Bridging the Gap: Building a Community College—LIS School Partnership

Many community college students begin their studies with the intention of ultimately continuing their education at a four-year school. However, students who enter community college with non-proficient information literacy (IL) skill levels often find it difficult if not impossible to make a successful transition. This presentation will describe a collaborative research project funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services that focuses on developing effective information literacy instruction for community college students with non-proficient IL skills and involves academic librarians at two community colleges and faculty from an ALA-accredited LIS school. The presentation will briefly describe the project itself and summarize the results to date, but will focus primarily on the role of collaboration in the project. It will be argued that the collaborative nature of this project can serve as a model for collaboration between academic libraries and LIS schools, as well as between community colleges and research universities

Is there a social worker in your public library?

This paper reports on a survey of public library administrators in a Southeastern state in the United States concerning the employment of social workers in public libraries. This is a topic of growing interest in librarianship that has been given little attention in the research literature. The main objectives of this study are to establish baseline data on the employment of social workers in public libraries in one state and to explore the perceived benefits and drawbacks of having social workers on-site at public libraries. A short online survey using Qualtrics was employed attempting a census of public library administrators. Findings will provide important baseline data in a developing area of inquiry that will support future research. Implications for research, for the profession, and for educating information professionals will be discussed

Go Ask the Freshmen: How Millenials Define Information Literacy and Their Own Skill Levels

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The ASE Process Model: An Evidence-based Approach to Information Literacy Instruction

This presentation will describe an innovative approach to information literacy instruction developed through an IMLS National Leadership Research Grant. The instruction is driven by data gathered from first-year college students with below-proficient information literacy skills. Session participants will be introduced to the ASE Process Model. ASE is an acronym for both the process itself (Analyze, Search, Evaluate) and the means by which it was developed (Asking Students about their Experiences). Participants will also be shown how they can implement the ASE Process Model in various types of information literacy instruction in their home institutions

In the Shadow of the ACRL Framework: Current Instructional Practices of Community College Librarians

While much has been written about information literacy instruction in higher education, community colleges and community college librarians have received less attention. A survey of 163 instructional librarians at community colleges in Florida and New York was undertaken to investigate instructional practices in community colleges as college and university librarians are working to incorporate the new ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (2016) into their instruction. Findings from this survey will be of use to librarians in high school, community college, and four-year college/university environments. They will also inform pedagogy in MLS programs preparing librarians for instructional work

The Information Literacy Continuum: Mapping the ACRL Framework to the AASL School Library Standards

The Association for College and Research Libraries (ACRL) and the American Association for School Libraries (AASL), two major divisions of the American Library Association (ALA), both recently released new guidelines. These documents form the basis for information literacy and library skills instruction for PK-20 education. In this study, we explored the alignment between these documents to identify the continuum of knowledge and skill expectations as well as the dispositional attributes toward information literacy that learners are presented. Our findings identified where the content of the ACRL Framework and AASL Standards Framework for Learners documents is strongly aligned as well as the gaps in the teaching and learning continuum. These findings suggest areas for ongoing development in practical application for both PK-12 school librarians and academic librarians who provide information literacy instruction in colleges and universities

Information Literacy in Transition: Self-Perceptions of Community College Students

Interviews were conducted with community college students in Florida and New York, two large, demographically diverse states, in order to determine students’ selfperceptions of their information literacy needs. Understanding students’ own perceptions of their information literacy needs can help colleges more effectively respond to those needs with instruction and support programs. The findings from this study have the potential to inform and transform the way we educate LIS students who are preparing to become instruction librarians, especially in community college settings

Teaching and its discontents

Teaching is a core role for librarians in academic contexts, although most librarians are not formally prepared to teach and encounter significant challenges in the role, including complex relationships with campus colleagues. The purpose of this research was to explore how community college librarians, an understudied population, understand their teaching role. Online interviews lasting fifteen to seventy-four minutes were conducted with thirty community college librarians who provide information literacy (IL) instruction. Participants were recruited by direct email invitation and were asked questions relating to their instructional practices. Interview transcripts were analysed qualitatively, with a specific focus on participants’ experiences of the teaching role. Participants reported positive relationships with students, and significant challenges in their relationships with disciplinary faculty and administrators. Their lack of formal preparation for the teaching role led to infrequent and informal assessment and evaluation practices. Pre-service education for the teaching role could be strengthened to provide librarians with the skill set and confidence to provide more effective instruction. Instructional quality is critical as the importance of IL is increasingly recognized as key to academic, workplace, and personal success

Crafting resilient futures by looking to the past: 25 years of online learning at FSU and Illinois

