Embracing Student Privacy on Library Platforms (20-minute)
Description: In this presentation, we will share how privacy concepts can be threaded within a library instruction session. Building awareness during an instruction session is one way to heighten student awareness of the apparatus surrounding their ‘seamless’ experience of accessing source material via the library. We will briefly consider privacy issues related to proxies, data retention, consent, and illuminate the places a student would encounter these nearly invisible processes. We will also briefly zoom out to consider licensing agreements that libraries agree to for resource platforms to grow awareness related to the terms we agree to on behalf of our communities. In relationship to the IL frame 'Information Has Value,' this session will consider the knowledge practice where "Learners who are developing their information literate abilities: make informed choices regarding their online actions in full awareness of issues related to privacy and the commodification of personal information." In making students aware of these processes via library platforms, we provide the foundations of a skill that can be applied to many contexts in their lives (beyond library resource platforms). By taking time to explore privacy in an instruction session, we better position ourselves and students to make informed choices moving forward.
How Do We Grow as Teachers? Practices for Continual Learning and Self-Reflection (20-minute)
Description: Am I a good instructor? Is my lesson okay? What do the students think of me? Anxieties around teaching often lead to questions that we are afraid to ask. Standard student evaluations that rely on quantitative/satisfaction scales often add to those anxieties and rarely provide helpful suggestions for improving teaching. How can we build a community around instruction in our libraries to create opportunities to learn and grow as teachers? Our information literacy department engages in three practices that help us to reframe evaluative questions about our teaching into questions that encourage self-reflection and to develop our identities as teachers. First, we practice peer observation, which provides opportunities to learn from each other. Second, we solicit verbal feedback, which provides an opportunity to hear from our students. Finally, we participate in a learning community where we discuss the works of experts in learning theory and pedagogy who can help us better engage with our diverse student population. During this presentation, we’ll discuss how we’ve implemented these practices and share practical tips for those interested in adopting them at their libraries. We will also critique these practices and reflect on what we still don’t know (and maybe afraid to ask).
Improving Campus-Wide Instruction through a Faculty-Centered Information Literacy Toolkit (20 min.)
Description: Through continued efforts to update and improve campus-wide information literacy instruction at BYU–Hawaii (BYUH), the Joseph F. Smith Library is creating an Information Literacy Toolkit that can be accessed by all faculty members through our BYUH Library Plug-Ins Canvas course. This presentation will take participants through the outreach process we developed by tapping into information literacy resources our faculty already had in place and discovering which criteria they admitted to needing the most help with to model a commitment to lifelong learning as an institution for the benefit of our students. Through this presentation, participants will be able to apply steps from the outreach process used in informing and creating this Information Literacy Toolkit to their own library instruction practices and goals. Participants will also learn how to integrate best practices for promoting information literacy resources and in addressing faculty reluctance to adopting new materials into their course with ease by meeting them where they are, staying in a perpetual conversation together as lifelong learners, and tapping into what they already have in place as subject-matter experts in their unique disciplines.
In the Arena: A Framework for Brave & Vulnerable Peer Teaching Observations (20 min.)
Description: This presentation will help instruction librarians overcome the concept of peer teaching evaluations as things to fear and reimagine them as opportunities to grow both professionally and personally. Receiving criticism about your instruction from a peer, even if it is constructive, can leave you feeling hurt and ashamed, even if it is delivered with the best of intentions. There is a lot of fear on both sides--on the side of the one being evaluated and on the side of the one doing the evaluation--of hurting someone’s feelings with feedback. This often leads the evaluator to give an evaluation that doesn’t identify anything for improvement out of fear that their feedback will be negatively received. Through a lens of empathy and vulnerability, this presentation will share a developing framework that is rooted in trauma-based practice and emergent pedagogy that will help those being evaluated work intentionally with those doing the evaluation to create honest and productive goals, reflect intentionally, deliver & receive feedback with courage, and reality check the feedback that we give and receive. Attendees can expect to learn a little about the concepts behind this framework, the framework itself, how and why it was developed, and the initial results of the soft launch pre-COVID. Participants will also be provided with sample evaluation forms that are designed with this framework in mind.
Improving GIF Use in the Classroom (10-min.)
