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The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical framework to illustrate the archival knowledge applied by archivists in their personal archiving (PA) and the mechanism of the application of archival knowledge in their PA.

The grounded theory methodology was adopted. For data collection, in-depth interviews were conducted with 21 archivists in China. Data analysis was performed using the open coding, axial coding and selective coding to organise the archival knowledge composition of PA and develops the awareness-knowledge-action (AKA) integration model of archival knowledge application in the field of PA, according to the principles of the grounded theory.

The archival knowledge involved in the field of PA comprises four principal categories: documentation, arrangement, preservation and appraisal. Three interactive factors involved in archivists' archival knowledge application in the field of PA behaviour: awareness, knowledge and action, which form a pattern of awareness leading, knowledge guidance and action innovation, and archivists' PA practice is flexible and innovative. The paper underscored that it is need to improve archival literacy among general public.

The study constructs a theoretical framework to identify the specialised archival knowledge and skills of PA which is able to provide solutions for non-specialist PA and develops an AKA model to explain the interaction relationships between awareness, knowledge and action in the field of PA.

Written by a librarian and history professor, the purpose of this paper is to describe a collaborative, primary source literacy project and report its effectiveness in teaching undergraduates to critically analyze information and develop primary source literacy.

The methodology used included a research project with 24 undergraduates and a pre- and post-survey. The research project and student survey incorporated principles from the “Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy”, published in 2017 by the ACRL’s Rare Books and Manuscripts Section and the Society of American Archivists. The paper offers research and practical implications for librarians and instructors interested in strategies to teach information literacy. For instance, the paper includes a review of literature on “archival intelligence” or “primary source literacy” and describes the 2017 Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy.

Socially, the paper includes implications for how to create an inclusive learning experience for students with mechanisms such as a scaffolded assignment, hands-on instruction, imposter syndrome awareness and a no-Google policy.

Given that this is one of the first articles to document how practitioners are incorporating the new 2017 Guidelines, this is sure to be an original and valuable essay.

Educating researchers on how to use archival and manuscript materials and repositories is an important component in any records program. This is more important now that increasing amounts of information concerning archives and manuscripts appear daily on the web. Twenty years ago, all use of archives and manuscripts was mediated by reference personnel. This is not true today. However, the archivists' paradigm for educating researchers has not shifted accordingly. Furthermore, archivists do not have the defined basic competencies that might comprise “information literacy for primary sources”.

This paper aims to provide an introductory overview and selected annotated bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy across all library types.

It introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2014.

It provides information about each source, discusses the characteristics of current scholarship and highlights sources that contain unique or significant scholarly contributions.

The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

This paper aims to present recently published resources on information literacy and library instruction providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of publications covering all library types.

This paper introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2016.

The paper provides information about each source, describes the characteristics of current scholarship and highlights sources that contain unique or significant scholarly contributions.

The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

This qualitative case study explored the information literacy acquisition of 23 students enrolled in a learning community consisting of an advanced English as a Second Language (ESL) writing class and a one-unit class introducing students to research at a suburban community college library in California. As there are no other known learning communities that link an ESL course to a library course, this site afforded a unique opportunity to understand the ways in which ESL students learn to conduct library research. Students encountered difficulties finding, evaluating, and using information for their ESL assignments. Strategies that the students, their ESL instructor, and their instructional librarian crafted in response were enabled by the learning community structure. These strategies included integration of the two courses’ curricula, contextualized learning activities, and dialogue. ESL students in this study simultaneously discovered new language forms, new texts, new ideas, and new research practices, in large part because of the relationships that developed over time among the students, instructor, and instructional librarian. Given the increasing number of ESL students in higher education and the growing concern about their academic success, this study attempts to fill a gap in the research literature on ESL students’ information literacy acquisition.

