Exploring Librarianship through Critical Reflection

Course Description

Critical reflection on our library practices can connect everyday librarianship to the philosophy, values, and ethics that shape our discipline. As such, ongoing reflection is an essential librarian competency to bridge thought and action; uncover personal values of librarianship; and ground librarian practice with library theory. Librarianship has an intimate association with narratives and stories from their traditional role in curating, caring for, and making collections accessible. Librarians also experience the intricacies and challenges of narrative inquiry through the qualitative research they undertake, oral histories they gather, reflective teaching practices they facilitate, and oral-traditions they interact with. Despite these intersections with reflection and narratives, librarianship has not fully incorporated or developed our own narratives within our library practices. Shadiow (2013) encourages us all to “recall, retell, and then scrutinize your stories”. This course will lead participants through a critical reflection curriculum that will encourage them to “recall, retell, and then scrutinize” their own library stories. Critical reflection has the potential to revitalize library practice, combat symptoms of librarian burnout, and inspire new directions.

At the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Understand the role reflection plays in shaping librarianship
• Articulate the characteristics of various types of critical reflection techniques (autobiography, autoethnography, currere, etc.)
• Draw connections between their personal lives and their professional library lives
• Create their own personal narratives and critical reflections

Shadiow, L. (2013). What our stories teach us : A guide to critical reflection for college faculty (Jossey-Bass higher and adult education series). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, Wiley.