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

• Main Author: Leah Morin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Communications in Information Literacy 2021-06-01
• Series: Communications in Information Literacy
• Subjects: care ethics; feminist care ethics; first-year students; library instruction; one-shot
• Online Access: https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/35892

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 as an 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.