Book Reviews

Jo Angela Oehrli. Practical Academic Library Instruction: Learner-Centered Techniques. Chicago, IL: American Library Association, 2022. 124p. Paper, $64.99 (ALA members) (ISBN: 978-0-8389-3642-9).

Jo Angela Oerhli has distilled much of her experience, practical advice, and wisdom into this easy-to-use and well-organized library instruction manual. Her passion and enthusiasm for teaching, information literacy, and student-centered learning come through loud and clear. Recent research addresses the lack of preparation and guidance for teaching faced by many librarians whose responsibilities include instruction, especially those at the beginning of their careers. With a growing focus on information literacy and the teaching role of librarians, this practical volume fills an important niche for both new and experienced librarians.

The focus of the book is to highlight some of the major pedagogical issues that librarians may encounter and to offer practical solutions and learner-centered activities to improve instruction and student learning. Notes at the end of each chapter and a bibliography provide excellent suggestions for further professional development.

The organization of the book follows the sequence of a typical class instruction session. This framework makes the content very practical, versatile, and easy to use. Part I, “The Basics,” articulates guiding principles including learner-centered techniques, respect for the student, and the importance of positive expectations. The content highlights educational research and points to sources for further investigation such as Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, research by Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, metacognitive techniques, and John Keller’s ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Learner Confidence, and Learner Satisfaction). The inclusion of so many excellent sources for professional development is a strong feature.

Part II, “Starting Point of Class,” provides tips on being organized, lesson planning, setting and stating goals up front, establishing rapport with students, and generating activities for student engagement. These strategies include ice breakers, promoting a positive classroom climate, generating class discussion, and pivoting with new content and instructional techniques. The importance of formative assessment is addressed in discussions of backward design as developed by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, the ADDIE Method of Lesson Planning, and Madeline Hunter’s work on creating instructional objectives and lesson plans. Project CORAL (Collection of Information Literacy Related Research Assignments) and the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy sandbox are highlighted for additional ideas.

Part III, “The Middle of Class,” focuses on metacognition, assessment, and guided reflection on teaching. Both formative and summative assessment are discussed for their importance in improving learning. Think-pair-share, use of pivot techniques, and techniques of KWL (What I already know, What I want to know, and What I have learned) and TPE (Think, Puzzle, Explore) for making thinking visible are tested instructional techniques. Active learning techniques such as problem solving, role playing, and teaching the use of a database are included. More inspiration can be found in the “Top Twenty List” devised by the ALA Library Instruction Round Table (LIRT).

Oehrli also offers solutions to classroom distractions such as whispering, bored expressions, texting, and disengagement, including options such as proximity (walking around the classroom and engaging with students), pivoting the lesson content through introduction of new material or skills, and changing up the task.

Part IV, “Looking Back and Forward on Your Library Instruction” centers on the importance of summative assessment and reflective practice to improve teaching and increase student learning. Summative assessment, which helps evaluate what students have learned, might include testing skills in performing tasks modeled in instruction or writing a short response about content learned. Reflective practice involves evaluating current instructional practices. It is a very important activity, although it is not always well understood or practiced. The author wisely notes the impact of external factors such as institutional climate, cultural issues, diversity, curriculum, funding, personal attributes, and other considerations on reflection.

The end of an instruction session provides an important opportunity to summarize instructional content. It is also an opportunity to provide contact information for further research assistance and to share additional content not included in the class session. Oehrli describes a class slideshow as one way to achieve this goal. A Libguide would also work well.

An important factor in library instruction is the physical environment. Although the importance of classroom design is mentioned, it is not a focus in this book. Given its importance and the fact that it is often overlooked, some discussion of facilities design might have been included. Most classrooms, large lecture halls, and library labs have stationery seating arranged in traditional rows. The lack of flexibility imposed by this arrangement can be a definite limitation, especially when designing active learning exercises and group work.

Another crucial element is time constraints. The principles, research, and activities described in this book are innovative and student centered. However, the time factor, especially for “one-shot” instructional sessions, can often be a hindrance to meaningful library instruction outcomes and could have been usefully addressed by Oehrli.

Using a range of pedagogical approaches and creating meaningful contacts are essential to teaching students who are different from each other and learn in different ways. The current professional focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion must take into account not only the fact that students learn in different ways, but that they come from different backgrounds, bring different experiences to the classroom, and often have varying learning expectations. Accommodating diversity and accessibility in the instructional classroom likely calls for additional work on this subject that goes beyond this title.

Practical Academic Library Instruction is an excellent manual that librarians will want to have in their personal library. It achieves the goal of being a go-to source for face-to-face instruction. With its clear and compelling organization and easy-to-use layout, listings of specific tools, and techniques, practical advice, and suggestions for further reading, this book will be used often.—Carolyn Filippelli, University of Arkansas–Fort Smith