Out of the boot camp and into the chrysalis: a reflective practice case study.(case study of an information literacy librarian's role as educator)(Case study)

From the information literacy educator's perspective, librarians have the potential to play important roles in strengthening information literacy elements within curricula learning scaffolds. While there needs to be an increased awareness amongst academics about the forms of assistance teaching librarians can provide teachers as integrated curriculum support resources, there is also a need for information literacy librarians to engage in reflective practice in order to break down the self-perceptions and taken-for-granted attitudes that can represent barriers to professional growth and development. In this article, I present a personal case study of one information literacy librarian's experience of coming to accept the role of educator in a tertiary education context.

Introduction

From the information literacy educator's perspective, librarians have the potential to play important roles in strengthening information literacy elements within curricula learning scaffolds (Bruner, 1986). I suggest that two elements must be addressed to fulfil this potential. Firstly, there needs to be an increased awareness amongst academics about the forms of assistance teaching librarians can provide teachers as integrated curriculum support resources in order to, to adapt Ramsden's (2003) idea, make student learning of information literacy possible. At the same time, self-perceptions of teaching librarians can also raise significant challenges. Secondly, there is a need for information literacy librarians to engage in and grow through reflective practice, which Brine and Feather (2002) regard as 'a hallmark of any competent and committed professional' (p. 259). In this paper, I demonstrate the positive power that reflective practice can have in questioning the self-perceptions and taken-for-granted attitudes that can become barriers to professional growth and development.

The importance of reflective practice for information literacy educators

Rethinking the way one teaches, learns and perceives one's role as both teacher and learner has the power to enhance the way one supports learners (Quinsee 2005, p. 151), creating a better space in which to practise alignment with one's commitment as a teacher (adapted from Palmer, 1998). Reflective practice is necessary to ensure growth, not only for the benefit of individual practitioners but also for the profession to ensure that it does not become blinkered in its disconnection from 'best practice and best thinking, and one which, by default, often resorts to advocacy and position as a bid for survival' (Todd 2003, in Hallam 2005, p. 4). The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) recognises that a sustainable future library and information workforce requires professionals who have, amongst other qualities and skills, the ability to engage in reflective practice (ALIA National Advisory Congress, 2008, p. 2). Boud (1996) argues that critical reflection is a requirement of effective practice (p. 115), an assertion expanded upon by Haddock (2002) who views it as an essential part of critical, evidence-based professional practice and research (p. 95). Although recognised as a professional development practice of great importance, reflective practice often struggles to gain status as a higher priority in time-poor work schedules (Doskatsch 2002, para. 1), suggesting in part why the experience can be so personally challenging when we do engage in reflective practice (Burge & Haughey 2001, p. 4).

Hallam (2005) states that reflective practice is:

 
   a crucial tool to manage the constant change in our workplaces, 
   from both the perspective of the social developments (which 
   influence the expectations of users of the information services we 
   provide) and the perspective of the technological changes that 
   affect the development and delivery of these services (p. 4)