and Health Information Literacy: A Study Exploring the Perceived Usefulness and Readiness among Women in South Asia is one of the projects funded last year by the Institute for Information Literacy at Purdue (IILP), Purdue University, USA. The researchers on the project are: Md. Anwarul Islam (Professor, Department of Information Science and Library Management, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh); Bhakti Gala (Assistant Professor, Department of Library and Information Science, Central University of Gujarat, India); Aminath Riyaz (Assistant Professor, Department of Social Sciences, The Maldives National University, Maldives); Raj Kumar Bhardwaj (Librarian, University of Delhi, India); and Tabassum Aslam (Academic Librarian, Lahore School of Economics, Punjab, Pakistan). There is an article about it:
Islam, M.A., Gala, B., Riyaz, A., Bhardwaj, R.K., & Aslam, T. (2024). Exploring women’s health information literacy with AI: A south asian study. Information Matters, 4(12). https://informationmatters.org/2024/12/exploring-womens-health-information-literacy-with-ai-a-south-asian-study/
There is also brief information, together with information about information about other 2024 award recipients at https://lib.purdue.edu/iilp/research-grants/
Photo by Sheila Webber; Magnolia (at its peak this weekend!), March 2025

Call for papers: Refugee learners risking and resisting (in)visibility in and through lifelong learning

There is a call for papers from the International Review of Education for a special issue on Refugee learners risking and resisting (in)visibility in and through lifelong learning. The deadline for abstracts is 1 August 2025. The highlighted themes are: Navigating precarity; Lifelong learning, vulnerability, and nationalist backlash; Structural racism and sexism in lifelong learning; Hidden in plain sight; Challenging precarity; Lifelong learning as resistance.
Information Literacy isn't mentioned, but information behaviour and information literacy have relevance to a number of those themes.
More information at https://www.uil.unesco.org/en/articles/call-abstracts-special-issue-international-review-education-0
Photo by Sheila Webber: another crocus picture from earlier this month, March 2025

Using Canva

Some people use Canva for information literacy teaching, so you might be interested in:
- 25 April 2025. 12.00-13.00 BST. Creating amazing video content with Canva - a librarian's Power Hour. Led by  Bev Humphrey. "Canva offers many video templates to help you create videos suitable for a range of platforms, including TikTok and Instagram." Cost £35. Info & Register at https://tinyurl.com/3yzc2e39
- 20 June 2025. 12.00-13.00 BST. Perfect presentations created in Canva – a Power Hour Led by  Bev Humphrey. "Are you looking to up your game when creating presentations? If so Canva is definitely the right tool for you!" Cost £35. Info & Register at https://tinyurl.com/35abnuv5
Photo by Sheila Webber: crocuses earlier in March, 2025.

Revised Metaliteracy Goals and Objectives: Empowering Learners for Generative AI

A revision of the Metaliteracy Goals and Learning Objectives was released this month, taking into account developments such as widespread use of generative AI. There are four goals
Goal 1: Reflect on your identity as an active learner within evolving information environments
Goal 2: Critically evaluate and ethically produce information, reflecting on your roles and impact across platforms.
Goal 3: Contribute informed and ethical perspectives in collaborative social settings.
Goal 4: Develop continuous learning strategies through a metaliterate mindset.
There are also four domains (Affective, Behavioral, Cognitive, Metacognitive) which the objectives within each goal are mapped to.
There is an English and a Spanish language version, and a Portuguese version is promised.
Go to https://metaliteracy.org/2025/03/11/finalized-2025-metaliteracy-goals-and-objectives-empowering-learners-for-generative-ai/

Healthcare workers informal use of personal mobile phones

An interesting project which is showcased (& partially supported by) and being discussed by the HIFA (Healthcare Information For All) community at the moment: mHealth-Innovate: Exploring healthcare workers informal use of personal mobile phones - Research findings and implications for policy and practice. The researchers did a systematic review and carried out qualitative studies in Uganda. "Informal use" means that healthcare workers are using their own personal phones to carry out various functions to do with caring for patients.
There is a short video (n.b. the embedded video tells me I need to sign into Vimeo, but if you follow the link to https://zenodo.org/records/15012090 you don't have to sign in) and a summary report.
Obviously this gives a lot of insight into information behaviour etc. and it is international in scope.
Go to https://www.hifa.org/news/mhealth-innovate-exploring-healthcare-workers-informal-use-personal-mobile-phones-research
Image created by Sheila Webber using Midjourney AI

