New articles: Collaboration; Rebooting; Post-COVID working

The latest issue of portal: libraries and the academy (vol 26 no 2) includes (open access):
- Adopting the Reboot Mindset: The Library Instruction Reboot Revisited by Anne C. Behler
- Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Library Instruction: A Case for Lesson Study by Alexander Deeke, John Kotnarowski, Kirsten M. Feist, Jin Pennell
- Remote Work Policies in Academic Libraries Before, During, and Immediately After the Height of the COVID-19 Pandemic by Shanti Freundlich, Sarah K. McCord, Sarah Callanan, Natalie Hutchinson, Erica Cataldi-Roberts, Richard Kaplan
Go to https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/56654
Photo by Sheila Webber: blossom, March 2026

New articles: Collaboration; Assessment, AI

The latest issue of open access College & Research Libraries News (volume 87 issue 2) includes: 
- It’s Not Easy Staying Human: Generative AI, Cognition, and Reflection by Maxwell Gray
- Intentional Co-Instruction: Bringing the Framework and Guidelines into Conversation for Undergraduate History Information Literacy Instruction by John Caldwell, Kaitlyn Tanis
-  Pathways to Impact: Anticipating Action in Library Assessment by Becky Croxton, Megan Oakleaf
Go to https://crln.acrl.org/index.php/crlnews/issue/view/1691/showToc
Photo by Sheila Webber: winter branches, February 2026

New articles: Relationships; Data Privacy; Burnout

The latest issue of open access College & Research Libraries News (volume 87 issue 1) includes:
- Social Network Analysis of Liaison Librarian Relationships by Ellen Hampton Filgo, Joshua Been (investigating "the relationships between liaison librarians and faculty at a university library.")
- Interventions for Reducing, Preventing, or Overcoming Librarian Burnout: A Scoping Review by Natalie Logue, Jessica C. Garner, Stephanie Hendren
- Search Data Privacy in Academic Libraries: Qualitative Perspectives of Members of Marginalized Groups by Laura W. Gariepy
- A review of the 2-volume Training Library Instructors (which I blogged briefly in 2024): the reviewer concludes after a thorough review of both volumes "Regardless of the level of instructional experience, reading these books is a step toward building one’s own instructional capabilities, and the two volumes are useful to library professionals and library learners alike."
Go to https://crl.acrl.org/index.php/crl/issue/view/1689/showToc
Photo by Sheila Webber: Christmas tree thrown out, no. 6 (hiding behind the bins), January 2026

Recent articles: STEM & AI; CIL

- Chomintra, M., & Pascuzzi, P. E. (2025). GIS Librarians’ Involvement in Critical Information Literacy Instruction. Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, 112. https://doi.org/10.29173/istl2923 [GIS = Geographic information systems] (open access)

- Matthews, D. J., Wheeler, A., Insley, H. A., & Mackintosh, D. C. (2025). Promoting the Ethical and Appropriate Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in STEM Subjects at a University: An Opportunity for Increased Classroom Collaboration Between Lecturers and Librarians? Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, 112. https://doi.org/10.29173/istl2935 (open access)
Photo by Sheila Webber: Edinburgh, December 2025

Recent articles: Collaborating on teaching IL for marketing; IL in journalism; Citizen diplomats

- McGowan, B.S. (2025). Cultivating citizen diplomats: information diplomacy as pedagogy in contested information environments. Information and Learning Sciences [early online publication]. https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-01-2025-0001 (open access)

- Bates, M., & Whitver, S. M. (2025). Negotiating discomfort: Learning from teaching library instruction in unfamiliar contexts. The Reference Librarian, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/02763877.2025.2583122 (priced) 

- Mross, E.L., & Bartholomew, d. (2025). A Joint Effort: Librarians and Faculty Teaching Undergraduate Students Marketing Research Skills Using an Information Literacy Instruction Approach. Pennyslvania Libraries: Research & Practice, 13(2), https://doi.org/10.5195/palrap.2025.316 (open access) "This case study details a semester-long research project using an embedded information literacy instruction (ILI) approach using a two-part library instruction series. This program helped students learn how to conduct marketing research using licensed and free business intelligence resources in an introduction to marketing course to complete a semester-long, two-part marketing plan. ... The embedded librarian approach contributed to grade increases between parts one and two of the assignment."
Photo by Sheila Webber: lost cap, November 2025: part of the lost item series

