The Role of Librarians in Guided Pathways Reforms

In the book Redesigning America’s Community Colleges, the authors briefly noted the role that librarians might play in informing and supporting guided pathways reform. In this short essay, one of the book’s authors joins with a librarian to provide updated and revised thoughts on the role of librarians in guided pathways. First, the authors discuss the importance of embedding critical thinking into guided pathways curricula and librarians’ unique position to support that goal. Then they discuss various models by which colleges might leverage librarians’ expertise and which models seem more or less compatible with the guided pathways framework

Exploring the development of undergraduate students' information literacy through their experiences with research assignments

Although information literacy has been fundamental to the work of teaching librarians for decades, the ways in which students develop their information literacy is not well understood. In addition, the sociocultural nature of information literacy is often neglected when attempting to assess students' information literacy development. The purpose of this study is to discover factors that could potentially enable or constrain the development of undergraduate students' information literacy through qualitative research that explores first-generation college students' experiences with research assignments throughout college.Publisher does not allow open access until after publicatio

Learning the Rules of Engagement: Exploring First-Generation Students' Academic Experiences through Academic Research Assignments

Despite efforts to improve retention and degree completion rates, American higher education suffers from a persistent social-class achievement gap (Stephens, Hamedani, and Destin, 2014). This gap is often explored quantitatively through the examination of academic outcomes of first-generation college students (i.e. students who parents have not completed a college degree) in comparison to their continuing-generation peers. This approach has resulted in a deficit approach to first-generation college students, focusing on ways in which they need to be remediated, rather than an interrogation of the ways in which academic, disciplinary, and institutional cultures may present barriers to success for this student population. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological (van Manen, 1990, 2014) study was to explore the ways in which first-generation students navigate collegiate academic culture through the lens of a specific and ubiquitous academic experience—the research assignment. Thirty first-generation students, who were in at least their third year of study at two regional campuses of a large research university, were selected to participate in semi-structured interviews using maximum variation sampling (Patton, 1990). A unique combination of the community of practice concept (Lave & Wenger, 1991), social capital (Bourdieu, 1986), academic literacy, and information literacy formed the study’s conceptual framework. Four key themes emerged from the data. First, students perceived their initial positionality within the community differently based on their success in applying the skills and strategies they had developed in high school to their new college environment. Second, students’ perceptions of their initial positionality within the community were related to the nature and frequency of early interactions with faculty and the development of an academic support network. Third, when given the opportunity to do so, students used their prior knowledge, lived experiences, interests, and identities to select topics for their research assignments. Finally, many students seemed to employ the same checklist approach to evaluating and using information in research assignments they learned in high school throughout their college career, rather than demonstrating the development of critical thinking related to information use

Drawing on students' funds of knowledge: Using identity and lived experience to join the conversation in research assignments

Despite programmes and initiatives intended to enable access to higher education for underrepresented students, higher education in the United States suffers from a persistent social class achievement gap. Although research exists about the social and academic factors that contribute to the social class achievement gap, one ubiquitous practice in higher education has been neglected – the research assignment. In this article, I share a subset of findings from a qualitative study that explores first-generation college students’ experiences with research assignments in college. In particular, I present four case studies of participants who relied on their identities and prior knowledge to successfully a complete research assignment. Finally, I introduce the funds of knowledge concept, which honours students’ identities and lived experiences, to provide a conceptual approach for engaging underrepresented and minoritised students through research assignments.Publisher allows immediate open acces

Reframing information literacy as academic cultural capital: A critical and equity-based foundation for practice, assessment, and scholarship

Within the past decade, academic librarianship has increased its focus on critical librarianship and assessing student success, as well as undergoing a complete reconceptualization of information literacy. However, our assessment and scholarship related to information literacy and student success largely neglects the persistent racial and social-class achievement gaps in American higher education. This article draws upon a critical social theory commonly used in higher education research—cultural capital—to consider the ways in which information literacy as threshold concepts may enable or constrain success for students whose identities higher education has traditionally marginalized. Finally, Estela Mara Bensimon’s equity cognitive frame is introduced to consider the ways in which we can ground our practice, assessment, and scholarship in our professional values of equity and inclusion.Publisher allows immediate open acces

'Let me learn' or 'just the answer'? Research consultations and Dweck's theories of intelligence.

Psychologist Carol Dweck identified the fixed and incremental theories of intelligence, which could affect how students navigate the research process, including if they will seek help from a librarian and what they intend to take away from that interaction. This study explores whether students who made research consultation appointments with a librarian subscribed to a particular theory of intelligence in order to provide evidence that can be used to inform and transform our practice

Narratives of (dis)engagement: Exploring Black/African-American undergraduate students' experiences with libraries

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Expanding our reach: Implementing instructor development programming

Academic libraries strive to support the teaching and learning goals of their institutions, frequently resulting in "one-shot" sessions for students, in which librarians share their expertise related to information literacy and/or library resources. Another method by which libraries can support teaching practices at our institutions is by facilitating instructor development programming. In this article, we discuss the creation of two significant instructor development offerings to support course instructors in teaching information literacy. Participants indicated satisfaction with the workshops and that they are likely to recommend them to their colleagues. By providing this programming, we are able to reach new audiences and highlight the library's role as an engaged partner in teaching and learning.Publisher does not allow open access until after publicatio