The Information Literacy Cookbook: Ingredients, Recipes and Tips for Success

Citation

Duckett, B. (2009), "The Information Literacy Cookbook: Ingredients, Recipes and Tips for Success", Library Review, Vol. 58 No. 4, pp. 324-326. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530910952918

This really is a weird book. Take the chapter headings for example: Appetites and aperitifs; Feeding the masses; Healthy mind, healthy body; Information discovery stir fry; Alone in the kitchen; Educating the palate of pupils and teachers; Variety is the spice of life, or choosing your toppings with care; Information literacy beef bourguignon; and Conclusion: coffee, cheese, biscuits and petit fours. Or take the final paragraphs of the information about the three editors and eight “chefs” (contributors): Debbi loves white wine and Lindt chocolate; Gwyneth fresh fish and juicy tomatoes; Jane home made pizzas; Carey Italian food; Jane boozy desserts; Angela BBQ recipes; Sarah vegetable hotpot; Rebecca local coffee shops and cafés; Di has a culinary passion for pasta; Ronan grows organic fruit and veg.; and Helen has rivalry “cook offs” with her best friends.

So what has all this to do with information literacy? Well, the subtitles to the aforementioned chapter headings give a clue (or should I say “taste”?): “Getting started with the information literacy cookbook”; “Digital citizenship and the public library”; “Digital literacy in the NHS”; “Information literacy in the commercial sector”; “When you're the only one providing the service”; “Recipes for success in school libraries”; “Information literacy challenges in the further education sector”; and “Information skills … [in] the higher education sector”.

All the authors are experienced in providing front‐line library and information services in an electronic environment. In their respective chapters they are concerned to provide advice to people working in these sectors to enable their staff and users to become “information literate”: the “ingredients, recipes and tips for success” of the book's sub‐title. (For those of us who reckon we were “information literate” BC – Before Computers – “information literacy” in this book refers to “electronic” or “digital” literacy.) While each chapter naturally differs according to the nature of the library culture featured and the experience of their author(s), the “cookbook” theme provides the structure for all the chapters. “In writing this book, the editors wanted to create something that would be of day‐to‐day use to practitioners.” (Introduction) But why a “cookbook”? “Cookbooks come in different shapes and forms, but ultimately they are there to provide you with practical guidance, inspiration and ideas … Cookbooks can be followed step‐by‐step by the amateur, or used as a springboard for the experienced chef … We hope that this cookbook will be both practical and inspiring; combining the best of new technologies and traditional tried and tested methods.”

The cookbook paradigm is rigorously adhered to. Taking the chapter on the NHS as typical, its sub‐headings include “Too many cooks” (about collaboration); “Preparation”; “Cherries or carrots?” (on accreditation and incentives); “Ingredients”; “Timing”; “The main course”; “Dealing with disasters: coping with burnt toast”; “Coffee and mints” (evaluation and training); and “Washing up” (conclusion). The other chapters have similar culinary and foody sub‐headings. Despite the jokey and, frankly, irritating headings, the contributors provide useful information and sober advice for those who provide information services; the intent is serious. The public library chapter is strong on arguing the need for “feeding the masses”, arguing for the right of the public to have information literacy (i.e. access to electronic resources).

While a bit thin on how to achieve it, there are some perceptive observations on the IT culture. The NHS chapter concentrates on information literacy for staff as a prerequisite for further development, with good detail about the ECDL qualification. The two specialists from Unilever provide probably the best chapter with a rich mixture of strategies and techniques for raising knowledge levels within organisations in the commercial sector, giving many useful websites. The “Alone in the kitchen” author gives sage advice on the skills needed to manage a busy information service. A little different is the schools chapter, with its examples of models of information literacy education for students. The chapters on further and higher education look at strategies for developing IL skills in the colleges and universities, both with numerous examples. The HE chapter also covers general learning theories. The references throughout are up‐to‐date, but sadly the index is awful: the entry for “research” has 26 undifferentiated page references, the entries for “training”, “work”, and “skills” probably have more – poor IL there!

While there are, indeed, many “ingredients, recipes and tips for success” here, some of the chapters are a touch bland. Were there, perhaps, rather too many cooks when this book was “cooked up”?