Instructional Identities and Information Literacy: Transforming Ourselves, Volume 1, Amanda Nichols Hess (ed.), ACRL, 2023. 194p. Softcover. 9780838939680 (Review 1 of a 3-volume title)

Instruction Identities and Information Literacy is a three-volume set edited by Amanda Nichols Hess, the Coordinator of Instruction & Research Help at Oakland University Libraries in Rochester, Michigan. Volume 1 of Instruction Identities and Information Literacy is titled Transforming Ourselves and is divided into three parts: Part 1: “Personal Identities and Perspective Transformation,” Part 2: “Professional Practices and Instructional Identity Development,” and Part 3: “Collaborative Experiences for Instructional Identity Development.” Through each part of this first volume, the reader is taken through the experiences of academic librarians and their transformative experiences, which led to the development and transformation of their instructional identities.

Each chapter of this volume is presented as a case study, detailing the contributors’ personal experiences with transformative learning theory and how they applied various techniques, pedagogy, and other theories to achieve their instructional transformations. These unique experiences highlight the innumerable ways in which transformative learning theory can be applied to an individual’s instructional persona. The unifying theme in each of these experiences is the application of transformative learning theory in a variety of situations and settings. Other learning theories and practices are also filtered through the lens of transformative learning theory to further explain the development of instructional identities over time.

Before delving into the chapters in Transforming Ourselves, it is essential to understand Jack Mezirow’s transformative learning theory. Hess provides a preface to the book which gives background information, summarizes the concept, and explores its applications. Transformative learning theory is centered on adult learners and looks at the “process of effecting change in a frame of reference,” with frames of reference being the experiences and expectations that shape beliefs and views of the world (Mezirow, 1997, p.5). Shifts to these internal frames can be due to either a singular event or adjusted gradually over time. Mezirow explains, “the process involves transforming frames of reference through critical reflection of assumptions, validating contested beliefs through discourse, taking action on one’s reflective insight, and critically assessing it” (1997, p.11). Throughout each chapter in this volume, readers can follow the experiences of individual academic librarians as they move through this process.

Part 1, “Personal Identities and Perspective Transformation,” focuses on the personal growth in instructional identity of the authors. Writers trace the journeys of librarians finding and altering their instructional identities. They share their personal reflections and experiences with: antiracist and feminist pedagogy; career changes; the intersections between personal, professional, and instructional identities; and visual literary instruction. Contributors detail how they applied transformative learning to their classes. They work through critical reflection, journaling, analysis of transformative timing, disorienting dilemmas, and emotional responses, resulting in awareness of self and others, and self-actualizing of both the instructor and students. Part 2, “Professional Practices and Instructional Identity Development,” shifts to a more professional application of the transformative learning theory. Authors in this section discuss their experiences with imposter syndrome, storytelling, analyzing changes in post-instruction reflection, advocating for student needs during the COVID-19 pandemic, building professional skills, and using curriculum mapping to develop a full strategy to enhance student learning. Collaborating with other teaching faculty, they have implemented the ideas of transformative learning theory into their professional identity by adjusting their own beliefs and values. Part 3, “Collaborative Experiences for Instructional Identity Development,” examines group learning and professional development. Topics include experiences with trauma-informed approaches and radial empathy, developing a professional learning community, and transformative role playing. The writers detail how they worked with librarians, as well as colleagues outside the library, to implement the tenets of transformative learning theory and to help create an overarching instruction identity for other academic departments.

Many of the chapters in this first volume focus on topics that are timely and of interest to the library community, such as impacts of the COVID-19 and the experiences of Black, indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC). Modifying instructional identities against the backdrop of collective traumatic events, such as the pandemic and the death of George Floyd, is something that academic librarians might keep in mind, especially because an increasing number of today’s college students were potentially affected by these events. Each chapter in Volume 1 concludes with a section titled, “Critical Reflections for Instructional Identities,” where the author(s) apply what they have learned to librarianship and instruction. The text includes critical questions—along with their answers—to make this a useful guide for academic librarians adapting their own pedagogical practices to reflect shifts in learning. Instructional Identities and Information Literacy: Transforming Ourselves, Volume 1 would be at home on the shelf of any academic instruction librarian, especially those who are looking to create or reflect on their own instructional identities, and in the library collection of any university with a library and information science program. — Stephanie Cicero, Roberts Wesleyan University

Reference

Mezirow, J. (1997), Transformative Learning: Theory to Practice. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 1997: 5–12. https://doi-org.gate.lib.buffalo.edu/10.1002/ace.7401