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“I Wish I Knew This in My Career A Lot Earlier”: Improving Career Preparation for First-Generation LIS Professionals
Get PDFThe lack of research on first-generation graduate students presents an equity and diversity issue that impacts workplace success. Challenges related to one’s first-generation student identity do not end at graduation. Just as first-generation students navigate a hidden curriculum of academia (Chatelain, 2018), there exists a hidden curriculum of the workplace (Jehangir et al., 2022). Additionally, the fast-paced nature of hiring and onboarding does not allow sufficient time to learn the ins, outs, and idiosyncrasies of a workplace. Impacts are particularly felt by individuals from intersecting first-generation and BIPOC backgrounds. To decolonize library workplaces, which prioritize dominant cultural norms, it is important to learn from these professionals’ experiences. This research investigated these experiences through online focus groups with currently employed first-generation, BIPOC library professionals from school, public, and academic libraries across the United States.
Data on graduate-level students is scant as research on first-generation students tends to focus on those at the undergraduate or doctoral level. Further, LIS’s own education professional association, ALISE, does not collect data on first-generation students. This poster will share participants’ suggestions for how LIS programs can better support their entry into the workforce. This project aims to advance the discipline by advocating for the collection of first-generation student data as a part of diversity and inclusion efforts and promoting a deeper examination of this diverse and important population, which in turn may lead to inclusive and diverse environments
Librarians as Instructors: Implications for LIS Education
Get PDFThis panel session will engage audience members in a research-based discussion of LIS degree programs’ role in preparing librarians for instruction positions. Libraries have a long history of instruction and surveys indicate “large majorities of Americans see libraries as part of the educational ecosystem” (Horrigan, 2015). Instructional programming can be effective in improving people’s ability to evaluate information and identify mis/disinformation, and learning to navigate the technologies to access information (see e.g, Austin et al., 2015; McGrew et al., 2019). Such instruction may be even more important given that communities that are historically marginalized are also disproportionately impacted by the topics library instruction tends to address, such as mis/disinformation, access to and understanding of various technologies, data and algorithmic bias, and related issues of online privacy and security.
Stakeholders identify library instruction as important (Blakenstein, 2022; Frederick & Wolff-Eisenberg, 2020; Lund et al., 2021; Hulber, 2023), and library job postings show increased attention to skills related to instruction (Lund et al., 2021; Sproles & Detmering, 2012; Wang, Tang, & Knight, 2010), but librarians often feel unprepared to conduct instruction (Julien & Genuis, 2011; Walter, 2008; Wheeler & McKinney, 2015; Young et. al., 2020). Indeed, research shows that such skills are not widely taught in LIS programs (Anderberg et al., 2018; Hensely, 2015; Saunders, 2015; Valenti & Lund, 2021; Wang et al., 2021a). Further, Jaeger and Taylor (2021) suggest some professional librarians lack information literacy knowledge, while Bowler et al. (2019) found that librarians lacked the data science/data literacy knowledge to design data literacy programs. A review of the literature on data literacy education suggests that for those who work in the informal, out-of-school environment of the public library, there continues to be little in terms of training (Acker et al, 2024; Bowler & Shaw, 2024).
What skills, knowledge and abilities do instructional librarians need to develop, implement, and maintain instruction programs? The Association of College and Research Libraries (2017) lists the various roles of instructional librarians as advocate, coordinator, instructional designer, lifelong learner, leader, teacher, and teaching partner. Research shows that some of these roles and responsibilities are not well-supported in current LIS curricula (Valenti & Lund, 2021; Wang et al, 2021b).
Drawing on panelists’ research into library instruction programs, this session will examine the knowledge and skills instruction librarians will need to develop, deliver and manage instruction programs, and how those areas are or could be addressed in LIS programs.
Panel Structure:
Following a brief introduction (Laura Saunders, 5 minutes), each panelist will give a short presentation (10 minutes) focusing on specific research findings and their implications for LIS education:
Don Simmons will present findings from a survey of public librarians across the United States, exploring how many are leading instructional programs on information and other literacies, and other civic engagement initiatives. He will share insights into the extent of these programs, the specific literacies they emphasize, and the opportunities and challenges librarians experience when developing and delivering such instruction. Additionally, he will discuss librarians’ experiences implementing literacy programs, highlight successful initiatives, and examine the challenges of fostering civic and civil discourse in a polarized socio-political environment. He will also incorporate relevant literature and data to emphasize the importance of LIS education in equipping public librarians with the skills required to launch and sustain these instructional programs.
