Tag Archives: CILIPS

CILIP accredited courses and Scottish iSchools members AI teaching

Posted on by
Reply

I gathered the following data in late September 2026.

1 CILIP-accredited courses

CILIP – the UK wide organisation – accredits the following courses at UK institutions. (Students from Scotland are treated as home students in the other UK nations.) As far as I can tell, CILIPS (the Scottish part of CILIP) does not undertake its own accreditation.

  • Aberystwyth University (Wales)
    • BA Cultural Heritage Studies: Libraries, Archives and Museums
    • BSc Information and Library Studies
    • MA/PG Dip Archives and Records Management
    • MA/PG Dip Information and Library Studies
    • MSc/PG Dip Digital Information and Media Management
  • Coleg Llandrillo (Wales)
    • FdA Library and Information Management
    • BA (Hons) Library and Information Management
  • Cranfield University (England)
  • Manchester Metropolitan University (England)
    • MA/PG Dip Library and Information Management
  • Robert Gordon University (Scotland)
    • MA/PG Dip Information and Library Studies
  • Ulster University (Northern Ireland)
    • MA/PG Dip Library and Information Science
  • University College London (England)
    • MA/PG Dip Library and Information Studies
  • University of Glasgow
    • MSc/PG Dip in Archives, Records & Information Management 
    • MSc/PG Dip in Museum Studies
    • MSc/PG Dip in Library & Information Studies
    • MA Digital Media and Information Studies
  • University of Manchester (England)
    • MA in Library and Archive Studies
  • University of Sheffield (England)
    • MSc in Data Science
    • MSc in Information Management
    • MSc in Information Systems
    • MA/PG Dip in Librarianship
    • MA/PG Dip in Library and Information Services Management
  • University of Strathclyde (Scotland)
    • MSc/PG Dip in Information and Library Studies
    • MSc/PG Dip in Digital Health Systems
    • MSc/PG Dip in Information Management

2 AI teaching in the Scottish iSchools

2.1 Edinburgh Napier University

Edinburgh Napier University offers the following degree courses with artificial intelligence or AI in their titles or course descriptors. None of them appear to be aimed at LIS students.

The following Edinburgh Napier University modules have ‘AI’ or ‘artificial intelligence’ in their titles. They are taught by the School of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment and the Business School. Edinburgh Napier has no modules including librar… in the title.

Edinburgh Napier University’s Information Science MSc comprises the following modules, all taught by members of the School of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment. None of the module descriptors mention AI.

2.2 Robert Gordon University

The following Robert Gordon University degree courses include ‘artificial intelligence’ in their titles or were linked to modules with ‘artificial intelligence’ in their titles. None of them appear to be aimed at librarians.

  • 0071 BSc (Hons) Computer Science
  • 0531 BSc (Hons) Cyber Security
  • 0593 MSci Computing Science
  • 0679 BSc (Hons) Data Science with Artificial Intelligence
  • 0689 MSc Artificial Intelligence
  • 0689 MSc Artificial Intelligence
  • 0702 BSc (Hons) Artificial Intelligence and Data Science (IIT)
  • 0713 LLB (Hons) with Artificial Intelligence     
  • 0717 MSc Cyber Security with Artificial Intelligence
  • 0718 GA in BSc (Hons) Data Science with Artificial Intelligence
  • 0721 Beng (Hons) Robotics and Mechatronics
  • 0722 Meng Robotics and Mechatronics
  • 0734 MSc Advanced Computing 
  • 0756 MSc AI Engineering (IIT)

The following Robert Gordon University modules have ‘artificial intelligence’ in their titles:

  • CM4107 Advanced Artificial Intelligence
  • CM2602 Artificial Intelligence
  • CEM004 Artificial Intelligence Evaluation and Governance
  • CEM006 Artificial Intelligence Systems Development
  • CEM005 Artificial Intelligence Workflow Development
  • EN4200 Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Renewable Energy Systems
  • CM3152 Artificial Intelligence for Problem Solving
  • CEM003 Artificial Intelligence in Professional Practice
  • LL4003 Artificial Intelligence: Law and Governance
  • CM2138 Business Intelligence
  • CM3709 Business Intelligence
  • CMM725 Business Intelligence Tools and Applications
  • CM4601 Computational Intelligence
  • CM4607 Computational Intelligence
  • CM1602 Data Structures and Algorithms for Artificial Intelligence
  • CM3603 Edge Artificial Intelligence
  • CM3710 Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
  • CEM729 Principles of Artificial Intelligence
  • CMM546 Trends in Artificial Intelligence

1.3       University of Glasgow

The University of Glasgow offers the following modules with ‘artificial intelligence’ in their titles. None of the modules appeared to be specifically aimed at LIS students or librarianship. It was not possible to search for degree courses with ‘artificial intelligence’ in their titles.