New articles: Teacher agency; Disciplinary difference; Empathy; Badging

The latest issue of portal: libraries and the academy (priced journal) is vol. 24 issue 4, 2024. Articles include:
- Baer, A. (2024). The Role of Librarian-Faculty Relations in Academic Instruction Librarians' Conceptions and Experiences of Teacher Agency. portal: Libraries and the Academy 24(4), 867-891. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/pla.2024.a938746 "This article reports on findings of an online survey about academic instruction librarians' conceptions and experiences of teacher agency in relation to their instructional work, and, more specifically, on the role of librarian-faculty relationships in these conceptions and experiences."
- Buckley, C.E., Scott, R.E., Shelley, A., Thayer-Styes, C., & Murphy, J.A. (2024). Disciplinary Differences and Scholarly Literature: Faculty Experiences with Discovery, Browsing, and Formats. portal: Libraries and the Academy 24(4), 737-763. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/pla.2024.a938741 "The findings detail several ways in which disciplinary and personal experiences shape scholars' practices. The authors discuss the perceived disconnect between browsability, discovery, and access of scholarly literature and explore solutions that make the library central to discovery and browsing."
- Davis, L., Albro, M., Mack, T., & Royse, M. (2024). Authentic Connection: Engaging with Students through Empathy. portal: Libraries and the Academy 24(4), 689-703. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/pla.2024.a938738.
- Young, L.M. (2024). Digital Badging for Information Literacy Instruction: Diffusion of Innovations Analysis and Case Study. portal: Libraries and the Academy 24(4), 705-723. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/pla.2024.a938739 "This paper offers an analysis of badging in higher education and considers the strengths and weaknesses of digital badging for asynchronous information literacy instruction by employing Dr. Everett Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations theoretical lens"
Photo by Sheila Webber: lost item series, 2024

New articles: LibGuide assessment; Formative assessment; Question formulation skills

An articles from the "Failure" section of the open access journal Hypothesis (Vol. 36 No. 2, 2024) "Hypothesis: Failure is a peer-reviewed regular column and the brainchild of Column Editor Heather Holmes. The column is intended to provide a pioneering platform to share experiences that didn't end as expected (or that didn't end at all)."
- Question Formulation Skills Building Among Dental Hygiene Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial by Jonathan Eldredge, Ms. Nathe ("Surprisingly, the students' average post-test scores were 41.75 for the Control group and 43.67 for the Intervention group on a 70-point scale, which were not markedly different. Apparently, some contamination occurred.")
Further selected articles from this issue
- Combining Web Analytics and a Web-Based User Survey for LibGuides Assessment by Carmen Howard, Jung Mi Scoulas, Allan Berry, Deborah L. Lauseng
- Librarian and Clinical Faculty Collaborative Use of Formative Assessment in a Longitudinal Evidence-Based Medicine Curriculum by Sa'ad Laws, Mai Mahmoud, Moune Jabre, Amal Khidir, Ziyad Mahfoud
Go to https://journals.indianapolis.iu.edu/index.php/hypothesis/issue/view/1761 "
Photo by Sheila Webber: candles (not real ones) in Southwark Cathedral, October 2024

