Creating a Connected Future Through Information and Digital Literacy: Strategic Directions at The University of Queensland Library^*

^*The ideas presented in this article were originally discussed in a presentation delivered at the THETA 2017 conference, Connecting Minds, Creating the Future, held in Auckland, New Zealand, 7–10 May 2017.

Abstract

As knowledge-intensive institutions, universities face many challenges resulting from today’s highly dynamic technological environment. While the ways in which learners and researchers engage with digital information resources are complex and diverse, there is a keen awareness of the varying levels of information and digital literacy skills amongst students and academic staff. A university-wide approach to skills development, involving all stakeholders, has been recommended as a valid approach to addressing some of the issues. At the University of Queensland, the Library has led the way with the development of a future-focused strategic framework for information and digital literacy to help shape the University’s academic policies and practices. After reviewing the principles that underpin the strategic framework (collaboration, alignment, innovation, sustainability and evaluation), the paper presents some of the key strategies which have been introduced to encourage the development of digital skills in the contexts of undergraduate teaching and learning, digital scholarship and eResearch. It is argued that there is great potential for library staff to extend their reach and serve as digital facilitators, connectors and collaborators, making a significant contribution to successful outcomes in many areas of contemporary academic life.

Keywords:

• Digital literacy
• academic libraries
• strategic directions
• undergraduate study
• digital scholarship
• research support

Implications for Practice

(1)	The work demonstrates the value of research driving practice in an academic institution.
(2)	The work emphasises that information and digital literacy represents a critical topic for the university library and can be used to leverage engagement with the academic community.
(3)	The work underscores the importance of a strategic framework to increase stakeholder awareness of a significant issue, raise the profile of the academic library and provide strong guidance for professional practice.

Introduction

The University of Queensland (UQ) is regarded as one of the leading research and teaching institutions in Australia, well positioned in the world university rankings as a result of the strong profile in teaching excellence, the levels of research funding awarded and the high quality and significant impact of its research activities. There is, however, no room for complacency. The higher education sector inevitably faces a raft of challenges; no institution will be immune from the political, economic and technological changes that are already taking place. Despite the wide-ranging, often speculative, ideas, there is consensus that the influence of technology and the changing shape of knowledge will be central to the future of higher education (Contributors, 2015; Faust, 2015; Staley, 2015; Adams Becker, Cummins, Davis & Yuhnke, 2016; Adams Becker, Pasquini & Zentner, 2017). UQ’s own strategic directions recognise that ‘evidence-based knowledge, the ability to work collaboratively to solve complex problems, and a passion for innovation will be essential attributes for our students, regardless of the exact future shape of society’ (University of Queensland, 2018, p. 4).

UQ’s mission is articulated as the pursuit of excellence ‘through the creation, preservation, transfer and application of knowledge’ (University of Queensland, 2018, p. 3). The current UQ Student Strategy emphasises the need to anticipate an environment where ‘new and emerging technologies provide an insight into a higher education future marked by new capabilities, new expectations and new measures of success’ (University of Queensland, 2016, p. 4). In this dynamic academic landscape, there needs to be a clear understanding of the ways in which students, teachers and researchers create and engage with digital information resources. Information and digital literacy represents a critical skill set in a world where ideas, innovation and integrity can flourish. However, it is important to recognise that there are immense challenges resulting from the varying levels of information and digital literacy skills across most academic institutions. In response to these concerns, ‘a university-wide approach… which attempts to involve all faculty and students’ (Alexander, Adams Becker & Cummins, 2016, p. 11) is recommended.

This paper argues that an institution-wide approach to building information, digital and data literacy skills is required to ensure high-quality learning experiences and internationally significant research outcomes. The strategic leadership demonstrated by The University of Queensland Library (UQL) is examined in this case study. The paper introduces the approaches adopted by the Library to raise awareness of and interest in the issues relating to information and digital literacy, and the development of a strategic framework to guide practice across the University. Further discussion focuses on the Library’s applications of the framework across three key areas of academic activity: undergraduate learning and teaching, digital scholarship and eResearch.

