Alison Hicks
Associate Professor, Library and Information Studies @ucldis. Editor in Chief @jinfolit. information literacy researcher | european | she/hers/ella
- Reposted by Alison HicksJob Opportunity! We're looking for a Graduate Trainee Librarian #libraryjob www.trin.cam.ac.uk/vacancies/gr...
- Reposted by Alison HicksThe @infolitgroup.bsky.social & @ucl.ac.uk Department of Information Studies are proud to announce the return of the Information Literacy Award at #LILAC26 The award is open to all practitioners, researchers & academics working in #infolit in the UK. Nominations close 6 Feb (17:00 GMT).
- Reposted by Alison Hicks*Funded Phd Opportunity* Ulster University - How can public libraries in NI support children with SEN & their families? Please share with anyone who might be interested in applying. #PhDResearch #PublicLibraries #SEN @ulsteruni.bsky.social @librariesni.bsky.social www.ulster.ac.uk/doctoralcoll...
- Yes, Amelia! And may it be the first citation of many!
- Reposted by Alison HicksTonight at UCL, the Information Studies department, in collaboration with CILIP SLG and the Library Services Trust, hosted a screening of the @thelibrariansfilm.bsky.social documentary on book censorship and banning in the US. Barbara Band from SLG is talking about censorship in UK school libraries.
- Reposted by Alison HicksHave an interest in Information Literacy and want to get started in academic publishing? JIL is looking for Associate Editors! journals.cilip.org.uk/jil/announce... this is a great opportunity to be mentored by Alison, and to see the inner workings of journals and research.
- Reposted by Alison HicksEXCITING THINGS ARE AFOOT (Check your LIS-LINK).
- The Journal of Information Literacy has announced a new special issue on information literacy and censorship- please consider submitting your work! Given political tensions, we will be permitting pseudonymous submissions. Please contact me or @bookelf.bsky.social with questions- DMs open!
- Reposted by Alison HicksSeminar 2 of the LIS Research Seminar Series is now confirmed. Come and hear @patchedelbows.bsky.social talk about his brilliant research on HE librarians & social class. Some of you probably even contributed 😉 cassyni.com/series/KVXBf...
- Reposted by Alison HicksJust read this - it was shared on LinkedIn. ‘To my users, “we couldn’t generate an answer for your question” translates to “your topic is not worthy of pursuing—change it.”’ While it’s nice to think that students will come & ask when they don’t find results, many won’t. And the blocking of content…
- New paper alert! ‘Shelves under siege: School librarians as (temporary?) risk workers’, uses the concept of risk work to explore the impact that the risks of censorship are having on professional school librarianship journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
- Given that censorship creates legal, financial and employment risks for school librarians + risks to young people (eg driving reading into unregulated online spaces), I argue that framing the work of school librarians in terms of risk uncovers the hidden costs of censorship…
- or the toll that the reconfiguration of professional work is having on core functions and long-term viability. Part of my wider project exploring information literacy and censorship, the paper is available free and open access in the journal of librarianship and information science!
- Reposted by Alison Hicks"It’s never been more important for us to ensure that libraries have the resources and support to create and defend diverse collections" Read @katiedd.bsky.social’s response to Reform’s attack on books: bylinetimes.com/2025/07/08/r...
- Reposted by Alison HicksDid you know that although Section 28 was repealed in 2003, Kent County Council was the only council in England which voted to uphold their own version of section 28 all the way up until 2010. Way before Reform existed.
- Reposted by Alison HicksGroundbreaking new #LIS study on how #publiclibraries serve #multilingual and #heritagelanguage communities by @victoriarend.bsky.social. UK-based public library workers: please consider participating and circulating! #LibraryResearch #LinguisticJustice #KnowledgeEquity #IntangibleCulturalHeritage
- Calling all the UK public library workers! 📚 Seeking participants for UCL MA Library and Information Studies research project #LibraryScience #Libraries #LibraryLife #LIS #LibraryTwitter #LibTech #UCL #EDI #Librarians #LibraryStaff #CulturalHeritage #PublicLibraries #Research
- Reposted by Alison HicksThis is a horrifying move. Books for children have been through a thorough vetting process, and these collections have been curated for their communities.
