Huge thanks to Jessica Critten and Kevin Seeber, keynote speakers for our 2016 conference!
My Lens, Myself: A Hermeneutics of Information Literacy
To be effective teachers and librarians, we must be what Patti Lather calls “radically reflective” (Getting Smart, 1991, p. 13) about our work. Why do we make the choices we make? What is the ultimate goal of the learning experience?
This presentation will discuss the theory of hermeneutics, and how it informs our work as teaching librarians. Hermeneutics is, put briefly, the way that we continually build understanding through dialogue with texts, the world, and ourselves. In our case, hermeneutics has led us to see that information literacy is a recursive and deeply personal process, and that a pedagogy focused on acquiring products is insufficient.
More broadly, however, we hope to encourage participants to realize that the notion of “theory” is vital to our work with students. Being radically reflective means identifying and critiquing what theories are already in play, and seeking out new and better ways to conceive of our pedagogy. We are not necessarily advocating that everyone adopt one specific theory, though we will discuss our concerns with some prominent approaches to instruction, and advocate that those of us involved in issues of curriculum should have a developed and reflexive theoretical grounding. This highly interactive session will also challenge participants to consider how theories do not only guide the way we approach teaching, but rather how theories become the way in which we see the world.
Jessica Critten is Assistant Professor and Instructional Services Librarian at the University of West Georgia. She is currently a PhD student studying educational theory at the University of Georgia. Her research examines the socially constructed nature of information literacy, specifically with regards to conceptions of authority. She is also interested in anti-racist and feminist approaches to information literacy pedagogy. She is a graduate of Florida State University, where she received her MLIS and an MA in Interdisciplinary Humanities. She lives in Atlanta with her partner Tristan and her dog Digby.
Kevin Seeber is Foundational Experiences Librarian at Auraria Library in Denver, Colorado, which serves the University of Colorado Denver, Metropolitan State University of Denver, and the Community College of Denver. Prior to coming to Auraria, he was Library Instruction Coordinator at Colorado State University-Pueblo from 2011 to 2015 and a staff member at Florida State University’s Strozier Library from 2006 to 2011. His research broadly relates to instruction and assessment of information literacy, with a focus on critical information literacy and working with first-year students.