The Growing Importance of Information and Digital Literacy

Over the past decade, the NMC Horizon Reports have kept a watching brief on the challenges facing technology adoption in universities, along with the associated concerns relating to digital literacies. The NMC has published two strategic briefs on the topic (Alexander, Adams Becker & Cummins, 2016; Alexander, Adams Becker, Cummins & Hall Giesinger, 2017), plus an impact study (Adams Becker, Pasquini & Zentner, 2017) to highlight the imperative to engage learners and researchers with digital literacy experiences. While the potential to improve digital literacy is viewed as a ‘solvable challenge’ (Adams Becker et al., 2017), the goalposts will keep moving: advancements in technology will inevitably require people’s capabilities to constantly evolve and change.

A number of research projects relating to digital literacies have been undertaken across the academic world, ranging from the work led by international organisations with an interest in learning and educational outcomes, including the European Union (Ala-Mutka, Punie & Redecker, 2008), UNESCO (2013) and the OECD (2015), and academic bodies like Jisc (2015) and SCONUL (2015). Jisc has also funded specific digital literacy projects led by Glasgow Caledonian University (Beetham, McGill & Littlejohn, 2009), the University of Bath (2012), and University College London (2015). Other academic institutions with significant digital literacy projects include Leeds Metropolitan University (2011), London School of Economics (Karnad, 2013), and the Open University (2015).

Several Australian academic libraries are involved in digital literacy initiatives, including Deakin University (2016), La Trobe University (2017) and the University of Adelaide (2017). An Australian Learning and Teaching Fellowship has also been granted to help build deeper insights into digital literacy, with particular reference to the disciplinary differences, within the context of the transition from high school into higher education, and beyond university into employment (Coldwell-Neilson, 2017).

The NMC reports stress the vital importance of establishing a shared understanding of digital literacy amongst all stakeholders. The concept goes beyond the functional skills of using hardware and software: it encompasses the cognitive, critical, creative and social skills required to be successful in all the diverse dimensions of the digital world. UQL’s vision is that ‘all members of the UQ community will develop the information and digital literacy skills they need to thrive and lead throughout their personal, academic, professional and civic lives’ (University of Queensland Library, 2016, p. 4).

A Strategic Framework for Information and Digital Literacy

The Library’s leadership team understood that the development of a strategic framework for information and digital literacy could help shape the University’s academic policies and practices. An important step in this project was to ground the broader research findings from an extensive literature review and environmental scan in the immediate context of UQ. In order to gauge the level of understanding about information and digital literacy across the institution, there was a process of consultation with library managers and more widely across the academic community, including the assistant deans (academic) and staff involved in eLearning, teaching and learning support, undergraduate student services and the Graduate School. These discussions revealed deep concerns about the low levels of digital skills and critical thinking on the part of many of the students. The lack of digital competence on the part of teaching staff was also considered a very real issue in preparing students for successful careers, notwithstanding the fact that ‘digital media literacy continues to rise in importance in a key skill in every discipline and profession’ (Johnson, Adams Becker & Hall, 2015, p. 8).

The literature review, environmental scan and consultation activities informed the development of the document, Information and Digital Literacy: A Strategic Framework for UQ Library 2016–2020 (University of Queensland Library, 2016), hereafter referred to as the IDL strategic framework. It was reviewed by stakeholders before being ratified by the UQ Teaching and Learning Committee in late 2016. The framework is guided by five core principles to help all parties understand the value of adopting a strategic approach to the development of information and digital literacy capabilities:

Collaboration

The responsibility for developing information and digital literacy is not limited to UQ Library staff. Programmes are designed and delivered in collaboration with academic staff, learning designers, educational technologists and others, with a shared focus on student learning.

Alignment

In the context of teaching and learning: Information and digital literacy is fully integrated into the curriculum and contextualised in students’ learning and assessment activities.

In the context of academic research: Information and digital literacy is fully integrated into the research lifecycle.

Innovation

The development of information and digital literacy skills utilises contemporary pedagogies and online tools in new and transformational ways.

Sustainability

The scope and reach of UQL information and digital literacy activities are extended through the adoption of new, flexible forms of delivery and support.

Evaluation

Information and digital literacies are reviewed and evaluated as part of the process of continual improvement.

