Sabbatical Leave Proposal

 Purpose of the leave. (Pursuit of professional development, advanced degree, credential, etc.)  

The purpose of this sabbatical leave is for professional development. Specifically, to develop, in collaboration with colleagues from around the globe, a handbook for information literacy.  This is an outcome of a group of academics, researchers, faculty, deans, faculty emeritus, and others who have been engaged in a conversation that I initiated on the topic of Information Literacy as a Discipline.  There have been several conversations, and the group continues to grow as colleagues invite other colleagues to join and contribute to the conversation based on their expertise.  Though initially the conversation was simply to learn from others in the field about this topic, the conversation and the group have emerged with the suggestion that creating a handbook for information literacy should be produced, with sections written by a large group of experts in the field. The potential IL (Information Literacy) Handbook will provide a needed information literacy vocabulary and glossary, as well as outlining disciplinary elements and the documentation that supports the notion of information literacy as a discipline.  The handbook has the intent of being a guiding document for information professionals, faculty and policy stakeholders, and administrators for information literacy, providing scope and explanations for conversing about information literacy more explicitly.  

Another focus of work during a sabbatical will be working as the chair of the ALA (American Library Association) Library Research Round Table (LRRT).  This role requires coordinating monthly webinars and working to plan and coordinate with the LRRT steering committee for the 2023 LRRT conference. The mission of the LRRT articulates the intent to contribute to the profession and to our local and regional librarians in higher education. 

There is potential for these two projects to intersect and the LRRT 2023 conference have a focus on the work of the group working on the IL as a Discipline handbook. 

Activities in which you will participate during the leave.  

During this sabbatical leave, I will be engaged with this group of colleagues to coordinate the production of the Information Literacy Handbook.  I am leading this project in partnership with my colleague, Clarence Maybee, Professor, and W. Wayne Booker Endowed Chair in Information Literacy, Libraries and School of Information Studies, Purdue University.  Together, Clarence and I are shepherding the group for publishing the handbook, coordinating meetings, and will be the editors for the publication.  We have contacted a couple of publishers, and one has indicated interest in this project.  Though it is still early days in the development, there is growing interest and support amongst the group in the IL as a Discipline conversation for this project to move forward. Therefore, the leave activities will include writing, reviewing, editing, coordinating, and working with authors from around the world.  This includes scheduling meetings with multiple time zones needed time for managing this project. 

The LRRT chair work will both promote mentoring in the field as well as develop webinars on how librarian practioner work can be informed by research and how to make practical application of this knowledge.  In addition, there is the circular need for librarian practitioner work to inform research. The recent LRRT steering committee identified this area as a focus, which is quite applicable to benefit the work of librarians at SSC. 

Anticipated benefit to the College, community, and profession.  

The benefits to the College include the potential of new knowledge produced and published on the topic of information literacy. The leave provides the opportunity to focus on research, writing, and creative work to enhance understanding and raise awareness for the College our local community, the global community, and the library and information science profession.  Providing a handbook for information literacy that can be used by information professionals, teaching faculty, administrators in higher education and the K-12 education community, as well as policy stakeholders. The disciplinary vocabulary and addressing the elements of a discipline can fill a gap of needed explicit language to provide for ease of communication and practical application of research to inform practice.  The IL Handbook will be a potential resource for LIS (Library and Information Science) students and iSchools who teach librarians how to teach information literacy, which ultimately impacts our College and others hiring new LIS graduates.  Our faculty librarians will also benefit by having terminology specific to information literacy as a discipline identified. The shared vocabulary can be used when teaching and discussing information literacy in the classroom, in the workplace, amongst community members, and for lifelong learning conversations. The handbook may inform future SSC IL Instruction Program development and may be useful with collaborating with other faculty on creating assignments, providing lectures, and working with collection developments, and supporting new programs and course development. 

Enhancement of student learning outcomes.  

The current and newly adopted SSC SLO for Information Literacy can be more fully understood, applied and assessed with the IL Handbook and LRRT work focused on IL practioner/researcher work.  

Information Literacy SLO: Discovering, interpreting, evaluating, and using information appropriately in creating new knowledge and practicing life-long learning. 

The potential FCTL (Faculty Center for Teaching & Learning) workshops of presentations to share outcomes from the sabbatical leave will serve to raise awareness of information literacy and how to integrate information literacy more intentionally across the curriculum and into disciplinary content.  The newly created IL Instruction Program for SSC developed by faculty librarians and the work of the librarians through the program will benefit from the IL Handbook and the LRRT research/practitioner webinars. Using the data that shows how the new College SLO’s were mapped across courses earlier this year, the IL Handbook has the potential to introduce conversational language and application of the IL Instruction Program more directly in developing course assignments collaboratively across the disciplines.  The transdisciplinary nature of IL can be more explicitly expressed as identified by this collaborative work amongst faculty using the IL Handbook as a resource in combination with the SSC IL Instruction Program document. 

Building on the Celebration of Librarian Collaboration hosted at SSC in 2019, having regional sessions with partner colleges and universities to discuss how to partner for IL integration more effectively for transfer students using the IL Handbook and connecting to LRRT as a potential awareness for additional research to inform our IL practices. 

Employee workshops on IL in the workplace may also be offered and aided using the IL Handbook to fully describe IL for workplace applications, and provide for reflection and collaboration between librarians and employees more intentionally.   

Relationship to College goals.  

The SSC strategic goals are identified for students, employees, and our region on the College website. https://www.seminolestate.edu/catalog/student-info/general/strategic-goals 

The work to fully articulate a handbook for information literacy supports the College’s strategic goals and the SLO as information literacy is transdisciplinary in nature. As such, there is an opportunity to educate and raise awareness of this key discipline and the academic and everyday information applications for students, employees, and the community in our region. 

The strategic goals for students, employees and our regional community relate to the way in which information is used for learning, workplace information needs, and for lifelong learning and everyday information use.  For students, the transdisciplinary nature of information literacy provides for potential understanding of new ways to articulate and provide coursework and integration of information literacy as a discipline to emerge more intentionally across the College community of practice – both formally and informally. [Increase student engagement and student participation in learning processes.] 

The information literacy handbook vocabulary may enhance more explicit understanding of information literacy across the in the campus workplace.  The conversation and awareness of what information literacy looks like in the workplace – how employees use information in a meaningful way in their work- may contribute to the culture of employee satisfaction.  Knowing that their work is situated and contextualized with information literacy competencies has a value-added affirming potential for college employees. [Build a college culture of employee satisfaction.] 

Prior/current meritorious service to the College as evidenced by (a) excellence in performing primary duties and responsibilities; (b) College service; (c) contributions to the profession and discipline as evidenced by publications and/or creative or technical works; and (d) adherence to college-wide core values and service standards. (Attach exhibits or additional pages as needed.) 

(a) excellence in performing primary duties and responsibilities; (b) College service, (d) adherence to college-wide core values and service standards.  

2019-2020 Faculty Evaluation - Supervisor's Overall Assessment Rating - Excellent 

College Service - currently serving as Faculty Senate 2nd Vice President (2020-2022), Bookstore Committee, Curriculum Committee (Faculty Senate Representative) 

c) contributions to the profession and discipline as evidenced by publications and/or creative or technical works;  

Kaufmann – CV - file:///Users/Karen/Downloads/CVKaufmann.html