INFORMATION LITERACY BETWEEN THEORY AND PRACTICE: EXPERIENCES OF THE FINNISH UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

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1 INFORMATION LITERACY BETWEEN THEORY AND PRACTICE: EXPERIENCES OF THE FINNISH UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES Kaisa Sinikara, Director of Information and Library Services University of Helsinki, Finland Abstract The introduction addresses the integration of the information literacy as part of the educational development of teaching at Finnish universities. The libraries in Finland serve as an efficient network. In Finland, the government programme includes the development of an information society. This has guaranteed a good IT infrastructure since the 1990s for universities as well as for lower school levels. In the 21 st century, more important targets include electronic data content and competency to make effective use of an electronic research and study environment. This shift toward an information-based society changes the work of libraries and the librarian's role, to which the trainer's task and need for pedagogic skills belong more strongly than ever before. The concept of information literacy competency standardised by the ALA have provided Finnish librarians with a frame of reference for information literacy development since the year The national project of all university libraries financed by the Ministry of Education ( ) has empowered this development, and its integration into the curriculum of universities has been a part of the Bologna process (harmonisation of the degrees of the European Higher Education Area). The introduction deals with the co-operation of libraries and the realisation of pedagogic education, the preparation of IL competency tests, and the collaboration between teachers and librarians. National and international networking has proved extremely important. Also Finnish researchers' growing interest is an important signal, and supports the development of the Information Literacy programme. Keywords: Information Literacy, ICT skills, Finnish university libraries, assessing IL skills, Bologna process

2 1. Information Literacy in Finnish academic libraries Information literacy (IL) has been under active discussion in Finnish academic libraries from the beginning of this millennium. 1 Several university libraries established user education earlier, but in varying ways and in different objectives. The beginning of the 21 st century has ushered in a new situation. The former teaching models were not effective enough. The objectives of university teaching were evolving towards a learner-centred or problem-based learning model. The library system, with its electronic catalogues, was brought into use in all the university libraries by the early 1990s. In 1998, the Finnish electronic library (FinELib) was established to negotiate the licenses of electronic materials and to support the transition of university libraries toward the distribution of digital data contents 2. Electronic materials increased fast after the year 2000, and new services have been created. The teachers, researchers and students of the University of Helsinki have access to online magazines and 300 databases available within the university network. About e-books are available. The Metalib portal of Ex Libris began service in The e-library has required strong education input from the libraries. In the beginning of the year 2000, the need for and interest in student use of the internet has increased. We understood that teaching responsibilities had to be revised, so we began to build network services purposefully and to reform the library teaching with a small enthusiastic group. 1 The council of Finnish University Libraries is a strong network of co-operation among Finnish university libraries. University and Polytechnic libraries, among others, incorporate the common library system (Voyager/Endeavor), library consortiums, a common information search engine (Metalib/SFX/ExLibris) and several joint projects. The common strategy for the university libraries is divided into two periods: and

3 International co-operation helped to create common enthusiasm. 3 The first seminar on information literacy in 2000 drew 50 persons and sparked interest. The Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education 4 helped to find a new common, learner-centred point of view. The question what kind of information and skills the students need in the changing data environment of academic studies and of working life must to be the focus of the teaching. The first major effort in Finland was the project Standardising the management of information literacy by the Undergraduate Library of the University of Helsinki. The ARCL s Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education were translated into Finnish in The project also arranged two working seminars and kept open the possibility of implementing these standards into the Finnish higher education curriculum. 2. Information Literacy as a part of high-level strategies The aim of the Finnish university libraries has been two-fold: to try to inform decision makers at all levels of the importance and significance of information literacy and related information skills for students and faculty; and to test the implementation of IL with different kinds of projects. 3 The University of Helsinki was founded in 1640 and is one of the leading European research-intensive universities. 3 Within the Finnish higher education sector, it is by far the most comprehensive, and offers a wide range of opportunities for students, researchers and collaboration partners. There are 21 universities in Finland. At the University of Helsinki, there are 11 faculties and 20 independent institutes. About degrees are awarded every year, of which about 400 are doctoral degrees. The number of students is , and the number of staff is 7600, of which are researchers and teachers It was very helpful to have a visiting specialist from UC Berkeley present American development to Finnish librarians in the year 2000.

4 Libraries have been successful in both of these aims. The Ministry of Education has announced the importance of information literacy as one of the key qualifications of modern citizenship in today s information-based society. For example, the Development Plan for Education and Research stresses the importance of the willingness of libraries to contribute to the development of teaching and study methods, and thus, for their part, to ensure that university and polytechnic graduates have good information literacy (p. 55). The Finnish university libraries launched a joint project in 2004 to integrate information literacy into academic studies. Even though information literacy had frequently featured in the stated strategies of universities, in practice the need remained to define common standards to promote this integration. The national project received three-year funding from the Ministry of Education and has been co-ordinated by Director of Library and Information Services Kaisa Sinikara at the University of Helsinki. Anne Lehto was appointed Planning Officer in March The ACRL information literacy standards have provided a framework for the development work of the national project. The project has emphasised the content of the concept rather than attempted to define a specific form of IL. With the new term we aimed to describe a change in the learner-centred point of view. However, we have had to explain the background of the term and the connotations related to it. When preparing a national or regional project, one must consider the terms to be used. Some countries use the term Information Competence while other countries use the term Information 5 Available in English at

