"Trying to figure it out": Academic librarians talk about learning to teach

Abstract

Information literacy instruction is a core function in academic librarianship, yet librarians may feel unprepared for teaching. This qualitative research study explores, through the experiences of eight academic librarians in Ontario, Canada, how librarians learn to teach in the classroom. It uses narrative inquiry to study and share these experiences, an approach that is in the mainstream of teacher research, although little used in the library and information literature. Areas explored include the librarians' expectations of librarianship; what they learned at library school; teaching as learning; support from colleagues; continuing education; teacher identity; talking about teaching.