Getting to the Heart of LIRT

LIRT held an all-day retreat on February 14, 1997, at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. with 33 people in attendance. Organized by the Long-Range Planning Committee, the retreat's theme was "Getting to the Heart of LIRT." Attendees included members of the current Steering Committee, the Long Range Planning Committee, past presidents, past executive board members and additional public and school librarians. The two previous retreats were held in 1985 and 1990. The goal of the retreat was to evaluate LIRT and the future of library instruction, to assess what the future will bring, and to determine what LIRT can do as an organization to prepare and plan for that future.

After opening remarks by Chuck Dintrone, Chair of Long-Range Planning, and Kari Lucas, President of LIRT, Tim Grimes, who has held every elected office in LIRT and is Associate Director of Public Relations at Ann Arbor District Library, talked about change and reorganization. While many of us dread change and reorganization, both are inevitable. All libraries, but especially public libraries, are finding change so constant that it feels like "going whitewater rafting." LIRT has a solid historical foundation to build upon but we must be willing to go beyond it. We must respect the past, use it, and move on to the future.

The procedures for the rest of the day were developed by Diana Shonrock, the facilitator for the retreat. Using a modified Delphi method, Diana came up with the topics for discussion. Each participant was involved in two group discussions. Following lunch, each group reported on their ideas, and the highlights from each group follow:

1. Should LIRT be disbanded? If not, where does LIRT fit in the ALA strategic plan?
   The consensus was "no." LIRT's cross-library participation is unique in ALA. Instruction is important and growing, especially in public libraries. While ALA does not fully understand or appreciate LIRT's role, LIRT needs to market itself and communicate with those who do not attend conferences. Round tables, in general, need to be strengthened in ALA, and LIRT needs to establish links to other ALA groups through newsletters, etc.

2. Library/information instruction in an electronic environment and a time of "invisible libraries."
   How can LIRT support teaching of the Internet, CD-ROM products, etc. to different audiences? Distance education is an issue. There are many different learning styles, including hands-on, which is becoming more important in the electronic environment. Other issues were networks vs. stand alone computers; in-house tools vs. those one has no control over; how to evaluate teaching; and the expense of technology. Collaborative instruction, varying levels of preparation, and critical thinking skills are also important. "How do we reach the unreachable if we are invisible?"

3. Human touch in a machine world. Librarians make connections with people and are bridge builders. They also help users come to terms with their expectations about libraries and information resources such as "everything is on the Internet."

4. Information instruction as an agent of technological, organizational, and societal change.
   This discussion emphasized the importance of critical thinking. Even for distance education, librarians are still needed for instruction. Practical instruction, not too technical, is essential. Everyone we teach becomes an agent for change.

5. How to market LIRT and library services through library instruction.
   LIRT members could share expertise, possibly preparing starter kits for librarians who have not taught a particular area, perhaps targeting public and school librarians. We should provide something of practical value for those who do not attend conferences, and publish articles in PLA and AASL publications. Marketing the library through library instruction is achieved because instruction brings people into the library. Ideally it should increase their comfort level as well. More visual and graphics are needed in instruction.

6. Coordinating library/information instruction coalitions.
   Is there a lack of knowledge on the part of university students because they did not learn or because they forgot what they learned? School librarians need to know what universities expect students to know. Information competence is needed at all levels. Librarians could form coalitions within their state to address commonalities instead of differences. Librarians see the same people at different stages of life. Sometimes there is a lack of respect for school librarians among university librarians.

7. Instruction for special groups.
   All groups are not homogenous but all groups could benefit by being shown the big picture. Unrealistic expectations lead to frustrations. There is a need to train staff to be sensitive.

8. Future trends.

The future of library instruction is tied strongly to the future of libraries. Librarians are not the only ones teaching. There is a need to keep up but can we do everything or should we find a niche? Teaching is no longer defined by physical space. We need more formal training in pedagogy. Anyone who works with technology realizes one can't predict more than about two years in the future.

After lunch, different groups worked on the same questions, based on the morning's work, to come up with future directions for LIRT. These were then reported and put into different categories. The three categories turned out to be:

1. Outreach/Marketing, such as contacting other ALA groups, writing articles, creating links from other Web pages to LIRT, distributing LIRT products broadly and systematically;
2. Organizational Issues, such as evaluating and examining charges and functions of all committees, raising the image of round tables, becoming more visible in ALA, having booths every other year but do it better;
3. Training and Learning such as holding a preconference on pedagogy, developing models for Web instruction, developing mentoring programs for those who need advice on teaching, etc.

Following the retreat, the Long-Range Planning Committee organized the suggestions for the Executive Board (see separate article). Two key ideas (besides those mentioned above) that seemed to be cut across all groups were 1) that there should be better relations with other groups, especially AASL and PLA; and 2) that LIRT should reach out to those who do not attend conferences.

Overall, the retreat was a great success thanks to those who made it so: the Long-Range Planning Committee (Alison Armstrong, Gale Burrow, Judy Clarence, Barbara Conant, Marsha Forys, Tim Grimes, Linda Sammataro, Diana Shonrock, Judy Williams, and Maggie Zarnosky) and Mitch Stepanovich. The complete report on the day's events is available in the LIRT archives.