Book review: The Information Literacy Cookbook
Title of Book - The Information literacy cookbook: Ingredients, recipes and tips for success
Author - Jane Secker, Debbi Boden and Gwyneth Price
ISBN - 1843342251
Publisher - Chandos
Publisher Website - www.chandospublishing.com
Reviewer Name - Clare Thompson
Title - Librarian
Contact details - Learning Centre , The State Hospital, Carstairs, ML11 8RP
Email - clare.thompson@tsh.scot.nhs.uk
Review
Information literacy (IL) has been a hot topic in the library profession for some time, and librarians are expected to impart their knowledge about the topic to their customers, students and clients, to lead them to the eventual goal of knowing why they need information, where to find it, how to know if it is relevant, and how to share it with others.
This “cookbook” aims to be a reference for librarians working in a number of different sectors, providing ideas and inspiration for lesson plans, seminars and strategy. Grasping the current passion for all things “foodie”, it uses as its basis an analogy of recipes and cooking, comparing teaching tips with ingredients, and librarians with chefs.
The contributors and editors have a great deal of experience in a number of different sectors; not only do we find out their professional credentials, we are also treated to a description of their favourite foods! The editors then set the scene with some background to the topic: what is IL, and how has the role of the librarian changed to include it in their practice? UNESCO, CILIP and IFLA are all quoted and all draw on similar themes such as the importance of IL to citizenship and democracy, as well as to lifelong learning and the digital divide.
The role of librarians in the new information landscape is manifold, and is illustrated by this quotation, which is also a shining example of the food metaphor described above.
In the face of Google librarians also need to demonstrate their continuing importance in the information supply chain. Yes Google is good, but Jasco (cited in Miller and Peller, 2006) has likened its approach to ‘mixing in a gigantic bowl the appetiser, soup, entrée, salad, dessert and coffee’. You may get the right ingredients, but what discerning diner wants to combine their salad and their coffee? And how do you taste the soup when it’s mixed in with your dessert? (1)
Indeed.
Here are some highlights from this recipe book of strategies and tips which are designed to help you create a more varied and attractive IL programme.
In the section on public libraries, we are shown how to embrace the flexibility of experience of public library users and contribute towards lifelong learning and digital citizenship.
Chapter three tells us how to ensure that our National Health Service (NHS) is equipped to deal with new ICT developments, emphasising that before clinicians, nurses and allied health professionals can use electronic records systems and access evidence based material online, they must be able to use a mouse and keyboard. It advises on creating training programmes and analysing learning styles and needs, and may be a good resource to recommend to your colleagues in the training department. It was disappointing to discover that the NHS section does not focus on information literacy, but it is easy to glean tips and tricks from the other chapters.
A nice surprise was an introduction to the world of commercial information providers, whose work is often similar to those working in the health sector. This blends nicely with the next chapter on solo information professionals. Librarians working in either of these environments would do well to take to heart the sneaky tips on becoming invaluable to the organisation, including becoming involved in committees, directing current awareness to specific professional groups, and joining email lists that you think would be useful to your work. These tips are probably well known to seasoned librarians, but not too obvious to those who are still wet behind the ears.
In the last section, the authors concentrate on the educational sector. The first part focuses on school libraries, describing a number of different IL models that any librarian can use in his or her teaching, deciding which is appropriate for their own school. They can then attempt to roll out one of these models using negotiation skills to get head and principal teachers “on board” and make IL central to the school ethos. Further education is unique and requires a more flexible approach. It is suggested that the librarian do this by finding out about learning styles and providing a varied experience for students with different learning needs. As such, there are actual “recipes” for creating IL courses or short “bites” in a FE college. The last section concentrates on the sector which has the most experience of IL teaching and training.
Overall, this book has an exciting format which is refreshing, in that it discusses many different sectors of librarianship, and suggests ways that we can learn from each other. This is energising because it reminds us that we can learn from librarians working in different sectors from ourselves. I am sure to refer to this book again when I am creating lesson plans or an IL strategy.
Maybe you already think of yourself as a thoughtful, hunky Marco Pierre White, or a mouthy Gordon Ramsay: if so, then this is the book for you. However, if you like your librarianship books to be free of extended metaphor, it would be a good idea to steer clear. It takes a while to get used to the cooking vocabulary – if it doesn’t annoy you it may make you hungry.
1. Secker, J. The information literacy cookbook: Ingredients, recipes and tips for success. Chandos Publishing: Oxford, 2007.