Heather Jagman (MS '96), coordinator of reference, instruction, and academic engagement at DePaul University, is one of two winners of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Instruction Section Ilene F. Rockman Publication of the Year Award, which recognizes an outstanding publication related to library instruction published in the past two years.
Jagman and Troy A. Swanson were selected for the award in recognition of their work as editors of the book, Not Just Where to Click: Teaching Students How to Think about Information, which was published in 2015 by ACRL.
The award, donated by Emerald Group Publishing, consists of a plaque and a cash prize of $3,000. Jagman and Swanson will receive their award during the 2016 ALA Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida.
“Not Just Where to Click is an extremely useful and well-designed volume that considers information literacy instruction from a variety of perspectives,” said award committee Chair Elana D. Karshmer. “It brings together a collection of essays on how librarians can not only rethink their own instruction practices in terms of changes in what students 'bring to the table,' but also challenges practitioners to go beyond the mere fact of teaching research skills to suggest that librarians engage in teaching students to think critically and consider how information helps them interpret and understand their world. The committee was impressed by the authors’ ability to produce a volume that could be used in tandem with the new ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education.”
Not Just Where to Click: Teaching Students How to Think about Information explores how librarians and faculty work together to teach students about the nature of expertise, authority, and credibility. It provides practical approaches for motivating students to explore their beliefs, biases, and ways of interpreting the world. The book also includes chapters that bridge the gap between the epistemological stances and threshold concepts held by librarians and faculty and those held by students, focusing on pedagogies that challenge students to evaluate authority, connect to prior knowledge, and construct new knowledge in a world of information abundance. Authors draw from a deep pool of perspectives including social psychology, critical theory, and various philosophical traditions. Contributors to the nineteen chapters in this volume offer a balance of theoretical and applied approaches to teaching information literacy, supplying readers with accessible and innovative ideas ready to be put into practice.