The First-Year Library Instruction One-Shot - Part 5 - A Place for Caring

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by kopisore

An academic librarian providing one-shot instruction sessions for first-year students is uniquely positioned to enact a feminist ethic of care. First-year students are especially in need of caring during their transition to higher education. Library instruction often serves as their first introduction to the library, offering a chance to build a relationship with both librarian and library. The session should function as an open door to future connection, supported by the librarian’s freedom to prioritize caring as a primary learning objective.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

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Abstract

First-Year Students and the Nature of the One-Shot

Feminist Pedagogy and the Ethic of Care

Communications in Information Literacy | Volume 15 Issue 1 | Article 5 | | --- | --- | | 6-2021
The First-Year Library Instruction One-Shot: A Place for Caring
Leah Morin
Michigan State University, [morinlea@msu.edu](morinlea@msu.edu)
Follow this and additional works at: [https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/comminfolit](https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/comminfolit)
Part of the Information Literacy Commons
Let us know how access to this document benefits you. | | Recommended Citation Morin, L. (2021) . The First-Year Library Instruction One-Shot: A Place for Caring. Communications in Information Literacy, 15 (1), 95–103 . [https://doi.org/10.15760/comminfolit.2021.15.1.5](https://doi.org/10.15760/comminfolit.2021.15.1.5) This open access Perspective is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4 .0) . All documents in PDXScholar should meet accessibility standards. If we can make this document more accessible to you, contact our team. The First-Year Library Instruction One-Shot: A Place for Caring Leah Morin, Michigan State University Abstract An academic librarian providing one-shot instruction sessions to first-year students is uniquely positioned to enact a feminist ethic of care in the classroom. First-year university students are particularly in need of caring. The library instruction session is often their introduction to and first impression of the library and an opportunity to inspire a relationship with the librarian and library. The instruction session, then, should be seen asan open door to a future relationship between librarian and student. The librarian is not the professor and, therefore, has the freedom to focus a primary learning objective on caring. Keywords: care ethics, feminist care ethics, first-year students, library instruction, one-shot Perspectives edited by Stewart Brower Morin, L. (2021). The first-year library instruction one-shot: A place for caring. Communications in Information Literacy, 15(1), 95–103. The First-Year Library Instruction One-Shot: A Place for Caring An academic librarian providing one-shot instruction sessions to first-year students is uniquely positioned to enact a feminist ethic of care in the classroom. First-year university students are particularly in need of caring. The library instruction session is often their introduction to and first impression of the library and an opportunity to inspire a relationship with the librarian and library. The instruction session, then, should be seen asan open door to a future relationship between librarian and student. The librarian is not the professor and, therefore, has the freedom to focus a primary learning objective on caring. First-Year Students and the Nature of the One-Shot As a child in a segregated school system, bell hooks felt cared for by teachers that had also taught her parents, aunts, and uncles, and who knew (and took the time to know) about her family and life outside the classroom. She said,“My effort and ability to learn was always contextualized within the framework of generational family experience. Certain behaviors, gestures, habits of being were traced back” (hooks, 1994, p. 3). Nel Noddings (2012) advocated that an ideal caring school environment is one that keeps teachers and students together for years, by mutual consent, in a continuum of care that allows deep knowing of each other. Students need to know someone cares for them as persons so that in low moments, they will continue to work out of trust and love for their teacher, until better moments come along (Noddings, 2012). As library instructors, we do not have generations, or years, or semesters. When we are lucky, we have 110 minutes. One of the common ways first-year students are introduced to their campus library is via a one-time library introduction and information literacy session, often referred to as a “one-shot

FAQs

Why are one-shot library instruction sessions well-suited for teaching with an ethic of care?

Because the librarian can treat the session as the start of a librarian-student relationship, offering students a caring introduction to the library and to a future connection.

What stresses make first-year students especially in need of care?

Leaving home for the first time, separating from family and friends, adjusting to academic demands, and forming new friendships can all negatively affect students’ adjustment to higher education.

How does the article distinguish the librarian’s role from the professor’s role?

The librarian is not the professor, which gives the freedom to focus a primary learning objective on caring.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by kopisore