Description: GIFs are no longer the tacky website add-on or even the burgeoning digital medium. They are here to stay in our group chats, social media posts, and more increasingly it seems our teaching practices. As their presence, power, and fun continues to grow, we should ask ourselves as educators why and how we are using this medium to teach and connect with our students and peers. How can we more ethically and effectively find and use GIFs in our teaching? In this lightning talk, we will dive into strategies for finding and choosing GIFs, specifically drawing parallels to information literacy practices. We will also briefly touch on basics of the GIF medium, strategies for using GIFs effectively in teaching materials, and how to take your GIF game to the next level with fun tips and tools.The goal of this talk is to help us as educators to start thinking about GIFs in new ways and to expand our skills for finding, choosing, and using them in the classroom.
Description: This presentation will highlight the results of a mixed-methods study that explored the role curiosity plays in the research process by investigating first-year, nontraditional undergraduate students’ perceptions of their curiosity during the research process. These nontraditional students were typically adult learners (over 26 years old) who took advantage of evening and online classes in order to work full-time during the day. The students were enrolled in the Fall 2018 and Spring 2019 semesters of an academic research techniques course (n=59; 97% response rate). Building upon prior research by Bowler (2010) and Rempel and Deitering (2017), the study triangulated data from validated survey instruments, qualitative interviews, and annotated bibliographies rated on the Information Literacy VALUE rubric. The results of this study provide a detailed picture of how curiosity can be fostered in order to build connections and engage nontraditional undergraduate students in the research process during their first year of study. In this session, attendees will be provided with a fuller picture of how first-year, nontraditional undergraduate students experience feelings of curiosity during the research process in order to inform how research assignments are designed. Participants will leave the session with tips that can be used online and in person. Bowler, L. (2010). The self‐regulation of curiosity and interest during the information search process of adolescent students. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 61(7), 1332-1344. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.21334 Rempel, H. G., & Deitering, A. M. (2017). Sparking-curiosity—Librarians’ role in encouraging exploration. In the Library with the Lead Pipe. Retrieved from http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2017/sparking-curiosity/
The Nimble Association: Collaborative Teaching and Learning in SLA
Description: Professional associations are an integral part of lifelong information literacy. They provide links for professionals to work together to build knowledge in emerging areas of the profession. This panel will show how the Special Libraries Association (SLA) has facilitated members learning together on emerging issues. The panellists will provide details on two 2020 SLA initiatives that can inform other collaborative learning efforts for information professionals. One is a member-led reading discussion group focused on equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) issues in LIS, formed in response to 2020 protests and with a need to act constructively, thoughtfully, and collaboratively. The discussion group has provided a space for members to discuss selected readings and presentations and to develop actions together. The other is the Task Force on Reopening Specialized Libraries, which was charged with collecting and sharing information related to reopening the physical spaces of specialized libraries during COVID-19. The task force used virtual roundtable discussions to share resources and to provide a means for members to share their experiences. The task force is still actively collaborating to share new information with SLA members and communities.
Creating Inclusive Information Literacy Classrooms
Description: Library anxiety is well documented and it’s vital that library personnel create inclusive environments to make all of our students feel welcomed and to help combat any negative feelings when it comes to using our libraries. While many of us strive to be inclusive in our collections and welcoming at our service points, it is equally important that we put forth the same thought and effort in our information literacy instruction classrooms. For many students, information literacy instruction is their first encounter with an academic library. These encounters are critical, not only for life-long student success but in welcoming students to the library. Learn how to be inclusive and accommodate all learners, from all backgrounds, through these seven steps:
Viewing Information Literacy as a Social Practice: Shunning the Deficit Perspective
Description: What could librarians learn by exploring the scholarship of information literacy in the workplace? Situated in the work of information landscapes by Annemaree Lloyd (2010; 2017), this study used a questionnaire (n=87) and follow-up interviews (n=17) to explore librarians’ beliefs regarding information literacy as a social practice. This presentation will provide a brief description of what is a social practice, the work of Lloyd, and a description of the methods used. Then, we will focus on findings from the study that showed how viewing information literacy as a social practice resulted in librarians’ fighting for equity and actively shunning a deficit viewpoint of students. Finally, implications for practice will be discussed. While this study investigates academic librarians, the presentation will focus on ways the findings of the study could relate to all types of libraries. Participants will interpret the concepts of information landscapes, funds of knowledge, and deficit perspectives in their own contexts. Participants will evaluate the concept of information literacy as a social practice as it applies to their own definition of information literacy.