2023 TxLA Library Instruction Round Table (LIRT) Annual Summit: Home

  2023 LIRT Keynote Speakers Kristina Clement and Zoe Bastone

Inclusion as a Radical Choice: Reimagining Information Literacy for All

The last three years have seen many changes in libraries as we have strived to be nimble in the face of rapid change. The COVID-19 pandemic was a force that shaped how we provide library instruction, as many learning environments rapidly pivoted to virtual spaces and have gradually become more in-person and hybrid. The political environment in the United States has made concepts like intellectual freedom and information privilege divisive, thus heightening the need for strong information literacy programs. As a profession, we have had our fair share of challenges to react to, making every sector of librarianship question how we should move forward and support our users meaningfully.

For example, can we meaningfully teach information literacy skills when we have the contested “one-shot” as our main force of introducing, teaching, and helping students master such essential skills? What does teaching information literacy look like in political environments that attempt to stifle access to resources? How do we stop being reactionary and become active agents in shaping our profession to better support our students and ourselves as professionals?

In this keynote, we will discuss how choosing inclusion is a radical act that can serve as one of the most powerful tools in our active pursuit to shuck the inclination to react to change and instead become an agent of dynamic change. Reacting to change is okay, but it cannot be the only thing we do to shape the learning environments we inhabit, create, and maintain. We’ll reflect on the active choices we can make that intentionally shape our instruction and outreach cultures and reflect on opportunities to actively choose inclusion to push past what has been and further shape our learning environments.

More information about keynote speakers and other session presenters will be updated as it becomes available.