ACRL - Leaving the One-Shot Behind: March 26

Two librarians from very different institutions (Keene State College, NH and Portland State University, OR) discussed their experiences of addressing the problem of teaching information literacy without overextending themselves or their resources. Referencing the research (Orr & Wallin, Badke, etc.) they acknowledged the perennial disconnects among one-shot training and authentic learning, librarian and faculty perceptions and expectations, and student perceptions and needs. Alternatives to the one-shot, they admit, such as embedding individual librarians in specific classes, are time-consuming and ultimately not sustainable.

They discussed alternative models of providing information literacy that have been put into practice at both of their institutions: student-to-student (peer learning & mentoring), library DIY, and train-the-trainer.



Portland (an urban, public research university) leveraged their year-long, freshman inquiry program to develop peer mentors (juniors and seniors) who conduct orientations in which they model good research practices. The librarians created content and learning objects in LibGuides for the mentors to follow - a kind of tool kit. They also held training sessions for student mentors, and advanced design workshops for faculty assigned to teach the freshman inquiry classes - with librarians assigned to keep in touch with both groups. The tool kit was later used as the basis of research tutorials that were embedded into a online Gen Ed course pilot - evidently a happy serendipity with a several million dollar university initiative.

At Keene (a small public liberal arts college), the librarians were frustrated with limits of their instruction in a couple of lower level Gen Ed courses, and the lack of recognition of the library’s attempts to map IL across the curriculum. Following the college’s official focus on integrative learning, and inspired by peer mentoring models, they set up a program to allow students employed by the library, or other college departments to serve as student mentors, and hold one-shot sessions, do reference interviews and work at the information desk.

I have to say, that while the idea of getting away from the tyranny of the one-shot is appealing, I’m not sure that all of these models are transferable to a community college context - particularly the peer mentoring model. However, library DIY and train-the-trainer concepts do seem transferable, and could be a way to involve faculty more effectively. We already have the building blocks for these things, (LibGuides, LMS) it only remains to start a conversation about collaborating on such initiatives.