Book Reviews

Motivating Students on a Time Budget: Pedagogical Frames and Lesson Plans for In-person and Online Information Literacy Instruction. Sarah Steiner and Miriam Rigby, eds., for the Association of College and Research Libraries. Chicago, IL: American Library Association, 2019. 322p. $64.00 (ISBN 978-083898949-4).

Any instruction or subject librarian will know the anxiety felt when working to prepare an information literacy session for students in a one-shot session. Librarians must incorporate the faculty member’s, sometimes numerous, desires for class as well as ensure the session is relevant and engaging for students, all within a usually short, one-off class period. The editors of this work are familiar with these seemingly constraining variables and seek to flip librarians’ idea that these factors are constraining or a burden but rather “a gift: because we have only a short period of time with our students, we can exist outside the world of performance…and position ourselves as fellow curious explorers” (2). This volume of work is aimed at moving from the more motivation-related instruction topics, such as active learning, and expanding examination to a broader look at motivation theory to foster intrinsic motivation in students. The editors of this book hope that this presentation of broader motivational theory will inspire readers to meet students where they are, both intellectually and emotionally, and help students to cross threshold concepts critical to information literacy.

Edited by Sarah Steiner and Miriam Rigby, Motivating Students on a Time Budget presents short essays aimed at increasing motivation in students, often through a variety of methods based on motivation theory. This work contains 19 well-referenced chapters focused on varying student audiences and learning settings, including graduate students, online instruction, and even a workshop series. The authors note in their introduction that the work is divided into two sections: the first, covering research-based, broad-level considerations of student motivation relating to short-term information literacy instruction; and the second, consisting of lesson plans and activities that highlight specific motivational strategies and pedagogies. This split in the sections is not explicitly noted by section break in the table of contents or with a page break between chapters, but the content of the chapters notably shifts and a change in focus is readily apparent. All chapters provide an introduction to or discussion of motivation theory to acquaint readers with the basis behind the theory, method, or technique being presented in the chapter. Methods presented in the chapters cover a wide array of approaches to motivational theory and range from authentic teaching and learning, to game-based theory and goal-setting theory. Chapters are relatively short and include plentiful examples of material used in class including survey and reflection questions, worksheets, and—in the second section—full lesson plans for use and adaptation by readers. Notably, most chapters also include a Creative Commons license on their first page explicitly encouraging the remixing and reuse of material presented here by readers. All chapters include robust endnotes and bibliographies for further reading and research. While longer in length at 322 pages, it is well-written and full of motivational theory, practical applications, and recommendations for librarians to use in their own instruction.

It is important to note that the chapters in this work are not just about getting through all of the information literacy skills in an instruction session but also include a focus on cultivating motivation within students to explore and research on their own beyond the assignment. While each chapter does provide examples of uses for motivation and instruction in the short term or within one-shot instruction session, the underpinning of each chapter is ultimately about developing and cultivating intrinsic motivation in students. Readers should not be put off by this different approach to teaching information literacy instruction; the methods and approaches presented in this book can be directly applied to the one-shot session. Each chapter presents ways to embrace the time limits that information literacy instruction typically faces and engage students in creative ways and help students develop motivation to learn more on their own. Additionally, the methods presented in this book might also help librarians become more comfortable moving away from a common practice of pairing information literacy instruction with an assignment, a strategy that often creates extrinsic motivation with students and can be problematic because that motivation can be short lived. Rather, by incorporating different approaches from motivational theory presented in this book, librarians can work toward creating IL activities that help to cultivate intrinsic motivation and develop a curiosity of learning within students that remains after class is over.

This book provides excellent examples of motivational theory applied to information literacy instruction sessions. The robust references, lesson plans, in-class activities, and other materials will be helpful for academic librarians seeking to add to, reformat, or refocus their instruction practice. The focus on cultivating intrinsic motivation within students across all levels and instruction methods provides an excellent approach to rethinking the time constraints many academic librarians face when providing instruction. Importantly, this book will help librarians consider different in-class activities that will help students engage with material and develop intrinsic motivation to better analyze, judge, and evaluate information for use in problem solving.—Alexandra Hauser, Michigan State University