Heidi Julien will discuss findings from 30 years of inquiry into information literacy instruction, informed by national surveys in three countries, including the United States, and interviews with librarians in the university, college, and public library sectors. In summary, the gaps in librarians’ preparation for the teaching role, and the challenges they face in providing effective instruction, are consistent across these settings and across time. Heidi’s comments will focus on the ways in which master’s programs can more effectively prepare their graduates to teach, so that instructional efforts are theoretically-informed, well-supported, and successful in meeting their goals.
Laura Saunders will draw on results from parallel surveys sent to discipline faculty and academic librarians in the United States exploring the extent to which they address news literacy skills in their teaching, which was later replicated by scholars in over a dozen countries. The findings of these surveys confirm earlier studies on library competencies and suggest that academic librarians need a strong background in pedagogy and instructional design, as well related interpersonal and communication skills to engage both faculty and students. In addition, they need a strong grounding in information and news literacy theory and practice, including evidence-based approaches to evaluating information, such as lateral reading.
Leanne Bowler’s research focuses on young peoples\u27 critical interactions with information and data, their technology practices, STEM learning, and how family, teachers, and out-of-school organizations such as libraries and museums can support young people\u27s competencies in a socio-technical world. Drawing from her teaching and research in the area of data literacy and youth services, she will explore the challenges and approaches associated with librarian training in data literacy.
Presentations will be followed by an open discussion in which the audience will be encouraged to share where and how in their own curriculum these topics are (or could be) addressed and their own best practices for teaching information and related literacies.
The panelists will have several questions prompts prepared to help facilitate the conversation:
In what courses do you address skills related to library instruction and related literacies?
What pedagogical approaches do you use to address these topics in your course(s)? What approaches have been most effective?
What challenges have you encountered in addressing these topics, and how have you confronted those challenges?
How do you anticipate current trends such as AI and mis/disinformation might impact these topics and/or your teaching of them?
In the final 10 minutes, the panelists will summarize the experiences shared and best practices recommended, as well as any key ideas for next steps in the field. The panel will be relevant to instructors of library instruction and public services courses in the master’s LIS curriculum
Library Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities and Future Research
Get PDFAccording to the CDC (2024), 70 million people in the US have a disability. Mobility impairment is the most common disability, followed by cognition. Mobility disabilities are more common in older adults (CDC, 2024). Cognitive disabilities were most found in young adults. Visually impaired adults had the most restrictive access to healthcare resources. Disabilities percentages are higher among those who are older, live in poverty, and BIPOC populations. Since the start of the pandemic, Long COVID continues to have a significant impact on those already living with disabilities (CDC, 2024). This leads to the need to discuss how libraries meet the needs of people with disabilities, through the incorporation of universal design, professional development of library workers, and other best practices (Roberson, Barefield, & Griffith, 2022).
Library accessibility has long been a core value for Library and Information Science. The need for diversity, equity, and inclusion has helped equip libraries of all types to increase accessibility through universal design so that all barriers to library access can be eliminated. Technological advancements in assistive technologies such as screen readers have allowed many libraries to reach new patrons regardless. Still, it is only recently that LIS research began incorporating the voices of those who need accessibility resources. By including people with the lived experience of disability in disability and accessibility research, they are empowered to drive conversations and decisions that may improve their quality of life.
Taking a perspective of empowerment theory allows students with disabilities to gain control of their environments, gain access to resources and services, and find relatedness. Supporting and advocating for the disabled community demonstrates how vital their voices are in decision-making and problem-solving. Empowerment theory can guide libraries; this framework is rooted in concepts including power imbalance, community ownership, inclusion, democratic participation, social justice, community knowledge, capacity building, organizational learning, and accountability (Fetterman, Kaftarian, & Wandersman, 2015).
Persons with disabilities face obstacles in their everyday lives. Many must rely on caregivers to help with transportation, medical treatments, and everyday life events that create barriers and continue a history of discrimination. These everyday barriers levied on top of the hurdles required to attend college, buy groceries, or take a shower can be discouraging and daunting to many people with disabilities. There is very little flexibility or extra support for persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities experience discrimination in areas such as education, employment, medical care, and housing. For those who are disabled and cannot work, federal assistance may be the only way to survive. These obstacles create frustration, discouragement, and hopelessness for many (Irwin, Zhang, Wang, Hein, Wang, Roberts, York, Barmer, Bullock Mann, Dilig, & Parker, 2021).