Recent articles: information literacy and social justice issues

The latest issue of the open-access Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship (no. 105, 2024) is a Special Issue on Social Justice which has several articles about, or relevant to, information literacy:
- ‘Scientists Like Me’: Using Culturally Relevant Information Literacy Instruction to Foster Student STEM Identity by Sheena Campbell and Nancy Wallace
- Teaching Intersectionality in Instructional Librarianship: Asynchronous Information Literacy Instruction in the Health Sciences by Matthew Chase
- Critical Pedagogies and Critical Information Literacy in STEM librarianship: A Literature Review by Cay del Junco
- Inclusive Science Communication Approaches Through an Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice (EDISJ) Lens by Aditi Gupta, Sree Gayathri Talluri, Sajib Ghosh
- Librarians, Undergraduate Research, and Diversity Support Programs: Partnerships Towards Social Justice by Diana E. Park and Stephanie K. Ramos
- This Habit is Hard to Break: How to Incorporate Different Voices in STEM Information Literacy by Kari D. Weaver, Kate Mercer and Stephanie Mutch
Go to https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/istl/index.php/istl/issue/view/225 (Also - Happy Easter to those who celebrate it)
Photo by Sheila Webber: cherry blossom, March 2024

New articles: Curriculum mapping; Research sprints

The March 2024 issue of open access journal College & Research Libraries (vol. 85 issue 2) includes:
- When There’s No Information Literacy Requirement: Curriculum Mapping to Drive Engagement by Monica V. Locker and Jennifer L.A. Whelan.
- 'A Supernova that Sparks in Every Direction’: A Long-Term Assessment of the Research Sprints Faculty Engagement Program by Jenny McBurney, Sarah Jane Brown, Mariya Gyendina, Shanda Hunt, Rebecca Orozco, Michael Peper, Greta Valentine, Benjamin Wiggins, and Karna Younger.
Go to https://crl.acrl.org/index.php/crl/issue/view/1653/showToc
Photo by Sheila Webber daffodils February 2024

Recent articles: Faculty attitudes; Librarians' experiences of teaching; Generative AI; Curriculum mapping in political science

Recent articles from priced journal portal: Libraries and the Academy include:
- Baer, A. (2024). Academic Instruction Librarians' Conceptions of Teacher Agency and Affective Orientations toward the Concept. portal: Libraries and the Academy 24(1), 105-135. https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2024.a916992 " Participants generally expressed positive affect when they felt they were independently in control of their teaching (individual agency), or when they described reciprocal and collaborative relationships with faculty (potentially collective agency). Participants expressed negative affect about experiences of lacking teacher agency. Almost all participants expressed 1) a desire to experience meaning and purpose in teaching and 2) a sensitivity to the highly relational nature of librarians' instructional work."
- Stonebraker, I., & LeMire, S. (2023). Requesting Librarian-Led Information Literacy Support: Instructor Approaches, Experiences, and Attitudes. portal: Libraries and the Academy 23(4), 843-862. https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2023.a908704 " Librarians at two large institutions surveyed 29 instructors and then interviewed 11 about their experiences working with librarians, their motivations for involving librarians in their courses, and their goals for including information literacy instruction. The study found that instructors had many different levels of experience with the library. Motivations for inviting librarians to their classes included creating a support network and sharing librarian expertise with students."
- Henson, B. (2023). Using Curriculum Mapping to Understand Information Literacy in Political Science Curricula. portal: Libraries and the Academy 23(4), 717-744. https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2023.a908699 - Hurrell, C., Beatty, S., Murphy, J.E., Cramer, D., Lee, J., & McClurg, C. (2024). Learning and Teaching about Scholarly Communication: Findings from Graduate Students and Mentors. portal: Libraries and the Academy 24(1), 83-104. https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2024.a916991
- Miller, R.E. (2024). Pandora's Can of Worms: A Year of Generative AI in Higher Education. portal: Libraries and the Academy 24(1), 21-34. https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2024.a916988 "... this article reports on the experience of learning about generative AI at one university. This article considers ways that educators may use AI tools and reasons to resist adopting generative AI tools, situating uses on a spectrum of acceptability."
Photo by Sheila Webber: Trees in the botanic gardens January 2024

New article: saying 'no'