5 Skills. Does the terminology evoke the proper images and connotations? Are the concepts intelligible to the teaching staff? 3. Integration into academic studies 3.1. Integration into the Bologna Process Obviously, the impending changes in the university curriculum to be implemented by 2005, in accordance with the Bologna process, would require the university libraries to act together to emphasize the importance of information literacy skills training. Thus, the Bologna process was considered an opportunity to link information literacy more closely and coherently to the disciplines taught in the universities. Therefore, in the first project year, the steering group of the project drew up a national recommendation for universities to integrate information literacy into academic studies. The recommendation (see Figure 1. 7 ) was shared with the co-ordinators of the Bologna process underway in the universities. 7 see the IL website:

6 Figure 1. Recommendation (diagram by Anne Lehto) In 2004, it was also clear that instruction in information literacy provided by university libraries was insufficiently co-ordinated. The situation varied between universities and within disciplines. The main objective of the recommendation was thus to ensure at least a minimal level of information literacy training for all students. The universities would decide on the practical implementation of the information literacy curriculum themselves. A survey was conducted in 2005 after the new degree structures had been implemented in the universities. In particular, the smaller university libraries reported that the national recommendation had been useful in their local negotiations.

7 The joint website for information literacy development in Finland has given information literacy visibility at the national level. Although being only partially translated into English, the website has captured the interest of our international colleagues Collaboration is essential There have been several information literacy seminars and peer meetings arranged by the national project. Themes in these seminars have concentrated mostly on pedagogy and e-learning as well as on other interesting issues such as the branding of the library courses. 9 The national project has created a network of specialists (29 individuals representing 20 universities). The role of the contact persons has been to function as a mediator between the local university level and the national level. One of their major tasks has been to provide the national project with detailed information about the local information literacy situation in order to create a common knowledge base. Pedagogical competence has been included in the Competence Map as one of the core competencies in the university libraries by The University of Helsinki reformed its degree objectives as a part of the Bologna process. This process was defined as a strategic objective by which all students of the university would acquire information technology skills, good communication technique, and good information literacy. All of the faculties adopted the ICT Driving Licence, which includes a module on the basics of information literacy. The ICT Driving License of the University of Helsinki has been an example of fruitful co-operation between faculties, the IT department and libraries Many of the seminars have been open to other library sectors, and some of the lectures have been videotaped and placed on the website for easier access to a wider audience

8 The libraries participate in joint regional projects such as the Tiedot project in Central Finland and the Academic Net skills project in the metropolitan area. Net-based learning materials have been produced and co-operation arrangements have been created between the teachers and the libraries. Still, cooperation is difficult for many reasons: - part of the teaching staff believes that the teaching belongs only to them - the teachers have lack the time for joint preparation - there is a lack of common language - some teachers have an outdated view of the libraries. During the last few years, the teaching staff has begun to seek IL education not only for their students, but for themselves as well. And those who like to use the effective and updated e-library services and new portals have been especially interested in training by the libraries. Among others, the libraries of the University of Helsinki have created instruments for the teaching staff. (copyright, the possibility to use the e-library in teaching) and have designed the training program for them. The teachers' education must be managed differently from that of the students. One can use methods, such as common seminars and information packages, that have been connected to institutional meetings, personal advice (rooming-in), and IL share, which is connected to their pedagogic education. The national project has been actively involved in some important international networks and collaboration efforts. In the summer of 2005, Finnish librarians together with the NordINFOLIT steering group arranged the 4th Nordic Information Literacy Summer School in the greater Helsinki region NordINFOLIT was formed in 2001 by the Nordic scientific information body (NORDINFO). NordINFOLIT operates in four areas: 1.Nordic IL summer school (the 5th annual week-long summer school took place in 2006 in Stockholm) 2. Seminars as subject standards and the integration of IL into university teaching 3.The international conference: Creating Knowledge 4. website and network for discussion of the best Nordic practices in IL. The steering group includes members from every Nordic country, and the chairperson comes from Sweden (Christina Tovote). See

9 3.3. Assessing Information Literacy Skills: The Question Bank as a Joint Tool On the initiative of the IL assessment group, a project to create a joint question bank for information literacy proficiency assessment was launched in April One of the challenges in the project was how to create common material for all universities and all disciplines. Since the demands of information literacy within separate disciplines and at different stages of studies vary greatly, it was clear that no single proficiency test with the same contents would suffice. The question bank consists of about 300 multiplechoice questions that university libraries can modify according to their needs and use for testing the IL proficiency of students at different stages of their studies. The question bank has been distributed by Creative Commons Attribution under a non-commercial, share-alike 1.0 Finland License. In the question bank, questions are divided into four categories: I II III IV Defining the topic Selecting information topics Information retrieval: planning and executing information searches Evaluating and using information (sources) In addition to these categories, questions are also divided into three levels of difficulty in accordance with the national information literacy recommendation: I II III New students: Basics in IL Bachelor s level studies: IL in intermediate level studies Master s level studies: IL in advanced level studies Information literacy proficiency tests can be used to gather information about the students' skill levels to develop how IL can be better taught. The tests can also be used for the measurement of the baseline level of a student s information-seeking skills in order to direct students to those teaching groups which correspond best to their skill levels. When designing the realisation of the proficiency test, the students

