Dr Geoff Walton

My profile

Biography

I am Senior Lecturer in Information and Communications at Manchester Metropolitan University (from August 1st 2016). I am Programme Leader for the MA Library & Information Management. I teach on the following Units: (Pg) Information Organisations & Their Management, Introduction to Health Librarianship, E-Learning and the Organisation, Digital Rights and Information Organisation & Search; (Ug) Digital Organisations.

I recently completed an E-Learning Portal funded project for Jeff Gosling Hand-Controls working in collaboration with eGenius (now Digital Candle) and DualFocus. This was part funded by an Innovation Voucher.

I was previously at Northumbria University for 3 years where I secured British Academy/ Leverhulme Trust funding (with Ali Pickard). I worked on a number of research projects including the EU AMORES project (Discovering a love for literature through digital collaboration and creativity). I was Principal Supervisor for research projects on information literacy in Vietnam and qualitative big data.

Before Northumbria University I had a dual role at Staffordshire University of Senior Researcher in the Faculty of Arts and Creative Technologies and Academic Skills Tutor Librarian (Information Services). As Senior Researcher I secured over €300,000 in EU funding and £20,000 AHRC funding.

I have been a Chartered Information Professional/Librarian for over 20 years. I was SLA Europe Information Professional 2010. My paper for the Journal of Documentation won an Emerald Literati Highly Commended Award in 2012.
I am particularly interested in the cognitive, metacognitive and affective processes involved in becoming information literate. I have research interests in a number of areas such as digital personae, digital literacy, discourses in information literacy, social enterprise and webometrics/analytics.
I am Chair of the Editorial Board for the Journal of information Literacy. I am currently a committee member for CILIP’s Information Literacy Group (ILG). I chair ILG’s Research Bursary panel.
In a previous life I had very long hair and played guitar, bouzouki and bodhran in folk bands, Boneshaker, Greensward, Cut-Throat Jake, Full Circle, the Canal Siders and electric guitar and bouzouki in the rock band Heymaker. As a musician I appeared on Saturday Superstore, Woman’s Hour, Folk on 2, BBC Breakfast, Stoke in Bloom (documentary), the World Service and numerous local radio stations in the UK.

Words of wisdom

Bloom where you are planted

Academic and professional qualifications

PhD in Information Science

MA in Information Studies

PgCHPE (SEDA accredited)

BA (Joint Hons) Psychology & Sociology

FHEA

Chartered Member of CILIP

Personal website address

http://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=UwsIXpUAAAAJ&hl=en

Teaching

Why do I teach?

I like doing it and I want to help people to achieve their professional goals.

How I’ll teach you

I like asking questions and doing lots of activities.

Research outputs

  • Information literacy,
  • digital literacy,
  • information discernment,
  • information behaviour,
  • e-learning,
  • misinformation,
  • volunteering in public libraries.