Meeting with Information Literacy Community of Practice in Edinburgh

On Tuesday I took the train to Edinburgh to attend the Information Literacy Community of Practice The Right Information: information skills for the 21^st century biannual meeting at the Scottish Government building on Victoria Quay. I was invited by John Crawford to present some of the initial research findings of the research project on Syrian new Scots’ information literacy way-finding practices.  John is an active member of this group with a significant level of experience in the domain of information literacy.  One of the research projects that John has led together with Christine Irving is The Scottish Information Literacy Project which ran from October 2004 - March 2010 at Glasgow Caledonian University.

The meeting was well attended and I had the opportunity to meet with a number of people who have an interest in information literacy across the whole spectrum of government, public, university and school libraries. It was also great to meet with a few familiar faces! A number of interesting information literacy activities, initiatives, collaborations and conferences were presented at the meeting and this offered an informative overview of current developments within the area of information literacy.

I was also delighted that I had the opportunity to present some of the initial findings of Phase 1 of our research project in front of an engaging audience. 

 

My presentation offered an overview of the current situation in Scotland and the activities in place for Syrian new Scots. As of May 2016, Scotland has welcomed 1,602 Syrian refugees as part of the wider UK Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation (VPR) Scheme, aiming to resettle 20,000 Syrians (over a period of five years drawn from established refugee camps). As part of my talk, I offered some evidence from the focus group interviews with Syrian new Scots and SRC corordinators we have conducted together with Professor Simon Burnett, highlighting in particular, the importance of community awareness and engagement for helping the families to integrate locally and feel welcomed. 

Findings from Phase 1  

The main information needs expressed by the Syrian new Scots participants revolve around the learning English and this is directly linked with increasing self-confidence, health, well-being, job opportunities, financial security, community engagement and reducing feelings of isolation.

Another need that facilitates integration relates to travelling freely and gaining confidence to navigate around the city/town to attend appointments and meet basic needs. However, government benefits do not currently consider these additional expenses.

All participants also highlighted the issue of family separation. This creates complex information needs around issues that are concerned with the possibility of being reunited with family members located in different countries. 

In relation to the use of technology and the Internet, there is plenty of support provided by the local community, volunteers and the SRC to ensure that the families have the basic means to use computers and that they are connected to the Internet. However, the families mostly use their smart phones.  The most used application is WhatsApp. It is used regularly to communicate and exchange information. However,  it is only useful as long as everyone follows a ‘shared rhetoric’ to communicate.

In their daily lives in Scotland, the families prefer the help of a person, particularly that of the coordinators, interpreters, volunteers and friends, who are important players in the adaptation process. The Mosque and the community centre also play a key role in terms of a common place where they could meet.

Information provision to the families requires a more step-by-step process that acknowledges the particular needs of the families in different stages. Needs, priorities and resources are set differently depending on local variables. Exchanging examples of good practice across the different councils is very important for increasing awareness of the issues and understanding what makes a successful integration. Families who have already settled could play a significant role in the integration of new arriving families.

As part of my talk, I also emphasised the role of public libraries in this area and a number of steps that could be followed that would help towards this direction.  In the slide below I have included a few ideas of initiatives that could be developed.  If you feel that you can take any of these forward please get in touch with us to discuss ideas.

I enjoyed attending the meeting of the IL CoP in Edinburgh and I found it a very engaging and interesting experience. I would like to thank all the organisers for this excellent opportunity and particularly, John Crawford, for the invitation and Jenny Foreman (Scottish Government) for the great organisation and hospitality.

See you again soon Edinburgh!

Focus Groups with Syrian new Scots in Aberdeen

Today, I met for the first time with some of the Syrian families at the drop-in coffee session at one of Aberdeen's beautiful churches. The weather was very cold but the welcome was very warm!  It was great to also meet with Scottish Refugee Council Coordinators and volunteers.  

 Ready to enter the building for our focus group session. A cold day in Aberdeen!

It was a busy and very lively morning with interesting conversations around the experiences of Syrian new Scots. I was lucky to speak to six people who had different experiences as they arrived to Aberdeen at different stages. The importance of learning English in more intensive classes was, again, highlighted, as well as the need to communicate more effectively during hospital and GP appointments. There were also housing issues and a number of cultural differences, some of which were related to day-to-day activities.

Below is one of today's focus group participants' drawing, emphasising the significance of English language.

 

The focus groups participants had varied working experiences and were positive about taking on volunteering opportunities on the basis of their existing skills and knowledge. There is definitely a need for the development of more community based projects. I wonder if we could start working on creating a central hub with potential local opportunities.

I am also planning to get in touch with the Central Library in Aberdeen with a view to exploring activities and events around the early years programme for the Syrian new Scots families. There is also a need to include more material in Arabic language or dual language sources and organise library membership for the families with the help of volunteers. There are a number of areas in which the public library can be established as a 'trusted' place for the Syrian new Scots in their intergration to their new environments via the development of health literacy, language and cultural integration initiatives. 

I'd like to thank everyone who took part in the focus groups interviews and the Scottish Refugee Council local Coordinators for all the support today. I look forward to meeting everyone again soon!

Meeting with Pamela Tulloch, CEO of SLIC

On Monday we met with Pamela Tulloch, CEO of the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC), in Dundee to discuss ideas and possibilities for collaboration.  SLIC is the independent advisory body to the Scottish Government in relation to library and information work.

We were delighted to find out that SLIC is supportive of the project and that there is certainly a role for public libraries in helping refugee families during their integration and adaptation to local communities and beyond.  One of the strategic aims of SLIC is centred on libraries promoting social wellbeing. Ambition & Opportunity: A Strategy for Public Libraries in Scotland 2015-20 highlights public library support for social wellbeing in a number of ways:

• Responding to the social needs of individuals and groups in their communities and developing activities and programmes to respond to particular needs.
• Making library space and support available for community interest groups and members of the community looking to support one another.
• Contributing to the ability of individuals to become involved in their local communities and take part in local and national life.
•  Strengthening the identity and sense of community.
• Creating a public service hub for the delivery of a range of public services (SLIC,  2015, p.25).

The full report can be accessed here.

Our meeting revealed that there are a number of ways in which Syrian new Scots families can be supported by public libraries via:

• the provision of additional English language classes;
• setting up a community hub with volunteering opportunities for Syrian new Scots;
• providing health information in accessible pictorial formats;
• helping the families to develop their digital literacy;
• offering source material in Arabic (including newspapers and material for children);
• setting up family sessions and getting the families to engage with the early years programme;
• creating a friendly, welcoming and trusted 'third place' for families to learn, socialise and feel part of the community.

Additional ideas that were discussed included public libraries establishing a single library card for Syrian new Scots and automatically signing families as members, having an Arabic speaker based in different local public libraries for a set amount of time every week and introducing an induction session and a short film on what public libraries could offer to Syrian new Scots.

We also discussed our idea of designing a Syrian new Scots cookbook to promote the Syrian cultural heritage.

We are extremely grateful for Pamela's innovative ideas and we would like to thank SLIC for all the great suggestions and support.

Here is a video prepared by SLIC that shows the value of public libraries in Scotland. 

First report to the Information Literacy Group

One month has already passed since the beginning of our research project on the information literacy wayfinding experiences of Syrian new Scots. At the beginning of last week we submitted the first report to the Information Literacy Group reporting on the initial findings.

The research in Phase 1 was conducted via interviews with two Scottish Refugee Council Coordinators and two focus groups with Syrian new Scots (with nine women and nine men). Syrian participants were also involved in a drawing exercise that helped to map visually their information worlds.

The main information needs expressed by participants revolved around the learning of the English language,  travelling freely and gaining confidence to navigate around the city/town and reuniting with family members. There was a series of interesting findings related to the Syrian families' use of technology and a few new ideas around information provision.

We also submitted a paper to be presented at LILAC, the Librarians Information Literacy Annual Conference  that will take place at Swansea University in Wales on  10-12 April.

“Scotland welcomes refugees - Impact and next steps”

The research team attended “Scotland welcomes refugees - Impact and next steps” conference organised by NHS Health Scotland in Glasgow on 2^nd November.The conference brought together key stakeholders invested in integration in Scotland to recognise achievements, highlight on-going challenges and identify priorities for the next phase of the ‘New Scots’ strategy. The New Scots: Integrating refugees in Sctoland's Communities 2014-17 report can be found here.

 The event offered an opportunity to hear about integration from a national and local perspective with interesting practice models.  The conference included a number of interactive workshops to gather views on progress and learn and share available opportunities for refugees and asylum seekers. The ideas we discussed are presented below. 

There was emphasis on educating the community and we proposed the idea of a community involvement language project that helps language development beyond the classroom. This active learning approach could involve Syrian new Scots learning English through volunteering activities within the community.  They could be paired with local volunteers who could help them develop understanding of English language terminology related to the task and therefore to potential future careers.

The importance of understanding what skills and knowledge they already have was therefore highlighted.  A database of potential community project could be shared with the wider community and this would also be used to showcase examples of good practice.

We would like to thank the  Scottish Refugee Council for bringing the conference to our attention.

Lost in information? Syrian new Scots’ information literacy way-finding practices

Aims

This research is a scoping study that aims to examine the information related experiences and information literacy practices of Syrian new Scots (the Syrian refugees in Scotland) during their resettlement and integration.

The project is led by Dr Konstantina Martzoukou and Professor Simon Burnett (i-school, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland) and is supported by The Information Literacy Group (ILG) of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals.

The research aims to explore the following areas:

• To explore Syrian new Scots’ ‘ways of knowing’  for addressing critical social inclusion needs (e.g. housing, welfare, education, benefits, employability, rights and entitlements). This may involve interaction with people, tools and processes within their new socio-cultural setting.

• To examine the barriers (e.g. English language, socio-cultural differences) and enablers (local community support, new technologies and media) they  encounter in the process of addressing their key information needs;

• To investigate how Syrian new Scots could be further supported to adapt to their local communities, feel a sense of belongingness and successfully establish their identity into the Scottish society.

Methods

The project  is conducted by means of interviews with Scottish Refugee Council representatives and focus groups with Syrian new Scots families in Scotland.

Value of Study

The outcomes of this research will help towards making recommendations on how to best aid Syrian newcomers in their social inclusion and community engagement and how to support their habitual and emerging information landscapes for their resettlement and adaptation. 

The research findings will be of interest to local and regional support organizations and community volunteer groups who contribute to the social wellbeing and social integration of Syrian new Scots as well as public libraries as centres for educational and cultural orientation sessions and support for newly settled refugees and for the communities that welcome them. 

The complete proposal can be found here.

The duration of this project is from October 2016 to February 2017.