10 studies should be taken into consideration as a whole so that the test will not seem isolated from their main interests. It is also important that students receive feedback after having taken the test, that they be provided with the right answers to the questions, and that they know how well they performed. Such feedback can include a recommendation to participate in sessions arranged by the library in those areas that require support. 4. How to promote Information Literacy? It is important that libraries play an active role in IL matters and create their own role in promoting IL for their patrons. The fact that libraries create a strong, common view on the direction of the development and at the same time participate actively in the preparation of the strategic plans of their patron institute is extremely essential. The library must actively collaborate with the teachers on information technology projects and the administration. By assuming the shared responsibility, the library will make itself heard. From the point of view of success, the motivation for the development of information literacy is crucial. How can we evoke and maintain the long-term interest of the librarians, the teachers and the decisionmakers in development? It is important to initiate the key persons and the central agents in the potential for information literacy, and in the need and models for implementation. Also, presenting Information Literacy Competency standards in a short and practical format could create a joint language; in fact, most of them share the need for a research process. In the University of Helsinki, a key person has been the Vice-rector, professor Hannele Niemi, who is both a pedagogue and the chairperson of several commissions, including the Library Committee of the University. She has functioned as the opener and introducer of IL seminars, and has emphasised the importance of information literacy in successful learning. When the Vice-rector is willing to promote IL, the deans and researchers are much more likely to listen and integrate the topic to their planning.

11 It has also been important to familiarise the management of the Ministry of Education with the changing role of the library. The Council of Finnish University Libraries has been responsible for these contacts. On the political level, some of parliament members and a former member of the EU Parliament have been active in promoting the changing role of the libraries and information-media literacy as a duty of citizenship in an information society. The study of information literacy has increased during the last few years Conclusion The aim of the Finnish university libraries has been two-fold: to try to inform decision makers at all levels of the importance and significance of information literacy and related information skills for students and faculty; and to test the implementation of IL with different kinds of projects. Libraries have been successful in both of these aims. The strong co-operation and network of libraries have been useful in this connection. The role of libraries is changing. The competencies in disciplines, pedagogical skills, social skills, communicative skills, marketing skills, and ICT skills will be more important than they used to be. In Finland our challenge at the moment is to find the means to continue the project after budget cuts by the Ministry. How will the common work be financed and how will the responsibilities be shared when the national project funding ends? At present a comprehensive survey concerning the financing of university libraries is currently underway: we must also try to find solutions to this question. 13. Professor Eero Sormunen of the University of Tampere ( traces the long-term project financed by the Academy of Finland. Other researchers include, among others, Jarmo Saarti ( and Kai Halttunen (

12 The raising of information literacy to the strategy level requires much work and partnership with the scientific community. However, this is a comprehensive operations model. IL is not only know-how related to education or libraries, but is a part both of the academic work and of the civics of an information society. We must also notice that the stresses, methods, and focuses of information literacy change over time. An ability to accept constant change in the data environment and a readiness for constant schooling belongs to such know-how.

13 REFERENCES American Library Association (2000). Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. (Last visited August 2, 2006.) Available at: Arja Juntunen, Anne Lehto, Jarmo Saarti, and Johanna Tevaniemi, Supporting Information Literacy Learning in Finnish Universities: Standards, Projects, Online Education. Presentation in Creating Knowledge, IV, Copenhagen, Denmark Curriculum Plan for Information Literacy: a Joint Virtual University Project of the Finnish University Libraries (Last visited August 2, 2006.) Available at: Education and Research development plan. Publications of Ministry or Education 2004:8. Helsinki. Available at: Sinikara, Kaisa Information Literacy and Learning Resource Centres Supporting the Quality and Efficiency of Learning. In: Information Literacy in Europe: a first insight into state of the art of Information Literacy in the European Union, ed. by Carla Basili, Roma, 2003.(Note di bibliografia di e documentazione scientifica, LXVI, p Sinikara, Kaisa and Järveläinen, Leena Information Literacy Development in Finland. Library Review, Vol 52, issue 2003, 7, p Ryynänen, Mirja (1998). Report on the Green Paper on the role of libraries in the modern world. European Parliament, Committee on Culture, Youth, Education and the Media. (A4-0248/98.) Available at: Trends in Education and Research: Developing Skills and Communication across Europe, Conclusions and Recommendations, Unica-seminar, University of Helsinki, May 18-19, 2006; Websites: