What I Wish I Knew About Library Instruction During My MLIS
I graduated from my MLIS program just over 10 years ago, in May 2014. Throughout this year, I’ve been thinking a lot about the version of me that took those courses and was looking for jobs, and what advice I would give that person to help them adjust to professional life after graduating. And then I thought… why not write that advice down and post it here? While this advice is aimed at folks in their MLIS, I like to think it is applicable to anyone who teaches or is interested in teaching in libraries, as teaching is a constant work in progress. So, without further ado, here are my things I wish I knew about library instruction while studying for my MLIS!
Information literacy isn’t self-evident
In my MLIS experience, I never took a class on how to teach. I did take classes where I was asked to use library resources, and I worked in libraries throughout my time in the program, but when I started working professionally I realized I needed to spend a lot of time learning how to use our resources. At each new institution, there has been a block of time I feel I need to spend familiarizing myself with the website, services, and resources of my new library. Which database will be my go-to? If I don’t click “full text only” in the database, will I still be able to get to the resources? How do I get to the LibGuides?
Depending on your institution, this might be part of your onboarding. But, even if it isn’t, when you get a new job or your first job, I’d recommend spending an afternoon getting a basic overview of the resources. Information literacy isn’t obvious or common sense, it’s a set of skills and knowledge that take time to acquire.
Designing the curriculum
If information literacy isn’t obvious or common sense, what do learners at your institution need to know about navigating the information landscape? Part of my role as an instruction coordinator is to help answer this question across disciplines, thinking about what an information-literate graduate at my institution should be. Whether in an instruction leadership role like mine or not, though, setting goals and standards beyond one instruction session is important.
One way to think about this is designing a curriculum map, which is a document outlining the different outcomes of a program and how they are taught and reinforced throughout a program. Information literacy usually isn’t a curricular department or program like other programs on campus, but teaching students how to conduct their research is just as important as those programs. Curricular and instructional design were not skills I was taught in my MLIS, nor did I learn them in my early career. Gaining these skills, though, has helped me immensely in brainstorming topics for sessions and advocating for information literacy across the institution. I really like this book about instructional design for librarians, and there are also lots of courses available to take online in these skills.
Take time to read the scholarship
When I first started teaching, I was going based on instinct and my prior experiences. Reading the scholarship about teaching wasn’t really on my radar, especially because at my first institution there wasn’t a strong emphasis on research. It’s really only now that I’m starting to read the scholarship more regularly - and it’s amazing what you can learn.
Research about teaching can show us what works for a specific population, outline conceptual and theoretical frameworks for approaching teaching, and make us more informed about emerging issues in the field. Now that I read the scholarship more regularly, I feel more in tune with teaching practices and feel more confident engaging in that conversation myself. Some places I go to read include:
All of these publications are open access, so regardless of the institution that you work and/or study at, you should be able to access them.
Library instruction is a partnership
Working with faculty partners is a central aspect of the work of an instruction librarian. In my experience, I’m usually entering someone else’s classroom rather than teaching in my own. It takes a certain amount of negotiation, communication, and building a partnership to be successful in the classroom under these circumstances. I found that skills I learned in my management coursework were especially helpful in this aspect of library instruction! You can read more about my approach to working with faculty partners at the post below:
Teaching is always a work in progress
Regardless of my experience level and level of training, I always have new and exciting things to work on in the classroom. That’s what I love most about teaching: every semester is a new opportunity to try something new and to grow my skills. I look back on lesson plans from a few years ago sometimes and realize how far I’ve come, and I hope that when I look back on my current lesson plans I feel the same way.
Perfection isn’t possible in the classroom. Instead, what I wish I had known during my MLIS is that the best way to move forward is to learn, grow, and evolve over time.
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