In 2015, a librarian (Jessica Blackwell) and a course instructor (Trevor Holmes) collaborated to offer experiential opportunities in the archive itself for a large introductory Women’s Studies class. Since then, students from six semesters of the course have worked with primary source materials from the library’s collections. This chapter is a description of practice rather than a formal study. The authors describe design elements from the course, public products of the assignment, and reflections based on observations over time, offering several ways for librarians with access to archival material to co-design assignments with instructors. In the assignment variations, students visit the archive to complete a short transcription or digitization task pre-selected to benefit both the learners’ research skills development and the wider research community. Final products go live online, benefiting the students and the global research community. Then, students link the experience to a course reading in a critically reflective paper. While initially the projects hold barriers for students, in formal and informal reflections they ultimately find it to be a rewarding learning experience. The authors contend that the assignment has significant elements of experiential learning and high-impact practices.

Purpose – Changes in the environment – political, economic, social, educational and technological – have demanded changes in many areas of work, most particularly in the roles and tasks of those involved in the preservation and transmission of cultural heritage, and interpersonal information intervention. Sending, storing and receiving digital information are commonplace activities, and now formally constructed digital libraries constitute an important component of this virtual information environment. Similar to traditional physical libraries, digital libraries are constructed for particular purposes, to serve particular clienteles or to collect and provide access to selected information resources (whether text documents or artefacts). Information intermediaries – or digital librarians – in this transformed information environment must learn new skills, play different roles and possess a new suite of competencies.

Design, methodology and approach – Myburgh and Tammaro have, for several years, examined the new knowledge, skills and competencies that are now demanded, in order to design and test a curriculum for digital librarians which has found expression in the Erasmus Mundus Master's in Digital Library Learning (DILL), now in its sixth year.

Findings – The chief objective of the Digital library program is to prepare information intermediaries for effective contribution to their particular communities and societies, in order to assist present and future generations of digital natives to negotiate the digital information environment effectively. This includes, for example, the necessity for digital librarians to be able to teach cultural competency, critical information literacies and knowledge value mapping, as well as understanding the new standards and formats that are still being developed in order to capture, store, describe, locate and preserve digital materials.

Research limitations – In this chapter, we propose describing the work we have done thus far, with special reference to the development of a model of the role of the digital librarian, including competencies, skills, knowledge base and praxis.

Social implications – Amongst the various issues that have arisen and demanded consideration and investigation are the importance of a multidisciplinarity dimension in the education of digital librarians, as information work is orthogonal to other disciplinary and cultural categorisations; that a gradual convergence or confluence is being identified between various cultural institutions which include libraries, archives and museums; the new modes of learning and teaching, with particular regard to knowledge translation and the learner-generated environment or context; and possibly even a reconsideration of the role of the information professional and new service models for their praxis.

Originality/value – The chapter tries to evidence the present debate about digital librarianship in Europe.

Literacy is a global problem that concerns librarians and educators. This article provides resources for individuals who want to develop literacy projects. It comprises many descriptions of literacy organizations, grant sources, and book aid groups, both global and local. Many resources are available for literacy project developers. Those in this article will stimulate project developer’s thinking and planning regardless of country.

The complex phenomenon of information overload (IO) is one of the pathologies in our present information environment, thus symbolically it signalizes the existence of a dark side of information. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the approaches on mitigating IO. Hence, it is an attempt to display the bright side.

Based on a literature review, the sources of IO are briefly presented, not forgetting about the role of information technology and the influence of the data-intensive world. The main attention is given to the possible ways of mitigating IO.

It is underlined that there are both technological and social approaches towards easing the symptoms of IO. While reducing IO by increasing search task delegation is a far away goal, solutions emerge when information is properly designed and tools of information architecture are applied to enable findability. A wider range of coping strategies is available when we interact with information. The imperative of being critical against information by exercising critical thinking and critical reading yields results if different, discipline-dependent literacies, first of all information literacy and data literacy are acquired and put into operation, slow principles are followed and personal information management (PIM) tools are applied.

The paper intends to be an add-on to the recent discussions and the evolving body of knowledge about the relationship between IO and information architecture, various literacies and PIM.