Trench warfare is a difficult way to fight a battle. It comes about when both armies are evenly matched. Each side entrenches itself firmly into their position, digging in to slowly weather down the other side. The result is a crooked and exposed strip of land separating the two armies known as no man’s land. In order for either army to advance, they had to cross no man’s land into the opposition’s trenches. In the struggle for education, there exists a no man’s land as well that must be crossed in order for learning to most effectively take place. Libraries lie in the perilous expanse found between the teachers’ classrooms and the students’ homes. A perception exists that libraries support the opposition for both sides and are the allies to no one. Students and faculty do not view librarians as educators. They see them more as collaborators or support staff. This perception exists because librarians are not responsible for the teaching of classes.

Librarians are educators, who use subtle means to teach their communities. Librarians assist teachers in finding appropriate content, supporting their curriculums and improving their overall ability to instruct their classes. Librarians assist students in providing information, performing research and teaching information literacy. Libraries provide programs and training that will assist both teachers and students in improving their performance. Professional librarians are responsible for developing and implementing these programs and trainings in collaboration with other institutions to benefit the communities they serve. Librarians are best suited for this because they are able to evaluate the goals of the presenting parties and find a way to meet the needs of the target audience.

In LIBR 250, Design and Implementation of Instructional Strategies for Information Professionals with Dr. David Loertscher, we studied different methods for creating instructional programs. Dr. Loertscher taught students that when creating a worthwhile training program, a librarian should follow a three stage method. The first stage requires the librarian to understand the goals of their client and to locate material on the specific topic to help the parties involved develop the program and for the execution of the program. In stage two, the librarian plans with the client the instructional experience. They discuss the possible advantages of integrating information technology into the experience and develop ideas for activities that will most effectively convey the instruction. The final stage is the formulation of an instructional partnership or design team where the responsibility for the program is shared between the librarian and client. Together the librarian and client execute the plan they have devised, followed by an evaluation of the program by instructors and participants.

Dr. Loertscher is among those professional librarians who insist that librarians are as fully qualified as teachers to instruct. They support full time library skills classes, and are adamant promoters of curriculum integrated instruction. Because of this stance, these librarians encourage all other librarians to have a firm understanding of learning methodologies, curriculums, collaborative methods and the appropriate information literacy standards. While this does make librarians better prepared to teach, it is also the source of one of the main conflicts that librarians face in academic settings.

According to educational institutions, the teacher is solely accountable for their students’ performance regardless of whether the lesson is taught directly by the classroom teacher or by a fellow instructor. Whenever a librarian in college is actively following alongside of an instructor to team teach a class or portion of the class, they are accountable to the university and the students, and evaluations should reflect that. But because instructional librarians are not subject specialists in every situation, most are unqualified to be giving subject-specific instruction in a shared accountability class. For this reason I believe instructional librarians should only give instruction regarding information literacy and research methods and not actively teach course content. On the other hand, library media teachers are trained to teach in elementary and secondary public schools and should not only be involved in supporting teachers with the curriculum and assessment of students, but should also share responsibility and be evaluated for their participation in the instruction of state mandated curriculum. My difference in opinion with Dr. Leortscher did not affect my ability to learn how to create training and instructional programs based on appropriate learning principles and theories.

LIBR 250 prepared me to develop training programs. As a part of the assignments of this course, I learned and evaluated multiple learning and teaching methodologies. I am cognizant of nineteen different professionally practiced information literacy methods. I have grouped these information literacy models according to their most appropriate setting. Students are introduced to multiple instructional methods in this class developed by educational organizations and the instructor. Evidence of my competency in developing training programs based on appropriate learning principles and theories can be found in my transformation assignment. Dr. Leortscher instructed us to select syllabi and lessons from courses we have taken or carried out in our professions and transform them into actively collaborative and information literacy rich lessons. We did this by finding an appropriate Think! Model, Dr. Leortscher’s personally developed lesson models, and applying it to our selected lesson. In this assignment, I transformed a lesson from a Humanities class. My transformed lesson is superior to that of the original because it that requires students to actively utilize library resources and work together in groups. In my transformation, I state which ACRL information literacy standards I am meeting with the new version of the lesson. I made it a point to not change to the goal, because I gathered from the syllabus that it met a goal of the institutional department. The successful completion of my transformation assignment demonstrates my ability to evaluate the work of others and use it to create an improved product. More importantly this assignment shows that I can design a lesson that engages learners and encourages active participation while teaching information literacy skills.

