Post on 05-Feb-2023
Faculty-
Librarian
Relationships:
Partners in
Pedagogy Rhonda Huisman Assistant Librarian, School of Education/Center for Teaching and Learning Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
“The campus library
may historically be the centerpiece
of institutional life on college and
university campuses, but many first-
year students think it is largely
irrelevant to their lives” (Barefoot, 2006).
Background
IUPUI University College
Instructional Team
Defining the Librarian’s Role
Bridge Curriculum
“These seminars introduce students to collegiate-
level expectations, establish connections to peers
and faculty, and provide resources to support
student learning and engagement.” (IUPUI, 2010, p. 2).
Students will be able to differentiate between open and restricted Web sites and explain the difference. (ACRL Standard 1.2; PUL – Core Communication & Quantitative Skills, Critical Thinking)
Students will be able to evaluate a web site based on evaluation criteria. (ACRL Standard 3.2; PULs – Core Communication & Quantitative Skills, Critical Thinking, Integration & Application of Knowledge)
Students will be able to differentiate between popular and scholarly information sources and describe the characteristics of scholarly literature. (ACRL Standard 1.2; PUL – Core Communication & Quantitative Skills, Critical Thinking)
Students will be able to identify which sources are most appropriate for an assignment. (ACRL Standard 1.1, 1.2; PUL – Core Communication & Quantitative Skills, Critical Thinking)
Students will be able to describe and use basic services and resources offered by University Library.
(ACRL Standard 2.3; PUL – Core Communication & Quantitative Skills)
Students will be familiar with IUPUI’s definition of plagiarism and recognize whether a particular piece of information needs to be cited to avoid plagiarizing. (ACRL Standards 2.5, 5.2; PULs – Core Communication & Quantitative Skills, Critical Thinking, Values & Ethics)
Students will be able to identify the elements of a basic citation such as author and title for several types of resources (e.g., a book, a journal article, a web page) in order to avoid plagiarizing. (ACRL Standards 2.5, 5.2; PULs – Core Communication & Quantitative Skills, Values & Ethics)
First Year/Freshman (by 25 credit hours)
Information Resources, University Library, and Citation Elements
Relationships in the Literature “faculty attitudes about
information literacy have rarely been explored, particularly in the library literature” (McGuinness, 2006)
“almost 30 years into the modern era of library instruction, rarely does a writer in higher education discuss the educational role of the library” (Hardesty, 1999)
“develop strategies to find common ground in the instructional environment.” (Julien & Given, 2003)
“Classroom faculty often rate librarians as one of the least likely sources to which they would turn when seeking information” even when reporting high levels of satisfaction with services and relationships. (Kotter, 1999)
Faculty Perspective May not know that librarians are willing to help
May feel that librarians do not have the time to help
May feel ashamed to ask a librarian for help because it might be viewed by their colleagues, and by the librarian, as unscholarly;
May be reluctant to admit that librarians have any contribution to make; and
May be reluctant to admit that librarians actually made a contribution to their work.
(Kotter, 1999; Kraat, 2005 )
Emerging Themes Faculty and librarians have different professional
goals and foci when it comes to FYS students. Faculty may not utilize librarians or library resources
in meaningful ways in FYS.
Librarians tend to be passive in policy, professional development, and outreach in FYS instructional teams.
Relationships and collaborations between librarians and faculty should be encouraged from both parties.
Is there an “asymmetrical disconnection that exists between librarians and faculty?” (Christiansen, Stombler, & Thaxton, 2004, p.17)
Case Study
Documents: surveys, course descriptions,
syllabi, emails, and correspondence through
course management system
Interviews, observations of classes and
instructional team meetings
Tenured and tenure-track faculty who teach
a course as part of the University College first-
year seminar from a variety of disciplines
Part of an instructional team
Findings and Further Discussion
Many faculty/librarian partnerships work well at a coordination level—selecting dates for library instruction that is aligned to the faculty-designed syllabus.
Timing of the library instruction sessions (Gaspar & Wetzel, 2009)
Some librarian/faculty partnerships have moved into active collaboration, discussion on SLOs and design assignments, and/or the syllabus.
Most of the collaboration is built upon existing cooperative frameworks
Benefit: increased understanding of the demands being placed on faculty and the library liaison by existing expectations and administrative structure.
