Leading Dynamic Information Literacy Programs: Best Practices and Stories from Instruction Coordinators. Anne C. Behler, ed. Milton Park, UK: Routledge, 2023. 186 p. Paper, $48.99 (ISBN: 978-0-3674-6279-6).

Before and since the COVID-19 pandemic, information literacy (IL) instruction has had to evolve in the face of new and existing challenges. Edited by Anne C. Behler, Leading Dynamic Information Literacy Programs addresses these challenges through a selection of case studies from various IL coordinators who develop, evaluate, and implement IL programs. The volume is divided into five major subject areas: situating IL in higher education (Part I), building a community around IL (Part II), integrating IL into curriculum (Part III), assessing and improving IL programs (Part IV), and innovating IL structures and practices (Part V).

In Part I, Maybee traces the history of alternatives to IL, including transliteracy, media literacy and digital literacy. Despite these alternatives, IL continues to reign supreme, as evidenced by the ACRL Framework for IL in Higher Education published in 2015. While the Framework acts as a helpful starting point, Maybee offers insights from the field of “critical pedagogy” (p. 19) with the goal of better preparing learners to navigate the modern information landscape. In the following chapter, MacDonald frames IL as a means of developing the “educated citizen” (p. 27). In this way, IL coordinators could position their work as a required component of higher education which would be a useful bargaining chip in conversations with administrators who are unsure of the library’s place in the institution.

Waltz opens Part II by using the analogy of a “junk drawer” (p. 46) to describe community sentiments around IL. Much like a messy kitchen drawer, the work of IL can feel nebulous and disorderly for many in academic libraries. To reorganize the drawer, Waltz emphasizes the importance of delineating the roles of everyone involved in IL and how their work contributes to the larger vision for the institution. Similarly, in the subsequent chapter, Gammons et al. share a case study from the University of Maryland where IL instruction was struggling due to being isolated as a single unit; the chapter authors propose communities of practice as a solution. These groups empower library staff and other campus stakeholders to cultivate a community of questioning, learning, and practicing as it relates to IL.

Part III continues the discussion with Wightman advocating for curriculum development and design roles to be integrated into the work of academic libraries. Strategically speaking, the library can play a more integral part in student success when integrating IL instruction into curriculum development at the institutional level. For this assimilation process to be effective, libraries should take a multi-modal approach to IL instruction, as the next chapter explores. If librarians want to avoid being perceived as “tedious and repetitive” (p. 101), they should heed Cook’s recommendation to diversify how IL is delivered, including instruction that is both responsive to student needs and offered incrementally, unlike the traditional one-shot model.

Part IV sees Kirker and Blinstrub delve into the assessment of IL programs to determine if students, faculty, and librarians are meeting expectations and goals. While assessment typically exists to evaluate student learning, it is also important to assess the teaching practices of information literacy instructors. The authors provide a practical toolkit where they plot examples of assessments along a four-stage “curriculum map” (p. 130), with each stage growing in complexity compared to the last. The recommendations offered in this chapter could propel the library toward being more adaptable and responsive to the changing objectives and values of its home institution.

Lastly, in Part V, Brown and Souza-Mort explore IL innovations at Bristol Community College. Other IL instructors and coordinators will find their suggestions of “chasers” and “multi-sessions” (p. 139) easily applicable to their own professional practice. Librarians who might feel reluctance would benefit from the adventurousness and willingness to fail that Brown and Souza-Mort embody in this chapter. Closing out the text, Behler investigates how Penn State University paused IL instruction to revitalize the program. This reboot process enabled the library to renew its vision for IL and to determine how IL instruction can be done more strategically. This chapter implores readers to be adaptable, because libraries and IL programs must be able to “pivot” (p. 160) in the face of institutional changes or even global pandemics.

The strength of Leading Dynamic Information Literacy Programs lies in its practicality, sharing vignettes of real-world IL programs from which readers can glean useful nuggets of information. Newcomers to the field of IL will benefit most from Parts I and III. Part I serves as a foundational piece for those who want to acquaint themselves with the current state of IL in higher education, while Part III offers aspirational goals for how IL can manifest in curriculum. Parts II, IV and V might be of most interest to veterans who are seeking to breathe new life into the community, culture, and structure of IL in their own institutions. The introduction concisely describes Dyson’s “four ways” (p. 1) of library instruction, but the text could have taken a deeper dive into the current trends in IL programs—future editions might include a summary table that outlines the most popular IL instruction methods and their key characteristics, with notes indicating how the chapter authors embody these methods. Overall, readers will appreciate Behler’s organization of the text and the bite-sized case studies in each chapter, allowing readers to easily pick up and put down the book at their leisure.

As Waltz asserts, “every academic library deals with instabilities” (p. 46) when it comes to IL. These uncertainties can stem from changing priorities in higher education, strained student and faculty relations, or the library’s culture. Behler and the chapter contributors expertly address these concerns, sharing their stories of hardship and success in a digestible manner with a focus on feasibility. Whether experienced or new to the field of IL, coordinators and instructors alike will find the stories shared in this volume valuable in innovating or grounding their IL practice. — Aleksandar Golijanin, York University Libraries