This article summarises the author’s evolution as a writing instructor toward a career as a librarian teaching information literacy and finally as a scholar and researcher studying information literacy as an academic subject. Changes in writing pedagogy are explored as they relate to changes in the author’s instructional practices and how they underlie an understanding of information literacy as a form of literacy practice closely related to writing. Questions about the future of information literacy under current management philosophy are presented

Kairos involves both an understanding of thesociohistorically-informed present and a recognition ofpresent necessities. Examining the state ofinformation literacy scholarship, we argue we arewithin a kairotic moment where LIS scholars andlibrarians need to merge critical theories and criticalpractices to create a critical praxis of librarianship.Le Kairos implique à la fois une compréhension duprésent tel qu’il est façonné sociohistoriquement etune reconnaissance des nécessités actuelles. Suite ànotre examen de l’état de la recherche sur lacompétence informationnelle, nous avançons quenous sommes arrivés à un kairos où les chercheursen sciences de l’information et les bibliothécairesvont devoir fusionner les théories critiques et lespratiques critiques pour créer une pratique critique dela bibliothéconomie.

Lifelong Learning is enshrined in the professional practice of librarians through the American Library Association’s “Core Values of Librarianship” (2004). As a Core Value, the term is extremely vague. What do we mean by lifelong learning, and why does the term have such a powerful hold on the imaginations of educators? This paper works to understand the term by looking at one of the earliest conflicts in American educational history and philosophy: the choice between student-centered schools and employment-centered schools. During the first decades of the twentieth century, America was struggling to define its national core values. Educational theory was seen as a key way to articulate and pass on these values. One pedagogical approach involved developing schools to educate individuals to become thinking and informed citizens; another administrative approach involved creating schools as vocational institutions to educate individuals to become skilled employees. After a brief debate, employment-centered schools emerged as the clear winner. Since that time American schools have been viewed almost exclusively through a vocational lens. The implications of this decision for libraries, schools, and learning are explored.

Libraries have long been considered spaces of silent introspection. Contemporary learning, however, is a social activity where student voices are valued. This presentation explores voice in the library through two case studies where librarians and faculty sought to develop students’ voices and create forums for these voices to be heard.Les bibliothèques ont longtemps été considérées comme des espaces d'introspection silencieuse. De nos jours, cependant, l'apprentissage est une activité sociale où les voix des élèves ont leur valeur. Cette présentation explore la voix dans la bibliothèque à travers deux études de cas où les bibliothécaires et les professeurs ont cherché à développer les voix étudiantes et à créer des forums où ces voix puissent être entendues.

In our last issue, Lorcan Dempsey and I explored the ways in which the C&RL transition to an open-access, digital-only publishing model might allow us to think differently about the place of the journal within the scholarly communications landscape in our field and to promote a vision of C&RL as a "platform publication" for libraries in higher education.Editorial board member James Elmborg joins me this month to continue this discussion of the content published in College

When we think of voices in the library, we have tended to think of them as disruptive, something to control and manage for the sake of the total library environment. The stereotype of the shushing librarian pervades public perception, creating expectations about the kinds of spaces libraries want to create. Voices are not always disruptive, however. Indeed, developing an academic voice is one of the main challenges facing incoming university students, and libraries can play an important role in helping these students find their academic voices. Two initiatives at two different academic libraries are explored here: a Secrets Wall, where students are invited to write and share a secret during exam time while seeing, reading, commenting on the secrets of others; and a librarian and historian team-taught course called History on the Web, which brings together information literacy and the study of history in the digital age. This article examines both projects and considers how critical perspectives on voice and identity might guide our instructional practices, helping students to learn to write themselves into the university. Further, it describes how both the Secrets Wall and the History on the Web projects intentionally create a kind of "Third Space" designed specifically so students can enter it, negotiate with it, interrogate it, and eventually come to be part of it.

In recent years librarians such as James Elmborg and Heidi L. M. Jacobs, looking to the connections between information literacy and studies in rhetoric and composition, have drawn attention to the inherently political and social nature of information literacy (IL) and information literacy instruction (ILI). Calling for a more critical pedagogical praxis for ILI, Elmborg and Jacobs assert that a holistic and critical understanding of IL, one which recognizes and embraces IL’s political and social significance, must extend beyond rubrics and must involve more complex ways of exploring the relationships between information, society, and politics. Given that formal ILI most often takes place in the college or university classroom, the implications of a critical praxis for IL seem particularly relevant to academic libraries, where students are often advised regarding scholarly practices and the use of scholarly sources. Although the aim of ILI in these contexts is most often to foster critical thinking and inquiry (and although this aim is frequently met in many respects), a great deal of academic library instruction neglects to draw attention to the subjective nature of academic publications, and to the fact that academic scholarship, like all information, is born out of social and political structures that are not immune to bias and power relations. As a growing number of librarians and educators argue for a more critical praxis for ILI, one which encourages students to critically evaluate all information and to consider it in relation to social, political, and rhetorical contexts, ILI must go beyond making general distinctions between scholarly and non-scholarly sources which often elide the complexities of knowledge production.1 Instead, a strong critical and socially-conscious

Much has been written recently about the "library as place." This essay approaches the question of library space philosophically, arguing that developing commercial attitudes toward space leads us away from more productive ways of conceiving libraries. A concept called Third Space is introduced, and its relevance to libraries and librarianship is explored. Third Space is defined and applied to various library concepts, especially information literacy. The article contends that thinking about Third Space can help libraries and librarians develop ways of working with increasingly diverse populations in increasingly dynamic contexts.

The author examines open source in the context of academic libraries, particularly as a software solution for ILS needs. The author focuses on LibraryThing as an ideal example of the use of open source in a library environment.

Information Literacy has been an important movement in academic libraries for at least the past decade. Still, no consensus has emerged about how to define information literacy or how broadly or narrowly to apply literacy theory to the work of librarians. In fact, the historical definitions of librarianship have tended to work against the integration of literacy theory into the daily practices of librarianship. These definitions have emphasized protecting the library as warehouse of externalized knowledge and the librarian as mediator between that knowledge and the students and faculty who need to use it in the educational process. The end result has been that information literacy’s power to transform libraries has been neutralized and contained. This paper explores the ways that traditional librarianship is constructed in the discourse of professional training and the ways that critical literacy theory might transform the practice of libraries and librarians in colleges and universities.

ABSTRACT Librarianship is at a critical juncture. Technological changes have reshaped the information landscape, but libraries as social institutions have not been able to transform themselves to keep pace. This is the challenge of Library and Information Science Education. As we look to a future professional education for librarians, we need to acknowledge the need to reinvent our educational goals and methods so our graduates can lead in this new emerging environment. A relevant education for the information sectors will include a synthesis of global, technical, and critical perspectives to encourage librarians to understand the changes they need to enact to ensure relevance for the future.

This article uses critical literacy theory to define information literacy. It argues that to be educators, librarians must focus less on information transfer and more on developing critical consciousness in students. Using concepts from literacy theory, the author suggests ways library practice would change if librarians redefined themselves as literacy educators.

The "contact zone" has emerged as an important concept for understanding cultural difference in educational institutions. This article explores the usefulness of the contact zone as a guiding principle for academic librarianship. It suggests that by using contact-zone theory, librarians can develop a more reflective educational practice. Contact-zone theory is described and its implications for librarianship are explored.