These five guiding principles have been translated into a number of key strategies which inform practice, with the goals of realising the opportunities for collaboration across the university community and achieving alignment of information and digital literacy capabilities with discipline and professional expectations and with Higher Degree by Research (HDR) requirements. The emphasis on leveraging technology to encourage and support innovative and sustainable practices in teaching and research is balanced by the encouragement of a culture of evaluation and evidence-based practice.

A Key Actions document has provided Library staff with the functional interpretation of these strategies. An annual operational plan, embedded within the Library’s operational plan, presents the Information and Digital Literacy (IDL) team with the prioritised tasks for the year ahead. The IDL strategic framework therefore offers a coherent approach to skills development, underpinned by the appropriate infrastructure required to deliver consistently high quality, equitable programmes and resources to support teaching and research at UQ.

Information and Digital Literacy for the Undergraduate Community

At UQ, the Library’s contribution to the development of students’ information skills has long been recognised. For many years, liaison librarians have worked with and interpreted the ANZIIL standards (Bundy, 2004). Recently, however, these standards have been criticised for being too linear and limited in scope. They were developed for a more structured information environment which lacked the fluidity of online information seeking practices, the diverse media and contexts for information use, and the different levels of mastery required by students along their learning journey. The contemporary information environment has become far more dynamic, complex and unpredictable for information seekers.

The Association for College and Research Libraries (ACRL) has adjusted our understanding of information literacy, describing it as ‘an overarching set of abilities in which students are (critical) consumers and creators of information who can participate successfully in collaborative spaces’ (ACRL, 2015, p. 2). The concept infers the behavioural, affective, cognitive and metacognitive engagement with the creation and consumption of digital information.

In developing the IDL strategic framework, attention was paid to the strengths of the Library’s IDL team and the relationships the liaison librarians had established with academic staff in the faculties and schools. There were opportunities to engage the librarians in a new discourse about information literacy in the online world, with a series of workshops focusing on the ideas presented in the ACRL framework and how these might shape their future practice. To build on this foundation, librarians have participated in a pilot programme coordinated by Jisc to determine staff digital capabilities (Jisc, 2017a). This initiative has allowed librarians to evaluate and contextualise their own digital capabilities in order to contribute to developments within the Schools they support.

Although young people live in an online connected world, research indicates that as students, their abilities to locate, contextualise and utilise digital resources for the purposes of learning cannot be assumed. The IDL team strives to see information and digital literacy included in the emergent practices of digital pedagogy. This has been described as ‘creatively and critically incorporating technology into assignments in ways that truly enhance student engagement and encourage them to confront how technology impacts the work they do’ (Varner, 2016, p. 207).

As a strategy to develop a deeper understanding of the significance of digital technology and learning amongst students, academics and learning support staff at UQ, the IDL team has partnered with the Student Strategy Office to run the Jisc Digital Student Experience Tracker survey (Jisc, 2017b). The survey includes questions on access to digital devices, course-related digital experiences and the capabilities of the learners. The results will be shared across the UQ academic community and be part of benchmarking activities with other Australian and international universities.

Academic staff in the field of journalism were particularly concerned by the new cohort of students who have grown up with mobile devices. The digital skills of some students were simply not adequate to undertake the more advanced learning activities in the course. Partnering with the IDL team, a successful request was made to the Faculty Teaching and Learning (T&L) Committee for seed funding to develop a pilot ‘Digital Literacy Driving Licence’ (DLDL). In a competitive recruitment process, one librarian was appointed as research assistant. Her role was to identify the specific digital skills required by students to productively complete the course, develop a quiz which would allow them to evaluate the current level of their skills, and integrate learning resources to support independent skills development. The DLDL activity has been introduced into the journalism curriculum for 2018, with the impact on student learning being monitored by the project team as the semester progressed. The lack of digital skills is, of course, not unique to students in journalism: the project report will be shared with the teaching and learning committees in the different Schools to stimulate wider engagement with the issues.

