Abstract
This book seeks to capture the current landscape of higher education and the ways in which libraries are supporting students in areas such as digital and information literacies and employability. The book aims to be be ‘a no-nonsense guide’ and bring together theory, practice and practical guidance. It is aimed primarily at librarians though the introduction also states that it is of relevance to different groups working in higher education, such as educational developers or learning technologists.
Dr Barbara Allan is Deputy Dean of Hull University Business School and a National Teaching Fellow. Her previous books have included Supporting Research Students (2009), Blended Learning (2007) and Virtual Learning Communities (2004). She states that Emerging Strategies was informed by her earlier book The No-Nonsense Guide to Training in Libraries (2013) and as with that title, this book also covers a wide range of issues while ensuring a good mix of theory and examples of effective and innovative practice.
At just under 200 pages, this is a concise and tightly structured read. The introduction summarises the rapid changes that have occurred in UK HE over the last decade in areas such as changing student populations and expectations, new models of flexible and online study and agendas such as employability and internationalisation. It also highlights institutional responses to these changes such as new support structures in libraries themselves, and the ways in which library space is being redeveloped to reflect this new learning landscape.
The chapter ‘Working with students’ provides an overview of some of the ways in which librarians are working with students, and draws particular attention to issues of internationalisation and diversity. It is evident from this chapter that the book is largely written for those who teach, or those who work in a specialised support service rather than those who might support individual students through enquiry desk work for instance. This teaching focus is picked up in subsequent chapters on teaching approaches and activities.
Chapter Three explores digital and information literacies, including institutional frameworks and approaches to supporting students’ digital skills. I thought that the examples here were well chosen and diverse, including institutional approaches such as Manchester Metropolitan University’s InFlow programme, and more widely known models such as ANCIL and the ACRL Framework. The case studies highlight a further range of strategies and approaches including the use of Wikipedia in teaching and digital badges for accreditation.
The chapters on teaching approaches and activities offer a range of practical guidance, as well as summarising theories and models including Kolb’s reflective cycle, action learning and threshold concepts. As with other chapters, Allen does a good job of linking teaching and learning practice to issues of quality assurance and student engagement.
The chapter ‘Making it happen’ provides an introduction to learning activity development and programme design. It features a number of simple pro-formas that can be used to identify learning objectives and design activities. This chapter does a good job of situating concepts such as constructive alignment within a Library context, and while it is brief I think it would be a good introduction for librarians starting out in a teaching-focused role.
The chapter ‘Evaluation of learning and teaching activities and courses’ has a wide coverage, from UK quality enhancement standards and processes such as the QAA Quality Code, to practical evaluation approaches such as surveys, assignments and focus groups.
This book is a good primer on a range of issues including approaches to teaching and learning, with particular relevance to UK HE Library context. Its concise nature means that there might be times when a reader wishes a certain issue was explored in further detail, but this book does a good job of providing clear introductions to a wide range of issues and concepts, and I found it an engaging read.
An undoubted strength of this book is the range of short case studies that are embedded throughout. These are well chosen to illustrate particular approaches to the topic of each chapter. I appreciated that the examples chosen were from a wide range of institutions and contexts worldwide; the ‘big hitters’ are represented, but I also learned a lot about good practice from a range of smaller or less well-known institutions, and the book has undoubtedly given me lots to explore. While each case study is extremely concise, it gives you enough to understand the context and the approaches taken, and always provides links or references to explore further.
This book is well worth reading for librarians who are moving into a role supporting teaching and learning, or staff established in that role who are seeking an up-to-date and concise guide to a wide range of professional issues and practice. It is undoubtedly library-centric, but may be of interest to learning developers or e-learning technologists who work within a library organisation, or other higher educational professionals who are seeking to understand the approaches and priorities of library services within the current UK HE landscape.
As with Barbara Allen’s No-Nonsense Guide to Training in Libraries this book would also be of real use to library managers or teams developing training and development opportunities for staff.