Intute

Intute has always seemed to us to be the embodiment of the "mother knows best" tendency of information literacy and its demise can be seen as a demonstration of the futility of librarians trying to categorise the web on behalf of an uninterested public, quite happy to use search engines

You'd think its termination would bring some humility to those involved but not a bit of it. It was, apparently, "a hotbed of technical innovation" which explored "a staggering range of new technologies" and made "groundbreaking forays into virtual worlds"!

Tara Brabazon

Tara Brabazon achieved some notoriety a couple of years ago with The University of Google, a dreadful book which one of the RL team had the misfortune to read.

Flattered that a real academic appeared to be taking their views seriously, she found a ready audience amongst info-lit librarians and has spoken at conferences including LILAC. She, in turn, is probably grateful for the gigs - we can't imagine she gets many other offers.

She thinks librarians are important "because they punctuate the information landscape, controlling and managing enthusiasm and confusion." This shows her in terryfying action (note the ironic overhead projector).

Unfunny cartoon

This is from Cardiff University's Resource Bank of rubbish librarianship.

Open letter to the Prime Minister

This is a letter written by some librarians to the Prime Minister. It was sent in February and is regarding school libraries.

It is a typical information literacy text. It’s badly written, lacks self-awareness and makes ludicrous claims for the profession. The timing is also strange: hadn't they seen the opinion polls?

Take this extract: leaving aside the offensive nature of the metaphor, can tidal waves "gradually but inexorably" drown people? And will the 21st century really be "symbolized", not by climate change or the rise of China, but by distance education?


Link

Handbook for Information Literacy Teaching

"The cover illustration and its insert companion were inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film
2001: A Space Odyssey.The moment when prehistoric man discovered the use of simple
tools was a milestone in the history of civilisation.The ability to use information as a survival
tool has had an equally profound impact.The pairing of these images conveys a sense of the
evolution and progress of the human race, from a manual to an intellectual dexterity; they
emphasise the liberating effects of information on the human spirit.We believe that these
images encapsulate many of the principles of information literacy described in this
Handbook; they motivate, inspire and demand attention.We hope that you agree."

Link