Embedded Librarians and the TEACH Act

Embedded librarians who work in online courses in American post-secondary institutions should embrace the Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act, or TEACH Act, the federal law that governs online teaching and learning. As embedded librarians take on online instructional assignments, knowledge of TEACH will provide guidance in their role as online instructors. In addition, as they come to a better understanding of TEACH and copyright issues the law covers, based in part on their knowledge of copyright concerns in library-related situations, embedded librarians will have more clarity about the work they can and cannot do in an online environment. Finally, as embedded librarians increase their presence in online classes in varied ways, the embedded librarian position evolves into a version of Bell and Shank\u27s blended librarian who serves as both a librarian and educator, and becomes a more valuable member of the academic community. The current lack of discussion about the provisions of the TEACH Act among embedded librarians who write about the work they have done in online courses, however, is a troubling sign. Knowledge of the TEACH Act will help protect embedded librarians and others from copyright infringement and aid in the further development of embedded librarianship

Why the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education Enhances Information Literacy Instruction

This article attempts to clarify what the ACRL Framework is designed to do for teaching librarians. The article looks briefly at the need for change from the Competency Standards based on librarian concerns about their own teaching effectiveness. The short description of two of the foundational books, on which the Framework was based, are introduced so that instruction librarians can do their own research into the foundational concepts of the Framework for a deeper understanding of the value of this new approach to library teaching. Links to teaching resources are included

Academic Freedom Issues for Academic Librarians

Professors Danner and Bintliff argue that understanding academic freedom and faculty tenure is important for academic librarians, both to provide better perspective on the concerns of faculty researchers and teachers, and to highlight matters of common concern to librarians and faculty. The authors discuss the basic tenets of academic freedom and tenure, then compare academic freedom with the intellectual freedom concerns of librarians. The article concludes by introducing several current issues of importance to librarians, faculty, and everyone concerned with academic freedom on university campuses

Relationship Building One Step at a Time: Case Studies of Successful Faculty-Librarian Partnerships

Building strong relationships between academic librarians and teaching faculty is paramount for promoting services and resources. While librarians face challenges ranging from new technologies to heightened expectations and fiscal difficulties, the key work remains in solid relationship building. Drawing on the experience of a group of subject librarians and teaching faculty at The Ohio State University, this study examines the qualities that help liaison librarians develop relationships with faculty and support ongoing library services. It explores how liaison librarians build opportunities for ongoing relationships and how they assess the successes or failures of those interactions. It chronicles interview findings that detail the importance of such skills as patience, expertise, follow-through, responsiveness, and individuality if librarians are to build solid relationships and fruitful collaborations. Finally, it offers some preliminary observations on the teaching faculty's understanding of the librarians' relationship-building efforts.No embargo

Academic Librarians with Disabilities: Job Perceptions and Factors Influencing Positive Workplace Experiences

Although there has been increasing attention to diversity in librarianship, little attention has been paid to librarians with disabilities. This study uses a mixed method approach, using results from a survey and in-depth follow-up interviews, to investigate some of the characteristics of Canadian university librarians with disabilities, their job satisfaction, their perceptions of their workplace climate for diversity and accessibility, and the factors that influence their workplace perceptions. Although librarians with disabilities report a generally high level of job satisfaction, they are less satisfied with some areas related to workplace stress and job flexibility than librarians without disabilities. Librarians with disabilities also report less confidence that their workplace is inclusive, values diversity, and is understanding of disability-related issues. Factors influencing the work experience of university librarians with disabilities include a collegial environment, supportive colleagues and supervisors, job flexibility and autonomy, clear priorities and reporting structures, reasonable expectations about workload, time pressures and short deadlines, effective structures and processes to ensure accessibility, an accessible physical environment, and, most importantly, an understanding of disability and awareness of disability-related workplace issues

ACL 2017 Conference Unconference Session on Information Literacy

This article describes an unconference session at the most recent Association of Christian Librarians Annual Conference 2017. The session attendees worked together to produce sample lesson plans, using the “backwards design planning structure” introduced by Wiggins & McTighe in Understanding by Design. Conference attendees produced information literacy lesson plans to introduce freshman college students to five of the ACRL Framework concept

Information Apprenticeship: Integrating Faith and Learning in the Library

Librarianship is built on information. As we proceed further into the 21st century, librarians need to understand the concept of “information” as it cannot be easily defined. This paper presents a brief overview of information theory and reviews several concepts proposed by non-librarians. Also, these ideas, when viewed from a Christian perspective can help our understanding of “information.” A review of related scriptures is also included

Mobile library and staff preparedness

The provision of access to information and effective delivery of information services is central to the role of librarians. Mobile technologies have added another dimension to this role – one that requires new knowledge, skills and competencies to ensure the needs and expectations of users are met. If libraries are to be successful in developing services for mobile technologies, their managers will have to consider two significant staffing issues. Firstly, it is important to understand what knowledge, skills and competencies are needed by staff to enable them to deliver services through mobile technologies, and secondly, to use that understanding to provide support and training for staff in the use of mobile technologies. In order to explore these issues and to contribute to the planning and professional development in the mobile library environment, a survey was undertaken of librarians working in the vocational education and training (VET) sector in Australia and New Zealand

Navigating the Information Highway: A Multilayered Approach for First-Year Graduate Students

Taylor University’s Zondervan Library developed a multifaceted approach of engagement with graduate students of the Master of Higher Education and Student Development program, utilizing a variety of venues and courses relating to advanced research and writing. Regular assessments provided feedback for improvement within the embedded program structure. A second component of this model involved an archival project, which facilitated student research with primary documents in the university archives. Overall, graduate student understanding and ownership of the research process increased, and teaching faculty noticed improvement in the quality of research-based assignments as well as the program’s thesis project