White, A. (2023, October 11). Let 'no' be 'no': when librarians say 'no' to instruction opportunities. In the Library with the Lead Pipe. https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2023/let-no-be-no/
Abstract: "There has been more literature about academic librarians saying ‘no’ in the last decade than in previous time periods. However, much of the existing work discusses how academic librarians might say ‘no’ to optional activities, such as serving on an extra committee or taking on an additional research project. As budgets and staffing levels decrease but expectations and responsibilities increase, academic librarians may find themselves in the position of needing to say ‘no’ even to regular duties: this paper presents a review of the literature on when, why, and how librarians say ‘no’, drawing from work on vocational awe, service orientation and deference behavior, and criticism of the one-shot model. Additionally, the article will present findings from a survey describing the experiences of approximately 285 American and Canadian academic librarians with instruction responsibilities who have had to, imagine needing to, or never plan to say ‘no’ to instruction opportunities. The results examine whether personal and professional demographics, burnout, pedagogical concerns, and other factors impact if an instruction librarian is likely to ‘just say no.’"
Image created by Sheila Webber using Midjourney AI: prompt is: a librarian saying "no", 1940s style, librarian holding a lead pipe

New articles: Sustainability; Writing tutors; Designing a toolkit

The latest issue (vol 84 issue 7, 2023) of the open-access College & Research Libraries news (that's a companion journal to College and Research Libraries, not the same journal!) includes:
- Constructing and revising a user-centered curricular toolkit: Supporting faculty with inclusive design by Lizzy Borges, Faith Rusk
- It’s not just us: Sharing the ACRL Framework with writing tutors by Bria Sinnott, Elisabeth B. White
- Planning for sustainability: Articulating efforts toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by Sarah K. Tribelhorn
Go to https://crln.acrl.org/index.php/crlnews/issue/view/1641/showToc
Photo by Sheila Webber: floribunda and bee, Gothenburg, June 2023

Presentations from Critical Librarianship and Pedagogy Symposium #CLAPS2022

Presentations (slides & recordings) from CLAPS 2022 (Critical Librarianship and Pedagogy Symposium) are available. Go to the following link and scroll to Past Conferences 2022 https://clps.arizona.edu/about-us
Picking out some of the ones more directly related to information literacy, they include:
- Teaching Toward Wholeness: Empowering Relationality in the Information Literacy Curriculum (Garcia Mazari, Sheila; Hobscheid, Maya; Grand Valley State University; University of California, Santa Cruz)
- Constructing & Revising a User-Centered Curricular Toolkit (Borges, Lizzy; Rusk, Faith; San Francisco State University)
- Accessible access, universal design, and the limits of inclusion in open educational resource development: an interactive workshop (Abumeeiz, Salma; Johnson, Matthew Weirick; UCLA Library)
- What evidence? Whose evidence? Bringing a critical pedagogy perspective to the teaching of evidence-based practice in the health sciences (Torian, Stacy; Conklin, Jamie; New York University; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill )
- Roadblocks in partnership: Teaching faculty, librarians, and the implementation of critical information literacy pedagogy (Nolte, Amandajean F.; Pratesi, Angela; Cox, Angie; University of Northern Iowa; Bowling Green State University; University of Northern Iowa)
- The hidden curriculum of heteronormativity in library instruction (Weeks, Thomas; Augusta University)

Photo by Sheila Webber: Western Park, snow, December 2022

Recent articles: Teaching IL virtually; IL as an advernture; IL & humanities; Collaboration

There is a special issue of The Nordic Journal of Information Literacy in Higher Education (NORIL) (volume 13, number 1, 2022) , focused on the 10th Creating Knowledge Conference, a Nordic conference which concentrates on information literacy and learning. The articles are:
- What if becoming information literate were an adventure? by Tove I. Dahl
- Innovative teaching in a new normal: creating new ways to deliver virtual information literacy and research support training by Keziah Gibbs, Hannah Crago
- Preparing students for an evidence-based health service – a collaboration between the University Library and faculty by Kari Kalland, Lilja Marlen Johannessen
- Library-faculty collaboration in the light of a business administration bachelor’s program: ‘The Scientific Wave’ by Elisabeth Näverå, Anna Karin Olsson
- Teaching information literacy in the humanities: Engaging students with primary sources and cultural heritage material by Karin Pettersson
- How librarian involvement enhances students’ information literacy by Jessica Thorn
- Creating Knowledge X: Evaluation report by Helene N. Andreassen
Go to https://noril.uib.no/issue/view/5
Photo by Sheila Webber: autumn branches, November 2022

