CSUEB librarian reminds colleagues to rely on evidence, not anecdotes

• July 23, 2010 5:00am

Online Literacy Librarian and Archivist Diana Wakimoto co-presented a session titled, “Question, Find, Evaluate, Apply: Translating Evidence Based Practice to Information Literacy Instruction,” with Megan Oakleaf, Syracuse University, at the annual American Library Association (ALA) conference in Washington D.C.  Their presentation was featured in Cognotes, the daily conference newsletter.

“Wakimoto discussed how to apply evidenced based practice to different types of instruction. She pointed out that evidence is good, anecdotes are generally bad and when in doubt, ask a colleague." Wakimoto led an exercise with the over 400 librarians in attendance. She asked what they would do if they were teaching a one-time lesson to a class. The exercise proved that it would be best to ask the students what they needed, which is evidence based practice in its simplest form. Wakimoto also recommended consulting education and educational psychology journals for evidence on best teaching methods and incorporating course assessments into the sessions.

The session was hosted by the Instruction Section of Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). A bibliography of suggested literature and presentation slides may be found

KL