Instructional Identities and Information Literacy: Transforming Our Profession, Our Institutions, Our Programs, and Ourselves, edited by Amanda Nichols Hess
PROPOSAL SUBMISSION DEADLINE: MARCH 31, 2021, 11:59PM EDT
Instruction librarians at community colleges, four-year institutions, and research universities – and every kind of college or university in between – may enter into these roles with limited experience or education. Often, we have to figure out how to engage students in learning from our own observations, trial-and-error, or professional learning opportunities. But as our instructional responsibilities grow, shift, emerge, or change (hello, 2020!), we need to find more consistent, evidence-based ways for us to develop sound pedagogical practices and hone our instructional identities at the individual, programmatic, institutional, and profession-wide levels.
The forthcoming edited volume, Instructional Identities and Information Literacy, seeks to emphasize real-world examples from an array of librarians to explore how teaching-centric perspective transformation can happen in diverse environments, for librarians with diverse needs, around diverse instructional issues (e.g. teaching with technology, considering critical pedagogy, integrating the Framework into instruction, finding nexus with other literacies). In this book, we’ll use transformative learning theory, and the diverse ways to consider this approach to adult learning, to more fully explore how these ideas may be put into action for libraries and librarians looking to reconsider their instructional identities and teaching practices.
Please consider submitting a proposal that addresses one or more of these proposed sections:
- Instructional Identities: Have you had personal experience in exploring, critically reflecting on, and/or redefining your own identity as an educator in the wake of social, political, or cultural events? Did you lead or engage in a shared professional learning opportunity for a group of librarians (journal clubs, learning communities, etc.) that focused on transforming or reshaping teaching identities?
- Program Identities: Has your library unit worked in systematic, intentional ways to reshape how your library offers information literacy instruction? How has transformation played a role in such work?
- Institutional Identities: Have you and your colleagues spearheaded efforts to connect information literacy instruction to student success initiatives, high-impact practices, or other institution-wide efforts? Have you had a strong voice on your campus in redefining information literacy broadly or for specific disciplines, especially since the release of the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education?
- Professional Identities: Do you have a distinct perspective on how we, in librarianship, might transform our instructional work to be more anti-racist, inclusive, or critical?
If you have an authentic case study, expert experience, or a passionate perspective to share that will help library colleagues explore how instruction-centric perspective transformation can happen, please consider submitting a proposal!
You can find more details, including information about the book’s sections, potential applications of transformative learning theory, and how to submit a proposal at https://sites.google.com/oakland.edu/instructional-identities. All proposals must be submitted by March 31, 2021, at 11:59pm EDT. Contact Amanda Nichols Hess (nichols@oakland.edu) with any questions.
