Developing Supportive Pedagogical Communities in Academic Libraries

Library instruction is often highly collaborative, from working closely with faculty to plan out a session to meeting with students to potentially co-developing a session with a librarian colleague. However, despite how collaborative library instruction work is, it can also sometimes be isolating. Subject librarians, for instance, tend to work with their own faculty and might have limited contact or opportunities to engage with other departments or with their own library instruction colleagues. This session will explore different approaches for building supportive and engaging pedagogical communities among instruction librarians, drawing on examples (and lessons learned) from three very different institutions, including a large public research university and a much smaller private college. Participant will have a chance to share their needs and wants around instruction community (or lack thereof) at their institutions and will have the opportunity to brainstorm ideas for building community, particularly in the oftentimes challenging hybrid world of work we are all continuing to navigate. Participants will leave with ideas for connecting with their fellow instruction librarians and for crafting spaces for inspiration, support, dialogue, and community among instruction librarians.