Librarian and Faculty Conversations about Information Literacy: A Pilot Study on Communication across Disciplinary Boundaries

The purpose of this pilot study is to discover how academic instruction librarians discuss the concept of information literacy with faculty colleagues outside the library and information science field; how they negotiate shared meanings of the term; and what pedagogical actions result from these conversations. The researcher interviewed a purposive, convenience sample of three early-career ILI librarians employed at private colleges in the Northeastern United States to ascertain their perspectives on the quality and nature of their conversations with faculty members about information literacy. The researcher used the theoretical framework of Etienne Wenger’s dimensions of boundary processes to interpret the qualitative interview data. The researcher discovered that the interviewed instruction librarians do not often discuss disciplinary definitions of information literacy with their faculty colleagues, that they adapt their teaching as needed to meet faculty expectations, and that they develop fruitful pedagogical partnerships with key faculty “allies.