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Informed learning can be enlivened through explicit and persistent attention to using information to learn during collaborative design activities. The resulting information experiences and accompanying information practices in the workplace, when combined with systems principles, can produce transferable individual and group (and, ultimately, organizational) capacity to advance knowledge in ever expanding professional contexts.

In development in North America since 2003, the Informed Systems Approach incorporates principles of systems thinking and informed learning though an inclusive, participatory design process that fosters information exchange, reflective dialogue, knowledge creation, and conceptual change in workplace organizations. It also furthers expression of collaborative information practices that enrich information experiences by simultaneously advancing both situated domain knowledge and transferable learning capacity. Integrated design activities support participants’ developing awareness of the conceptions of information experience and informed learning, in a cyclical and iterative fashion that promotes and sustains continuous learning.

A shared learning focus evolves through intentional use of information to learn, including collective reflection on information sources, collaborative practices, and systems functionalities, which further participants’ topical understandings and enrich their information experiences. In addition, an action-oriented intention and inclusive participatory disposition ensures improvements of real world situations.

Every day, businesses are creating information experiences for themselves, their customers and key external stakeholders, which have the potential to promote shared understanding and effective communication, create strong relationships and support the efficient achievement of important business outcomes — or equally, to deliver the exact opposite. In practice, most businesses pay little attention to the information experiences they are creating and are oblivious to the significant negative impacts that result across many different parts of their operations.

Drawing on practical examples from my work as a management consultant specialising in information design, this chapter will provide compelling examples of the poor information experiences that businesses perpetuate, and the significant frustrations, inefficiencies and substantial financial losses that can result for four specific audiences — their customers, staff, leaders and external partners. It will also highlight some of the processes and experiences we have had in creating more effective information experiences by focusing on the needs of the user and applying core principles of information design.

This paper aims to present recently published resources on information literacy and library instruction through an extensive annotated bibliography of publications covering all library types.

This paper annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2017 in over 200 journals, magazines, books and other sources.

The paper provides a brief description for all 590 sources.

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 library instruction and information literacy, providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of publications covering various library types, study populations and research contexts.

This paper introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations, reports and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2019.

The paper provides a brief description of all 370 sources and highlights sources that contain unique or significant scholarly contributions.

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

Purpose – This chapter puts forth an approach for deeper understanding of the ways that information professionals learn, based on concepts and strategies that enable them to fulfill the varied roles they take on. It considers multiple facets in their experiences of using information to learn, the essence of informed learning (Bruce, 2008). The purpose of furthering this understanding is to develop approaches for designing enhanced curriculum to support transformative learning experiences.

Design & Methodology – To explore the learning experiences, roles, and strategies of information professionals, this chapter enlists two frameworks pertinent to transformative learning: first, the informed learning construct of Bruce (2008) and, second, the threshold concepts theoretical framework of Meyer and Land (2003). Both frameworks have been used to guide the design of curriculum, and this chapter discusses using them together to design higher education courses for information professionals. Learning activities from two courses in an online MLIS degree program – information retrieval system design and information architecture – are used as case illustrations for implementing a blended approach.

Findings & Discussion – The outcomes from implementing curriculum that has been designed based on informed learning principles and threshold concepts that were derived from learner experiences are discussed. A third construct, information experience (Bruce et al., 2014), which evolved in part out of informed learning, is brought into the discussion, providing an additional dimension for understanding the learner’s relationship with his/her information world.

How is understanding built? This chapter operationalizes the discussion from the previous chapters to offer some design strategies for creating information systems that promote the building of understanding. These strategies are, namely, multiple perspectives, slowness, and intentional struggle. Examples of and existing literature on these design strategies are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding of skilled immigrants’ lived experience of using information to learn about their new setting.

Thematic analysis was conducted on a qualitative data set collected through 16 semi-structured interviews with newly arrived skilled immigrants in Australia.

The study uncovered six different themes of experiencing using information to learn among skilled immigrants. The themes, presented as a framework, explain skilled immigrants learn about their new life through: attending to shared stories by others; getting engaged; researching; comparing and contrasting past and present; being reflective; and being directly educated.

The study presents the theory-to-practice translation approach of “information experience design” that enables the enactment of theoretical understanding of information research.

The study invites, encourages and enables information professionals to take part in interdisciplinary conversations about integration of skilled immigrants in their host countries. Using the presented framework in the study, information professionals will be able to explain skilled immigrants’ learning about their new setting from an information lens. This provides information professionals an opportunity to work with immigration service stakeholders to help them incorporate the presented framework in their real-world practice and service. Such practice and services are of potential to support newly arrived skilled immigrants to become more information literate citizens of the host society who can participate more fully in their host society.

The subject of the paper is innovative information services. The purpose of this paper is to identify the potential sources of innovation in library information services and point out how they can be used to improve the overall service quality.

In the first stage, literature analysis and critique was used to establish the state of research in the field of innovative solutions and select the main sources of innovation in services. Next, a systematic search of the subject literature and network resources was carried out according to the selected criteria to find the examples of innovative commercial services, particularly in the information sector.

Libraries, like all customer-oriented service organizations, must innovate and continually evolve to better meet the needs of their audience. It seems that in libraries, the basis of innovation and building a competitive advantage over other institutions may primarily be the thoughtful design of services in the spirit of the assumptions of the experience economy. Innovative ideas based on in-depth knowledge of user needs are less dependent on financial conditions and more on the creativity and enthusiasm of library staff.

This paper is a conceptual work presenting the issue of innovation from the perspective adopted by the author. The paper does not aim to fulfill the subject but to show some interesting aspects of this issue and help initiate discussions on innovation in libraries from the perspective of phenomena present on the commercial information services market. This approach, which has not yet been adapted in library science, may show some new aspects and lead to new conclusions. This is a literature review type of paper that is not based on empirical research and it has not yet been tested in practice; however, the author believes that it can provide a valuable framework for designing and implementing innovative services in libraries. The presented process is a preliminary proposal that can and should be modified in the future based on further scientific reflection and examples of implementations in libraries.

The results can be widely used in practice as a framework for designing innovative services in libraries. The paper, based on subject literature, proposes a process of designing innovative information services that can and should be tested in practice.

The paper can help initiate the debate on the need to implement innovative solutions in library services.

The issue of innovation in library services has not yet been widely discussed in library and information science journals from the perspective proposed by the author. This paper presents a specific approach to library innovation based on the observation of the certain phenomena on the commercial market, which opens the door to new reflections.