Description
Book SynopsisAcademic librarians working in instruction are at the crux of professional, higher educational, and societal change. While they work with disciplinary faculty to ensure learners are critical information consumers and producers in 21st century ways, how do academic librarians develop a sense of their own identities as post-secondary instructors? Using both broad and in-depth data from practicing instruction librarians, this book identifies the catalysts and influences in academic librarians’ perspective development process. From these factors, then, instruction librarians and librarians-to-be can hone their own instructional identities and transform their teaching practices. This focus on understanding this perspective transformation process around instructional identities offers both working academic librarians and LIS graduate students an innovative way to think about their roles as educators. While many books explore the practical or how-to aspects of teaching in libraries, Transforming Academic Librarianship: How to Hone Your Instructional Identity and Adopt Best Teaching Practice takes a step up and examines how academic librarians think about or approach instruction as a part of their work. Through explicating this metacognitive process, this book helps both academic librarians and librarians-to-be to more intentionally consider their teaching practices and professional identities.
Trade ReviewAt a time when it is crucial that librarians see themselves as educators, Hess has enhanced our capacity to improve professional development with this unique and ground-breaking study of how academic librarians’ perceptions of their identity as teachers can be transformed. Illuminating interviews and concise takeaways are designed to be put to good use by librarians, library leaders, and educators. -- Sharon Mader, Dean Emeritus, University of New Orleans Library
Grounded in theory and mixed methods research, Transforming Academic Library Instruction includes practical advice for academic librarians, at all stages of their career, who are reflecting on their roles as educators. Library leaders and educators will also gain insight into how they can encourage librarians’ professional development and transformation growth. -- Nancy Fawley, Director of Information & Instruction Services, University of Vermont
Table of ContentsDedication Table of Contents List of Figures and Tables Preface Acknowledgements Part 1: Academic Librarians, Transformation, and Information Literacy Instruction Chapter 1: Academic librarians, Instruction, and Teaching Identities Chapter 2: Transformative Learning Theory: A Primer Part 2: Catalysts and Factors in Perspective Transformation Chapter 3: How Teaching Transformation Begins: Catalysts and Disorienting Dilemmas Chapter 4: How Teaching Transformation Develops: Overarching Personal Inputs Chapter 5: How Teaching Transformation Develops: Relational Components Chapter 6: How Teaching Transformation Develops: Professional Components Chapter 7: How Teaching Transformation Develops: Underlying External Influences Part 3: Transformative Outcomes in Teaching Chapter 8: Teaching Transformation in Practice: Resulting Teaching Identities Chapter 9: Transforming Teaching in the Future: Key Conclusions and Research Directions Appendix A: Survey Questions Appendix B: Interview Questions Bibliography Index About the Author