For 25 years, the iSchools at Florida State University (FSU) and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have been leaders in online learning, providing education to students who might not otherwise have had access to a master’s-level degree. This panel, made up of faculty and staff from FSU and Illinois, will discuss the history of online learning at these schools, the challenges faced and lessons learned, and the positive impact their online programs have had on access, equity, diversity, and inclusion. The landscape of higher education and of the information professions has changed significantly over the past quarter century. The rise of the Internet, organizational realignment and mergers in higher education, and the iSchool movement have all had an impact on the information professions and the ways we educate students to become information professionals. In the mid-90s, FSU and Illinois began offering online programs as a way of contributing to the resilience of the information professions, especially librarianship, and ensuring the resilience of their own programs. Both programs were pioneers in offering online learning, and from the outset they employed unique strategies: both use a combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning, while Illinois also uses a cohort model. Online learning at both institutions has fostered resilience by increasing access for students; promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion; encouraging innovative uses of technology; and inspiring scholarship that bridges online learning research and practice. This panel will consist of four 10-minute presentations by faculty and staff from FSU and Illinois (see below for specific presentation titles and descriptions). The session will also feature a discussion with the audience organized around three questions: 1. What have been your best successes with online learning? 2. What have been your greatest challenges, and how have you dealt with them? 3. What is the future of online learning—both at your institution and in general? Presentations “Crafting Resilience Through Engagement: Synchronous Online Learning” – Kathleen Burnett (FSU): Today, there are numerous options for learning management systems and applications to support interaction online, but in 1996 when FSU and Illinois began their programs, these simply did not exist. At FSU, what became one of the earliest research progams to investigate interaction in online learning, began as a collaborative effort to construct the best environment we could to meet our goal of serving the geographically and socio-economically diverse population of Florida, without uprooting them from the communities they called home. “Crafting Resilience Through Community: The Cohort Model in Online Learning” – Linda C. Smith (Illinois): A distinguishing feature of the Illinois Leep online option for the MS/LIS degree has been the emphasis on shaping a cohort identity as a means of building community and enhancing retention and student success. The program provides students flexibility both with courses they take and the pace at which they move through the program. Cohort identity is not defined by taking a large number of courses together, but instead by forming relationships that remain a strong source of support throughout the program and beyond. The collaborative spirit that infused cohort 1 in 1996 continues to characterize cohorts today. “Crafting Resilience Through Access: The Role of Technology” – Jill Gengler (Illinois): Technology can be a tool that enables access for anyone who wants further education. Early on in the Illinois Leep program, the support staff chose solutions that allowed students to overcome barriers to earn their degrees. Staff worked with campus partners to make the program accessible to individuals with disabilities. Our program remained committed to a caring approach to ensure all students felt supported in order to overcome feelings of isolation in a distance education program. The goal was to make technology as simple as possible to enable our outstanding faculty and students to collaborate effectively. “Crafting Resilience By Connecting Research and Practice in Online Learning” – Michelle Kazmer (FSU): Early research about knowledge- and community-building through synchronous classes and residency requirements at Illinois demonstrated the importance of the residency to student success. Ongoing research in FSU’s program, which avoided an on-campus requirement, showed how community could be supported for entirely-remote students. Simultaneously, scholars throughout the discipline generated a robust body of research about online learning in LIS. This research helped promulgate the open-minded approaches to evidence-based technology experimentation and implementation that were fostered by the early-adopter programs and have shaped 25 years of resilience in LIS online education. Panel Participants Don Latham (moderator), Professor, School of Information, FSU. Don was a student in the master’s program at FSU when the online learning program began. Since joining the faculty, he has taught a number of graduate-level online courses using a variety of platforms. Kathleen Burnett, F. William Summers Professor and Director, School of Information, FSU. Kathy’s first faculty meeting at FSU was held in July 1996, following the announcement that the then School of Library and Information Studies would offer the first comprehensive distance learning degree program at FSU. Although her contract had not yet started, she eagerly darted down the rabbit hole of online learning, where she can still be found teaching and problem-solving 25 years later. Linda C. Smith, Professor Emerita and Interim Executive Associate Dean, Illinois. Linda taught online from fall 1997 through spring 2019 and coordinated the Leep online option for the MS/LIS degree. With Bruce Kingma of Syracuse, she co-founded the WISE (Web-based Information Science Education) consortium. Jill Gengler, Director of Alumni Affairs, Illinois. After earning her MS from the School of Information Sciences, Jill spent 10 years supporting the technology for the Leep program followed by 10 years managing the iSchool’s Help Desk. She is currently the Director of Alumni Affairs for the iSchool since her favorite aspect of her technology jobs was always talking to the students. Michelle Kazmer, Professor and Associate Dean, School of Information, FSU. Michelle was the first online TA in the Illinois “LEEP3” program in 1997, and joined the faculty at FSU in 2002. She has conducted research in community processes in online learning, and continues to relish teaching online after (almost!) 25 years