Persons with disabilities experience barriers to accessing and using library resources and services due to issues like maneuverability within the physical and virtual spaces, lack of assistive technology, and inadequate or nonexistent staff support. These individuals experience negative interactions with employers, colleagues, and peers due to stigmas and biases towards their disability/ies. Creating a place with navigable spaces, assistive tools, representation, well-trained and engaged staff, and inclusivity are ways libraries can become more accessible to everyone.
While more tools and access help remove some barriers, libraries must go further and facilitate relational approaches where librarians and staff take on an advocacy role for individuals with disabilities as well as partner with localized disability services in the organization and the community social services to move individuals with disabilities forward toward successful, rewarding, and meaningful experiences and desired outcomes. As libraries make progress in accessibility for those with disability/ies, the issue arises that many do not feel comfortable identifying as disabled. Many individuals have invisible disabilities and do not want to identify or label themselves as “disabled”. Overlooking needs for accessibility in libraries is not acceptable. However, through relationship development and support for self-advocacy, the field of library and information science can foster sustainable options and build lifelong learning opportunities for persons with disabilities.
The panel will explore how MLIS programs and LIS scholarship prepare future library practitioners to provide accessibility in libraries and how research has evolved. This discussion will highlight gaps in pedagogy and research. The panel will address barriers to accessibility, invisible disabilities, and emerging research in LIS focusing on neurodiversity, disability studies, and information work. The panel comprises four faculty members who are educators, practitioners, and researchers specializing in library accessibility for those with disabilities. The panel discussion questions will help inform research and LIS pedagogical teaching practices. Their perspectives and expertise will be present in this discussion, along with the following questions:
What are your current research findings telling you?
What new assistive technologies have you been teaching in LIS programs?
What changes have been being made at Schools of Information Science programs to help prepare students for the current library work environment?
What will future research in this area look like?
What barriers impact libraries’ ability to meet the needs of patrons with disabilities?
How have your own experiences with disabilities informed your research and teaching
@ the intersection of information, innovation, compassion, and decolonization!
Get PDFThis series of four uniquely designed presentations, consisting of two scholarly papers, a panel, and an interactive teaching engagement, provide synergy to both the 2025 ALISE Conference theme and the Innovative Pedagogy Special Interest Groups’s focus. Presenters offer dynamic vantage points to topics such as: Critical Discourse Analysis of Latine Identity Representation; Compassion Fatigue related to Pedagogy of Care; Community Archival Partnerships as Cultural Heritage Social Justice; and a Critical Race Storytelling Approach to Decolonize Library History Courses. Collectively the session meets at the intersection of information, innovation, compassion, and decolonization.
Presentation 1 (Panel): Using Big Data to Redefine Identity: Challenging Deficit-Based Language Models in LIS Research
Presenters: Michelle Rosquillo, North Carolina Central University; Odelys Morales Sierra, University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Ryan Smiley, University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Dr. LaTesha Velez, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
This panel presents how Latine identities are represented in LIS research using big data analytics, critical discourse analysis, and ontological mapping. By identifying deficit vs. asset-based narratives, this study highlights biases in LIS literature and proposes culturally sustaining approaches to integrating Latine perspectives into LIS education. Through an examination of how colonial knowledge structures have shaped LIS discourse, the project interrogates entrenched narratives and offers strategies to center Latine knowledge systems. This presentation will showcase bibliometric trends and discourse patterns with the goal of providing actionable strategies for LIS educators, researchers, and practitioners seeking to foster representative information environments.
Presentation 2 (Paper): The Paradox of Pedagogy of Care for Group Work in Asynchronous Courses
Presenters: J.M. Shalani Dilinika, University of Pittsburgh; Africa S. Hands, University at Buffalo; Marcia Rapchak, University of Pittsburgh
This paper presentation will explore how a pedagogy of care framework can be a decolonizing approach to group work in asynchronous, online courses. Using recent experiences of instructing students through a semester-long group project, this presentation considers the squishiness of practicing pedagogies of care, for both students and faculty. Pedagogies of care intend to generate student-centered learning experiences that deconstruct some hierarchies in education and emphasize empathetic instruction. However, as will be shared during this presentation, the reality of this well-intentioned practice is not without concerns (such as compassion fatigue and redirected emotional labor) that must be examined.
