Main Stage speakers

Emily Drabinski

Teaching the Radical Catalog

When we teach students how to retrieve information we are also teaching about structures of power and how to navigate them. What is included and excluded from our collections and who decides? How are materials described and whose language do we use? What system is used to order things and can it ever be changed? Teaching knowledge organization systems alongside essential information skills turns a library class into a lesson about the world as it is and how we might make a new and better one together.

Barbara Fister

Information Literacy in the QAnon Era

When the bizarre meta-conspiracy theory QAnon began to be widely reported in the mainstream press, it seemed to be the ultimate culmination of our bifurcated post-truth moment. Many scandalized commentators seemed to blame its rise on a lack of media literacy and critical thinking instruction in schools. But is redoubling our efforts really the solution? Nearly all students encounter media and information literacy instruction as they proceed through their education, but it hasn’t prevented baseless conspiracy theories and malicious disinformation from polluting our information ecosystems. Besides, QAnon adherents have shown themselves to be highly media literate, passionate about research, and committed to uncovering and sharing the truth — their truth, at least. Reflecting on lessons learned from a decade of research conducted by Project Information Literacy, we will explore gaps and opportunities to design responses to our current epistemological crisis.

Alison Hicks, Maud Cooper, Liz Fleetwood, Sae Matsuno, Eva Pickersgill, David Smith, Grace Troth

Black Lives Matter, Brexit and Covid-19: Information literacy in a post-2020 world

2020 marked one of the most turbulent years that many of us have ever experienced. Dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic, the year also saw the growth and resurgence of social activism, including demonstrations and protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, even as aggressive “anti-woke” agendas continued to try and dictate the terms on which these activities could continue. In the face of swirling accusations of misinformation and ‘post-truth’ societies, numerous commentators have remarked on how these events introduce new opportunities for information literacy. However, we also think it is important to take a step back and interrogate how these happenings impact on the ways in which we understand and position information literacy as well as teaching librarian practice. What does information literacy look like in a post-2020 world? What themes are newly important; how has or should our understanding of information literacy change? What opportunities do these events create for information literacy- but, equally importantly, what constraints do they impose?

These are all questions that Alison Hicks and a group of UCL students have been considering over the past year within the information literacy module that they took as part of their MA degree. In this presentation, each student will present a theme that they feel is overlooked or newly important within a post-2020 world, before engaging in a broader discussion about the implications for information literacy research and practice within academic, health, workplace and everyday contexts. The panel will end with a series of provocative questions designed to structure a robust discussion amongst all FestivIL participants. Rather than coming up with neat solutions, the ultimate goal is to encourage participants to sit with the tensions and anomalies that characterise this period of our lives, and reflect on what this means for the ongoing sustainability of our field.