Why not showcase your work on the Information Literacy website? This website is provided by the CILIP Information Literacy Group, and seeks to represent and promote the role of information literacy across a wide range of different sectors. Our “Sectors” pages present an overview of information literacy practices in a number of settings (e.g. Higher Education, Further Education, Health, Public, Schools, etc.). We would welcome any case study submissions that would help to showcase interesting work that is going on in the field of information literacy.

Case studies should give details of projects, approaches and examples from practice on the
development and application of information literacy.
They could be on learning and teaching, research, or development and collaboration. Although case studies will focus on a particular project, sector or specialist area, you should consider transferable practice and may highlight how others could adapt the approach for their circumstances.
The inclusion of relevant and supporting images, tables, photographs, screenshots, diagrams, etc. is encouraged, as they are particularly suited to the case study format and can be effective in highlighting examples and making points. Where appropriate, headings and sub-headings should be used to break up sections and aid the reader. 

IL definition case studies should give details of projects, approaches and examples where the CILIP 2018 Definition of Information Literacy (pdf) has been used to aid or frame the development and application of information literacy. 

Although the context of IL definition case studies might focus on a particular sector or specialist area, you should consider transferable practice and may highlight how others could adapt the approach for their circumstances. We are looking for practical examples that others can use for their own work, the idea being that people can see how the theoretical framework of the definition can used in a concrete way. 

As with all IL case studies, the inclusion of relevant and supporting images, tables, photographs, screenshots, diagrams, etc. is encouraged, as they are particularly suited to the case study format and can be effective in highlighting examples and making points. Where appropriate, headings and sub-headings should be used to break up sections and aid the reader.

  • Maximum word count of 2,000 words, though could be much shorter than this
  • Include brief introductory information about yourself, and your involvement / interest in this area
  • Include links to any relevant additional material
  • Include images or photos to help illustrate specific points and/or introduce the author
    (Headshots would be ideal).
    Our standard rules on images are: You will need to seek permission from the copyright/licence holder before we can publish them. If the images are your own, they will normally be made available under a CC-BY-SA licence, but this is negotiable on a case-by-case basis. Where possible, you should provide high-quality, editable images of a file size no greater than 2MB.
  • You might like to include a couple of questions for the readers at the end of the blog post, to encourage discussion / comments on the topic underneath

Please submit the copy via the online submission form.

Blog authors should also be aware that the ILG web editorial team might make some minor edits or additions to the blog post to tie in with the ILG perspective / activities on this issue.

Case studies will be published as blog posts on the Information Literacy website. They will also appear in other relevant sections of the website, e.g. under “Teaching” or “Researching”. The CILIP Information Literacy Group reserves the right to publish on the website only those submissions which it deems to be of an appropriate standard and relevance. We may also make edits to your submission for reasons of clarity, length or particular context, but will liaise with you if significant changes are required.

The most common form of case study is a written one, but we encourage creativity and the use of media. Case studies can be accepted as word-processed documents, presentations and/or video clips. The method to be used is at your discretion.

Please consider the best format for your particular case study. You may wish to use one or more of the following methods:

Written case studies

  1. Written case studies should normally not exceed 2,000 words.
  2. We can accept case studies in the following formats: .DOC, .DOCX, .PPT, .PPTX, Prezi, Slideshare, PDF, JPG, PNG, MP4.
  3. There is no slide limit, but please consider how to best utilise this format.

Video case studies

  1. Most formats are acceptable, as we will use YouTube to host the videos. .MP4 and .MOV are two of the most commonly-used video formats.
  2. Videos should be of good quality and edited together professionally.
  3. There is no time limit, but please try to keep videos to a reasonable length and be concise.

All case studies submissions (regardless of format) should be accompanied by a short overview/abstract. The Website Editorial team will place this on the IL Website to help visitors decide if your case study will be relevant and useful to them.

The following areas should be addressed by all case studies:

  • Aims. What were you hoping to achieve by implementing the change/approach/technology/resource?
  • Approach.  Provide a description of the new approach taken.
  • Outcomes.  What was the outcome of the approach (including any challenges encountered)?
  • Benefits. What were the anticipated and actual benefits of the new approach?
  • Future Developments. How do you/your organisation intend to sustain or develop this approach?
  • Recommendations. How would you advise someone considering adopting the approach/resource/technology?

We recommend ending your case study blog post with a prompting question or series of questions to encourage conversation around your contribution. These should be informal and not too taxing for the reader to answer. Some examples might be:

  • Would this approach work for you? Why/Why not?
  • Any suggestions for how I could develop this further?
  • Have you seen something similar implemented elsewhere?
  • Would you like to get involved? / Would you be interested in collaborating on this?

Draw attention to your questions by setting them apart, in bold, at the bottom of the post.

We would strongly encourage you to include images or photos in your case study to help illustrate specific points, but please note that you will need to seek permission from the copyright/licence holder before we can publish them. If the images are your own, please note that they will normally be made available under a CC-BY-SA licence, but this is negotiable on a case-by-case basis. Where possible, you should provide high-quality, editable images of a file size no greater than 2MB.

Any original case study contributions that you provide will normally be made available under a CC-BY-SA licence, but this is negotiable on a case-by-case basis. It is recognised that you may need to abide by your institution’s own licences, for example.

If your case study contains any third party media (e.g. audio, images, video), you will need to seek permission from the copyright/licence holder before we can publish this content. For Creative Commons licensed media allowing non-commercial re-use, we ask that you supply the URL of the original, as well as the author and title details.

All case studies should be appropriately referenced in line with the APA style. See the APA website for the particular conventions used. This is consistent with other CILIP Information Literacy Group publications, such as the Journal of Information Literacy. 

Previous examples are available on the blog section of the website, and under the Open Educational Resources section. These are useful when considering what might make for a relevant and interesting case study. However, please note that they were produced before these guidelines, so please do not replicate their format, structure, etc. without consulting the advice on this page.

Contact us

If you would like to talk with a member of our Website Editorial Team about a possible case study, or have any queries concerning the submission process, please contact us at: ilwebeditors@gmail.com

Download these case study guidelines as a PDF document.