Foreword

This. This is the book. This is the book we need. I needed this book two decades ago when I was teaching the introduction to library instruction course in library school. This is the book I needed ten years ago when I was helping to design the ACRL Immersion Assessment program. This is the book I needed last year when I was helping a new librarian find their way as a teacher. This is the book we needed. And, now we have it.

Libraries are increasingly educational organizations, whether they are situated within a college or school or serve a public community or corporation. It is almost inconceivable that in the 1980s there was a contentious debate about whether librarians should understand themselves as educators and be trained as educators.

What we know today is that, as information is no longer scarce, the challenge for many people is cutting through the abundance of information to find what is needed and then managing the information that is relevant to their personal, professional, and civic activities. Libraries are uniquely situated to assist with these challenges and to provide education in the skills and strategies users need.

To meet this moment, library workers need instructional design and delivery skills and to be both competent and comfortable with their teaching roles. This book supports learning these instructional skills in the context of formal library science education and, as an open access text, ensures an opportunity for learning outside of formal coursework and engaging in ongoing development of oneself as a teacher. For the library manager, this book can serve as the foundation for a training and development program to support library workers in their growth as teachers.

I take a bit of pleasure in having had a role in the origin story of the collaboration that brought this book into being. Four years ago, I posted on Facebook that Laura and Melissa needed to know each other and to introduce them. I can’t claim that I was particularly prescient in thinking that they would eventually produce this book that I so desperately wanted us to have. But, having worked with each of them individually for many years, I knew that they would value each other’s perspectives and enjoy getting to know each other’s work. It has been a joy to see the fruits of their collaborations, this text being but one.

I recommend this book to all in the library community and particularly to library educators and trainers.

Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe

July 31, 2020