Presentation 3 (Interactive Engagement): FOCAS-ing on Community Archival Partnership Pedagogy
Presenters: Kaitlyn Griffith, Dominican University; Vanessa Irvin, East Carolina University; Berlin Loa, University of Arizona; Edith Mendez, Dominican University; Vanessa Reyes, East Carolina University
Faculty Organizing for Community Archives Support (FOCAS) is a three-year, nine-university Mellon (Public Knowledge) funded collaborative project focused on supporting and co-creating archives with community partners. The grant also supports curricular and pedagogical development rooted in fieldwork, with funded student interns directly liaising with community archives. This interactive session, led by three university grantees, highlights (Year-1) innovative pedagogical strategies that respond to shifting community needs and the urgency of memory work in politically volatile times. FOCAS reimagines archival education by emphasizing social justice, decoloniality, and adaptability—challenging traditional archival norms and centering community-led evolving approaches to preserve stories that may be forgotten, obscured, or overlooked."
Presentation 4 (Paper): Counter-storytelling in Library History Course Development
Presenter: Eric Ely, University of Central Missouri
This proposal explores the use of counter storytelling as a pedagogical tool in Library and Information Science (LIS) education to decolonize traditional library history courses. Rooted in Critical Race Theory (CRT), counter storytelling amplifies marginalized voices and challenges dominant narratives. The replacement of traditional research papers with a creative assignment in which students conduct historical research and craft fictional stories reflecting historical social conditions is explained. Emphasizing cultural humility, the assignment aims to avoid harm and promote social justice. The proposal addresses decolonial contexts by decolonizing curriculum, research methods, information practices, and professional practice, fostering inclusive and equitable learning environments.
Additional Acknowledgement: Dr. Paria Aria made significant contributions to the planning and organizing of the Innovative Pedagogy Special Interest Group’s 2025 presentations
Sizeism and Weight Diversity in Popular and Award-Winning/Recommended Picture Books for Children
Get PDFScholarly research has demonstrated that sizeism (also called fatphobia or weight stigma) negatively impacts fat people across a range of major life activities. Even young children exhibit sizeist beliefs, and fat children are negatively impacted in school and personal relationships. LIS scholars have recently begun to address sizeism, but serious gaps persist in the literature, particularly in the realm of children and information. However, both research and theory demonstrate the positive impact that diverse literature can have in regards to addressing other types of bias among children. Thus, this study employs a convergent mixed methods design to examine weight diversity in recent award-winning/recommended and popular children’s picture books in the United States. The findings suggest that diverse, positive weight representation is currently limited in both librarian-recommended/award-winning and popular picture books. The study includes recommendations for librarians, educators, and researchers interested in supporting diverse, inclusive information environments for children
Preparing MLIS Students to Center Youth Voice in the Library
Get PDFChildren and Youth Literature (CYL) courses in LIS programs have been trying to incorporate more “whole-picture” views of youth reading habits and practices (Barriage, 2022). One avenue that has been less explored is incorporating children and youth voices as experts of their own reading preferences and library experiences. Employing childhood studies and participatory design-based frameworks that decentralize adult reading perspectives and re-center experiences of youth can assist in shifting to a framework that focuses on the opinions, perspectives, and rights of youth readers (Barriage, 2022). Based on the teaching experience of the presenters, we will propose potential methods for incorporating youth voices in CYL courses that include evidence-based research, but also ensure that our students hear from youth via research articles, podcasts, social media platforms, and review sources. Incorporating youth voices into CYL courses ultimately impacts collection development, readers’ advisory, spatial equity, and programming decisions that students will make in their practice
American Drone Surveillance & Information Policy Implications
Get PDFWith the advent of U.S. military uses of drone surveillance technologies in the early 2000s, the impact of drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and respective surveillance and policing practices have been a minimally documented form of warfare. When U.S. federal agencies began using drone surveillance on American soil, it was argued to be an efficient surveillance tactic for America’s borders, a highly unregulated use posing mounting human rights violations to this day (Flynn & Mackay, 2018; Molnar, 2024). It was in 2011 that an American police force first used drone surveillance to arrest an American citizen (Jones & Mendieta, 2021). Since then, drones have been used to scan rallies, monitor neighborhoods, and respond to crime scenes. Unfortunately, domestic drone surveillance appears to mimic American policing, disproportionately affecting and scrutinizing marginalized communities, while inciting paranoia and fear in its wake (Davis, 2019). Beginning in the early 2010s, the legal right for the American government to not only watch civilians, but to include surveillance data within the profiles of the biometric database “Next Generation Identification” continues to exacerbate the grey area of information policies at the nexus of privacy, surveillance, and social justice (Braman, 2007; Flynn & Mackay, 2018; Suchman, 2023).
