PILLARS2021: From First Year Experience to Teacher's Education: A Discussion on Practical Ideas for Information Literacy and Students in Transition

PILLARS stands for "Preparation, Information Literacy, Libraries, Academic Resources, and 21st Century Skills for Transitioning from Secondary School to College." I attended the keynote of the PILLARS conference, because the keynoters were:

• Raymond Pun, Education/Outreach Manager – Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University
• Tarida Anantachai, Interim Head – Learning and Academic Engagement, Syracuse University Libraries

The speakers talked about the type of settings they have provided instruction. Between them, they have provided instruction in K-12, college/university, and public library settings.

How are they supporting information literacy during the pandemic? Students need more digital resources during the pandemic. while some students wanted print because they were spending so much time online. This means that "access" was not always easy.  Students struggled.

Ray Pun noted that this was a good time to teach students about information privilege as well as privacy. He mentioned writing done on information privilege by Char Booth.

• Booth, C. (2014). on information privilege. info-mational. Retrieved from https://infomational.wordpress.com/2014/12/01/on-information-privilege/
• Booth, C. (2016) Information Privilege: Narratives of Challenge and Change (slides).

Tarida Anantachai mentioned learning analytics ans how that intersects with privacy. 

In terms of challenges, Anantachai mentioned teaching students across time zones and in multiple countries, which also means that some websites she used - including her library's site - were blocked.

Anantachai noted the need to be aware of how students were doing - outside of academics - and provide information and resources that might be helpful to them, including fun resources. AT one point, she taught a class of mostly Asian students the week of the shooting in Atlanta. She mentioned then including bystander training. Pun acknowledge that training could be very help for people.

• Hollaback. Bystander Training,

They then talked about partnerships and who their libraries have been partnering with including high school teachers and librarians. Pun mentioned about recruiting students to work in an academic-public partnerships as instructors.

Students need content in their own languages, which they do not always have. It was noted that there is also a lack of school librarians, which also creates a hurdle. This lack of school librarians has been occurring over the last 10 years. Pun noted an IMLS research project that is studying this.  If students have not had access to a K-12 school librarian, it may be harder for them to interact with librarians in college.

• An Interview with Debra E. Kachel and Keith Curry Lance on the IMLS project, “SLIDE: School Librarian Investigation: Decline or Evolution?” - https://blogs.ifla.org/cpdwl/2021/06/07/an-interview-with-debra-e-kachel-and-keith-curry-lance-on-the-imls-project-related-to-slide-school-librarian-investigation-decline-or-evolution 

Pun and Anantachai said there are an increasing number of job ads for librarians to help with college first year experiences. While this is a positive trend, these librarians are being asked to do a lot with many students at the same time. Those roles are relationship centered, but it can be difficult - because of what they're being asked to do = to build those relationships. How do you define success in the jobs?

• ALA's Connecting Librarians for K-20 Transitions, https://www.ala.org/rt/lirt/connecting-librarians-k-20-transitions
• “Planning for Fall: Sustainable Collaborations in High School to College Transition.” Here are their meeting notes if they’re of interest - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aplF0mAbF-qxpucVR6k19H-_X-aGvAIiszZudaMkxmk/edit#
• Interview with Debra E. Kachel and Keith Curry Lance on the IMLS project, “SLIDE: School Librarian Investigation: Decline or Evolution?” https://blogs.ifla.org/cpdwl/2021/06/07/an-interview-with-debra-e-kachel-and-keith-curry-lance-on-the-imls-project-related-to-slide-school-librarian-investigation-decline-or-evolution/
• SLIDE website https://libslide.org/

In talking about equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI), one important thing they mentioned is that some of the outreach/first year experience librarian positions are held by librarians of color.  How do we support those librarians? 

Recognizing that the first year is a critical time for students, how do we support those from racial and ethnic groups that historically have been excluded from higher education. Some of these students are already carrying trauma. How do we support them as they deal with that trauma, along with the trauma they have experienced during COVID-19?

How do continue to make shifts that will continue to improve the experience of our students?

Pun noted that we also need to focus on accessibility, which is critically important when teaching online.  Accessibility online is different than in person, and we need to be thinking about both.

Anantachai ended by reminding us that we need to think critically about our own work.

How do we increase the number of K-12 librarians? Pun said we all need to focus on advocacy. When we see a proposed K-12 budget cut, we need to advocate against it. He also think MSLIS students need more of an introduction to school librarianship. Anantachai advocates for a new version of "Fill the Gap." She also mentioned getting academic librarians to do service learning in K-12. Pun noted that there are local associations for school librarians to connect with for advocacy, etc.