Becoming Confident Teachers: A Guide for Academic Librarians

By Claire McGuinness

Becoming Confident Teachers examines the teaching role of information professionals at a time of transition and change in higher education. While instruction is now generally accepted as a core library function in the 21st century, librarians often lack sufficient training in pedagogy and instructional design; consequently finding their teaching responsibilities to be stressful and challenging. By exploring the requirements and responsibilities of the role, this book guides teaching librarians to a position where they feel confident that they have acquired the basic body of knowledge and procedures to handle any kind of instructional requests that come their way, and to be proactive in developing and promoting teaching and learning initiatives. In addition, this book suggests strategies and methods for self-development and fostering a “teacher identity, giving teaching librarians a greater sense of purpose and direction, and the ability to clearly communicate their role to non-library colleagues and within the public sphere.

• Specifically examines the causes of stress among teaching librarians, zeroing in on recognisable scenarios, which are known to ‘zap’ confidence and increase teacher anxiety among librarians
• An up-to-date and easily digestible take on the role and responsibilities of the teaching librarian
• Identifies the major trends that are transforming the teaching function within professional academic librarianship

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Release date: Jul 26, 2011
• ISBN: 9781780632711

Claire McGuinness

Claire McGuinness PhD, MSc, BSc, RLPE, FHEA, RN (Child) Professional Advisor, Nursing & Midwifery Education Chief Nursing Officer’s Directorate Scottish Government UK

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gratitude.

Introduction

This book is for, and about, the unsung yet critically important group of professional academic librarians, who strive to facilitate learning among students and library users, and who frequently do this whilst juggling a range of other library tasks and responsibilities. The world of the Teaching Librarian is diverse, challenging and often contrary. Sometimes, the role is barely recognised; at other times is it all encompassing, and viewed as the cornerstone of information service provision. Sometimes librarians feel confident and well-prepared for this role; often, they feel intimidated, ill-equipped and insufficiently trained. It is a job that can be maddening, rewarding, arduous, exciting and transformative – all at the same time. It is also a job that remains curiously undefined and poorly understood outside of librarianship. It is a job that many librarians both dread and embrace, while there are those within the profession who do not believe that librarians should teach at all. Whether you are a librarian who only teaches occasionally, or whether teaching is the activity that occupies virtually all of your working hours, this book is for you. If you are a student of information and library work, you will also find much of interest here, as you develop an understanding of the diverse nature of academic librarianship, and the inextricable link between information literacy and learning, which informs your role. And for those whose task it is to prepare professional librarians for the workplace, this book offers useful insight into the skills, knowledge and expertise that Teaching Librarians require to perform the instructional role confidently and effectively.

The book has emerged from more than a decade’s involvement in information literacy, as a practising librarian, student, academic, researcher, faculty member and author. Research has shown that the role of Teaching Librarian is viewed as important, and that information skills are considered essential within higher education; yet, in practice, librarians find that they must continually engage in marketing, promotion and outreach, to ensure that they reach their target student base. The embedding of information literacy instruction in academic curricula is inconsistent; while there are many successful programmes, there are also many which are beset by difficulties, and some which enjoy initial success, only to fade away when circumstances change. Much depends on the cooperation and support of academics and administrators in the librarians’ institutions. While information literacy is now widely recognised as an important research domain and area of professional practice within Library and Information Science (LIS), communicating this agenda effectively to other disciplines and professions has proved challenging. However, a sign that this is beginning to change was evident in the US Presidential Proclamation on Information Literacy in late 2009 (White House, 2009).

This book has a number of objectives. First, as a practical primer, it is designed to support Teaching Librarians at all levels of experience; for instance, those who are confident instructors, but who wish to advance their skills and knowledge and to explore, in depth, the concepts of professional development and reflective practice. Equally, it is aimed at librarians who perhaps feel that they have not received sufficient training to perform the role as they would wish, and who are uncertain about what is expected of them. Lack of confidence in one’s own ability to teach is a known cause of stress among academic librarians (Davis, 2007), especially when it is considered that instructional training is still not a core component of pre-service professional education in many Schools of Library and Information Science. In this book, the skills, tools, and methods of instruction are set out and discussed in the specific context of information literacy instruction. Recognised instructional and implementation challenges are also addressed, with suggestions for how Teaching Librarians might overcome difficulties through reflection, research and the practical application of knowledge.