Understanding arose among team members that information literacy is a complex and, at times, difficult subject often sorely neglected in undergraduate education (Bennet & Gilbert, 2009)
Student Benefits
Felt that they learned how to do an evidenced-based review and how to critically analyze research.
Became aware of the complexity of doing library research and the effort to assure rigor in their research findings.
Communication with a librarian and the professional group was essential to quickly resolve problems
Students met the learning outcomes of the course
Increased their knowledge of evidence-based practice and became experts at analyzing research articles; confidence levels rose
Became knowledgeable consumers of library resources – life-long learners and information-literate.
(Bennet & Gilbert, 2009; Beckman & Rayner, 2011)
Development of Better Practices
Time
Connections
Implementation
Inclusion
Evidence
Assessment
Reflection
Faculty [are] “the most important
group, outside of librarians, who
need to understand and appreciate
the educational role of the
academic library” (Hardesty, 1999)
References
Barefoot, B. (2006). Bridging the chasm: First-year students and the library. The Chronicle of Higher Education, B16.
Beckman, J. & Rayner, G. (2011). Embedding academic-professional collaborations that build student confidence for essay writing: Student perceptions and quality outcomes. A Practice Report. International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education, 2 (2), 83-90.
Benett, O. & Gilbert, K. (2009). Extending liaison collaboration: Partnering with faculty in support of a student learning community. Reference Services Review, 3 (2), 131-142.
Bond, I., Levin, L. I., Gardner, A., & Lahoz, M. (2009, October). Collaborative cross-model for faculty and librarians teaching evidence-based practice: A future fusion recipe? [Paper 105] . Library Publications and Presentations. University of Massachusetts Medical School. Retrieved from http://escholarship.umassmed.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1110&context=lib_articles
Christiansen, L., Stombler, M., & Thaxton, L. (2004). A report on librarian-faculty relations from a sociological perspective. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 30(2), 116-21. doi: 10.1016/j.acalib.2004.01.003
Creswell, J.W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions.
(2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Gaspar, D.B. & Wetzel, K.A. (2009). A case study in collaboration: Assessing academic librarian/faculty partnerships. College and Research Libraries, 70 (6). 578-590.
Hardesty, L. (1999). Reflections on 25 years of library instruction: Have we made progress? Reference Services Review, 27(3), 242-246.
IUPUI University College Curriculum Committee (2010). A Template for first-year seminars at IUPUI [brochure]. Indianapolis: Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
Julien, H. & Given, L. M. (2003). Proceeding from the Canadian Association for Information Science. Faculty-librarian relationships in the information literacy context: A content analysis of the librarians’ expressed attitudes and experiences. Retrieved from http://www.cais-acsi.ca/proceedings/2003/Julien_2_2003.pdf
Julien, H., & Pecoskie, J. L. (2009). Librarians’ experiences of the teaching role: Grounded in campus relationships. Library and Information Science Research, 31, 149-154.
References
Kotter, W.R. (1999, July). Bridging the great divide: Improving relations between librarians and classroom faculty. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 25(4), 294-303. doi: 10.1016/S0099-1333(99)80030-5
Kraat, S. (2005). Relationships between teaching faculty and teaching librarians. Binghampton, NY: Haworth.
Kuh, G. D., & Gonyea, R. M. (2003). The role of the academic library in promoting student engagement in learning. College and Research Libraries, 64, 256-282.
Lampert, L. (2005) “Getting psyched” about information literacy: A successful faculty-librarian collaboration for educational psychology and counseling. The Reference Librarian, 89-90, 5-23. DOI: 10.1300/J120v43n89_02
McGuinness, C. (2006, November). What faculty think—Exploring the barriers to information literacy development in undergraduate education. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 32(6), 573-582.
Mello, R. A. (2005, October). Close up and personal: The effect of a research relationship on an educational program evaluation. Teachers College Record, 107(10), 2351-2371.
Patton, M.Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods. (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Smith, F.L., & Mundt, K.E. (2010). Philosophical shift: Teach the faculty to teach information literacy [White paper]. American Library Association. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/publications/whitepapers/nashville/smith.cfm
Taylor, T., & Stamatoplos, T. (1999). First-year learning communities: Redefining the educational roles of academic roles. In H.A. Thompson (Ed.), Racing toward tomorrow: Proceedings of the Ninth National Conference of the Association of College and Research Libraries (pp 2-5). Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries.