Michelle Bishop, First-Year Experience Librarian,
Nicole Westerdahl, Research, Instruction, and Outreach Librarian,
and Deborah Bauder, Research, Instruction, and Outreach Librarian,
State University of New York at Oswego
Introduction
By its very nature, the traditional one-shot information literacy instruction session goes against most pedagogical best practices, yet remains a common format for instruction in academic libraries. The typical one-shot, as implied by its name, is a one-time instructional session where librarians provide varying levels of instruction on library or research related topics. The persistent struggles associated with this teaching model continue to dominate the information literacy literature. The history of this discussion has centered on debates about the instructional role of librarians, calls for better collaborations with discipline faculty, meaningful assessment, inclusive teaching practices, librarian burnout, and effective professional development. Despite the abundance of articles addressing these challenges, librarians continue to grapple with this instructional method and to explore creative approaches to mitigate the many well-documented pedagogical challenges of the one-shot.