The Power of Solidarity: The Effects of Professor–Librarian Collaboration on Students’ Self-Awareness of Skill Acquisition

• Published in: Communications in information literacy 2024-06, Vol.18 (1), p.72-93
• Main Author: Taylor Gibson, Christina
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: backward design; Collaboration; Empowerment; Higher education; Information literacy; Learning; Librarians; Libraries; Library and information science; Library associations; Pedagogy; Philosophy; Power; praxis; Skills; Social exclusion; Students; Teaching; threshold skills; User training
• ISSN: 1933-5954; 1933-5954
• DOI: 10.15760/comminfolit.2024.18.1.5

The ACRL Framework for Information Literacy revolutionized information literacy instruction. It asks librarians to instill in students the higher-level skills to navigate the information landscape. Literature establishes the value of shared faculty ownership of information literacy threshold concepts, but it also documents the potential pitfalls of faculty involvement (Franklin, 2013; Julien & Given, 2002; Lechtenberg & Donovan, 2022; Perez-Stable et al., 2020). This article explores one successful partnership, concluding that instructor—librarian collaboration forged around shared histories and structured by codeveloped objectives positively influences students’ receptivity to information literacy concepts. As demonstrated by surveys of those enrolled in the course, students’ self-awareness of their own mastery increased as they applied threshold skills learned in class. Although data do not allow us to correlate academic achievement to students’ survey responses, aggregate results in both academic work and survey responses suggest that these insights led to greater independence for many students.