Another T&L grant has enabled the IDL team to work with academics from three Schools in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) to examine the professional and disciplinary variations of digital literacies. The grant was awarded following an unsuccessful application for a University T&L grant involving the IDL team and academics from ten different Schools: the academic leaders in HASS acknowledged the value of the proposed work for them. With an increasing emphasis on graduate employability, universities are being challenged by business and industry to embrace changes in workplace skills and accept responsibility to better prepare graduates for their future in a rapidly changing work environment (Australian Council of Learning Academies, 2016; Business Council of Australia, 2016; CSIRO, 2016). The IDL team, augmented by four liaison librarians, completed a literature review and helped map the disciplinary interpretations of digital literacy to learning and assessment in the Schools of Education, Languages and Culture, and Journalism. The findings will help academics shape educational practices in new courses and encourage targeted discussions with employers and accrediting bodies.

In order to capitalise on the push at UQ to introduce more technology-rich academic environments, two media designers were recruited for the IDL team: one in an ongoing role and one in a contract position supported by the Vice-Chancellor’s strategic funding initiative. This has facilitated the reconceptualisation of information literacy skills development by focusing on independent learning opportunities for students embedded within their courses of study. The Library’s existing support resources have become more visible, engaging and accessible, and digital media are being used to present and promote the human face of UQL’s services. Short video presentations starring librarians and students provide the rationale for and the value of different aspects of information and digital literacy for the UQ community.

While the principles of collaboration, alignment, innovation and sustainability underpin the range of digital literacy activities managed by the IDL team, evaluation remains an important part of the process. Over a decade ago, Webber and Johnston (2006) outlined the characteristics of a university which demonstrated systemic and mature practices in information literacy. The IDL strategic framework has adopted some of these ideas, proposing a number of impact indicators to measure the quality and impact of capability building in the context of undergraduate teaching and learning. The indicators include the extent to which the concept of information and digital literacies is incorporated into policy documents across UQ; the extent and nature of collaboration with academic staff; the extent to which information and digital literacy is embedded in academic programs; the impact on the academic quality of student work; the achievement of the graduate profile requirements of the professions and employers; and the level of student satisfaction with the learning activities relating to information and digital literacy skills development. These impact indicators resonate with the four key goals of the UQ Student Strategy: game-changing graduates, student-centred flexibility, dynamic people and partnerships, and an integrated learning environment (University of Queensland, 2016). Evaluation will be a critical activity for the IDL team in 2018.

Information and Digital Literacy for Digital Scholarship

The IDL strategic framework also underpins UQ’s digital scholarship activities. Digital scholarship encompasses a range of research activities that use digital tools and methods for knowledge gathering (e.g. collecting quantitative or qualitative data), knowledge creation (e.g. combining, transforming, interpreting, representing data) and knowledge dissemination (e.g. through interactive websites, games, simulations or apps). The strategic value of digital scholarship at UQ means that high levels of digital literacy are critical for success.

In 2016, UQ Library launched the Centre for Digital Scholarship (CDS) to offer the academic community a collaborative physical space where the creation, analysis and curation of digital content is encouraged and supported. In this multi-functional environment, access is provided to the digital technologies used by academic staff and students for the analysis and visualisation of textual and numeric data, with specialised training and assistance available to facilitate cross-disciplinary connections between teaching and research. The facility encourages the take-up and use of new technologies which exploit the manipulation of large data-sets, maximise the potential to disseminate scholarly research output in new and exciting ways, and foster innovation in curriculum development (Hensley & Bell, 2017).

The operational approach for the CDS was an experiential one with the provision of space and software, plus the scope for librarians to engage with academic users in order to shape an effective and sustainable model of practice. Access to expert support for digital skills development had been identified as a core requirement from the literature, personal contacts and visits to other centres. The real opportunity for CDS to make a difference was to act as the liaison point and bring together experienced users and potential new players, to showcase different approaches to digital scholarship and to encourage learning and knowledge transfer in a collaborative peer-to-peer or mentoring way.

Although the initial focus was the Humanities, it quickly became obvious that digital scholarship could be regarded as a new foundation for both learning and research activities, irrespective of discipline. The first community of users, who focused on the use of textual analysis tools, represented the broad range of interest, encompassing complete novices to competent coders, from humanists and social scientists to ecologists.