Open online meeting: Media and Information Literacy Community of Practice in Scotland

The Media and Information Literacy Community of Practice in Scotland (MILCOP) is holding an open meeting on 27 March 2024, 2pm-4pm GMT. Presentations will include:
- Fact Checking at The Ferret
- The Role of Universities in The Ethical Digital Nation (St Andrews University)
- Training Public Library Staff on Health Information
Register at https://www.cilips.org.uk/events/info-lit-in-scotland/

Place of googling in writing news stories

Rupar, V., Myllylahti, M., Jones, H-G., Li, W., Mohaghegh, M. & Parisa, P. (2022). Googling it: While news search results can affect newsrooms’ perception of social issues, journalists mainly rely on it for complementary information. Interactions: Studies in Communication & Culture, 13(3), 253-273. https://doi.org/10.1386/iscc_00064_1 (open access).
I thought this was interesting as evidence in the scope of online news coverage sourced via search engines, as well as giving insights into journalistic practice "Our study highlights the significant role of search engines, particularly Google, in shaping the journalistic newsgathering process and, consequently, public understanding of social issues. The computer-assisted analysis of Google’s ‘recession’ news selection revealed distinct patterns in the distribution of news content and geographical bias towards the United States within the selection algorithm. Ethnographic research at one Auckland newsroom revealed that Google Search is a fundamental tool for journalists, albeit used primarily for basic information-gathering and fact-checking rather than in-depth investigative work." (NB, although the "publication date" is 2022, it says the article was actually received in 2024, and this is the latest issue of the journal).
Photo by Sheila Webber: the crocus circle, March 2025

Webinar: Responsible AI Use: Applying the CARE-AI Framework to Real-World Scenarios - and - Evaluating with AI

Some items picked up from the Canadian Contact North's newsletter :
- Free webinar on 10 April 2025 at 13.00-14.00 Toronto time (which is e.g. 18.00-19.00 BST): Responsible AI Use: Applying the CARE-AI Framework to Real-World Scenarios. "Using real world examples, you’ll learn to apply the principles of CARE-AI (Creating Accountable and Responsive Ethics for Artificial Intelligence) to scenarios involving AI use in educational contexts." Information and registration link at https://teachonline.ca/webinar/responsible-ai-use-applying-care-ai-framework-real-world-scenarios
- Hardmann, P. (2025, March 10). AI-Powered Evaluation. https://drphilippahardman.substack.com/p/ai-powered-evaluation Hardmann uses the ADDIE model of learning design (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation), focusing on the E for evaluation, and suggests ways AI could be used (e.g. to identify an evaluation tool, to conduct post-education interviews with learners, to develop a persona to give evaluation prior to doing the teaching). There are a number of interesting ideas, though I also would want to be cautious (e.g. I would find it difficult to construct one persona that captured characteristics of my students (also, if they found out might the students find that a bit spooky?) and also I would advise against feeding qualitative data from student evaluations and interviews into a gen AI unless you were positive you knew what would happen to that data. I agree with Hardmann's final message "AI needs you (and you need instructional design expertise)—in order to get the most from AI, you need to understand what to ask it to do, and how to assess the quality of its output."
Photo by Sheila Webber: beautifully designed branches and leaves, March 2025

AI performance at citing news

Jaźwińska, K. & Chandrasekar, A. (2025, March 6). AI Search Has A Citation Problem. Columbia Journalism Review. https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/we-compared-eight-ai-search-engines-theyre-all-bad-at-citing-news.php Spoiler alert "We Compared Eight AI Search Engines. They’re All Bad at Citing News."
"We randomly selected ten articles from each publisher, then manually selected direct excerpts from those articles for use in our queries. After providing each chatbot with the selected excerpts, we asked it to identify the corresponding article’s headline, original publisher, publication date, and URL" They were excerpts that would have found the right item with a Google search.
Also, this caught my eye: Scott, L. (2025, March 18). The Last Days at Voice of America. Columbia Journalism Review. https://www.cjr.org/first_person/last-days-voice-of-america-voa-trump-kari-lake.php
Photo by Sheila Webber: a few crocuses, March 2025