- Monday: The House of Lords debates my @indexoncensorship.org investigation into UK school library censorship, showing overwhelming support for freedom to read. Friday: Kent's Reform council bans books with transgender topics in all of its 99 libraries and 5 library vans. Based on one complaint.
- Reposted by Alison HicksThe school library censorship convo has hit the House of Lords! Really pleased to see this conversation, following my @indexoncensorship.org investigation.
- Amazing to see this conversation unfold in the @houseoflords.parliament.uk today. It is great to see the recognition for the SLA and the work we do advising on #schoollibrary provision 👉 bit.ly/3Gqs5yL Watch from 14:47:09 - Index on Censorship and School Libraries #uksla #schoollibraryassociation
- Reposted by Alison HicksRestrictions to US databases and scholarly work mean that researchers need new approaches to navigate research absences and silences rather than the more typical information overload, writes @alisonhicks0.bsky.social: www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/strat... #AcademicSky #EduSky
- Reposted by Alison Hicks“Researchers will need to develop a raft of new techniques to adjust to censored information environments. These include becoming more deliberate about search strategies, as the list of words banned by federal agencies works to obscure the many ways in which human life is lived.”
- Hey IL folks! If you thought censorship was just impacting school librarians, take a look at my new article in @timeshighered.bsky.social exploring what challenges to intellectual freedom mean for HE teaching librarians, too. How do we shift our work from overload to absence?
- Hey IL folks! If you thought censorship was just impacting school librarians, take a look at my new article in @timeshighered.bsky.social exploring what challenges to intellectual freedom mean for HE teaching librarians, too. How do we shift our work from overload to absence?
- “The substantial challenges that authoritarian ideology poses to knowledge exchange mean that researchers must be prepared to safeguard their commitment to empirical insight.” 🖊️ @alisonhicks0.bsky.social via @timeshighered.bsky.social #US #HigherEducation #AcademicSky #EduSky #Censorship
- Reposted by Alison HicksWhat an incredible exhibition! A great way to visualise library censorship. Thanks so much @alisonhicks0.bsky.social and @ioe.bsky.social for featuring my @indexoncensorship.org investigation.
- Thanks to @ioe.bsky.social library for covering worrying growth in censorship in school libraries in their most recent exhibition! Featuring my research as well as the fabulous work of @katiedd.bsky.social 🙌🏼
- Thanks to @ioe.bsky.social library for covering worrying growth in censorship in school libraries in their most recent exhibition! Featuring my research as well as the fabulous work of @katiedd.bsky.social 🙌🏼
- And watch this space for an upcoming piece from me on the implications of recent attacks on intellectual freedom on information literacy and other academic work and practices…
- Reposted by Alison Hicks*CW Discussion of sensitive themes inc. sexual assault* #CALC25 Recording no. 2 is up! This is Heather Barr talking about her research into the information behaviour of survivors of sexual assault. Incredibly important and difficult research. youtu.be/v4mTCO6PsMs #CritLit #LibrarySky
- Happy publication day to me! My monograph, Risk-Informed Information Practice: Ways of Knowing in an Uncertain World is published open access in Routledge’s Global Perspectives on Library and Information Science series, today (Paperback, Hardback also available…) www.routledge.com/Risk-Informe...
- So, what is this book about? In a nutshell, it explores how risk is informed or how people use information to perceive, understand and manage risk. I use three case studies to examine how information literacy supports how people learn how to deal with risk in everyday, academic + professional lives.
- Unsurprisingly, for anyone who knows me, the book takes a sociocultural perspective, which means that information literacy refers to how seeking, using, avoiding and creating information supports learning, and risk refers to uncertainty about the outcomes of activity that is of value to someone.
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View full threadI loved writing this book- and to my amazement, I am still as eager to think more about this topic as I was when I started writing, so please do let me know if you want to chat about this topic further! Thanks in advance for downloading, reading and buying for your library!
- Reposted by Alison HicksDelighted to be included in UCL’s 2025 Student Choice Awards Roll of Honour—I’m honoured to be listed alongside fantastic colleagues Lucy Brownson, @alisonhicks0.bsky.social , @photini.bsky.social, Ahmad Goheer & Daniel Onah! What a way to end year! 🥳
- Reposted by Alison Hicks🎬 Missed our free screening of Banned Together at UCL? Good news — the documentary is now available to stream! by rent or buy on Apple TV+ or stream for free if you have a Amazon Prime Video account: 📺 Apple TV+: lnkd.in/emu3X8dD 📺 Prime: lnkd.in/eMpP6wKW @cilip.bsky.social #BookBans #Documentary
- Yes @ahaire.bsky.social ! Rocking it as usual! #lilac25
- @ahaire.bsky.social was brilliant! Really insightful presentation and lots of questions at the end which highlighted her breadth of knowledge. I could listen to her all day!
- Can someone now make me feel less guilty about missing @ahaire.bsky.social and Richard Douglas’ #lilac25 talks by telling me how brilliantly they did?!
- Fabulous session from Lucy Dodge- some super insightful findings about agency (contextualisation)+ identity of workplace IL (matchmaking, questioner) educators - big takeaway is that many still associate teaching with behaviourist (sage/stage) rather than constructivist approaches (mentor) #lilac25
- Reposted by Alison HicksExcellent session 👏 Also an additional learning moment for me when I find out why folks look the way they look when I sing (photo 2).
- Such was my level of stress at committing to a session at UCL-a-rama time at #lilac25 (3 students presenting research IN THE SAME SLOT) that I ended up on the floor in the session I chose… #proudbutuncomfortablesupervisor
- Great write up of @patchedelbows.bsky.social #lilac25 research from @pammckinney.bsky.social ! information-literacy.blogspot.com/2025/04/live... thanks Pam!
- Also uncomfortable about encouraging people to not let the US crisis go to waste given the vicious attacks that various communities are facing #lilac25
- I wish we could acknowledge the identity changes involved with graduate student information literacy #lilac25 - see this paper for an example scholar.google.com/citations?vi...
- Can we stop equating IL with knowledge of resources? This is not what IL is! #lilac25
- The two narratives of IL that @anniemlloyd.bsky.social and I found in professional literature can be found in this paper #lilac25 scholar.google.com/citations?vi...
- Yep, very uncomfortable about equating the definition of IL with the Lords Prayer… let’s not go there, people #lilac25
- Pleased that @ucl.ac.uk is sponsoring #lilac25 in Cardiff- please do approach me or @patchedelbows.bsky.social if you would like to talk about studying/researching information literacy at PhD or MA level with us!
- Excellent presentation from my colleague @patchedelbows.bsky.social - on phd adjacent research if academic librarianship is over represented by middle class, what is impact on IL definitions, frameworks, standards etc? #lilac25
- Relatedly, what does this research say about rise of critical IL if academic librarianship is over represented by political action taking middle class? #lilac25
- Honoured to have my research into school library bookbanning in the UK reported in the Guardian! www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...
- Successfully made it onto train number 4 on my way to #lilac2025 thinking it may just be quicker to swim the Bristol Channel tomorrow- anyone got a wetsuit they can lend me?!
- Reposted by Alison HicksA reminder of this exciting opportunity! The Journal of Information Literacy is seeking a new Editor-in-Chief. Find full details on our website, including role description and person specification: journals.cilip.org.uk/jil/announce... Apply by 31 March. #InfoLit #InformationLiteracy #CritLib 📚
- Reposted by Alison HicksOur CEO @louiscoiffait-gunn.bsky.social is speaking on intellectual freedom & inclusion at UK premiere of Banned Together, documentary exploring book bans & curriculum censorship in US schools. Mon 24 Mar @cilipslg.bsky.social @bannedtogetherdoc.bsky.social www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/screening-...
- Reposted by Alison Hicks📢 Call for Papers for Special Issue on Trauma-Informed Approaches to Archives and Records 📢 think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issu...
- First publication from my research into censorship challenges in UK school libraries is out! This article is a snapshot and more work is to come :) thanks to SLA for support.
- Reposted by Alison HicksInformation Literacy is different for autistic people, they perceive and receive more information and social sources of information are processed differently.