  • ENG5337 Advanced Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning 5
  • UESTCHN3020 Artificial Intelligence 
  • MED1022E Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare: principles and practical application
  • COMPSCI4004 Artificial Intelligence (H)
  • COMPSCI5087 Artificial Intelligence (M)
  • LAW5226 Artificial Intelligence and Law
  • ACCFIN5230 Artificial Intelligence in Finance 
  • UESTC3036 Artificial Intelligence with Engineering Applications
  • UESTCHN3002 Artificial Intelligence with Engineering Applications
  • PHIL4067 Consciousness: Brains, Artificial Intelligence, and Subjective Experience
  • URBAN5161 Data & Artificial Intelligence in Policy and Society
  • LAW5240 Data and Artificial Intelligence in the Creative Economy
  • LAW5239 Digital Creators, Artificial Intelligence and the Law
  • ENG4200 Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning 4
  • ENG5338 Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning M
  • GEOG5137 Introduction to Geospatial Artificial Intelligence
  • PHYS5101P MSc Project in Advanced Microscopy with Artificial Intelligence
  • COMPSCI5100 Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence for Data Scientists (M)
  • LAW5238 Regulating Artificial Intelligence in the Creative Economy
  • POLITIC4196 The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence

1.4       University of Strathclyde

The University of Strathclyde offers the following degree courses with ‘artificial intelligence’ in their titles or descriptions.

The university also offers the following modules with ‘artificial intelligence’ in their titles.

  • Undergraduate
    • UG BE433 Biomedical Artificial Intelligence
    • UG CS310 Foundations of Artificial Intelligence
    • UG CS453 Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
  • Postgraduate
    • PG BE953 Biomedical Artificial Intelligence
    • PG CS824 Quantitative Methods for Artificial Intelligence
    • PG EE818 Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence for Energy Systems
    • PG MK843 Artificial Intelligence in Marketing
    • PG MS856 Artificial Intelligence: Principles and Machine Learning Applications

‘Strengthening Political & Information Literacy’ event, 10 December 2025

Posted on by
Reply

I was delighted to take part in this event run by Young Scot (YS) and the Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP). Here, I say a little about the event but more about my thoughts and contributions. I look forward so much to the research this event was based on being published.

Continue reading →

Don’t close the book on Fife’s school librarians

Posted on by
Reply

During my recent research into how school librarians can help students with mis- and disinformation issues, I learnt that four local authorities (Argyll & Bute, Glasgow, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire) either had, or soon would have, no secondary school librarians. Also, Fife is continuing to cut its school library services. In this case, I’m pleased to learn that the UNISON Union and CILIPS are campaigning against these cuts, and for improvements to school library services.

Continue reading →

Libraries, Intellectual Freedom and Culture Wars: event at the Scottish Parliament 

Posted on by
Reply
Sean McNamara, Cleo Jones, Shelagh Toonen, David McMenemy, Alastair Brian, Steven Buchanan, Michelle Thomson MSP

On Thursday 9 October, I attended this panel event at the Scottish Parliament. It took place in banned books week. This post is based on my brief notes of what was said. I apologise if I have misrepresented anyone.

The event was hosted by Michelle Thomson MSP, introduced by Sean McNamara (CILIPS director) and chaired by David McMenemy (CILIPS President). The panellists were Cleo Jones (former CILIPS president and former Edinburgh libraries development manager), Shelagh Toonen (CILIPS vice-president), Alastair Brian (The Ferret) and Professor Steven Buchanan.

Continue reading →

‘Tackling misinformation and disinformation for Scottish school librarians’ project report published

Posted on by
Reply

I’m very happy that the project report on ‘Tackling misinformation and disinformation for Scottish school librarians’ is now published on the CILIPS website. It feels like it’s been a long time coming, but very worthwhile. In this work, I researched the ‘how, why and what could/should be’ of Scottish school librarians’ work to help pupils become better able to handle mis- and disinformation.

