Accommodating Faculty Requests and Staying True to Your Pedagogical Ideals in the One-Shot Information Literacy Session

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by jay

Librarians are often asked to cover multiple databases in one-shot sessions, even though research suggests such demonstrations rarely produce optimal student outcomes. This paper applies metaliteracy and metacognition from the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education to reconcile pedagogical commitments with a faculty request for specific database demonstrations. By modeling question-posing and making metacognitive processes visible, it helps learners understand platform and format constructs while strengthening engagement and transferability.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Literature Review

Metaliteracy and Digital Research

Metacognition and Student Learning

Accommodating Faculty Requests and Staying True to Your Pedagogical Ideals in the One-Shot Information Literacy Session Rachel Elizabeth Scott, University of Memphis Abstract Librarians are frequently asked to teach several databases in a one-shot session, despite findings suggesting that such database demonstrations do not lead to optimal student outcomes. The ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education highlights the concepts of metaliteracy and metacognition. This paper investigates ways in which the author leveraged both of these concepts to reconcile her pedagogical ideals with an attempt to honor a faculty member’s request. By demonstrating question-posing and making her own metacognitive processes transparent to students, the author found that she could honor a faculty request for specific database demonstration while helping learners comprehend and see beyond the constructs of platform and format. Keywords: information literacy; library instruction; academic libraries; question posing; metacognition; metaliteracy Scott, R.E. Accommodating faculty requests and staying true to your pedagogical ideals in the one-shot information literacy session. Communications in Information Literacy, 10(2), 132-142. Copyright for articles published in Communications in Information Literacy is retained by the author(s) . Author(s) also extend to Communications in Information Literacy the right to redistribute this article via other scholarly resources and bibliographic databases. This extension allows the authors' copyrighted content to be included in some databases that are distributed and maintained by for-profit companies. All other rights of redistribution are licensed by Communications in Information Literacy under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4 .0) . Accommodating Faculty Requests and Staying True to Your Pedagogical Ideals in the One-Shot Information Literacy Session From the diverse vantage points of public services, technical services, and systems librarian, I have witnessed a wide and evolving range of student research expectations over the past decade. The relative ease of keyword searching and expanded access afforded by search engines and discovery platforms have created an environment in which users expect to be able to find, understand and make use of information without a librarian’s assistance. However, as information professionals understand, these processes are always mediated. Librarians remain well-suited to teach and add value to information search and retrieval processes in the digital age, but most student research and use of library resources occurs outside of the library classroom. When librarians do have the opportunity to engage students in an instruction setting, we must come to terms with various pedagogical, resource, and logistical constraints. One such challenge recently presented itself to me when a faculty member scheduled a demonstration of multiple databases in a 50-minute instruction session for a graduate-level music bibliography course. Besides the obvious time constraint, I also struggled with the request to demonstrate specific databases when my instruction typically focuses on process and source evaluation. Additionally, my background in music and interest in music bibliography confirmed that many specialized music reference tools and indices are not necessarily intuitive and may require explanation and instruction (Scott, 2016) . Initially, I was uncertain how I would balance all of these seemingly competing demands. In the end, I found that by modeling question-posing and encouraging reflection, I could honor a faculty request for specific platform instruction while integrating process instruction to enhance learner engagement and ensure transferability. This paper investigates the ways in which I reconciled my pedagogical ideals with an attempt to honor a faculty member’s request. Literature Revie

FAQs

Why do one-shot database demonstrations often underperform for students?

The paper notes that findings suggest database demonstrations in one-shot sessions do not lead to optimal student outcomes, even when instructors are asked to cover several databases.

Which concepts from the ACRL Framework guide the author’s approach?

The author leverages metaliteracy and metacognition, using them to guide how the session content is taught and how learning is supported.

How does the author reconcile pedagogical ideals with a faculty request?

The author models question-posing and makes her metacognitive processes transparent, honoring the request for specific database demonstration while integrating process instruction to improve engagement and transferability.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by jay