Understanding Our Students and Ourselves: Transformative Library Instruction Through an Ethnographic Lens

Abstract

The application of ethnographic methods to library instructional programs can provide opportunities for students to develop their own self-awareness and advance their thought processes. In addition, these methods have the potential to increase understanding of these processes on the part of librarians who can, in turn, influence the design of library spaces, the delivery of instructional programs, and the role of librarians in students’ lives. Based on our own experience of using ethnographic methods to illuminate student beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes, throughout this chapter we will describe the effective application of ethnographic methods to library instruction and how such approaches can be built into one’s instructional repertoire at the course, curricular, or programmatic level. The power of qualitative data for aligning teaching with the student experience and explaining the value of the library as an important context for student learning, including librarians’ roles as change agents within that context, will be the guiding framework for this chapter.