This qualitative case study provides fresh understandings about first year undergraduate international students' library and information use at an Australian university, and their associated information literacy learning needs. The findings provide evidence to inform the development of library spaces and information literacy responses that enhance international students' transition and learning. The study was conducted in 2015 as part of a project that simultaneously investigated the same topic at three US universities.This paper presents the case study context, reviews relevant literature and identifies gaps in research about international students' library use and information literacy, and outlines the qualitative methodology-questionnaire, interviews and thematic analysis. The findings reveal international students' lived experiences of using the library and information, in general and for assignments. After presenting the students' recommendations to the library, the paper discusses the wider implications of the findings for university libraries and information literacy innovation.

Create a Better Online You' (CBOY) is an emerging initiative from QUT Library. CBOY focusses on developing the social media skills of undergraduates at QUT. While many students will have encountered 'cybersafety' training in primary or secondary school, a comprehensive environmental scan revealed little in the way of social media resources targeted at undergraduates. In particular, there was little to no focus on the ways in which social media could be used strategically to develop a positive online reputation and enhance chances of employability post tertiary education. The resources created as part of CBOY are the result of a literature review, environmental scan, and discussions with staff and students at QUT. Following the comprehensive environmental scan, it appears that CBOY represents one of the first free, openly accessible, interactive resources targeting the social media skills of undergraduates.

This paper presents a flipped learning approach to library orientation for international university students. The approach was trialled through the project Passport to Study with 98 new international students at a Queensland University in 2015 to support the university's First Year Experience programme. Drawing upon contemporary flipped learning pedagogy, it aimed to raise international students' awareness of the library as a supportive social learning space and develop foundational information and academic literacies. Although a relatively small-scale project, it provides an authentic model of crossdivisional student-focused collaboration between librarians, academic skills advisers and lecturers. After a brief literature review, the paper explains how the project team developed and implemented the flipped library orientation that involved international students in a self-guiding library quest and follow-up briefing. Evaluation findings of the flipped library orientation highlight its strengths and limitations and support a set of recommendations for further developing this innovative approach. The final discussion suggests opportunities for further pedagogical development and research. The insights gained through this project will be of potential interest to library managers, librarians and information literacy educators. They could inform innovative initiatives to support the successful transition to university of first-year students across culturally diverse university populations.

While meritocratic ideals assume a level playing field for educational competition, those who can may seek to tilt the field in their children’s favor to ensure better educational opportunities and the associated life rewards. A growing body of literature is researching “up” to better understand how advantage for some through the choice of elite or private schooling contributes to the relative disadvantage of others. Institutional claims to offering an “elite” education can rest on different logics such as social selectivity by dint of high fees or academic selectivity by dint of enrollments conditional on academic excellence. Private education provided by a non-government entity serves as an alternative to public sector provision for those who can afford it. The global spread of neoliberal metapolicy has fanned a general trend towards privatization. Such logics of social restriction can distinguish the whole school, niche programs of distinction within a school, or tracking practices that pool advantage in particular classes or subjects. While education policy debates wrestle with how to articulate competing ethics of excellence, inclusivity, and equity, elite branding unapologetically resolves these tensions by conflating excellence and exclusivity. To achieve and sustain elite status, however, relies on the extra work of carefully curating reputations and protecting the brand. Recent research has started to ask more difficult questions of educational privilege. Such research helps to understand: the curricular processes and nature of privilege achieved through elite and private educational choices; how such education harnesses the semblance of meritocratic competition to legitimate its forms of distinction; and the broader impact of these processes.