Acknowledgements
No writer labors alone, and many people contributed to bringing this book to fruition.
First, we would like to acknowledge Dan Tracy and the staff of IOPN at the University of Illinois Library. Thank you for the sage advice about open publishing, your editorial and publication work, and, most of all, for providing a home for our book. Thanks also to Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe for contributing a foreword and to Morgan Keys for the gorgeous book cover and promotion materials.
Many students provided feedback on draft chapters in the spring of 2020, and the book is the stronger for their recommendations and insights. A huge thank you to Rebecca Davis and the students in LIS 408 User Instruction and Information Literacy at Simmons University and to the students in IS 458 Instructional Strategies for Information Professionals at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
As always, we are deeply grateful to our families. We segued from one huge book project to another so quickly that the two overlapped for months (no doubt after claiming multiple times that we’d “never write another book”), and yet they continue to support and encourage us. Laura would like to thank her family, David, Lissa, and Will, for their support, humor, and patience. You are my best teachers. Melissa thanks Bob, Erica, and Craig for accepting her love/hate relationship with writing and giving her space to work, even on vacation. You make it a wonderful world every day.
Becoming a teacher is a developmental process. Our journey as teachers has been shaped by our many interactions, both formal and informal, with gifted instructors, mentors, and colleagues. We can only hope we have done justice to the examples you have set and remain grateful for your guidance and generosity.
And last but not least, we have honed our craft through countless interactions with students inside and outside the classroom. A simple thank you is inadequate to convey the depth of our gratitude. Your willingness to take risks, your contributions to discussions that pushed us outside our comfort zone, and your insightful feedback have helped us become more effective, engaging teachers and more compassionate human beings. Your passion for libraries, your commitment to serving your communities, and your desire to become the best teachers you can be inspire us every day. This book is dedicated to you.
Laura Saunders
Melissa A. Wong
