Information Literacy: An International State of the Art

E. Training the trainers
In a recent European project Virkus et al (2005) described curriculum areas for European LIS students in information literacy and teaching of information literacy. One characteristic of the UK education system is that Masters programmes last only one year, which means there is less time for specialism. Undergraduate courses now tend to be in Information Management rather than library studies. There are a range of Masters level courses, ranging from general courses labelled for example Information and Library Studies to specialised courses in Chemoinformatics or Digital Libraries.
In library and information science (LIS) departments in the UK, it has become more common for modules which teach LIS students information literacy (e.g. information seeking and evaluation) to have that phrase in the module title e.g. the module Information Literacy at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth (http://www.aber.ac.uk/modules/current/IL34020.html). There are other modules which incorporate information literacy with other learning e.g. the Applied Information Research (AIR) module at London Metropolitan University (http://www.ilit.org/air05/index.htm).
There are a few more specialised modules, for example:

1. 
   The Information Literacy Instruction module offered at University College Dublin (the only LIS school in Ireland) which covers both definitions and theories of information and education in how to teach information literacy.
   

2. 
   The Information Literacy research module at the University of Sheffield which focuses on areas such as the research agenda for information literacy, research methods for information literacy, notable research in information literacy.
   

Outside the LIS schools there is a good deal of Continuing Professional Development activity, with events relating to information literacy organised by professional groups and associations. Examples can be found by going to the Information Literacy Website or Information Literacy Weblog mentioned below. In Ireland, the Academic and National Library Training Cooperative (ANLTC) offers occasional one-day seminars on Information Skills Training.

(http://www.anltc.ie/index.htm http://www.anltc.ie/index.htm).
Also, in recent years in Ireland, librarians at a number of institutions have been encouraged to enroll on one of three postgraduate programmes in Third Level Learning & Teaching which are offered at the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT). Available at Masters, Diploma and Certificate level, these programmes are aimed at novice and experienced third-level instructors from all disciplines, who wish to attain a relevant teaching qualification.

(http://www.dit.ie/DIT/study/graduate/courses/ltc.html).