Creating connections for enhancing collaborative and professional development #ASIST24HR

Yesterday at the ASIS&T 24 hour Global Conference I chaired and participated in a panel on collaboration: this was in my role as Chair of the European Chapter of the Association of Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) and my fellow-panellists were: Professor Imane Hilal: School of Information Sciences, Rabat, Morocco (Chair of ASIS&T Africa Chapter), Dr Grace Msoffe: University of Dodoma, Tanzania (Chair-Elect of ASIS&T Africa Chapter), Dr Sophie Rutter: Information School, University of Sheffield (Chair-Elect of ASIS&T European Chapter). Below are the slides we used, and there were also thoughtful contributions from the session participants. 

Creating connections for enhancing collaborative and professional development: opportunities and challenges from Sheila Webber

New articles: Skills and gaps; IL and humour; Emotional intelligence; Librarians as faculty developers; Librarian deference

The latest complete issue of the Journal of Academic Librarianship (a priced publication), Volume 48 issue 1 (January 2022) includes the following:
- Information literacy skills and learning gaps: Students' experiences and teachers' perceptions in interdisciplinary environmental science by Teresia Svensson, Julie Wilk, Kajsa Gustafsson Åman
- Librarians as faculty developers: Competencies and recommendations by Melissa Bowles-Terry, Karen Sobel
- Academic librarians: Their understanding and use of emotional intelligence and happiness by Michele A.L. Villagran, Lisa Martin (Open access article)
- Information Literacy: Making Asynchronous Learning More Effective With Best Practices That Include Humor by Debby R. Wegener (a study in a Singaporean university)
- It's Not Personal, It's Professional: Causes of Academic Librarian Deference Behavior by Lyda Fontes McCartin, Raquel Wright-Mair
Go to https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/the-journal-of-academic-librarianship/vol/48/issue/1

Photo by Sheila Webber: spot the cat, January 2022

Recent articles: Collaboration during COVId; Inquiry; Reading & information literacy

The latest issue of the open access College & Research Libraries News (volume 82 number 7, July/August 2021) includes
- Teaching in the digital library: A partnership between teaching librarians and digital library staff by Matthew Weirick Johnson, Salma Abumeeiz, Elizabeth McAulay
- From concept to creation: Shaping inquiry culture on campus with a co-curricular panel by Jennifer Jarson, Kate Morgan ("Our experience developing a co-curricular, interdisciplinary panel discussion series spotlights how librarians and instructional designers shape inquiry culture on campus through programming.")
- You can improve: Using the Framework in How to Read workshops by Erin Weber ("Information literacy is inseparable from reading literacy, but neither are a basic or innate skill. Both take time, practice, repetition, and a host of willing instructors ready to engage in critical discussions about reading strategies. This is particularly true for first-generation, non-traditional, and marginalized students. Instruction librarians are uniquely positioned to promote and teach reading comprehension in a broader context of literacy, including information literacy.")
Go to https://crln.acrl.org/index.php/crlnews/issue/view/1603/showToc
Photo by Sheila Webber: haul from teh farmers' market, August 2021 (first of the plums and last of the cherries)

Collaboration: curriculum design; faculty-librarian

Two items relating to librarian collaboration in teaching:
(1) Materials by Cara B. Stone, Erin Thomas and Kris Stacy-Bates for the Illinois Information Literacy Summit 2021: Playing the Long Game: Collaborating in IL Curriculum Design. It includes links to their slides and to resources and tools they recommend, plus bulet points from the session discussion. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wq19tmzzRrOaSai1W9YghNTVQtNVyXonHw6zh4WZI0M/ - also their Information Literacy open textbook is here https://iastate.pressbooks.pub/lib160/
(2) A newly published article, in the latest IFLA journal (open access):
Nguyen, T.L. & Tuamsuk, K. (2021). Faculty–librarian administrative structure and collaborative activities supporting teaching and research at Vietnamese universities: A qualitative study. IFLA journal, 47(2), 236-249. "This article reports on the administrative structure and collaborative activities of faculty and librarians within Vietnamese universities to evaluate their impact on teaching and research, as well as their collaborative benefits, advantages and disadvantages. The authors ... conducted 29 in-depth interviews with key participants at Vietnamese universities. The findings indicated that such collaboration was often based on the collaborators’ personal circumstances and that librarian liaison partnerships primarily related to the faculty’s profession, personality and attitudes at different units. Further, universities focused on collaborative activities to support teaching and research – designing syllabi, research support activities and collection development."
Link to whole issue: https://www.ifla.org/files/assets/hq/publications/ifla-journal/ifla-journal-47-2_2021.pdf  This issue also includes: Channels used to deliver agricultural information and knowledge to smallholder farmers by Kelefa Mwantimwa & Faraja Ndumbaro.

