Information literacy in employability training: The experience of Inverclyde Libraries

Abstract

The study is an evaluation of an employability training programme provided by Inverclyde Libraries in West Central Scotland and the role of information literacy within the training programme. Inverclyde is an area with high unemployment and pockets of multiple deprivation. Modern, applicable skills are also lacking. The findings are based on interviews with five learners and also one with an adult literacies tutor. The interviews were conducted in August 2009 and a Learning Life Histories methodology was used. Interviewees had mainly previously worked in the service industries and none had post-school qualifications, despite which all the interviewees were highly motivated. Information literacy was found to between 30% and 60% of course content depending on learner needs. Family influence was found to be the main motivation to enrol on the course and the learners sought personal social development as well as employability skills. There was found to be a lack of appropriate, relevant training materials and a lack of collaboration between the LIS sector and Community Learning and Development in developing them. The article concludes with a number of recommendations including the need to improve recruitment and course scheduling and planning.

Keywords

community learning and development employability information literacy Inverclyde Libraries learning life histories lifelong learning public libraries Scottish Information Literacy Project skills development

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Briggs

(1980) Victorian People. London: Pelican.

Craik

(1882) The Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties. London: George Bell.

Craven

Brophy

(2004) Evaluating the longitudinal impact of networked services in UK public libraries: The Longitude II project. In: Parker

(ed.) Proceedings of the 5th Northumbria international conference on performance measurement in libraries and information services. Library measures to fill the void: Assessing the outcomes, an IFLA satellite pre-conference, Collingwood College, Durham, 28–31 July 2003, pp.223–227. Bingley: Emerald.

Crawford

Irving

(2009) Information literacy in the workplace: A qualitative exploratory study. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science 41(1): 29–38.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport (2009) Digital Britain. Available at: http://www.culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/broadcasting/5944.aspx (accessed September 2009).

Employability in Scotland (2010) Employability and Tackling Poverty Learning Network. Available at http://www.employabilityinscotland.com/home.aspx (accessed September 2009).

Evans

(2009) Information literacy in public libraries: The lifelong learning agenda. PowerPoint presentation. Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/cirving/information-literacy-a-public-library-view (accessed September 2009).

General Register Office for Scotland (2009) Information about Scotland’s people. Available at: http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/index.html (accessed September 2009).

HM Inspectorate of Education (2009) Improving Scottish Education. Livingston: HM Inspectorate of Education.

10.

Inverclyde Council (2009a) Welcome to Libraries. Available at: http://www.inverclyde.gov.uk/community-life-and-leisure/libraries/libraries (accessed September 2009).

11.

Inverclyde Council (2009b) Employability Review. Glasgow: MCM Associates.

12.

Inverclyde Council (2009c) Inverclyde Workforce Plus Quarterly Performance Bulletin, January 2008. Available at: http://www.inverclyde.gov.uk//GetAsset.aspx?id=fAA3ADUANAA0AHwAfABGAGEAbABzAGUAfAB8ADAAfAA1 (accessed September 2009).

13.

Inverclyde Health Working Group (2006) Response to the consultation on redrawing the boundaries NHS Argyll and Clyde. Available at: http://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/argyllandclyde/responses/organisations/Inverclyde%20Health%20Working%20Group.pdf (accessed September 2009).

14.

Scottish Library and Information Council (2007) Building on Success: A Public Library Quality Improvement Matrix for Scotland. Available at: http://www.slainte.org.uk/files/pdf/slic/PLQIM/plqim.pdf (accessed September 2009).

15.

University of Glasgow, Department of Adult and Continuing Education (2008) Older Adults’ Engagement with Further and Higher Education in the West of Scotland: Tracking Educational Journeys. Glasgow: University of Glasgow, Appendix 1.

16.

University of Sussex, Centre for Community Engagement (2005) Learning, life histories and citizenship. Available at: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/cce/research/previous (accessed September 2009).

17.

Walker

(2009) Seeking information: A study of the use and understanding of information by parents of young children. Journal of Information Literacy 3(2): 53–63.