Information Literacy Section
& E-Learning Special Interest Group

Introduction

Over the past ten years, there has been a growing awareness about the potential role of E-learning in the context of Information Literacy, encompassing information literacy instruction through to information literacy education. E-learning is often regarded as an effective way to extend library presence through innovative services and to reach new communities.

As learning and teaching environments develop, librarians are required to change their own understanding of information literacy skills instruction, particularly in terms of how to understand and make optimum use of new E-learning platforms and academic content management systems to help students construct social knowledge and critical thinking.

Theme and Objectives

"Information literacy meets E-learning: Let's talk about interconnections and outcomes"

The Information Literacy Section and the E-learning Special Interest Group invite papers that address a number of questions of research and practice:

• Is there any evidence to show that E-learning effectively promotes self-paced and sustainable learning in the area of information literacy skills?
• Has E-learning enabled libraries to extend their reach to new populations, or provided their existing population with new services and fresh possibilities for learning?
• While online tutorials are mainly used in the academic environment for large populations of students, what strategies have been introduced in public libraries to encourage lifelong E-learning?
• Are there any advantages in teaching information literacy skills using a virtual learning environment (VLE) or course management systems (such as Moodle, Blackboard, WebCT) in a blended learning context?
• Can information literacy education benefit from collaborative learning through forum, chat and distance learning class experiences?
• What aspects of information literacy (eg information skills instruction, research process education…) are significantly enhanced by the E-learning experience? What elements of the E-learning have the greatest value in information literacy training?
• Many tutorials focus specifically on information seeking and citing sources; can E-learning go beyond this to address a wider range of information literacy outcomes?

Proposals should include

• An abstract of paper approximately 500 words
• Attach summary of the author(s) details (name, institution, position) and brief biographical statement of no more than 50 words

Submission

• Submit proposals electronically to infolitelearn@gmail.com no later than February 15, 2012 and indicate "IFLA proposal" in the subject line

Selected presenters will be notified by March 15, 2012.

Papers

Presenters will be expected to submit final versions of their papers by May 15, 2012. Papers should be in English (or in one of the official IFLA languages - Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Russian, and Spanish - with an English translation attached). The language of the session will be English. Presenters will have 15 minutes at the programme to deliver summaries of their papers, and time will be allowed for an open forum to allow audience interaction.

Please note that the Programme Committee has no funds to assist prospective authors: abstracts should only be submitted on the understanding that the expenses of the attending the Helsinki conference (including travel, expenses and conference fee) will be the responsibility of the authors(s)/presenter(s) of accepted papers. At least one author will be expected to attend conference to deliver the paper.

Important dates

February 15, 2012: Deadline for submitting abstracts

March 15, 2012: Deadline for notifications of acceptance

May 15, 2012: Deadline for submission of final papers

Contacts

For more information, please contact:
Agnes Colnot
E-mail: agnes.colnot@univ-rennes1.fr or
Gillian Hallam
E-mail: g.hallam@qut.edu.au