The introduction of novel technologies through the CDS has allowed scholars to engage in fresh ways with content, whether in traditional or – increasingly – digital formats, to expose and explain previously unseen patterns and create new dimensions of knowledge. This aligns closely with the ideas flagged by the NMC (Adams Becker et al., 2017): patrons as creators. The long-held view of research as an individual endeavour is changing as new software applications encourage researchers to collaborate with others to exploit the rich potential of digital scholarship. These trends, which are driving the ‘shift in pedagogical practice’ to ‘learning by making and creating rather than simply consuming content’ (Adams Becker et al., 2017, p. 8), have significant ramifications for research institutions and academic libraries. It is imperative that UQL staff, through the CDS, embody the digital skills, knowledge and experience to support and translate this growth area into mainstream practice.

The CDS employs postgraduate students who have significant research expertise in and across a number of the areas of text mining, data analysis, GIS data sets, data visualisation, 3D photogrammetry and 3D printing. A programme of workshops allows the specialist staff to not only share their extensive knowledge and skills, but also to add value by building the community of practice. As researchers enhance their research methodologies by employing a combination of complex software platforms, the mechanisms for support and training in digital skills have become ever more critical.

The fact that software tools continually emerge, evolve and disappear, and the rights and licences change over time, inevitably has a significant impact the sustainability of academic research outputs. Access is provided to proprietary software commonly used in some disciplines, e.g. Esri, ArcGIS, but CDS staff have promoted the use of open source software tools, e.g. R and Open Refine, which will ensure the transfer of knowledge and skills to wider academic and industry contexts.

The philosophy and initiatives of the CDS rely on leveraging the existing frontline liaison librarian engagement model. In the first half of 2017, a pilot programme for a Digital Librarian-in-Residence was trialled in the HASS faculty. This programme saw two liaison librarians embedded within the Faculty for 50% of their time, each for a three-month period. During their residency, the librarians had the opportunity to be involved in a range of engagement activities, promoting the use of digital tools and digital literacies through open information sessions, experiential fora and targeted communication, including social media. They also interacted with researchers through one-on-one consultations on topics such as digital literacy skills, data literacy and eResearch tools. During their residency the librarians completed individual projects, developing new online resources to provide detailed insights into and practical support for digital scholarship which can be shared with the research community and with their peers.

Following the evaluation of the pilot activities in the HASS faculty, with surveys and focus groups for the librarians and the researchers, the programme was expanded into the Health and Behavioural Sciences (HABS) faculty. The strategy of embedding librarians in the faculty environment allows them to establish and develop strong relationships with researchers, thereby gaining a clearer understanding of the specific needs. Not only do the librarians become more familiar and competent with the range of software tools used in digital scholarship, but they also provide a referral service to direct more complex requests for guidance and advice to the specialist team in the CDS. In 2018, the HASS liaison team will coordinate a series of regular introductory seminars and workshops to further build expertise relating to methodologies and tools amongst the HDR and early career researcher (ECR) cohorts, with the liaison librarians enhancing their own understanding and skill sets along the way.

Information and Digital Literacy for the Research Community

The research-intensive characteristics of UQ mean that Library staff partner with researchers throughout the entire research lifecycle, offering a range of services, resources and tools to support research. The growing focus on research data, the changing nature of scholarly communication and the increasing emphasis on research integrity all bring digital and data literacy capabilities into the spotlight. The principles of the IDL strategic framework are central to the field of research support. Library staff collaborate closely with other areas of the University, including the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), the Office of Research Integrity, the Graduate School, Information Technology Services and the UQ Research Computing Centre, ensuring that the Library’s programmes and services are aligned with the University’s strategic directions and priorities.

In terms of research data management, the Library’s current emphasis is on facilitating best practice, with a vision to provide a streamlined pathway to data sharing based on an integrated systems approach involving the institutional repository. Delivery of a sustainable university-wide research data management programme intersects with other digital literacies which feature in the Library’s research support services, including strategic scholarly publishing, research impact and evaluation, and online scholarly profiling systems.

Research data – whether ‘born digital’ or created through the digitisation of analogue data – can take many different forms, with disciplinary differences in both the nature and the extent of the data. As such, the management of research data is regarded as a core digital literacy, relevant to all disciplines and critical to responsible and robust research. It is apparent, however, that researchers often have a considerable knowledge-gap and a skills deficit which limit their ability to effectively manage and exploit their data throughout the research lifecycle. Within a university setting, these challenges are often compounded by a lack of technology infrastructure designed specifically to assist researchers with research data management.

