Document Type
Article
Date of Original Version
2025
Department
University Library - Public Services
Abstract
Reflective practice provides library workers with a critical opportunity to examine professional experiences, question assumptions and approaches, explore new perspectives, and develop innovative solutions to existing problems. When applied to instruction as reflective teaching, this practice better situates library instructors to meet the evolving needs of twenty-first-century library users. This research study explores how library workers engage with reflective teaching in academic libraries across the United States. A survey was distributed to academic library communities, and a total of 153 responses were collected. While 92% of respondents reported participating in reflective teaching practice in a variety of instructional contexts, results indicated that respondents have utilized a broad range of methods for reflection and experienced numerous benefits and barriers. These diverse experiences suggest that library instructors see value in reflective work and would benefit from greater training and opportunities to participate in this practice.
Publication Title, e.g., Journal
Communications in Information Literacy
Volume
19
Issue
2
Citation/Publisher Attribution
Vaandering, A. G., & Crego-Emley, A. (2025). The Library Instructor as Learner: A Survey of Reflective Teaching Practices in US Academic Libraries. Communications in Information Literacy, 19 (2), 220–241. https://doi.org/10.15760/comminfolit.2025.19.2.5
Available at: https://doi.org/10.15760/comminfolit.2025.19.2.5
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.