However, although important, the book is not solely concerned with the mechanics of teaching and learning, and seeks to address a wider agenda. Self-development and self-understanding in the role of Teaching Librarian is seen as crucial to effective performance and perception of self-efficacy (Jacobs, 2008). An additional aim of the book is, therefore, the encouragement of reflective practice among Teaching Librarians, and the development of a teacher identity, which can inform, and serve as the basis for, all teaching and learning activities that are undertaken. In the book, the nature and responsibilities of the Teaching Librarian role are discussed and analyzed, along with the internal and external factors that influence and shape it. Individual and group-based strategies for professional self development are presented, while end-of-chapter exercises and reflection give readers the opportunity to think about their own roles and responsibilities in the spirit of constructive self-analysis.

The book has six chapters. The first two chapters provide the context for consideration of the Teaching Librarian role. Chapter 1 explores the relationship between librarians’ professional identity and the evolution of the information literacy instruction. Asking who is the Teaching Librarian?, the chapter examines the various factors and trends that have influenced the development of the role, including the rise of the information literacy movement, the progressive, though sometimes limiting effect of academic librarians’ own role conceptions, as well as the strong influence of academics’ conceptions and attitudes on how the role is perceived, and integrated within higher education. The chapter also analyses the educational requirements of librarians with teaching responsibilities, suggesting a range of topics, skill sets and strategic concerns which could be included on pre-service professional education programmes. Chapter 2 takes a wider view, outlining ten significant trends and concepts that are influencing the development of the Teaching Librarian role in academia, ranging from internal factors, such as personal pedagogical philosophy and reflective practice, to external trends, including the diversification of the student body, the importance of information literacy for researchers, and the need for new strategies for collaboration and advocacy.

Chapters 3, 4 and 5 are concerned with the nuts-and-bolts of teaching, learning, and reflective practice, and are designed to furnish Teaching Librarians with the basic knowledge, skills, and strategies to confidently handle any teaching situation in which they find themselves, as well as the means to constructively evaluate their own performance and to progress in their careers. Chapter 3 works through eight key areas of competence which aim to provide a thorough grounding in the techniques of teaching and learning, with specific reference to the context of information literacy instruction. All stages of the teaching and learning process are covered, from planning, to the selection and design of teaching methods, to the implemention of appropriate assessment and evaluation tools. Chapter 4, by contrast, takes a problem-based approach, and suggests solutions to some of the real-life challenges or confidence zappers that crop up frequently in information literacy teaching, from unmotivated students to the limitations of the one-shot session. Chapter 5 focuses attention on the reflective librarian, and discusses the practical means of professional development and advancement, including evaluation of teaching performance, peer-mentoring, creating teaching portfolios and writing grant applications, amongst other methods.

Finally, Chapter 6 presents the results of a qualitative survey which was carried out among 38 Irish academic librarians in October 2010. To provide some favour of the real lives of Teaching Librarians, the survey participants were invited to share their personal experiences of teaching, their conceptions of teacher identity, the challenges and motivations of their work, and their overall feelings about the role they play in their institutions. The themes discussed in this chapter will hopefully offer some reassurance to you, as fellow Teaching Librarians, that your experiences are universal, and that the Community of Practice is, indeed, as worldwide one.

The overarching objective of this book is to help to instil confidence, and to offer a clear guide for Teaching Librarians in terms of the knowledge, skills and tools required to perform the role. Although challenges exist, it is hoped that the knowledge and tools described here will equip Teaching Librarians with the means to face these challenges effectively.

1

The evolving role of the teaching librarian

Abstract:

This chapter explores the origins of the academic teaching librarian role and describes how the development of the role has been shaped by librarians’ own conceptions of their professional teaching identity, as well as the conceptions and attitudes of academics. The chapter also explores the rationale for the teaching role, as well as the barriers encountered by teaching librarians in their efforts to integrate with the curriculum. Finally, the instructional knowledge and skills that teaching librarians require in their pre-service and continuing professional education are discussed, including the importance of reflective practice.

Key words

teaching librarian

teacher identity

information literacy

professional education

academics

Who are we? Where did we come from? The teaching librarian is something of an outlier in library and information work; unlike cataloguers, systems analysts or reference librarians, teaching librarians have only recently been recognised as a specialist sub-group within library and information services (LIS). Mysteriously, the role seems to have evolved and emerged independently, rather than been consciously developed and nurtured; in some respects, the library profession seems to have been almost caught by surprise by the realisation that teaching is a central part of what we do, although the many librarians who have been developing and delivering instruction for all of their professional lives might have a different perception. In recognising the significance of the teaching role, both now and for the future development of the profession, the time has come to seriously address what being a teaching librarian means, from both a practical and philosophical perspective. The first step is to explore some of the key influences which have converged to shape the role, and what they mean to practising librarians, such as you. This chapter presents the bigger picture, and is intended to encourage teaching librarians to think about how their work fits in with the overall mission of library and information work, and what their contribution means to the educational experience of students.