My experience in LIBR 250 culminated with a collaborative project. Students were required to work with an actual client to create an engaging problem for an quality educational experience. The completed project had to contain the objectives, activities, materials, information literacy model, necessary information technology and evaluative strategies. We were also required to keep a log of the process and create a report that reflects upon the project and the process. For this project, I worked with my undergraduate mentor at Brigham Young University, Dr. Richard Kimball. Together, we transformed the opening assignment for the course. We took a class discussion and created an active learning experience that required students to use multiple sources to answer the question, " what is a sport?" Students then had to take their definition of sport and argue whether one of the ambiguous activities assigned by Dr. Kimball was indeed a sport. After presenting and defending the case for their activity to the class, the class would vote to finally determine whether it was a sport. The materials we used were reference material on the subject of sports, the Internet, periodical databases and online encyclopedias. At the completion of my practical transformation assignment I gained a value of the difficulty of creating an active learning experience. I had to work first with Dr. Kimball to find out if he had the research skills needed to perform the assignment. Next I had to assure that he had taught his students correctly the skills they needed to accomplish the assignment. I identified the resources he should use and the criteria we would need to assess the accuracy of the students’ work. Through this experience I demonstrated my ability to create a training program using the goals provided me by my client and based upon the principles and theories I learned from Dr. Loertscher. This task has given me the confidence I need so that I might be able to repeat my performance in future instructional situations.

As an intern at The California Maritime Academy (CMA) Historical Archives, I was charged with the task to create and implement an oral history project. One of the goals of the Historical Archives is to provide a kit that provided all of the information, forms and procedures needed for an alumni or retired faculty member to participate in the project. To create the procedures needed, I relied on my knowledge of oral history interviewing techniques and the guidelines provided by the Oral History Association. I presented my suggested outline to the Library Director and the Archivist for their review. Together we worked to clearly articulate the procedures one would need to follow to create a quality recording and a rewarding interview experience. The Library Director took into account the age of the target audience as well as the various levels of competency participants may have in using modern recording equipment. This level of detail required me to word the policies in a very simple language and to be very complete and deliberate in every action asked for. Apart from the procedures I created, I also provided a list of suggested questions that would prompt participants to conduct an interview that would meet the overall goals of the oral history project. With the Oral History Kit I demonstrate my ability to adapt to the requirements given to me by my superiors and to meet the needs of my target audience. The oral history kit demonstrates my ability to understand the special needs of my clients and select the appropriate activities and techniques needed to create a professional product.

Even while I work now in the technical services of the library, I understand the importance of being able to create proper training programs. I have had to create the procedures and outline the workflow of how to catalog items using the new PromptCat service being used at The California Maritime Academy Library. Creating instructions that only I can understand would not benefit my colleagues to perform the work or any replacement that needed to come in. As a part of my duties at the CMA Library, I am responsible for training student assistants in the Library of Congress Call Number Scheme and how to conduct circulation transactions. I require the students to practice shelving books according to the LCCN multiple times before they can perform this duty. I check it with them to ensure that it is done correctly. When using the computer to conduct circulation transactions, I allow them to practice on the job, observing them and making myself available to answer any question they may encounter. This open and friendly training relationship helps them to gain confidence and provides constant learning opportunities. This is the way I have always trained those who work for me or with me. It is an effective leadership method that I will only continue to improve.