Effective Practices in Academic and Research Librarianship

These are the ideal behaviors of an instruction librarian before teaching a class, and during and after a class, as well as other activities that should be engaged in outside of classes.

Most notable aspects: They were developed collaboratively by the Libraries' Information Literacy Team, reviewed by all the librarians who are involved in teaching, and they are cited in the annual work plans of most of the 33 subject specialist librarians who teach library classes.

• As ideals, they give librarians goals to strive for in improving their teaching.
• Although they are high ideals, they are within the grasp of everyone involved in library instruction.
• They clarify the performance expectations of instruction librarians.
• They suggest training and staff development activities that would improve individual teaching performance.

There are no out-of-pocket costs associated with these Practices. The main cost is librarians' time and effort.

At the University of Maryland, most library instructional activities fall under the first two of the University Initiatives which are: (1) Continue to elevate the quality of undergraduate education in order to provide all students an enriched and challenging educational experience; and (2) Build a strong, university-wide culture of excellence in graduate and professional education, research, scholarship, and the creative and performing arts. More specifically, in the University of Maryland's strategic plan, information literacy and information technology fluency are now included as primary goals.

Included in the mission statement of the University of Maryland Libraries is: "Providing assistance in the use of the scholarly information resources required to meet the education, research and service missions of the University. The Libraries support this effort through interpreting, instructing and educating in the use of these resources." The Best Practices in Library Instruction support this mission by promoting excellence in instructing and educating library users.

• By analysis of data gathered from student evaluation forms administered at the end of each instruction session.
• By individual reflection and self-assessment based on videotaping, peer feedback, or teaching portfolios.
• By feedback from faculty.
• By numbers of repeat requests for instruction from faculty.
• By feedback from peers when co-teaching.

Since the practices require no out-of-pocket expenditures or individual efforts beyond what is expected of the most experienced instruction librarian, it is easily sustained as an ideal to which all instruction librarians aspire.

With minor adaptations based on size of college or university, and on the degree of subject specialization of instruction librarians, these practices are readily transferable to other academic libraries. They describe ideal behaviors that should be aspired to by all instruction librarians and expected of the most experienced ones.

These practices respond to library users' needs for instruction in conducting library research and using information resources that is:

• Appropriate for their background and level of expertise
• Supportive of course assignments and curricular requirements
• Adapted to their learning styles and preferences
• Delivered in a professional and welcoming manner
• Well organized but flexible as appropriate

At the University of Maryland, we are continually seeking more and better ways to measure how well librarian instructors are adhering to the Best Practices for Library Instruction and to what extent these practices make a difference in student learning and retention of information literacy skills and concepts.