Teaching librarians and the information literacy revolution

It is generally accepted that the term ‘information literacy’ (IL) was first coined in the early 1970s by Paul Zurkowski in his report to the US National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (Zurkowski, 1974; Bruce, 1997; Webber and Johnston, 2000; Pinto et al., 2010). This first use of the term was anchored in Zurkowski’s proposal for a ten-year national IL programme and referred to one’s ability to problem-solve effectively, through optimal use of available information tools and resources. The term itself was used only sporadically during the latter years of the 1970s and early 1980s in different contexts, ranging from the ability to locate and retrieve information, to the capacity of the individual to participate fully in the democratic process (e.g. Burchinal, 1976; Owens, 1976; Taylor, 1979). Since then, the phrase has become more mainstream, and the information literacy ‘movement’ has gained pace in the past two decades, during which time a series of predominantly US-based publications and events have converged to establish and advance the IL agenda, and to gradually extend its reach beyond the politically limited library sphere to the point that it is now recognised as an essential life skill by the President of the US (Spitzer et al., 1998; White House, 2009).

While the origins of information literacy reach back to the early library instruction and bibliographic instruction movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (Weiss, 2004), it is only since the beginning of the IL movement in the late 1980s that the potential role of libraries in facilitating, rather than just supporting, learning has received any sort of consideration in domains outside of librarianship. But this has not been without its challenges. Cynical contributors to the debate have suggested that the promotion of the movement constitutes a strategic attempt by librarians to increase their status and visibility, and to ensure a continuing role for themselves in times of uncertainty; for example, Foster (1993) suggests that it represents ‘an effort to deny the ancillary status of librarianship by inventing a social malady with which librarians as information professionals are uniquely qualified to deal’ (p. 346), views which have been more recently echoed in Wilder (2005). However, dissenters are relatively few, and it is a more widely held view that it is predominantly the technological revolution, in particular the pervasiveness of the Internet/World Wide Web and its effect on information work, that has stimulated the re-imagining of the role served by librarians, and the growth of the movement. The document that is often cited as the touch-paper of the movement is the American Library Association’s (ALA) Presidential Committee Report on Information Literacy (1989), which produced the most frequently quoted definition of IL:

To be information literate, a person must be able to recognise when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate and use effectively, the needed information. … Ultimately, information literate people are those who have learned how to learn.

Along with Breivik and Gee’s seminal book from 1989, Information Literacy: Revolution in the library, this report was one of the first documents to suggest that the existing learning process should be rethought and restructured to incorporate the principles of IL, such as critical thinking and problem-solving, rather than create a new information studies curriculum. Competency in six information-related areas is deemed to be the essential outcome of the general educational process. Following the report, the establishment of two key organisations in the US – the National Forum on Information Literacy (NFIL) in 1989, and later, the Institute for Information Literacy (IIL) in 1998 – was viewed as a significant step forward in the promotion of the IL movement.

Teaching librarians should be aware of the context that has shaped and moulded the role; having a sense of the history of instruction in library work contributes to a greater sense of identity. To this end, it is instructive to examine the key trends and concepts that have characterised the information literacy revolution since the 1980s. They are discussed below.

Information literacy and learning

The link between the concepts of IL and learning has been a consistent theme, and has strongly influenced how the term is conceptualised and understood. Many definitions of IL centre on its relationship to the learning process. While the various definitions tend to reflect the interests and concerns of the different groups involved in implementing programmes of instruction, there seems to be at least a basic consensus that information-literate individuals are those who have the ability to recognise an information need or a gap in their knowledge; can formulate appropriate questions; can construct and execute effective search strategies, using a variety of media; can evaluate, use and present information. Becoming information literate as part of the formal education process is seen as essential, in light of the ‘dynamic and changing information environment of the last quarter of the century’ (Bawden, 2001). Virkus (2003) points out how IL has ‘permeated strategic thinking’ in the industrialised, English-speaking world, and has been highlighted in several major reports emanating from government and the higher education sector. In the main, IL is viewed not as an isolated skill-set, but as a formative agent central to the whole educational process – a conceptual framework upon which to base the development of general educational models and curricula to foster information competence across society as a whole (Bruce,