Instruction Junction

For students, school might be out for summer. But for instruction librarians, now is the perfect time to catch up on our own learning. While these books may not be beach reads, they will get you thinking about what it means to be an educator today and the crucial role librarians play in promoting multiple kinds of literacy.

Teaching Machines: The History of Personalized Learning
By Audrey Watters
Artificial intelligence (AI) will revolutionize education—or so many tech tycoons and venture capitalists commonly claim. As this title demonstrates, these promises are not novel, and their echoes can be heard in histories of educational technologies once known as teaching machines. Putting current AI hype into perspective, Watters unearths parallel attempts to automate education from the likes of psychologists Sydney Pressey and B. F. Skinner, among others. Those who do not wish to repeat the failed history of personalized learning should pick up this book. MIT Press, 2023. 328 p. $24.95. PBK. 978-0-2625-4606-5. (Also available as an ebook.)

Using Context in Information Literacy Instruction
By Allison Hosier
We all know that context matters. This publication shows how and why it does for library education. Hosier considers a wide range of research examples in academic, personal, creative, and professional contexts. Using these and drawing upon other skills and experiences, Hosier provides methods for meeting students where they are and giving them opportunities to examine the research process and how it differs depending on the context. Her approach, lesson plan templates, and strategies provide a great foundation and practical materials for building trust and confidence with students and patrons. ALA Editions, 2022. 160 p. $64.99. PBK. 978-0-8389-3798-3.

Knowledge Justice: Disrupting Library and Information Studies through Critical Race Theory
Edited by Sofia Y. Leung and Jorge R. López-McKnight
Challenging the notion of library neutrality, Leung and López-McKnight reflect on the way systems of power affect knowledge and information and present a contrasting framework of knowledge justice. Divided into three parts, this edited collection features chapters on practices such as cataloging, collection development, and, of course, instruction. While readers can choose individual chapters that speak to their areas of interest, the volume as a whole draws important lines from these professional practices to library pedagogy and information access. Seeing the big picture is crucial for understanding and teaching justice concepts. MIT Press, 2021. 358 p. $35. PBK. 978-0-2620-4350-2. (Also available as an ebook.)

Digital Defense Playbook: Community Power Tools for Reclaiming Data
By Seeta Peña Gangadharan, Blu Lewis, Tawana Petty, and Mariella Saba
Today, library instruction usually necessitates expanding learners’ digital literacy, but it can be difficult to address this topic in an interactive way. Created by academic research collective Our Data Bodies in collaboration with community partners, this workbook provides a hands-on approach to topics like data collection, algorithms, and surveillance through the lens of justice. Along with educational materials, it provides tips on how to be an effective facilitator and community guidelines for leading public programming. The booklet’s framing discussions and learning objectives—particularly related to data streams and trails—are also useful for library workers helping patrons navigate digital tools. Our Data Bodies, 2018. 94 p. $15. (Also available as a free ebook.)

Critical Library Pedagogy Handbook, vol. 1 and 2
Edited by Nicole Pagowsky and Kelly McElroy
Released in 2016, this broad and deep collection is still crucial and approachable years later. Divided into two volumes, the first outlines a variety of issues related to critical librarianship in essays and reflections. The second presents related activities and projects to try. The authors review concrete definitions of some key terms, like critical pedagogy and banking theory, and consider the lack of shared definitions for others, including plagiarism and queer theory. There are frank discussions of practical challenges for teaching, theoretical articles, and lesson plans covering diverse topics such as zine-making, archival primary sources, data literacy, and citation justice. ACRL, 2016. 280 p. $95. PBK. 978-0-8389-8917-3. (Also available as an ebook.)

Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 50th anniversary edition
By Paulo Freire
It would be remiss not to include Freire’s influential and impactful Pedagogy of the Oppressed. The renowned Brazilian educator and philosopher’s description of his experiences teaching adult education courses is notable for its approach to classroom power dynamics and its centering of collaborative, community-focused learning. Current discussions about creating more equitable learning environments continue to build, intentionally or not, on Freire’s ideas. For first-time readers, it will reveal new ways of thinking about teaching and the classroom. For repeat readers, it reveals more on each revisit. This anniversary edition features a new introduction, afterword, and interviews with notable academics of today, such as Noam Chomsky, Valerie Kinloch, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Bloomsbury Academic, 2018. 232 p. $24.25. PBK. 978-1-5013-1413-1. (Also available as an ebook.)

Latest Library Links

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Katie Gaddini writes: “Book bans may have mushroomed in the Trump era of reactionary politics, but they have a well-established history in America. One woman in particular, Norma Gabler, redefined the current strategy and logic behind modern book bans. Called ‘education’s public enemy number one,’ by critics in 1980, Gabler led the crusade against the so-called secular trend in school textbooks throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Even though Norma and her husband Mel worked together, Norma was the public face of their efforts for decades.”

Time: Made By History, Nov. 13
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Many members know Bill Ladewski as executive director of the Reference and User Services Association, an ALA position he has held since 2019. In early September, Ladewski added another title to his CV: director of Member Relations and Services. In this role, he and his team are charged with providing service and information to the Association’s nearly 50,000 members. Ladewski answered our 11 Questions to reintroduce himself to the ALA community.

AL: The Scoop, Nov. 19
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John Warner writes: “I understand what people mean when they invoke the term ‘institutional neutrality,’ but I don’t know how it’s workable in today’s world. Higher education institutions are built upon a foundation of actual values, values that are, by definition, not neutral. The Kalven report, the Rosetta Stone of institutional neutrality produced by a faculty committee at the University of Chicago in 1967, is not a call to make all work emanating from an institution ‘neutral,’ but is instead a call to make the atmosphere for scholarly inquiry and debate as free as possible.”

Inside Higher Ed, Nov. 15
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Angela Hursh writes: “Ever wondered how your library’s email performance compares to others? Benchmarks help you understand how well your emails perform in key areas and identify opportunities for improvement. They also allow you to compare your email marketing performance, set goals, and stay on top of trends. However, the lack of industry benchmarks for email marketing metrics specific to libraries has been bugging me. Metrics from similar industries don’t fully capture the unique aspects of promoting a library. To help libraries accurately measure their email effectiveness, we’ve created the first-ever library email benchmark report.”

NoveList, Oct. 22
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Rachel Hendrick writes: “Students and library vendors are pushing artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in higher education, but there are very few resources that help librarians and scholars separate the wheat from the chaff. Luckily, we here at Choice love a good assessment rubric. (In fact, we made a PDF of our assessment rubric.) Even the least tech-savvy of us can use a very simple AI literacy framework to think critically about whether an AI application is worth your time.”

Choice 360 LibTech Insights, Nov. 13
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Rowana Miller writes: “In my experience, many young library-goers identify as storytellers but not writers. These are the kids who draw Captain-Underpants-style cartoons, who craft meticulous Minecraft universes, and who plot elaborate Dungeons and Dragons campaigns, but who believe that ‘writing’ is limited to five-paragraph essays. But when children draw the connections between their natural storytelling proclivities and the written word, they can become self-motivated to develop the communication skills that will help them for the rest of their lives. Libraries, I believe, are uniquely positioned to help children make this connection.”

ALSC Blog, Nov. 15
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ALA has reopened its search for an executive director in partnership with executive search firm Isaacson, Miller. A committee of ALA member leaders will oversee the search. The selected candidate will succeed Interim Executive Director Leslie Burger, who was appointed in November 2023. “We are excited to embark on our search for a new executive director,” said ALA President Cindy Hohl. “This leadership position is critical as we navigate the years ahead. We seek candidates who have knowledge of the library community and the urgent issues we face.”

ALA Communications, Marketing, and Media Relations Office, Nov. 14