The report now has a digital object identifier, 10.17869/enu.2025.4736738. Hence it is now also available via the Napier repository at https://napier-repository.worktribe.com/output/4736738, and on my official list of publications.

The headline findings and recommendations from this work are below. While the findings may be somewhat depressing, I think this research can be the basis of making things better, and that’s what I’m all about, in both my academic and non-academic lives. Meanwhile I am very grateful to CILIPS for funding this work, and to the school librarians who took part. Many thanks also to my Napier colleagues who commented on drafts of the report.

Readers might also be interested in my presentation to the CILIPS conference in June this year. Video of this presentation, along with my slides and script, along with the conference programme, videos of other presentations and my live reportage on the conference are available in this post.

I will also make a brief presentation on the work at the next Scottish Media and Information Literacy Community of Practice (MILCoP) meeting (online, 2pm to 4pm on Thursday 23 October). You can register for that meeting on Eventbrite. (Attendance, and membership of MILCoP are entirely free.)

Continue reading →

New project for 2025: ‘Tackling misinformation and disinformation for Scottish school librarians’

Posted on by
1

I am delighted that CILIPS has awarded me funding to undertake this new project in the first half of 2025. Matching my growing interest in librarianship[1], and growing from my interests in information, digital and media literacy[2], the project will tackle the following research questions:

  • How involved are school librarians in enabling pupils’ handling of mis/disinformation?
  • What would they like to do to help pupils better prepare to handle mis/disinformation?
  • What training/support do they have and wish for?
  • How can they collaborate with teachers?
  • How can this be used to advocate for school librarians/libraries?

I look forward to presenting the findings at CILIPS annual conference in summer 2025, and then contributing to advocacy for school libraries. Later, I will write an academic article, but the practitioner-facing activities are first and foremost.

[1] I am second supervisor of a PhD by published works looking into the impacts of the post-2012 changes to English school curricular. The thesis will centre on the apparent decline of teaching information and and digital literacy skills, and the concomitant sidelining of school libraries.

[2] Latest IL publications: Information Literacy and Society, Information Literacy Impact Framework. See my publications for more. I am also secretary of the Scottish Media and Information Literacy Community of Practice.

I’ve been CILIPSing!

Posted on by
Reply

CILIPS Autumn regathering

A few weeks ago, I was at CILIP Scotland‘s Autumn Regathering, the first such in-person event for a couple of years. You can read about it on CILIPS’ website, and you can read about two of the presentations on the Centre for Social Informatics blog. In that piece, Rachel Salzano and I write about the session on ‘AI and the information professional’ and ‘Climate Action, Inequalities and Knowledge’.

The Power of Three: Scotland’s library strategies in the post-Covid world

Last week, I was virtually at CILIP Scotland East Branch‘s AGM. Following the brief formalities, there was an in-conversation discussion of synergies between the strategies below, and the need to prioritise actions for the post-Covid world.

As CILIPS wrote:

Three important new library strategies have recently been launched that will set the scene in Scotland for years to come: The National Library of Scotland’s Reaching People, SLIC’s Forward – Scotland’s Public Library Strategy, and Vibrant Libraries, Thriving Schools – A National Strategy for School Libraries in Scotland. These continue the work over recent years to place libraries at the heart of Scottish civic, cultural, and educational life.

(from EventBrite)

Panellists National Librarian Amina Shah, SLIC CEO Pamela Tulloch, and Chair of the Public Library Strategy Advisory Group Jeanette Castle discussed the synergies between the strategies, and the need to prioritise actions for the post-Covid world.

You can watch the panel session, and you can check out live-tweets with hashtag #PowerOfThree. Lots to learn and enthuse about!

Speaking about RIVAL at #CILIPS21

Posted on by
Reply

I was delighted to speak about the RIVAL project Royal Society of Edinburgh funded Research Impact Value and Library and Information Science (RIVAL) project, at the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals Scotland 2021 conference (#CILIPS21) on Tuesday 8 June. This, and Hazel’s presentation at SCURL, would be a fitting coda to all the work I, Hazel and others have put into this project, and the successes it has generated. NB it’s a coda, not a finis. Continue reading →