Based on preliminary information policy research on UAV policies and practices within the United States, the research team investigates implications, shares takeaways from the first author’s policy briefing on these issues, and seeks to discuss strategies to uphold affected communities’ wellbeing and other key stakeholders’ responsibilities regarding these realities
Strategic Foresight in Civic Engagement for Racial Justice: Exploratory Qualitative Perspectives of Public Library Staff in the American South
Get PDFThis paper briefly identifies qualitative themes from semi-structured feedback collected in online interviews/focus groups with forty public library staff in the American South about their foresight regarding library roles in civic engagement to promote racial justice. The research is timely in its engagement with stakeholders who are now directly impacted by the recent political and financial threats to federal funding and support of library-related agencies and assaults on public organizations that promote diversity and inclusion. Library staff provide potential directions of future engagement to support racial justice that spotlights their constructive role of resilience in response to these harsh political realities in the United States. Questions around the why’s, how’s, what’s, and specific actions integrated in data collection form a possible framework providing potential holistic structure of organization, content, representation, and delivery of civic engagement for racial justice in public library and communities to be developed further in future research.
Strengthening our Resolve: AI ethical standards and resolving to make ethical AI decisions
Get PDFMuch has been written and discussed about artificial intelligence (AI) and growing sentiment suggests it is here to stay. How should AI be used, positioned, developed and governed? Will AI be the solution to persistent and inconceivable challenges, positioning early adopters for competitive advantage and economic growth? Questions and concerns abound but it is time we move beyond debate and come to resolution regarding ethical AI standards and policies to influence and govern use. Co-sponsored by the Information Policy and Information Ethics special interest groups (SIGs), this proposal is for a pair of 90-minute speaker panels, facilitated by the respective SIG convenors. This joint-panel presents a continuous conversation to strengthen our resolve of ethical AI standards and policies. Panelists will present intercultural and geopolitical perspectives to frame an ethical stance that will be workshopped across panels for an ethical pedagogical position to inform policy.
The first panel, AI Ethical Standards: Resolving to make AI ethical decisions, will feature four speakers focusing on ethical considerations. Kyle Jones (Indiana University Indianapolis) will present his development of the course “AI for Information Professionals,” focusing primarily on the boundaries (and lack thereof) of pedagogical ethics when designing a course for and with generative AI tools. Clara Belitz (University of Illinois) will present research on the usage of AI in middle and high school mathematics classes in the United States, centering student experiences with these systems, speaking to how “AI fairness” is conceptualized and measured. John Burgess (University of Alabama) will speak on human dignity and AI from a sustainability ethics perspective, drawing on the work of Emmanuel Levinas. Finally, Spencer Lilley (Victoria University of Wellington) will speak on ethics from an Indigenous perspective, including transparency of training AI, the use of this data to spread mis-/disinformation about Indigenous peoples, and implications for indigenous intellectual and cultural property rights.
We acknowledge and appreciate the individual and collective decolonizing efforts and commitments of our SIG members. Our conversations reflect complex intercultural challenges, which we discuss with an ethic of care, confidentiality, and intellectual curiosity and respect for divergent perspectives and practices
People’s Voice: How Does the Public Perceive the Impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence on Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums
Get PDFGenerative AI (GenAI) has grown in popularity in recent years, with integration within many service areas, including GLAM institutions (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums). As implementation continues, discussions across social media have reflected both enthusiasm and concern of GenAI use. This study investigates the public discussion and sentiment surrounding GenAI within GLAM contexts on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). We collected posts related to GenAI and GLAM topics from X between November 1, 2022, and December 31, 2024, and conducted topic modeling and sentiment analysis to explore the nature of these discussions. Our findings reveal distinct themes across GLAM institutions and indicate that positive sentiment was most prevalent within museums and galleries and negative sentiment was more frequently linked to archives. While preliminary, this study highlights both promises and challenges of GenAI use in GLAM institutions and highlights the need for further research to support thoughtful, intentional implementation