Venturing from the “Back Room”: Do Technical Services Librarians Have a Role in Information Literacy?

Catalogers, electronic resources librarians, and acquisitions librarians spend a lot of their time in the “back room” of their library. Yet even as their roles expand to include participation in innovative library initiatives like institutional repositories, shared print analysis, and digital collections, they are not often consulted on new user-instruction activities like enhancing the information literacy (IL) programs for their library community. Information literacy to advance student learning is now emphasized by many accrediting agencies, making it one of the hottest topics in public services today. There are endless library conferences, workshops, and poster sessions devoted to its meaning, methods and assessment. Is there any connection between Technical Services and Information Literacy? Do technical services professionals have a role at their library for improving information literacy within their user community? Can they have something to contribute to the discussion? This paper proposes that these “back room” librarians do have a place in IL efforts and should be included in the conversation. Suggestions include reasons to collaborate on IL with public service colleagues and methods of active learning to use in one-shot sessions. Additionally, the paper highlights ways to relate professional roles to IL initiatives, demonstrates how to make time for participation in these initiatives, and provides ideas for staying on top of trending IL topics