Listening to student representatives from each of our faculties talk about information and digital literacy (IDL) was one of the highlights of our Teach Meet last week. The Library has employed students to work with us on two short-term projects with nine departments: one taking a programme level (rather than modular) view of integrating IDL in the curriculum; the second one looking at our VLE and how Library content (such as subject guides, reading lists, tutorials and resources) could be made prominent. You can read more about the background to these in Cat’s February blog post.

The Teach Meet was the latest in a regular programme of events for Library staff involved in delivering or supporting teaching, and provided a good opportunity to hear about the progress that’s been made with the projects. Not only did the students identify challenges associated with embedding IDL at appropriate points in the curriculum but they pinpointed gaps in our provision. Some common themes emerged such as having information in the right place at the right time, getting academic input into the process, addressing the disciplinary differences in information literacy provision, and the lack of awareness of the Library’s huge range of IDL resources. It was heartening to see the productive relationship between the student associates and the liaison librarians as, together, they discuss solutions to some of these issues. Our academic colleagues have welcomed the work that’s being undertaken, not least because of the direct input and feedback from students. We’re currently working on case studies to illustrate to other departments the progress that’s been made and to demonstrate the variety of models we’ve used. You’ll be able to see the finished case studies on our Teach pages later in the year.

Thanks to Helen Moore – Faculty Librarian for Science and Engineering.