Looking to the future:

Developing an academic skills strategy to ensure information literacy survives in a changing higher education world

Abstract

This paper looks at factors influencing the development of information literacy (IL) teaching within UK Higher Education (HE). It includes a review of recent literature on the current HE climate, curricula developments and the scope and breadth of IL. Using the experience at Leeds University Library as a case study, the paper outlines the development of a new strategy to deliver IL teaching and support to students. It describes the process of developing an academic skills strategy, which places IL within a broader range of academic skills, with the aim of contributing to the overall learning development of students. The case study describes the implementation of the strategy and the key stakeholders involved in this, including faculty team librarians , academic skills development officers and academic staff. The paper concludes that there were significant external and internal developments which had an impact on the direction taken by the strategy, specifically in embedding IL within an academic skills framework. In looking at the broad picture and by providing a case study from one of the few UK HE libraries to have progressed the academic skills agenda, it is hoped that the issues raised in the paper allow for reflection of the position of IL at the current time by all those involved in ensuring the acquisition of these skills by students.