Abstract
Librarians continue to play a role in teaching information literacy (IL), as well as progressing into new literacy areas, such as news literacy, digital literacies, and other intersecting skills. Organizational structures vary widely surrounding who does instructional work and how they are supported in that work. Traditional models, like the subject librarian model, are increasingly reconsidered as library organizations evolve (Hoodless, C. & Pinfield, S., 2018; Colding, L. K., & Venecek, J., 2015). Orcutt, et al. (2016) provide a useful set of questions for reconsidering the expectations for subject librarians, including in teaching IL, traditionally a major aspect of subject librarianship. It is critical that librarians explore, discuss, and interrogate why and how organizational structures that encompass IL instruction emerged and what we can learn about how to do the work better.
This proposal is part presentation, part workshop, and part wild card/artistic creation. To provide enough time for this, we recommend 90-120 minutes, though we are flexible in scaling our goals to the time allotted.
First, to set the context and prompt participants to reflect about who does instructional work at their organizations and why, two librarians—one from a leadership perspective and one from a new librarian perspective—who were recently involved in a reorganization at their library will talk about how they re-envisioned instructional roles. This re-envisioning intersects with numerous other discussions, such as liaison work, scholarly communication roles, and ever-expanding expectations for teaching information literacy.
After this brief presentation, the presenters will share a map that they created to represent the various aspects of their IL program. Then, participants will create their own maps (or artistic representations) that represent the instructional work occurring in their libraries. Presenters will provide large post-its and a variety of markers and other art supplies to facilitate the creation. We will also provide guiding prompts and attendees will have about 30 minutes to create representations of their libraries’ instructional work. These maps will address a number of facets:
• What is the instructional work
• Who performs instructional work
• Who oversees and supports instructional work
• Where collaboration occurs
• Pain points and conflicts
• Intersections of IL and other literacies
• What assessment is occurring and by whom
The last half hour will be the sharing of these maps – a chance for attendees to see other’s organizational approaches and ask questions (the details often matter). We believe these conversations provide a way for librarians to learn the critical details and local contexts that inform how and why decisions get made in our organizations. Finally, we will pull back together as a large group and talk about trends that have emerged in our discussions. What picture of instructional work—IL and other instruction—is emerging? Who is doing this work? How are they supported? Where are the conflicts surrounding this work at our libraries, and what can we do to start to solve them?
We feel this format, and the creativity it allows in prompting these discussions, will help librarians explore the details of their organizational structures, and how our approaches can better support the roles and programs that provide IL and other types of instruction.
References
Colding, L. K., & Venecek, J. (2015). There’s Going to Be an Evolution: The Subject Librarian Initiative in Review. Reference Librarian, 56(2), 133–145. https://doi.org/10.1080/02763877.2014.982317
Hoodless, C., & Pinfield, S. (2018). Subject vs. functional: Should subject librarians be replaced by functional specialists in academic libraries? Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 50(4), 345–360. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000616653647
Orcutt, D., Waller, M., & Warren, S. (2017). What Are Subject Liaisons When “Collections” and “Subjects” Don’t Matter? Roll With the Times, or the Times Roll Over You. Charleston Conference. https://doi.org/10.5703/1288284316478
