Voices in the wilderness: A report on academic information literacy instruction in Atlantic Canada

This paper reports on a study of current teaching practices and overall instruction-related experiences among academic instructional librarians in Atlantic Canada. Based on in-depth personal interviews with teaching librarians at six university campuses throughout New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland, the study also reveals common themes among the librarians' views and attitudes on information literacy and academic teaching in general. The study finds librarians to be largely self-reflective, student-focused, and pedagogically competent teachers who are passionate believers in the core role of information literacy in academic libraries. Specific details are reported on the librarians' general instructional objectives, their view of the librarian's role in the learning process, their specific teaching techniques, and their ideas on student assessment. Insight is also provided into the librarians' professional relationships with key stakeholders in information literacy instruction: head librarians, other members of university administration, and departmental teaching faculty. In addition, the librarians' main day-to-day challenges and future predictions for library instruction are described.