Photo by Sheila Webber: pink roses, July 2021

New articles: Workplace information literacy; Using wikipedia; IL teaching & Web 2.0

The new issue of open access journal Journal of Information Literacy (vol. 15 No. 2, 2021) contains the following (plus book reviews) at https://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/JIL/issue/view/225

- Information literacy of Polish state administration officials in the context of the concept of "good governance" by Zbigniew Osiński.
- Workplace information literacy by Gunilla Widén, Farhan Ahmad, Shahrokh Nikou, Bruce Ryan, Peter Cruickshank. ("This paper brings forward three separate studies, conducted by the authors, highlighting different workplace contexts: small and medium enterprises; universities; and community councils.")
- Exploring effective information use in an insurance workplace by Charles Inskip, Sophia Donaldson.
- Knowing and doing by Ellen Nierenberg, Torstein Låg, Tove Irene Dahl ("3 quantitative measures were developed and tested with several samples of university students to assess knowledge and skills for core facets of IL. ... the tools indicated low to moderate correlations between what students know about IL, and what they actually do when evaluating and using sources in authentic, graded assignments.")
- Web 2.0 tools and information literacy instruction in UK university libraries by William Shire, Pam McKinney.
- Enhancing students’ professional information literacy by Angela Joy Feekery, Katherine Chisholm, Carla Jeffrey, Fiona Diesch (reports on development of an online module).
- Getting to work by Alexandra Hamlett ("The article highlights how collaboration between a librarian and an instructor of a career centered course influenced instructional design for IL instruction in their courses.")
- Using Wikipedia to teach scholarly peer review by Paul Anthony Thomas, Matthew F Jones, Spencer G Mattingly.
Photo by Sheila Webber: wild June rose.

New articles: contra one-shots; transactional distance

The latest issue of open-access College and Research Libraries (vol 82 no 3)includes:
- Pagowsky, N. (2021). The Contested One-Shot: Deconstructing Power Structures to Imagine New Futures. College & Research Libraries, 82(3), 300. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.82.3.300 "This guest editorial will discuss one-shots in the context of effective teaching practices; assessment; and power structures related to care-work and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI)."
- Charles, L., & DeFabiis, W. (2021). Closing the Transactional Distance in an Online Graduate Course through the Practice of Embedded Librarianship. College & Research Libraries, 82(3), 370. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.82.3.370 (abstract) "Using the practice of embedded librarianship, a professor from the Graduate School of Education and the Education Librarian at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey collaborated to investigate its impact on the inherent transactional distance that exists in an online graduate course. Using Michael G. Moore’s three relational distances existing in the online environment—“teacher-student,” “student-student,” “student-course content”—the authors added two areas—”instructor-librarian” and “student-librarian”—that can close the transactional distance in online courses. Through course activities, structure, and access to the embedded librarian and specific library resources, students had increased opportunities for engagement, thereby reducing transactional distance."
- A book review by Natasha Jenkins of: Mallon, M. (2020). Partners in Teaching and Learning: Coordinating a Successful Academic Library Instruction Program. Lanham, MD: Rowan & Littlefield. (ISBN 978-1-5381-1884-9). Review at https://crl.acrl.org/index.php/crl/article/view/24923
Photo by Sheila Webber: ornamental cherry, April 2021