JISC

Start date: 1 April 2001

End date: 31 May 2003

Funding programme: JISC Organisational Support programme

Project website: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/bigblue/

JISC theme(s): e-Administration

The Big Blue project is examining information skills (IS) training in FE and HE. The project is working to produce a blueprint for the future of IS training by gaining a snapshot of current IS provision around the country and identifying a variety of methods of good practice. 

The Big Blue has produced two toolkits to support colleges and universities that wish to commence, or improve, existing IS training.  The toolkits bring together some of the key deliverables that the Big Blue project has produced: case studies, literature reviews and interpretations of Key Skills requirements. 

The work of the Big Blue is now complete. The project team would like to thank all those who contributed to the research, and everyone who attended a dissemination event. The final report is now avaliable below. 

The Information Skills Toolkit  

The IS toolkit is designed to be accessed via the Web, although a printable version will be available in the near future. The toolkit is divided into nine sections, each of which relates to a key feature of a successful IS programme. Each section contains an explanation of the aspect of IS that it covers, plus findings of the project's audit and links to relevant case studies and Web resources.  

These sections can be a useful source of information and inspiration when trying to consider how best to provide IS at your institution.  For example, one section entitled 'Information Skills Feature in the Strategic Plans for your Service and/ or Institution' provides statistical information about what percentage of institutions currently has IS in their service or college plans. This is accompanied by a list of reasons to include IS in such plans, and a link to some characteristics developed by the American Association of College and Research Libraries which illustrates best practices of IS programmes.  

[Our aim is to exploit the technologies and deliver the best of accessible ”‘from anywhere” information resources whilst maintaining the best traditions of libraries and librarianship.’ (Doncaster College)] 

This toolkit is avaliable at: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/bigblue/toolkit.htm 

The Post-16 Toolkit  

The post-16 toolkit takes statements directly from the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) Key Skills specifications for the IT and Communications units and then places them in an IS context by including information on how the statements can be interpreted in practice and examples from the case studies.  Comments on the Key Skills Support Programme are also included.  This can be useful when LRC staff are looking for opportunities to integrate IS into the curriculum. 

For example, the toolkit identifies two Key Skills units, 'Information Technology' and 'Communications Skills'. The QCA framework identifies skills for these units that LRC staff might consider to be Information Skills, such as "Find different types of information from IT and non-IT sources”.  LRC staff can use this to make a case for including such skills into Key Skills sessions – and offer to teach them. The case study examples provided could also be used as evidence that such skills can be successfully taught by LRC staff. 

This toolkit is avaliable at: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/bigblue/toolkitpost16.htm