LIRT (Library Instruction Round Table)

This presentation will describe an effort to address this challenge at Cal Poly Humboldt, where a librarian and social work faculty member conducted surveys and co-taught a series of workshops with students in their final semester of the Bachelor of Social Work program. Students learned how to find and evaluate non-paywalled information sources, understand and challenge information privilege and traditional scholarly publishing models, and expand their understanding of authority. Additionally, students applied what they learned to locate both scholarly, open access research and non-scholarly information sources related to their practicum experience. An open pedagogy approach was then used to support the student-led creation of an online repository of these resources, the Humboldt Social Work Knowledge Commons, which includes annotations evaluating their usefulness to the communities they serve.

This presentation will provide both academic librarians and social work educators with a model for empowering future social workers with the skills and knowledge they need to engage their communities with research-informed practice, acknowledge non-traditional sources of authority, and challenge structures that perpetuate information privilege. It will also share what was learned from pre- and post- instruction surveys to better understand how students address gaps in their professional knowledge, how they use the scholarly literature, and their understanding of open access.

Register

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Esther Grassian
Lecturer
UCLA Information Studies Department
estherg@ucla.edu
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