2017 American Theological Library Association Annual Conference

Thoughtful, authentic, Information Literacy Instruction (ILI) ought not to be seen as an ancillary activity for the student of theology. It is directly related to the core concerns of the academic endeavor: formation of mind, practices, and person. While ILI is certainly not less than preparing students for a successful career in higher education and professional life, students are underserved when it is reduced to a means (semi-remedial preparation for academic work proper) and not seen as an end (the formation of curious, capable lifelong learners).

Although broad themes emerge, spiritual formation is never generic. In this study, spiritual formation will indicate engaging in certain practices, cultivating certain habits, and even developing certain virtues to align with the continuing, transforming work of the Holy Spirit in restoring the self into the full image of God in the context of Christian community.
ILI can easily and quite naturally embrace such spiritually formative dimensions as discerning helpful conversation partners, developing habits of honest engagement, and cultivating deep attention. Not only can this integration contribute to student learning in significant ways, it can move the conversation about ILI from the periphery of curricular considerations into being a life-giving, necessary part of a theological education.

The open access Anti-racism Digital Library and International Anti-racism Thesaurus (ADL/T) is a clearinghouse of anti-racism resources (http://endracism.info). By developing and using the language of anti-racism, it mitigates the unintended structural racism of library information infrastructures, such as the LCSH. I will highlight recent ADL/T developments, specifically, in the areas of communications, media, and digital justice. I will show how the ADL/T can be used in theological libraries for informational professional growth and development, research, and the promotion of critical thinking and learning about information access, authority, value, and privilege.

A category of information users that interests me in particular is that of Seminary students. There are several studies exploring the information needs and information-seeking behavior of college students including Religion majors, but not much work at the Seminary level. For instance, one such study is Lipton and Nyrose’s article entitled “Study of the Information Seeking Behavior of Theology and Religious Studies Students,” published in the American Theological Library Association Summary of Proceedings 65: 288–306. More work needs to be done at the graduate level to explore the patterns of behavior of advanced degree students.

This study will explore the findings of a particular graduate student population, the Seminary students from the University of the South. The data covers the cycle of the entire academic year 2016-17 by recording all reference and research transactions organized in quantitative and qualitative categories from patron type to the type of question(s) being raised, the date, time and duration of the transaction etc. I will be focusing in particular on three questions: (1) How course assignments create information needs and set behavior expectations? (2) How available library instruction influences student behavior? (3) How age influences the use of research tools? The emerging patterns will be analyzed and reported as findings at the end of the study.