How do we collaborate in ways that model open and equitable practices for our students? How can we help our students research their own histories as a way of creating a more just present and future? These questions are at the core of our work as instructional faculty and librarians, but the power imbalances between us often interfere with the larger project of teaching students to do historical research. This presentation works to identify structural barriers that hinder good working relationships and develop strategies that will help build critical connections between teaching faculty and librarians. Attendees will be able to generate ideas for collaborative assignments that empower students through research with primary sources.
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Joanna Gadsby – Instruction Coordinator & Reference Librarian, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Joanna Gadsby works as the Instruction Coordinator/Reference & Instruction Librarian at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Her research interests include relational practice, critical and constructivist pedagogies, and gendered labor in librarianship. She is co-editor, along with Veronica Arellano Douglas, of the upcoming volume, Deconstructing Service in Libraries: Intersections of Identities and Expectations.
Kate Drabinski – Senior Lecturer, Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Kate Drabinski is Senior Lecturer in Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies. She teaches courses on activism, feminist theory, and sexuality and queer theory. Her co-edited volume with Nicole King and Josh Davis, Baltimore Revisited, was released in August 2019. When she isn’t teaching she’s researching Baltimore history, writing about it, and leading walking tours to share her love of the city.
One particular aspect that you pointed out was the importance of providing the opportunity for the students to engage with primary sources and discover how their personal perception of that source is individual and unique! This would certainly spark the students’ curiosity and inspire great research!
I also agree that building the structural integrity of understanding the integral role librarians have in curriculum design and assessment, within the institution as a whole, is imperative to advancing student research skills, motivation and curiosity to excel.
Thank you for sharing!
This hit on a lot of things that have been on my mind lately: cultivating curiosity, claiming agency and what, really, should we be teaching in the library classroom. I’d love to one day set up a program for faculty as a way to open the door for collaboration. What would that look like? not sure, but the thinking cap is ON.