At UQ, the significant value in the research data generated by its large investment in research is acknowledged. The University understands that durable research data are essential to justify, and defend when required, the outcomes of research, and that good stewardship of research data can both increase the efficiency and maintain the integrity of research results. The potential cumulative value of research data is recognised, and, where possible, UQ supports the principle that research data should be made available for re-use. Further, research data can raise the research profile of individuals and institutions, increase returns on public investment, promote open inquiry and debate, and enable innovative uses of data that may not have been foreseen by researchers at the time of its creation.

In response to these requirements, Library staff play a key role in building digital literacy capabilities across the research community. As the institutional repository, UQ eSpace, has been designed to enable data sharing, Library staff guide and support researchers’ utilisation of an integrated research data management tool. This allows researchers to effectively manage their data, with seamless storage provided and good stewardship encouraged throughout the data lifecycle. In order to address the knowledge gap and skills deficit, UQL staff provide researchers with comprehensive training, e.g. via workshops, as well as an advisory service to promote best-practice research data management. A strong outreach programme, run in partnership with the Office of Research Integrity, provides individual researchers and research groups with opportunities to learn to describe their research data in order to adhere to quality metadata principles, link the data to their publications and understand data citation practices. The research data records flow through to the data discovery service Research Data Australia (ANDS, 2017a) and are indexed by the Data Citation Index (Clarivate Analytics, 2017). Library staff have also worked on The University of Queensland Publication-Driven Data Sharing Initiative (ANDS, 2017b), funded by the Australian National Data Service (ANDS) High Value Collections Programme.

Valuable outcomes from these programmes include a detailed understanding of the issues and challenges around research data in different disciplines, with effective support provided by the network of liaison librarians across UQ. Researchers are presented with a range of avenues to develop knowledge of, and skills in, research data management principles and practice. The Library also works with the Graduate School to ensure HDR students are provided with the information, tools and resources they need to develop critical digital literacies in eResearch.

Summary

UQ Library’s strategic framework for information and digital literacy plays an important part in effecting positive change as digital technologies transform the academy (Adams Becker et al., 2016). As a complex academic institution, UQ has been described as a large, siloed organisation which can hinder the flow of productive communication and collaboration. The major challenge facing the University is to determine how to best move away from a distributed, autonomous model of operational practice to adopt a more strategic, programmatic approach to teaching, learning and research. As the theme of openness – open education, open science, open research, open access publishing – gains momentum, communication will improve.

It is argued that digital literacies are central to the future success of the academic institution. While there is no comprehensively agreed definition of ‘digital literacy’, it is important for the diverse communities across the University to understand that strong information and digital literacy skills can contribute to successful outcomes at the individual and collective levels. While the academic library is often referred to as the ‘intellectual heart’ of the university, the opportunity now exists for library staff to extend their reach across the campus and to serve as digital facilitators, connectors and collaborators. The initiatives discussed in this paper have highlighted some of the ways in which UQL staff, by adopting a university-wide approach involving faculty, students and support staff (Alexander et al., 2016), aim to address the currently uneven distribution of digital skills.

Increased digital capability is critical to graduate employability, not only for those students completing their undergraduate studies, but also for HRD students who may either embark on an academic career or take their valuable research skill sets into industry. Digital scholarship also means new creative approaches to research data collection, analysis, dissemination and re-use. The changing world of eResearch requires researchers to work with digital resources at all points of the research lifecycle, particularly in terms of managing research data and demonstrating research impact. Information and digital literacy is the key driver for the Library staff to build their own skills and provide leadership in creating the networks – human and virtual – to create the connected future which is required to support UQ’s strategic priorities.

Notes on Contributors

Gillian Hallam is the manager of Information & Digital Literacy, Learning and Research Services, The University of Queensland Library and an adjunct professor with Queensland University of Technology.

Amberyn Thomas is the associate director of Scholarly Communication and Repository Services, Learning and Research Services, The University of Queensland Library.

Bill Beach is the manager of Centre for Digital Scholarship at The University of Queensland Library.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

^* The ideas presented in this article were originally discussed in a presentation delivered at the THETA 2017 conference, Connecting Minds, Creating the Future, held in Auckland, New Zealand, 7–10 May 2017.